“And the priests and the Levites purified themselves, and purified the people, and the gates, and the wall.”  – Nehemiah 12:30

It is hard to comprehend the importance of rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem without understanding the times in which Nehemiah and the people of his day lived.

Unwalled cities were always vulnerable to attack and decay. The walls of Jerusalem had been in terrible shape for decades. The people were demoralized and scattered. Life was hard. Their identity as a people was unclear to them.

Worst of all, many of them felt abandoned by God.

Then God sent Nehemiah with the blessings of the king of Persia to rally the nation and rebuild the walls of the city. He surveyed the damage, formulated a plan, called together the families, and led them to labor. When they were done, he called for a celebration and dedication.

It was a new day.

It was a time of purification, first for the priests and Levites, then for the people at large, and finally for the wall and the gates.

The new wall represented a definition of who they were as God’s people. It symbolized God’s protection and the boundaries of the city where He dwelt among them. There were multiple gates to welcome worshippers and long “fences” to protect the city from attack.

These were the borders of the city.

Today, we have a border crisis among God’s people more severe and dangerous than any border control issues that we may ever face as a nation. The borders of morality, truth, and spiritual identity that define us are broken in places and unclear in others. We are not sure what is sacred and what is profane. We are vulnerable to attack and decay. We are demoralized and scattered.

We need to do some rebuilding, but more than that, we need to purify the walls that exist and the gates that welcome the world to worship. We need some folks like Nehemiah to lead us and some modern-day Levites to go ahead of us.

We must recommit ourselves to what it means to be God’s people and to worship on His holy hill.