I Feel I Am Not Acceptable to God and Peopleናሙና

Many live outside the wall

Many people perceive themselves as unacceptable to God and others. It is as though a spiritual wall separates them from God and other people, and they are on the outside—one of the rejected, one of the unacceptable.

There is an important word for you in Hebrews 13:11-13: Although the high priest brings the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin, the bodies are burned outside the camp. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to sanctify the people with His own blood. Therefore let us go to Him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace He bore.

What wall is Hebrews 13 referring to? The wall spoke of God, who separated the clean from the unclean. Nothing unclean could have remained in the Israelites' camp in the Old Testament. Everything and everyone who was unclean was thrown outside the camp, and later the city wall of Jerusalem, and had to stay outside. All the waste from the city was discarded and burned outside the city wall. Here, the wall is described as a spiritual wall.

And all who were unwelcome and unclean had to stay outside the wall. Jesus Christ died at Calvary, outside the city wall of Jerusalem. There, he died for those living outside the wall: those who were outcasts, despised, rejected, disapproved, unwelcome, and cursed. He also died for the nameless and faceless and the unclean lepers who were downtrodden, considered unacceptable, and essentially thrown away.

Outside the wall, people live under a curse: the curse of God. Only when that curse is lifted are they allowed to come back into the city. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 describes some of the people who live outside the wall: Or do you not know that those who do injustice will have no part in the kingdom of God? Do not deceive yourselves: neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor those who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor deceivers, shall enter the kingdom of God.

How can people be allowed back inside the city walls? How can the curse be nullified? Only through the cross can the curse be lifted, sin be taken away, and entrance regained into the city. This is what 1 Corinthians 6:11 says: And so were some of you. But you have washed away your sins, you have been sanctified, you have been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. What an incredible thought: those who could not enter the kingdom of God can now gain access by having their sins washed away and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.