The BIBLE, Walls, Borders, and Immigration
The BIBLE, Walls, Borders, and Immigration
Copyright Bible Prophecy As Written, 2018
SUMMARY POINTS of Prophecy Retreat, Jan 10 2019 followed by outline of Dec 15 2018 Prophecy Retreat
1. Their is a specific sequence of events leading to the coming One World Empire (Dan. 7:23-27).
2. That international Antichrist Empire will be borderless (Rev. 13:4, 7).
3. Nations will retain their identities (Psa. 2; Zec. 12:3; 14:2)--but not their soveriegnty (Rev. 16:12-16).
4. The Focus of End Time Events will be on the Bible Lands and Nations (Psa. 83; Isa. 11:11-12:6; Joel 3--Centered on Israel (Zec. 12:6-10).
5. There are immoral, inhumane, and ungodly Walls--examples being Holocaust Death Camp Walls, Berlin Wall, Walls of Jericho (Joshua 6), etc.
6. There are God-established Walls, past, present, & future--Jerusalem is the prime example.
7. There are God-ordained borders, past, present, & future (Deu. 32:8; Dan. 4:17; Acts 17:26; Eze. 40-47 where "borders"/"boundaries" mentioned 32 times).
8. At the time of Armageddon, the Antichrist will storm over the God-ordained Walls (Neh. 6:15-16) of Jerusalem, entering illegally into God's Holy City, in an attempt to annihilate God's Chosen People (Joel 2:7-9).
9. When King Jesus returns, His glorious eternal City will be a walled-city (Re 21.12) with 12 ports of legal entry (Re 21.12, 26-27), requiring a citizenship (Ph 3.20) and a passport (John 3:16).
BELOW LEFT: The focus of the End Time World is on the historic Bible Lands and Nations in the Eastern 'Leg' of the Revived Roman Empire (i.e., modern Greece, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Iran, etc.)
BELOW RIGHT: The Antichrist-Beast world leader will establish a Borderless International Empire (borderless nations without sovereignty, under the 'umbrella' political, economic, military, and religious rulership of the One-World Global Ruler).
What Does The Bible Say About IMMIGRATION?
Prophecy Retreat, Dec 15 2018
The Bible mentions immigration in a number of passages. The Old Testament has much to say about the "sojourner" (traveler), "alien", and "foreigner". We gave a brief study of the immigration issue at our Prophecy Retreat in Tulsa a week before the 2018 national mid-term election, and then again on Dec 15, 2018. Below is a synopsis of some of the research which framed the presentation.
BOUNDARIES
Amazingly, "boundaries" (borders) were established by God when He divided the one-world population of Babel into the original 70 nations. Therefore, borders are sanctioned by God to define and identify the geo-political space of the nations of the world.
"When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, When He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the sons of Israel." (Deuteronomy 32:8; Da 4:17; Ac 17:26)
NATIONS ARE ORDAINED BY GOD TO PROTECT THEIR CITIZENS
To protect the citizens of a nation also requires the authority of God. The first line of protection for any external danger is that nation's borders.
…those ["governing authorities"] which exist are established by God …he who resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God …it does not bear the sword for nothing; (Ro 13:1-7; it is entirely possible for a nation to misuse this authority, as history so often testifies. Still, the authority is God ordained, and history also testifies of the judgment for the abuse of this authority)
KING SOLOMON PROTECTED HIS NATION'S BORDERS
(as did most of Israel's leaders and kings)
It is clear from 1 Kings 4:25 and 11:23-25 that there were military operations against Solomon, king of Israel, by Hadad king of Edom and Rezon king of Damascus. Yet Solomon kept Israel's borders safe and "(betach) secure”. Below, from a couple of Bible commentaries,
“Solomon’s reign is not wholly trouble-free. In the south there is trouble from Hadad of Edom...in the north from Rezon of Damascus…”
Eerdman’s Handbook To The Bible, David Alexander, ed., Eerdman’s Publishing, 1976, p.262.
“[Hadad/Edom] began military operations against Solomon from the south…[Rezon/Damascus] became a military peril to Solomon from the north.”
Believer's Bible Commentary, William MacDonald, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1992, p.368.
Yet, amid these constant border breaches, which undoubtedly included raiding parties, terror-incursions and general mischief, Solomon kept the Israeli people safe and secure because he protected their "south" and "north" borders. The Bible says that there was "betach" Security "all the days of Solomon." (1 Kings 4:25)
Border Security! Walls are also frequently used in the Bible to protect God's people.
RIGHT: 'Walls' are used throughout the Bible. The greatest wall of all surrounds the New Jerusalem.
ASSIMILATE INTO THE NATION
The Scripture below is one of many that shows the requirement, written into the Mosaic Law by Divine revelation, that the non-citizen ("stranger", "sojourner") was required to assimilate into the customs--legal and moral--to be truly accepted, in modern terms, as a citizen ("be like a native of the land"). This, of course, is an application to today's issues by analogy.
"But if a stranger sojourns with you, and celebrates the Passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near to celebrate it; and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat of it." (Exodus 12:48)
THE IMMIGRANT IS TO RESPECT THE LAWS OF THE NATION
"The same law shall apply to the native as to the stranger who sojourns among you." (Exodus 12:49)
"Assemble the people, the men and the women and children and the alien who is in your town, in order that they may hear and learn and fear the LORD your God, and be careful to observe all the words of this law." (Deuteronomy 31:12)
EQUALITY UNDER LAW FOR THE ALIEN
The Scripture below applies to the LEGAL resident of Israel. To clarify some terms, and remove the unnecessary stigma from the term "alien", let's remember that until immigrants are legalized, they are not a citizen -- Rather, they are a non-citizen.
As a non-citizen, they are an “alien”. A legal alien can be a legal resident or a legal visitor. Just as "non-citizen" is not a derogatory or racist term, neither is its synonym, "alien". The Bible has no problem with the term.
''And if an alien sojourns among you and observes the Passover to the LORD, according to the statute of the Passover and according to its ordinance, so he shall do; you shall have one statute, both for the [legal] alien and for the native [citizen] of the land.'' (Num 9:14)
[Israelite law gave considerable attention to the status of resident aliens who identified with the Israelite religion. The same law applied to the Israelite native and to the foreigner...anyone who wanted to identify with the Israelite community of faith and who was willing to submit to the Lord's laws and statutes was permitted to do so. HCSB Study Bible, Num 9:14]
EQUAL JUSTICE FOR THE ALIEN
Deportation of an illegal alien can be one of the possible scenarios in the following passages. To do something "defiantly" was to break the law of the Lord, and therefore the law of the land of Israel. To be "cut off" could result in execution, imprisonment, or banishment (modern counterpart = deportation) from the community or even the Land of Israel. This law was to be equally applied to a "native" of Israel (citizen) or an "alien" (foreigner). Today, a citizen of the U.S. can break virtually any law except illegal (citizenship) entry into this country. But a non-citizen can break that law. That would be where "cut off" (from his family "his people", i.e., perhaps imprisonment, or even from the land) could be seen, in the latter case, in as "deportation."
''But the person who does anything defiantly, whether he is native or an alien, that one is blaspheming the LORD; and that person shall be cut off [deported] from among his people." (Numbers 15:30)
''Because he has despised the word of the LORD and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt shall be on him." (Numbers 15:31)
COMPASSION ON THE ALIEN
Below is a series of 'representative' Scriptures pointing out a remarkable fact. The Bible is chock-full of passages teaching justice, compassion and love for the alien migrant or immigrant. These are only a few of the representative verses. I was surprised at the number of references, yet gratified, to see this.
"And you shall not oppress a stranger, since you yourselves know the feelings of a stranger, for you also were strangers in the land of Egypt. (Exodus 23:9)
"The alien has not lodged outside, [For] I have opened my doors to the traveler." (Job 31:32; see especially Mat 25:34-40)
SHOW NO PREJUDICE TOWARD THE ALIEN, FOR SOMEWHERE BACK THERE, WE TOO WERE IMMIGRANTS
How clearly this applies to all of us in the United States (except the "immigrant" part for Native American). Everyone of the rest of us, if we were to do an ancestry-tracer (as I have done), will find that we too had ancestors who immigrated to this land.
"You shall not detest an Edomite, for he is your brother; you shall not detest an Egyptian, because you were an alien in his land." (Deu 23:7)
''When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong." (Leviticus 19:33)
THE LORD JUDGES MISTREATMENT OF THE ALIEN
(...in the same way and on the same just-basis that
He judges the mistreatment of workers, widows and orphans)
"Then I will draw near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the orphan, and those who turn aside the alien, and do not fear Me," says the LORD of hosts. (Mal 3:5)
''Cursed is he who distorts the justice due an alien, orphan, and widow.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'" (Deu 27:19)
AN UNGODLY NATION MAY SUCCUMB TO ALIEN IMMIGRANTS
(This was a somber warning to Israel, and has application for America if we continue on our path of forgetting God and His Gospel of Salvation in Jesus Christ. Read this one carefully and realize the 'gist' of it.)
"The alien who is among you shall rise above you higher and higher, but you shall go down lower and lower." (Deu 28:43)
THERE IS A FUTURE FOR THE ALIEN EVEN IN THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM
"And it will come about that in the tribe with which the alien stays, there you shall give [him] his inheritance," declares the Lord GOD. (Eze 47:23)
"Then I will draw near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against ... those who turn aside the alien, and do not fear Me," says the LORD of hosts. (Mal 3:5)
ABRAHAM, OUR FATHER IN THE FAITH, and MOSES, WERE ALIENS
("Aliens" have a special, God-given place in history,and in America, "the nation of Immigrants")
"By faith [Abraham] lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign [land], dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise;" (Heb 11:9)
"And at this remark MOSES FLED, AND BECAME AN ALIEN IN THE LAND OF MIDIAN, where he became the father of two sons." (Acts 7:29)
Jesus Himself, along with his parents Joseph and Mary, was an alien in the Land of Egypt.
Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord *appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, "Arise and take the Child and His mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you... (Matthew 2:13-15)
FINALLY... a word about security,
"But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever." ( 1Tim 5:8)
As this verse says, we are to provide for our own household. The first obligation we have under that command is to lead them to Christ for their eternal security.
The second is to provide for their earthly security. Everything else--safety, shelter, food, clothing, etc.--are part of that.
In doing that, we are careful not to let people come into our home through the window or the back door. They must knock on the front door. Who among us doesn't "provide" that minimal security precaution for our "household"?
Likewise, we expect the nation to do the same for all of its citizens. Just like Solomon (in the opening paragraph above) did when he protected the borders of Israel, let's pray for the protection of America's borders while at the same time not neglecting Christian compassion and good will to the "alien". God will show us how to balance security and compassion if we ask Him.
Still...In 2017 the amazing number of 1.13 million legal immigrants were welcomed into America. This is a continual increase of legal immigrants per year during the recent past. America continues to be a beacon of light to immigrants from around the world.
Let America become a beacon of light for God in Christ!