Hope
Illustration★★★★Before the Berlin Wall was removed, “National Geographic” magazine ran a two-page aerial photograph of it. It is really a double wall. Between the walls there was a “no—man’s land” filled with all sorts of obstacles: upturned spikes, barbed wire, electric fences, trip alarms, watch dogs, vehicle traps, flood lights, etc. In the “National Geographic” picture, one could see an abandoned Church still standing in the middle of the double wall.
It stood empty and unused, of course. Ironically, the name of that Church is “The Church of Reconciliation.” Why the Soviets allowed the Church to remain standing has not been explained. But, for hearers and receivers of the Word, it stood as a powerful symbol of hope in the Resurrection Power of God.
It stood as a powerful symbol of hope that nothing man can do will defeat God’s purpose, ultimately. It stood as a powerful symbol of hope in the coming Kingdom of Love. As the Apostle Paul has written, “It pleased God to make absolute fullness reside in Christ and, by means of Him, to reconcile everything in His Person, both on earth and in the heavens, making peace through the blood of His Cross” (Col. 1:19).
The point
The Church of Reconciliation standing abandoned in Berlin's no-man's land serves as symbol of God's resurrection power and hope that nothing man does defeats God's ultimate reconciliation purpose.