If I am to be protected by the walls of God, does that mean I will have no freedom to reach out? Am I trapped in something constraining? Not at all!


George Matheson, the 1800s writer of the great hymn O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go, wrote about the New Jerusalem to come: “So there is to be no liberty? Is the penalty of being within the walls to be my captivity? Not so; you can go where you like; the world shall be yours. Simply because there shall no more be anything outside; the whole universe shall be enclosed in Christ. You shall never get beyond your walls; but your walls shall enfold creation. You shall never escape from God’s presence; but you shall find God’s presence everywhere.”


So in the here and now, the Lord Jesus is the new temple and wherever we go, He comes with us. His walls never impede our progress in the world. We are at one and the same time shut in to Jesus and secure but also free to go out and fulfill His will for us in the world. Within the bounds of His love there is great peace.