The Wall of Waitara

History of some of the best walls

Walls, such ordinary things and something that we hardly think about because it isn’t something that we take any notice.

But, the purpose for walls depends on the type of wall we’re thinking about. Here in this church we have these brick walls, these walls protect us from the elements and noise outside as well as hold the roof and ceiling up, so we are pretty blessed to have these sturdy and strong walls to keep us safe and worship here today.

The Great wall of China was a wall that was built to keep the rabbits out? (if anyone got that reference?)

Now, it was initially built before the Mongol invasion, around 221 BC by the first emperor of the Qin dynasty but it wasn’t as big as we know it today, subsequently, in the 14th century during the Ming dynasty, the Mongolians started invading and the need to reinforce and strengthen the walls is the result of what we now see the Great wall of China.

Borders (separation of people)

But as you can see, walls are meant to separate and divide people to ensure the people inside the walls are safe from the outside. That isn’t to say that they are in any danger though but again to keep them warm and safe.

However, how do we separate people if we don’t have walls? How do politics ensure that people are in their influence and protection? Borders!

Borders are political boundaries to separate countries, states, provinces, counties, cities, towns and residences. The unfortunate and sad part is that politicians have their personal agendas and when that happens people in the middle get hurt in the process. Especially those that don’t want to be involved.

We see it when it comes to Trumps wall, or the Korean DMZ (What separates North and South Korea - they are still at war though) even with what’s happening in Israel-Palestine.

Berlin Wall

But the one city that I can think about regarding a border and a wall is in Berlin, many of you may remember the Berlin Wall, or as the West Germans would like to call it the ‘Schandmauer’ - 'Wall of Shame’.

Construction began on the 15 June 1961 when some of you were either dating your spouses, going to school or sucking your dummy. Some of us, like myself, didn’t even exist.

But the wall was constructed by East Germany to stop Eastern Germans entering into West Germany. For those that don’t know what is going on here, you have to remember, Germany had lost to the Allies resulting in Germany being divided up, Eastern Germany was occupied by the Soviet Union and Western Germany was occupied by UK, USA and France. The capitol for West Germany was in Bronn whereas East Germany was in the old capitol Berlin.

Berlin on the other hand was divided also, West Berlin was governed by the Allies and East Berlin was governed by Soviets. So, a lot of Eastern Berliners and Germans were making their way to the West because of the growth of the economy and welfare being a capitalist state, and this resulted in the Berlin Wall.

The wall was 156.4km long with a height of 3.4 and 4.2m, it had 111.9km concrete walls with razor wires and 186 observation towers. Soldiers from East Germany were ordered to shoot on sight anyone attempting to cross the border.

5000 people successfully defected to West Berlin, where the death toll is claimed to be above 200.

The fall of the Berlin Wall

By 1989 some 20+ years after it was erected, Communism was slowly crumpling and many of the Communist countries were changing political positions. In Germany, many Eastern Berliners and Germans were frustrated because of the isolation and restriction of movement. Peaceful Revolutions were starting by late 1989.

On the 9th October, 70,000 people gathered together (even though it was against the law) to hold a church service and march, the order for the police and army to use physical force did not deter these East Berliners.

It was on the 9th November, the leader of Eastern Germany opened up the borders allowing East and West to come and go freely with out restriction, I think many of you remember that day as you watched it on TV. I remember it as I was 7 years old, I just couldn’t understand why the great joy of people climbing on a wall and breaking the wall.

Why was everyone so joyous? Why was everyone so happy, people shouting and screaming in a language I couldn’t understand. It was because a wall was coming down, and that object that separated West and East Germans crumbled which was the start in uniting a people separated for 40 years.

Nehemiah and the wall

We’re going to look at something opposite to the outcome of this story about a people who united as they rebuilt a wall.

We’re going to go to the Bible and look at the story of Nehemiah, if you’ve read Nehemiah, we know he is famous for reforming the Jewish people and governing the rebuilding of the wall that took 52 days to complete I might add.

We start the story in Nehemiah 1:1-4

Nehemiah 1:1–4 NLT

1 These are the memoirs of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah. In late autumn, in the month of Kislev, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes’ reign, I was at the fortress of Susa. 2 Hanani, one of my brothers, came to visit me with some other men who had just arrived from Judah. I asked them about the Jews who had returned there from captivity and about how things were going in Jerusalem. 3 They said to me, “Things are not going well for those who returned to the province of Judah. They are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down, and the gates have been destroyed by fire.” 4 When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven.

Now, this shouldn’t be a shock to Nehemiah, to put things into perspective, it’s been about 142 years since the destruction of Jerusalem by king Nebuchadnezzar.

Jerusalem fell to Babylon in 586 BC and Nehemiah only received the report supposedly in 444 BC, Nehemiah was said to be born in Babylon in 473 BC, so he would have been about 29 years old as he was serving king Artaxerxes as his cup bearer. He wasn’t even born when Jerusalem was destroyed.

However, what is fascinating and something that is worth mentioning is that even though he was born in Babylon (under Persian rule by that time). After 29 years, he still mourns for Jerusalem a city that he may not have visited, I mean there’s a possibility he may have been there but we’re not told. Jerusalem at that time was mostly occupied by the Philistines, Arabs, Samaritans with the Jewish diaspora is now trickling in and returning to a home that, maybe some or most have never been born in.

The decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem by king Artaxerxes happened in what year? [457 BC] (Let’s see who is a good Adventist?)

So Jews would have been returning from captivity before or definitely after 457 BC, however, most of them were busy building homes of their own and setting up trade and rarely helping with the restoration of the temple as you will discover when you read Ezra as well as Nehemiah.

Here we have Nehemiah weeping, mourning, fasting and praying to God over a city that he wasn’t born in and may not have visited. How many of us weep, mourn, fast and pray for New Jerusalem like Nehemiah?

One of the great examples that we can learn from Nehemiah is that he is a man of prayer, from verses 5-11 we see him pray, even when Artaxerxes asks Nehemiah what he needs.

Nehemiah 2:3–4 NKJV

3 and said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire?” 4 Then the king said to me, “What do you request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven.

Nehemiah prays, now I don’t know what he prayed for, but most likely wisdom and words to respond to the king for his people. The king grants his request and Nehemiah heads off to Jerusalem to inspect and see how he help with the repair efforts.

For three days Nehemiah inspects condition of their walls, I mean he could have spent those three days in inspecting the rebuilding of the temple or repairing civic buildings, but he was inspecting the walls and tells the officials and those in charge of Jerusalem:

Nehemiah 2:17–18 NLT

17 But now I said to them, “You know very well what trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire. Let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and end this disgrace!” 18 Then I told them about how the gracious hand of God had been on me, and about my conversation with the king. They replied at once, “Yes, let’s rebuild the wall!” So they began the good work.

For Nehemiah, he sees the destruction of the wall as a disgrace to his people, he makes the building of the wall his top priority to end their disgrace. You would have thought that the rebuilding of the temple would end their disgrace but the walls were important for him.

What’s amazing is that it took him 52 days to build the walls of Jerusalem, that’s an amazing feat for a 29 year old cup bearer. So, young adults or even youths, if God be for us, who can be against us (Romans 8:31). Imagine what young people can build and do if we prayed together and worked together in doing His will, especially as we will be the next leaders for this church, what can we achieve together with Jesus for our future to be sure.

You see, the walls that Nehemiah made was so that his people were protected and to keep the enemies out. It is to make his people safe so that they can live their lives and worship the God of Israel. It ensured that no outside influence will corrupt their faith and lifestyle.

Jerusalem and its people are no longer a disgrace, through intense opposition those that wish to conspire and cause calamity among the Jewish people are now disgraced and defeated because God was with Israel.

The purpose of the Biblical wall

Now you might be sick and tired of hearing me talk about walls and rebuilding of walls. But, as always there is a spiritual message here when it comes to walls. Something that we need to think about as a church and its variety of members.

For now, I am going to spice things up a bit and we’re going to a book in the Bible that many preachers seldom go to. We’re going to go to the book of Song of Solomon and we’re going to look at the response the young woman has towards her lover.

For those that don’t know, the Song of Solomon is a book about two young lovers, in some way it can be seen as an allegorical interpretation of God’s love towards His people and as such this is the approach that we’re going to take as we look at this verse.

Song of Solomon 8:10 NKJV

10 I am a wall, And my breasts like towers; Then I became in his eyes As one who found peace.

Here the woman, would represent God’s people, or how we would like to translate it as the church, and the church declares herself to be a wall.

I get that, sometimes when I speak to my wife about something it goes over her head like I am speaking to a wall. No, of course not sometimes I’m too technical that she is doesn’t understand what I am trying to say, my fault completely.

But the meaning of the wall (or her saying ‘I am a wall’) means that she is a virgin, that she has not been with any other man, or allegorically speaking , the church hasn’t defiled themselves with a pagan god or sin. She is pure and righteous before the God.

Now, the tower bit is in connected with the wall, because the male lover finds peace knowing that her walls haven’t been breached and that she in her beauty they find peace.

Biblically speaking walls represent the barrier against sin and defilement, and how have we as a church kept our walls without blemish? Individually speaking, how have we kept our walls against sin and defilement?

Everyone here all have boundaries, we’ve all heard it before, respecting people’s boundaries, we’ve also had moments when we discuss a controversial topics with someone, how quick people build their walls to protect their beliefs. We’ve all experienced that during lunch breaks and we’ve all done the exact same thing.

Waitara and the wall

Boundaries, walls, borders all protect our identity of who we are and what we are, as citizens of Australia, we are protected by the Commonwealth government of Australia. As residents of New South Wales, we are governed by the laws of the state, and then there is our ethnicity, we have our traditions and culture that we observe, this is what makes us unique to every other Tom, Dick and Harry. But as Christians we are a community of believers that God has placed here in the suburb of Waitara and wherever God has placed us we are to serve rather than to be served.

Like all boundaries, walls or borders we can’t be a closed off community, for our church community to thrive we need to to serve by opening our borders for people to see the Jesus in us. This applies to us a church as well as us as an individual. We need to be a place where people find peace, a place where people find Jesus.

When was the last time you have spoken to someone new here that’s attended this church? When have you welcomed them in? Said hello and had a conversation with them? I know it may seem overwhelming for the visitor but are we a hospitable church? A welcoming church? Or a church with cliquey groups?

We should have a wall that reflects the good of this church and removes the bad, that removes satan but brings in people of faith, we need a wall that is open to those who want to learn about Jesus and follows in His footsteps, are you such a person? Are we such a church? A church and a individual that is hospitable to all in our community?

Personal borders

Ephesians 2:19–22 NLT

19 So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. 20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21 We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. 22 Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.

Friends, we all came together because we found a community that we can connect with and worship God in. Everyone here all come from various backgrounds and places. These walls are not limited here in Waitara but extend to the farthest Waitara member and visitor that come into our gates.

Whether we disagree with them or can’t find something to connect with them. We should find ways to be loving to all making the person feel safe, secure and peaceful within our walls. Because Jesus would want us to.

Testimonies for the Church, Volume 6 Section 6—Cautions and Counsels

The place of worship may be very humble, but it is no less acknowledged by God. To those who worship God in spirit and in truth and in the beauty of holiness it will be as the gate of heaven.

I’m going to get you to do a bit of homework, I want you to spend three days, like Nehemiah, looking at our church and see what areas we can do better in. I’m not asking you to create a committee but as an individual, pray about it as Nehemiah prayed to God about it. Write it down and see how you can make those areas better. That is your homework, if you want to share your results, feel free to call me and message me. If you want to start a committee feel free to let Pr Barend and I know, we’re happy to give our inputs.

My friends, the walls and gates of this church can be a broad way that leads a soul to destruction or it can be the narrow way that can lead a soul to the gate of heaven. What kind of wall have you built for strangers and foreigners?