Should Christians build walls?

"A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not a Christian. This is not the gospel."

– Pope Francis in taking on Donald Trump

Is the pope right?

Is there something immoral about a nation building walls?

Is it sinful and un-Christian to defend a nation or city with walls?

The pope says it's not the gospel.

But my search of the scriptures reveals a God who commands His people to build walls – for defense and for separation.

Nehemiah not only rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem for just such purposes, but he and those who assisted him did so working with one hand while bearing a sword in the other. Apparently, there was a lot of opposition to building a wall back then, too.

It seems Nehemiah rebuilt those walls because he was commanded by God to do so – that the people, returning from exile, would no longer be a reproach, the Bible tells us in Nehemiah 2:17.

Was Nehemiah's construction project unusual – a special case?

It doesn't seem so.

In 2 Chronicles 14, we meet Israel's King Asa, whom, we are told, "did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God," It was a minority of Israel's kings who are so described in the Bible. And what did he do?

He removed the altars of the strange gods, broke their images and cut down the groves where the pagans performed their abominations. And what else did he do?

"And he built fenced cities in Judah: for the land had rest, and he had no war in those years; because the LORD had given him rest," we read. "Therefore he said unto Judah, Let us build these cities, and make about them walls, and towers, gates, and bars, while the land is yet before us; because we have sought the LORD our God, we have sought him, and he hath given us rest on every side. So they built and prospered."

In 2 Chronicles 27, we are told about another righteous king named Jotham. He, too, "did that which was right in the sight of the Lord."

What did he do?

"He built the high gate of the house of the LORD, and on the wall of Ophel he built much," we're told. "Moreover he built cities in the mountains of Judah, and in the forests he built castles and towers."

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How about another hero of the Bible – Hezekiah. He, too, was quite a developer. He prepared Jerusalem for an invasion by the Assyrians. How? "Also he strengthened himself, and built up all the wall that was broken, and raised it up to the towers, and another wall without," we learn in 2 Chronicles 32.

It wasn't unusual for the children of Israel to return to their land from exile only to build or rebuild their walled cities. We see it again in Ezra 9:9: "For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem."

The lessons about walls don't just come from the prophets and the histories, but even the biblical works of wisdom and poetry, as in Psalm 51:18: "Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem," and Proverbs 25:28: "He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls."

Maybe the most persuasive biblical analogy in the Bible comes in Isaiah 60:18: "Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise."

Walls equated with salvation and gates with praise.

What about the New Testament? Maybe you think God's character somehow changed with the coming of the Messiah?

Not at all. In Revelation 21, we learn about the coming of a new heaven and new earth and a new Jerusalem.

Guess what we find there in this place where there will be no tears and no more death and no more pain – where all things are made new?

John saw in his vision what that new city of Jerusalem was like: "Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel."

It doesn't appear to me that God hates wall builders.

In fact, He seems to command His people to build them.

He seems to like them.

And, according to the prophecies of Revelation, they remain part of His future plans as well.

By the way, there are no bridges mentioned in the Bible.

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