They Rebuilded the Walls!

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There is a scriptural basis for building walls, not tearing them down. 

Wall are not there to keep us in, for we stand in the Liberty that Christ
gives (Gal.5:1).  Walls are to keep the world out!   When just anybody can
enter in, the church will be watered down to the extent of being of no effect
(an assoc. ref. is Romans 8:29).  Consider our great commission.   It’s to
preach the salvation message.  See Luke 24:47, Mark 16:15, Act 1:8.   Does
that mean we don’t reach out to the world?   No.  We need to reach for a lost
and a dying world!   But just like Noah did, we need to keep the ark safe.
 The ark only had only one door.  It was pitched within and without.   Noah
pleaded with the men of his age to enter into the ark.  But, when God shut up
the door, it was shut!  Listen to the words of Jesus as recorded by Luke in
Luke 17:26 -

"And as it was in the days of Noe (Noah), so shall it be also in the days of
the Son of man.  They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were
given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood
came, and destroyed them all."  This is a direct quote from Jesus himself.
 The source scripture is Gen. chapters 6 and 7. 

Regarding  rebuilding walls rather than tearing them down, we go to a reading
of Nehemiah:

"So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half
thereof: for the people had a mind to work.  (Nehemiah 4:6)
...
But it came to pass, that when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabians and the
Ammonites and the Ashdoditres, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made
up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, that they were very wroth, and
conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to
hinder it.  (v.7-8)

** Isn’t that just like the devil?  ****  He hates for us to rebuild the
walls! **

"Therefore set I in the lower places behind the wall, and on the higher
places, I even set the people after their families with their swords, their
spears, and their bows. (v.13)
...
And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known unto us, and
God had brought their counsel to nought, that we returned all of us to the
wall, every man unto his work.  (v.15)
...
And it came to pass from that time forth, that the half of my servants
wrought in the work, and the other half of them held both the spears, and the
bows, and the habergeons, and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah.
 (v.16)
...
They which builded on the wall,  and they that bare burdens, with those that
laded, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the
other hand held a weapon.  (v.17)
....
For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded.
 And he that sounded the trumpet was by me.  (v.18)
...
So we labored in the work:  and half of them held the spears from the rising
of the morning till the stars appeared.  (v.21)
...
So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in
fifty and two days.  And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard
thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were
much cast down in their own eyes: for they perceived that this work was
wrough of our God.  (Nehemiah 6:15)
...
Now, it came to pass, when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors,
and the porters and the singers and the Levites were appointed...I said unto
them, Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun be hot; and
while they stand by, let them shut the doors,  and bar them: and appoint
watches of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, every one in his watch, and every
one over against his house.   (Neh.7:1)

* And this from the prophet Ezra, chapter 4.... *

"This is the copy of the letter that they sent unto him, even unto Artaxerxes
the king; ‘Thy servants the men on this side of the river, and at such a
time, Be it known unto the king, that the Jews which came up from thee to us
are come unto Jerusalem, the _rebellious and bad city_, and have set up the
walls thereof, and joined the foundations. (v.11)  
...
Be it known now unto the king, that, if this city be builded, and the walls
be set up again, then will they not pay toll, tribute, and custom, and so
thou shall endanger the revenue of the kings.  (v.13)
...
...so shall thou find in the book of the records, and know that this city is
a rebellious city, and hurtful unto kings and provinces, and that they have
moved sedition within the same of old time: for which cause this city was
destroyed.   (v.15)
...
We certify that king that, if this city be builded again, and the walls
thereof set up, _by this means thou shall have no portion on this side the
river_.’"  (v.16)  
  
***  Let’s set up the old walls, pitched within and without, so that the
devil will have no portion "on this side the river" !!  ***

It's doctrine that defines, and it's doctrine that divides.  Doctrine and the
holiness standard are our walls!   "...They which builded on the wall,  and
they that bare burdens,  ... every one with one of his hands wrought in the
work, and with the other hand held a weapon."  Lord bless.

T.A. Gray
tgray238@aol.com