Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household (Ephesians 2:19).

My husband Tony immigrated to America from Asia in 1969.  I've wondered if this is why photos of grateful immigrants becoming US citizens tug at my heart.  When I read this verse, however, I see that maybe my spirit identifies with immigrants because I, too, have been an immigrant—an immigrant to God's Kingdom.

When Tony and I dug into America's history of immigration, we discovered The Chinese Exclusion Act had been in effect from 1882-1943. Had he been born a generation earlier, he would have been barred from immigrating to America.

How does all this correspond to immigration to God's Kingdom?

Were we foreigners and aliens faced with an Exclusion Act? If so, what happened to that Act? What enabled us to immigrate and be “fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household”?

Something drastic must have happened.

And something drastic did happen. Jesus became The Excluded-to-the-Utmost One. The Cross was the way God bore the full weight of exclusion. Yes, He bore the exclusion people impose on one another and that nations impose upon foreigners. But the heavier exclusion He bore was that of humanity's felt exclusion from God's Presence.

Let's think of this geographically. Way over there is the Kingdom of God. Here in the far country, “...excluded from citizenship...foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12), is humanity.

The old southerner who says “you can't get there from here” was dead-right--IF he was speaking before the Crucifixion.

That's because God's Immigration Policy, enacted at the Crucifixion, declares that the dividing wall no longer exists. The Exclusion Act is no longer on the books. No immigrant to God's Kingdom will be excluded on the basis of ethnicity, race, nationality, level of education, health status,  morality status, financial status—any status at all.  

Not everyone chooses to become an immigrant of course. Leaving the familiar and heading for the unknown requires courage, or longing, or desperation.  And a huge dose of humility. Sometimes it takes a while to decide to make the journey.

But when they/we do decide, all immigrants are met with the largest WELCOME sign ever: “... you are no longer foreigners and aliens but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household (Ephesians 2:19).

How did you decide to be an immigrant to God's Kingdom? If you are still deciding whether to immigrate, maybe putting yourself into this analogy could help clarify your decision a bit.