Seems like I have some random topics from week to week lately. I have a database of men’s Bible study ideas. Whenever I see something that might make a good study for us, I’ll try and make a note into that database. Every once in a while, I’ll go grab one from there. Sin repentance and restoration was in there. Habits for Bible study was in there. We did another one called not listening when someone is speaking. And tonight we’re going to do another one. This one is all about walls.
Before we get started, just off the top of your head, what do walls signify in the Bible? (Hint – there is more than one answer.)
Will look up some verses and see after you read your verse, what do you think the walls in that verse were used to teach or symbolize or what is their biblical meaning?
Isaiah 38:2
Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord,
Hiding – Possibly in this case, Hezekiah uses the wall as a way to shield himself from the world. Or take his focus off anything but God. It’s almost like he buries his face in the wall for privacy.
Daniel 5:5
Suddenly the fingers of a man’s hand emerged and began writing opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, and the king saw the back of the hand that did the writing.
Message – Here, God is using a wall as a message board. This is where we get the phrase “the writing is on the wall.“
Numbers 35:4
“The pasture lands of the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall extend from the wall of the city outward a thousand cubits around.
Measurement – Here the wall is used as a measurement starting point. The city is inside the walls, but God talks about starting at the wall and extending out to give them pasture land.
1 Samuel 31:8-10
So it happened the next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. And they cut off his head and stripped off his armor, and sent word throughout the land of the Philistines, to proclaim it in the temple of their idols and among the people. Then they put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan.
Humiliation – This was the ultimate insult against Saul. In that culture, to have your dead body treated this way was considered a fate worse than death itself.
Joshua 2:15
Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall, so that she was living on the wall.
Housing – This is a snippet from a very cool story of Joshua. Joshua is a spy trying to get Intel for the Jewish people so they can enter the promised land. Rehab is their “inside man“ her house is actually part of the wall that’s surrounds the city.
Joshua 6:5
It shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people will go up every man straight ahead.”
Demonstrate Gods power – Here the Great Wall surrounds the city. The people inside have their faith in the wall. In this story, God uses the great wall to show that he is far more powerful. Because just by marching around and blowing the trumpet, they can collapse the walls.
2 Kings 3:27
Then he took his oldest son who was to reign in his place, and offered him as a burnt offering on the wall. And there came great wrath against Israel, and they departed from him and returned to their own land.
Pagan sacrifice – here, there’s a battle between two armies. The army of Moab is losing the battle. So instead of fighting conventionally, they take the son of the opposing king and sacrifice him on the wall. This is done to honor their pagan gods, the site of this human sacrifice, makes the opposing army withdraw.
Psalm 55:9-11
Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues, For I have seen violence and strife in the city. Day and night they go around her upon her walls, And iniquity and mischief are in her midst.
Tool for evil – here, David is talking about his enemies which surround him all around the city. They meet in corners, and even in the open and even walk around on the wall conspiring against him.
Acts 9:25
but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a large basket.
Protection for Christ messengers – this is a story of when Paul/Saul is preaching about Christ. The Pharisees are trying to kill him, and they are guarding the gates to the city. So his people lower him through the wall in a large basket to protect him.
1 Kings 6:27
He placed the cherubim in the midst of the inner house, and the wings of the cherubim were spread out, so that the wing of the one was touching the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub was touching the other wall. So their wings were touching each other in the center of the house. 28. He overlaid the cherubim with gold. 29. On the walls all around the temple, in both the inner and outer rooms, he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers.
Beautiful artwork – this is the description of building the temple. There are details about the walls being carved with pictures of cherub (angels), trees, flowers, etc. Think about old Catholic or Lutheran churches with carved wooden interiors. They are used to tell a story of scripture.
Matthew 21:33
“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey.
False protection – this is a parable told by Jesus. He specifically says they built a vineyard and put a wall around it. The people who are in charge of upkeep of the Vineyard turned against him and thought they were protected.
Numbers 22:24-25
24. Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path through the vineyards, with walls on both sides. 25. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam’s foot against it. So he beat the donkey again.
A spiritual attention getter? – Balaam is on a journey directed by God. God put an angel in his path to keep him from proceeding. Balaam cannot see the angel but his donkey can. There’s a whole story here that’s worth studying, but for this purpose, Balaam’s donkey uses the wall to crush Balaam’s foot.
Isaiah 30:12-13
12. Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says: “Because you have rejected this message, relied on oppression and depended on deceit, 13. this sin will become for you like a high wall, cracked and bulging, that collapses suddenly, in an instant.
A picture of relying on sin – in these verses, God is telling the tribe of Judah that they trusted in Egypt instead of him. Because of this sin, the very thing they put their trust in will collapse like a bulging wall.
Zechariah 2:4-5
4. and said to him: “Run, tell that young man, ‘Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of people and animals in it. 5. And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will be its glory within.’
God is the wall – in this passage Zechariah is being showed a vision of the future Jerusalem. There are so many people in it that the walls can’t hold it. God himself will be the wall that protects the new Jerusalem.
This was kind of fun: all of these are examples of uses of the wall in the Bible.
Hiding,
messaging
measurement
humiliation
housing
demonstration of God‘s power
pagan sacrifice
tool for evil
protection for Christ
messengers
beautiful artwork
false protection
a spiritual attention getter
Frailty of relying on sin
God as the wall of protection himself.
And then the one we’re going to dig into more:
Protection:
2 Chronicles 14:7
For he said to Judah, “Let us build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours because we have sought the Lord our God; we have sought Him, and He has given us rest on every side.” So they built and prospered.
Deuteronomy 3:5
All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates and bars, besides a great many unwalled towns.
It makes perfect sense that if God is the wall that protects us, then we men are to be the walls of protection around those God has placed in our lives.
Has anyone heard of Ziklag?
1 Samuel 30:1-3
1. David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day. Now the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag and burned it, 2. and had taken captive the women and everyone else in it, both young and old. They killed none of them, but carried them off as they went on their way. 3. When David and his men reached Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive.
What’s interesting about Ziklag is when the men let their guards down by leaving the city unprotected, their wives, sons, and daughters could not defend themselves against the evil onslaught. Otherwise they would never have been taken captive. Ponder that for a moment. When men let their guards down, the wives, sons, and daughters are left unprotected. That’s because men are called to be the gatekeepers. It’s the way God set it up.
Ezekiel 22:30
30. “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one.
God is looking for men who will be a wall, who will stand in the gap and be gatekeepers. Yet for men to be the walls of protection, they must have strong personal walls (Prov. 25:28)
Proverbs 25:28 – NIV
28. Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control.
When a man has no self-control of his own spirit and body, the enemy rushes in and plunders his city, tearing down the walls of protection. After corrupting the soul of a man and breaking down his personal walls of protection, the enemy proceeds to steal his valuables—time, purpose, dignity, integrity, and security—and then wreaks havoc within his most important relationships.
When our personal walls are broken down, the enemy comes in to destroy us. And then after we are weakened and out of the picture, he can take out our treasures.
Do you see the connection between personal walls and being a wall? You have to have the first to be the second. It is the man’s responsibility to stand in the gap and be the walls of protection for his family and the important people in his life.
When a man’s life falls into disorder, when his personal walls are broken down, it impacts more than just him. It impacts his “city.”
So how do we do that?
Ephesians 6:11
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
Proverbs 18:10
The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.
1 John 4:1
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Galatians 5:16
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
James 5:16
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
James 4:7
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
1 Peter 5:8
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
1 John 1:7
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
2 Thessalonians 3:3
But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.
Romans 8:31
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
…and so many more…
When men let their guard down, Dr Tim Cotton Devo day 4