The construction of Hadrian's wall began in AD 122. It was 80 miles long and between sixteen and twenty three feet tall. At the base it was roughly ten feet wide and an average width at the top of eight feet. It took thirty thousand men almost a decade to complete. If the wall were built today, the cost of such a structure would certainly be in the billions. Now the question has to be asked, why build such a structure? No one really knows the true answer to that question, but we certainly know that it marked the boundary of Roman territory. And therein lies the problem for Rome. Rome had been an aggressive, expansionist empire. In days and times before Hadrian, a rebellious Scottish people would have been engaged and either swallowed up into the Roman empire, or wiped of the face of the map. A fundamental shift had taken place in thr Roman psyche. Hadrian's walls can easily be seen as a landmark that marked the beginning of the end of the Roman empire. When Rome ceased expanding and began using massive resources to control and maintain what it had, Rome ceased to be Rome.
Can we see evidence of a Hadrian's wall in American society today? When the space shuttle program was shut down, was that part of the foundations of our own Hadrian's wall? " This far and no further?" Imagine what the American people of the fifties and sixties would think if they knew that the only way Americans could get to a space station they had helped build was to thumb a ride on a Russian rocket? Would they not be horrified? What about our aging and crumbling infra-structure? Is that the mark of a mighty empire on the rise? Listen to politicians and hear these little men talk about cuts. If these men were generals and their backs were to the wall, they would surely raise the white flag and then explain why surrender was a rational decision. Mighty generals down through the ages attacked when they should have defended and gained victories that would be remembered for centuries, sometimes millennium. Where are the American leaders today? They are busy erecting a wall, stone by stone that says " this far and no further." And as the wall gets higher and higher, it begins to blot out the horizon of American greatness.
As Christians , we can see the exact same thing happening to Christendom. Where are the Christian leaders? Is the policy of building walls and containments at work in Christendom? Are huge resources expended to build structures of containment? Are we seeing Christendom shrink as a result of our luke-warmness? The simple fact is that one either takes the fight to the enemy or one erects barriers to hide behind. Is the seeker friendly church the foundations of our own Hadrian's wall? Is our political correctness the first course of stonework in a wall that says " This far and no further." These are important questions to ask ourselves. If God is in the business of raising up and tearing down kingdoms and empires, where are we in that process right now? Does God look for a people that says " This far and no further?" Is He not looking for a people that will venture out beyond the walls and constructs of men?
Religions can be contained, but the Church of God is free to go wherever they are led by the Holy Spirit. When you see these walls brothers and sisters, make sure you see them in your rear view mirror. Gods work lies beyond the walls of humanism. To follow Him and Him alone is to put yourself beyond the constrains of men's wisdom, to blindly follow where He leads, a place without maps. Yes, it can be a barbarous world, but He is God of all the world and it will never be tamed by erecting walls and hiding behind them.