I thought it was interesting to hear of “open border” advocates quoting the Bible to advance their agenda. It is also interesting that these same people will show contempt for the rest of Scripture when it doesn’t fit their agenda.
I agree that we do need to go to Scripture, because I believe that it does throw light on some of the hot issues that we are faced with today. Unlike the open border crowd who would use or try to use Scripture to shut down the opposition, we need to use Scripture rightly interpreted to show us the way to go.
The Scripture that the open border crowd uses is Leviticus 19:33-34 “And if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him. The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” (NKJV) The key word in this passage is the word “stranger” and in the original Hebrew it is “ger,” meaning “resident alien.” It is the same word used by the U.S. for a foreigner who is a legal resident.
The King James Version of the Bible defines ‘stranger’ as a man of “non-Israelite birth” being a resident in the Promise Land with the permission of the authorities. In other words, this is a privilege granted by the host nation, it was not an assumed right.
As with all people we should be kind to the alien when we see them suffering, thirsty, hungry, etc. Matthew 25: 31-40 brings this out. But if we are going to be Scriptural isn’t it right to let the authorities know about the ‘illegal’ alien among us, otherwise we are just as guilty in breaking the law.
God never condones ‘lawlessness’ against ‘just laws.’ Some might say that the laws we have protecting our borders are not just laws, but I would tend to disagree. An unjust law is one that goes against God’s higher laws. An example of this would be Nazi Germany in violating God’s higher law. However, is it an unjust law when USA has laws to protect our borders as well as our citizens? We can improve our laws to make them work better for the good of society, but laws that protect our borders are not unjust.
Romans 13:1-3 says: “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same.”
Proverbs 28:4 is interesting in this regard: “Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but such as keep the law contend with them.” This reminds me of what Isaiah said: “Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. So truth fails, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.” (Isaiah 59:14-15) Is our culture moving in this direction?
If we do not have strong borders then we have no nation. Is this what God has ordained. 677 times in the Bible ‘nation’ is mentioned in the context of destiny for each nation. “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings.” Acts 17:26
When it came to the division of Israel among the tribes we read: “When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel.” Deuteronomy 32:8
We see that God reserved the Promise Land for Israel and separated or divided the land into 13 sections (set boundaries). Two or three hundred years before Abraham we have the original division of the earth according to the sons of Noah. “These were the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations, in their nations; and from these the nations were divided on the earth after the flood.” Genesis 10:32
The bottom line is that immigration laws must be respected and obeyed. Yes, I agree that they can be improved and through the ballot box we can put into office people who will work to improve them.