A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls. Proverbs 25:28

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!   Matthew 23:37

And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.  Matthew 27:51

"General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" - President Ronald Reagan, June 12, 1987

We're hearing a lot about walls lately. Walls can be good things in the proper context. As the writer of Proverbs points out in chapter 25 verse 28, walls are particularly good against invasion until a person or a people (city) struggled with uncontrollable passions. Then they were left vulnerable and subject to attack. Prior to, during, and in centuries subsequent to Solomon's time it was incumbent upon leaders to build walls to protect capital cities from enemy attack. Jerusalem was such a city. As long as the people of Jerusalem were faithful to the Lord, His temple, and the city itself were impervious to attack. However, as God's people idolized the gods of lust and material gain, no walls could or would protect them from invasion and destruction. Solomon's and Nehemiah's walls and temples were both ultimately destroyed due to apostasy. Walls are not such a strong barrier when internal decadence and selfishness prevail after all.

When Jesus approached the "faithful" walled city of Jerusalem with its magnificent Herodian temple he mourned for her. He undoubtedly looked not so much at the structures of the city as he did at the hardness of her people's hearts. They were walled in with pride, anger, selfishness, and fear. Sure enough, in 70 AD, her temple and walls were destroyed yet again. No amount of physical self-preservation will guard one's hardened heart.

Walls have been and are built to try to keep in one's people and one's possessions as well. During the 20th century the totalitarian Soviet ruled East Germany built the Berlin Wall to "protect" its citizens from the "evils of democracy." No one was allowed in or out, without special privilege. President Ronald Reagan saw the futility and evil of such protectionism and challenged the Soviets with his famous speech 40 years ago. Ultimately, the wall was broken not with weapons, but from decadence within the Soviet regime. It was unsustainable.

God's temple in Jerusalem was his dwelling place for a season, but his prophets foretold that this was not his ultimate dwelling place. God's plan was to make each of his believers and followers temples of His Holy Spirit. The Holy of Holies in His temple represented our hearts where he seeks to reside. When Christ died on the cross, the veil (wall if you will) protecting the Holy of Holies was torn from top to bottom. All people symbolically now had the potential and privilege to have direct access to God through the tearing down of this wall separating humankind from God the Father through the sacrificial blood of the Son and the power of the Holy Spirit.

What is your wall today? Is it one of fear and anger and resultant self-protection such that you will not let anyone in, including the Savior? Is it one of pride and possession so that you will not reach out beyond your personal walls and be vulnerable enough to share what you believe you've worked for and earned? It seems that perhaps nationally this is what our country has become on many levels. We need to build walls of insulation and protection rather than reach out in confidence and trust. This was the way of cities and countries in centuries past. Perhaps the world is devolving into this state once again. However, this is not the way of Christ and His Kingdom. Christ came to break down walls and build bridges of trust, first in his Church and then to the world. He said even the gates (walls if you will) of hell would not prevail against the Kingdom of God. The danger of building physical walls is that our fear of invasion from outside or getting lost if we wander from the safety of inside creates hearts that become walled in as well.

Back in the 60's the folk/rock music team of Simon and Garfunkel wrote and sang these words:

" I've built walls, a fortress deep and mighty, that none may penetrate. I have no need of friendship, friendship causes pain, its laughter and it's loving I disdain. I am a rock, I am an island. And a rock feels no pain. And an island never cries."