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What the Bible Says About Immigration
- Immigration, the movement of non-native people into a country in order to settle there, has been a strategy for bettering one’s life since the beginning of civilization.
- In Scripture we see Jacob’s family immigrating to Egypt during a famine in their land and ending up there for 400 years before returning to Canaan
- What does God think of immigration? Is He for it, against it? Does it matter to Him at all?
- Our country, like many others, has faced the issue of people wanting to come to live here and we have had a long history of welcoming immigrants, but recent developments have created a backlash against immigration, especially illegal immigration.
- We question whether immigrants hurt our economy by taking jobs our citizens would otherwise do, by using social services like schools and medical help, and by paying smaller amounts of income tax than more prosperous citizens would.
- We also fear that people of other color, language, creed and practices are changing our sense of what our nation looks like religiously and culturally.
- I don’t have answers to all the issues facing our nation over immigration, but I can speak to what God says in His Word about the immigrant.
I. God Doesn’t Like It When We Mistreat Immigrants
- He sees it as equivalent to mistreating His own children
When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 19:33-34 ESV)
2. He sees it as equivalent to mistreating Him
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ (Matthew 25:41-43 ESV)
3. His judgment will be swift and sure
Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts. (Malachi 3:5 ESV)
II. God Blesses Those Who Love the Immigrant
- He rewards us financially when we help immigrants stave off poverty
When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. (Deuteronomy 24:19 ESV)
2. He rewards us spiritually when we help immigrants by meeting their needs
Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me. (Matthew 25:35 ESV)
3. He will use our efforts to bring many to salvation
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:9-10 ESV)
Conclusion:
- We may need a new way as a nation to handle the many immigrants, legal and illegal, who come here or want to come here, but there are many here whom God has brought to our doorstep to minister to in His name.
- We need to equip ourselves to serve these people in a way that meets their greatest physical and social needs so that we can also help meet their spiritual needs.
About the Author Randall Johnson
A full-time pastor since 1979, Randall originally graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary (ThM) in 1979 and from Reformed Theological Seminary (DMin) in 1998. He is married with four grown children and a pile of epic grandchildren.
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