Gen 12:7 The land lost

Gen 12:7   Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. (ESV)

At the end of Solomon's reign things went downhill and Israel gradually lost the land as it turned away from God. It was then ruled over by a long list of Empires. Here's a summary table plus some key points:

Empire	From	to
Assyrian	721	597
Babylonians	597	538
Persian	539	330
Macedonian(Hellenisitc/Greek)	330	63
Roman	63	330
Byzantine	330	634
Arabs	634	1199
Crusaders	1099	1291
Saladin and other Mamluks	1291	1516
the Ottoman Empire	1516	1918
British / European Colonialism	1917	1948

The following key points come mainly from (Who's promised land? Colin Chapman page 19-21).

The 10 northern tribes revolted against Rehoboam, Solomon's son, and set up their own capital in Samaria. Samaria was captured by the Assyrian empire in 722BC; large numbers of people were deported and many immigrants brought in. The region generally adopted the region of the Israelites but the Samarians, as they were called, were despised by the Southern kingdom which considered them no longer pure, both in ancestry and religion.

The Southern Kingdom itself managed to remained independent of Assyria but in 597AD Nebuchadnezzer of Babylon Empire took Jerusalem and deported the cream of its population. When the remaining Jews revolted the Babylonian army destroyed much of Jerusalem and exiled many of its people.

When Cyrus king of Persia captured Babylon he repatriated many of the Jews who began coming back in 537 BC under Zerubbabel (to rebuild the temple), with the last arriving 70 or 80 years later under Ezra and Nehemiah (to rebuild the city wall).

Alexander the Great conquered the coastal plains in 330BC but left Jerusalem alone. The Ptolemies took control of Palestine after the death of Alexander the great in 323BC. The Seleucids (of Syria) then took over and after a Jewish revolt an enraged Antiochus Epiphanes came down very hard on the Jewish people.

 

The Romans took over next in 63BC ruling through puppet kings like Herrod the great (37-4BC) and Roman procurators like Pontius Pilot (AD 26-36). The Jews finally revolted against the Romans in AD 66 but Rome re-captured Jerusalem in AD 70 and destroyed the temple. Another revolt in AD 132 was put down in AD 135 and the Jews were slaughtered and Emperor Hadrian turned Jerusalem into a Roman colony.

In AD 395 the Roman Empire was split in two with the eastern half, including Palestine,  known as the Byzantine empire (Emperor Constantinople had made Byzantium the new capital of the empire in AD 330 and modestly changed its name to Constantinople) . In 614 the Persians briefly retook Palestine, but the Byzantines regain control in AD 617.

In AD 634, two years after the death of the prophet Muhammad the Arabs invaded Palestine and took Jerusalem but did not expel or oppress the Jews and Christians there.

The crusades recaptured Jerusalem form the Muslims in 1099 and massacred the entire population, both Jewish and Muslim. Saladin and his armies recaptured Jerusalem in 1187 AD and the whole of Palestine in 1291. Other Mamluks (powerful Muslim salve-soldiers) ruled until 1516.

Under the Turks many Jews returned to Palestine and the Jewish population increased from 5% to 9%. 

I'll look at the more modern history tomorrow but before I finish I can't resist taking a brief look ahead to Daniel's knowledge of and interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream (Dan 2). The dream is of a statue with a gold head, silver chest and arms, bronze middle and thighs, iron legs and feet of iron and clay. A stone  "cut out by no human hand...struck the image on its feet of iron and clay" and smashed the statue to pieces. The interpretation is that Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom is the head of gold. After him two inferior kingdoms will arise, and then a fourth will be strong but will be divided having strength and weakness in it. It has been suggested that a good fit for this is:

Silver : Medo-Persian Empire which started with Cyrus conquering Babylon in 539

Bronze : Greeko - Macedonian established by Alexander the great in 530

Iron : Roman Empire (some suggest it has a political and religious leg!)

The mixed feet are variously interpreted.  One view is that the clay is the church that grows up in the Roman empire but I'm not sure what the relationship of the church to the rock is in that case. Another view is that it is the breakup of the Roman empire and another that it is the various nations and states in Europe since the Roman Empire. I'm not yet persuaded it's all that clear. Maybe I'll look at it again when I get to Daniel.

Gen 12:7 The land given

Gen 12:7   Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. (ESV)

In this blog I want to take a quick look down through history to see what happened to the land that was promised to Abraham and his offspring. Abraham wandered about in the land for a bit, and for a while went to Egypt during a time of famine. The only bit of land he actually owned was a field containing a cave in which he buried his wife. The promise of inhabiting the land was fulfilled in both Joshua and Solomon's time. Joshua fought for and obtained the Land sometime around 1280BC:

Joshua 21:43-45   Thus the LORD gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. And the LORD gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the LORD had given all their enemies into their hands. Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass. (ESV)

Although these verses say they had all the land

"It is somewhat misleading, however, to speak of ' the conquest of the land', since the Israelites did not conquer anything like the whole land. One tribe after another attempted to occupy the territory allotted to it, but not all the tribes were successful, and large areas remained under the control of the Canaanite others who were living in the land" who's promised land? Colin Chapman page 17.

Then after an up and down time with the Judges, Solomon possessed and ruled the land (around 971BC-931BC):

1 Kings 4:20-24   Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea. They ate and drank and were happy.  Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life...For he had dominion over all the region west of the Euphrates from Tiphsah to Gaza, over all the kings west of the Euphrates. And he had peace on all sides around him. (ESV)

Nehemiah seems to have seen Solomon's reign as a fulfilment of the promises made to Abraham:

Neh 9:7-9, 25   You are the LORD, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham. You found his heart faithful before you, and made with him the covenant to give to his offspring the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. And you have kept your promise, for you are righteous.

   "And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea, ....[25] And they captured fortified cities and a rich land, and took possession of houses full of all good things, cisterns already hewn, vineyards, olive orchards and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in your great goodness. (ESV)

Gen 12:7 The land promised

Gen 12:7   Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. (ESV)

Interestingly the initial promises to Abram did not mention land. He is told to go to the land that God would show him but it hasn't been explicitly promised until now. When Abram arrives in Canaan God promises it to his offspring, and later specified the duration; "forever" Gen 13:15 and the dimensions;  "from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates" (ESV) Gen 15:18. The land is again promised as an "everlasting possession" (ESV) in Gen 17:8

While no conditions are explicitly attached to the promise there could be a hint of one in the next verse:

Gen 17:9   God said to Abraham, "As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations." (ESV)

Later , in Deuteronomy, God makes it really clear to his offspring what will happen if they do not obey him fully:

Deut 28:58-64   "If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the LORD your God, then the LORD will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting. And he will bring upon you again all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. Every sickness also and every affliction that is not recorded in the book of this law, the LORD will bring upon you, until you are destroyed. Whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, you shall be left few in number, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God. And as the LORD took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the LORD will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you. And you shall be plucked off the land that you are entering to take possession of it.

   "And the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. (ESV)  

This explicitly says that they will be plucked off the land due to disobedience which means that God cannot have promised unconditionally that Abram's descendents will always be in the land because here he says he can kick them out. In fact, if Deuteronomy was addressed to me I would not sure whether to be joyful or fearful. It's got some scary stuff in it for those who disobey and I know what I'm like.

So, though the promises that God made to Abram did not have clear conditions attached to them, some seem to have been subsequently revealed or made clear in the law. Actually, as in much of the bible, I suspect there is more than one thing going on here. It could be that there are two promises, one conditional for natural Israel pertaining to the land and one unconditional for spiritual Israel pertaining to the new heavens and new earth. Even though the promise was forfeited by Israel's disobedience, it is fulfilled unconditionally through Jesus' obedience and through him and faith in him we inherit the whole earth. Having said that I am not sure what to make of the Jewish return to the land now. I'll look at that later.
 

Gen 12:2-3 A book of blessing

Gen 12:2-3   And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonours you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (ESV)

Sometimes on a journey you get to a vantage point. You come to a clearing in the trees, the brow of a hill, or turn a corner on a mountain path, and suddenly get a panoramic view of the way ahead. You pause for a few moments, taking it all in, knowing that your next steps will take you back into the rocks or trees and your eyes will be back down on the path. You must make a mental map of what you see now to guide you later. This is just such a place in scripture.

As I come to look at the promises God makes to Abram I still have the command in my mind and particularly the massive cost to Abram in obeying it. What would it be like for me to get up and go from my home in the UK into a nation with a radically different language and culture? What would it be like to leave without an address to go to, sitting on a plane with no one waiting to meet me at the other end. What would compel me do that? For Abram it was a promise of blessing, both personal and global; intimate and international. Specifically God promises:

·         To make Abram a great nation

·         To bless him and make his name great

·         To treat others as they treat Abram (bless or curse) and

·         To bless all the families of the earth in him 

Now that's a lot of blessing so I'll step through it a bit. This childless man will have a son Isaac and he will have a son Jacob who will be called Israel and from him will come a unique nation special to God. Abram himself will be blessed, not just with a son, I think, but in the full breadth of this word; a long life, a healthy body, resources to live life and do stuff, a relationship with God. You name it, he's going to get it. Wow.

Abram's name will be changed to Abraham (meaning "father of a multitude") and made great. Many will look back to him as their father. Even today he is a key figure in three of the world's major religions making up over half of the world's population. What is it in us that wants our name to be great? I think it's a hunger for significance, not to be snuffed out but to live on in some form or other, the desire for meaning, and to be somebody. Well Abraham was to be somebody with enduring significance.   

But the blessing doesn't stop at Abraham. It is transferable! Those that bless him are blessed and those that curse him are cursed. Others can tap into Abram's blessing or cut themselves off from it by virtue of the way they relate to him. And God is here promising that this blessing will flow into every nation of the world. In one man's blessing is every nation's blessing. 

Wonderful as all this is it is only a pencil sketch, a prophetic precursor to an even greater blessing. I'm reminded of the classic line in Crocodile Dundee when Mick is confronted by a mugger with a 6 inch knife.  "you call that a knife? Now that's a knife" he says as he pulls out his 2 foot long machete. Well, that's what happens in the bible. As we get our heads around what we think are the extent of the promises to Abram we turn over the pages of the bible into the New Testament and God says "you call that blessing", "now that's a blessing".

The fullness of the nation that comes from Abram is not one of physical descent but spiritual. It's not all those who share Abram's genes but his faith who are his children. The fulfilment of these promises come through one of Abram's descendents, Jesus, the name above all other names. Blessings and curses are ultimately found in our response to Jesus. If we accept him we are accepted, if we reject him then we are rejected. It is in the name of Jesus that we find significance and meaning and purpose. It is faith in the name of Jesus that gives us eternal life and relationship with God.  It is in the name of Jesus that blessing is released into the nations of the world as those from every race, tribe and tongue bless his name.

As I read this ancient story of Abram recounting events that took place thousands of years ago, I am struck at how much they are relevant to me. These promises have flowed into my life on their way out to all the nations of the world. In Christ I am part of the nation promised to Abram, made up of others from every nation. I have significance and purpose, and in fact every Spiritual blessing there is. In these few verses are my roots. When God chose Abram he had me in mind and countless others more numerous than the stars in the sky. Abram died without seeing the fullness of  these promises, we see a lot more but I bet my thinking is still way too small. I'll get to heaven and God will say "You think you know blessing? I'll show you blessing!" and I will be wonderfully caught up in his infinite love and glory for all eternity. Let there be no mistake about it, the bible is a book about blessing. When I walk through some tricky passages and even hard experiences in my own life this is the mental picture I want in my head. God's plan for me and the nations is blessing, blessing, blessing through the person of his son Jesus.      

Gen 12:1 An offer you can't refuse

Gen 12:1   Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. (ESV)

Well, now that the preliminary questions have been answered (except the one about leaving his father's household) and the scene has been set I can get into the meat of the promises that God made to Abram. My main concern is to capture something of the huge significance of these and their impact on my life, church, nation and world without getting bogged down. This is not a commentary or a preach or a teaching series. It's just a blog. Let me read this promise again and let God speak to me.    

Actually the first thing that hits me is the command before the promise. I don't think they are easily separated. God tells Abram to leave his country his people and his "father's house" and go somewhere many miles away to a place that he has not yet seen. But this isn't about Abram. God is making his strongest clearest move yet in a plan that gives purpose to the whole of creation.

The command and the promise are intimately linked, like a bullet and the explosive charge that propels it forward. Abram is blown out of Ur by a wind of promise, or looking at it another way Abram is attracted forward by future blessing. The commentators say that the syntax implies that the promises are conditional. That may be but this looks to me to be a case of what theologians term an 'effectual calling'. A more familiar expression might be "an offer you can't refuse". When I became a Christian I responded to the gospel promise of forgiveness, fellowship with God and eternal life. These blessings were conditional on my repentance and faith, yet when God called me he opened my heart to respond ensuring that I would not refuse. The gospel is more than a statement we need to be persuaded of in order to get saved. It is the heralding of God's glorious grace with the power to change the heart and waken the dead.

Reading this passage I am not given the impression that at last God found someone who would respond to his "go". Rather it resounds with the purposefulness and confidence of a sovereign God. The gospel explodes with such supernatural force that souls wake from their sinful slumber and take flight into the purposes of God. As I look out over a company of people and proclaim Jesus as saviour and Lord, people will respond. As the church heralds the gospel in a city people will stream to it. God said "go to the land". We say "come to the saviour". To those whom God chooses to bless, these are offers impossible to refuse.

Gen 11:31 Don't you know where you live?

Gen 11:31   Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. (ESV)

A year or so ago I went through a phase of playing a game with my girls where they would pretend to be Abraham and I would say to them "Hello Abraham, where do you come from?". They would answer  "Ur" to which I would say "Don't you know where you live?". "Yes I do" they would say. "Where then? " "Ur...." and on we would go like that for a few minutes until we fell about laughing. You had to be there I guess! Sorry, I couldn't think of another way to start this blog. The significance of this bit of the bible gave me writer's cramp and I kept trying to think of something deep and clever to introduce it. Turns out there is not much of that in my brain.  

So what have we got here? Well, after the scattering at Babel we get a list of the descendents of Noah's son Shem to Terah who fathered Abram and there the family line abruptly stops as Abram's wife Sarai is barren. Terah takes his grandson Lot (son of Haran) and Abram and Sarai to Canaan (Gen 20:22:20-24, 24:10 suggest that Terah also brought his other son Nahor and his wife Milcah) but settles down in Haran and dies there.

It's always intrigued me that it was Terah who set out on the journey to Canaan with Abram, yet we are told that God told Abram to "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you" (Gen 12:1 ESV). Why don't we read "Abram took his wife and father and Nephew of to Canaan"? Gen 12:1 could be "the Lord had said to Abram" or "the Lord said to Abram" ie he had said it to him in Ur or he said it to him in Haran. Acts 7:2-3 helps us select the former because Stephen says:

"Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, 'Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you'. Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living." (ESV).

Aside from a small problem that this throws up to do with Abram's age when he leaves Haran (see *doesn't add up*) this is helpful as it indicates that Abram is the instigator of the move. Terah must have been involved and aware and participating in the promise made to Abram. He must have believed and bought into them enough to make a start but not enough to get very far. What is the significance of Terah settling and then dying in Haran? Maybe Terah was sick and Abram stayed to look after him in Haran but my instinct is that there is something more being said here (actually it could just be I heard a preach or read something that suggested it but it seems right to me).

It shows me the importance of hearing God for myself rather than tagging along with someone's good idea. It speaks to me about not settling for something less than the full promises of God. It's not good enough to start, we need to get there. Having responded to God a few months ago about believing him for much more healing in the church and preaching on it for a term and praying for a few people, I must not settle where I am now. I must not get side tracked with other things or priorities. I must take the next step and then the next until I arrive. More generally it's not just about making a decision to follow Jesus, it's about actually following him through life. Not just being baptised but obeying all he has commanded. Not just looking back to a conversion but enjoying an ongoing relationship.     

I'll finish with a couple of other questions that occurred to me when I read this. First "why does the city of Haran share a name with Terah's son who died in Ur?". The answer I discovered is that they are spelt differently in the original Hebrew. Simple as that.     

Second, God says to Abram "leave your father (ie Terah's) household and go to the land I will show you" Gen 12:2. So why does Terah go with him? It's too late at night to answer that so I'll leave it hanging for now and leave you with a map of the so call "Fertile Crescent" I made when I taught on Genesis a few years ago. Obviously some of the cities are not there as Abram sets out but it helps me get some idea of the geography:

And here is a map of Abram's journey to the promised land:

*doesn't add up* Stephen's clarification throws up a problem. Terah is 70 when Abram is born (Gen 11:26-32). Terah dies in Haran at the age of 205 (Gen 11:32) so Abram must be at least 135 years old when he leaves Haran for Canaan as Stephen say he does so after Terah dies. But Gen 12:4 says that Abram was 75 when he left Haran for Canaan. One explanation is that Stephen was following the Samaritan Pentateuch  which has Terah dying at 145 which makes the figures add up.  

Gen 11:9 (Babel part 3) A tale of two Cities

Gen 11:9   [the tower/city] was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth. (ESV)

Babel seems to have been built by Nimrod the Hunter (Gen 10:8-12) "the beginning of his kingdom was Babel" v10. Babel is made up of the words "bab" meaning "gate" and "el" meaning "god" so Babel seems to mean "Gate of god". If that's what it means they have made a big mistake. Jesus is the only gate of God (John 10:7-9). Attempting to get to God any other way is like drawing a door on a wall with a crayon and trying to go through it. It may work for the road runner but not for us.

A related Hebrew word "balal" means "confusion". My ESV study bible and other sources link Babel with Babylon. I guess the tower was in the city and was probably a ziggurat which were massive Mesopotamian monuments with several stepped levels each smaller than the one below. They were believed to be the dwelling place of the patron god of a city. How sad when there is that level of confusion about God and how to know him and relate to him.  

Later Nimrod "went into Assyria and built Nineveh" Gen 10:11. Not a great legacy as Babylon and Nineveh are not good cities in the bible although Nineveh experienced a brief revival under Jonah's preaching. It has been suggested that Nimrod's name is from the verb "let us revolt" which would be rather apt if true.

Cities feature prominently in the bible. The first one we heard about was built by Cain after he killed his brother Gen 4:17. Thus far then they are not presented in a very good light but as we read on we discover that God's final intention is to build a city for man to live in with him. Hebrews 11:10 tells us that "Abraham looked for a city with foundations whose architect and builder is God". In revelation John gets shown a vision of this city, Rev 21:10   And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, (ESV). This city is also "the bride, the wife of the lamb" Rev 21:9 so it's not bricks and mortar, it's the church! We are being built together like living stones into a glorious temple, a beautiful city, a radiant bride. The whole of the bible could be described as a tale of two cities: Babylon and Jerusalem. One man's handiwork, the other designed and built by God's. One temporary, the other eternal.

So how does all that relate to the fine city I am in right now? I think someone once coined the term "the city within a city" to refer to the church in a city. It was probably Tim Keller and I wish I could find his notes on cities as they were really good. Anyway, my thoughts are these : In a city Christians are to be salt and light. As salt we slow a cities decline, or even, on a good day,  help it to thrive. As we do this we keep the lights on so that people have an opportunity to see Jesus, come to him to be built into the eternal city.        

Gen 11:9 (Babel part 2) Jesus be the centre

Gen 11:9   [the tower/city] was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth. (ESV)

I thought I had got to Abraham at last but I kept getting drawn back to Babel. I read something recently making a possible link between the scattering at Babel and Mary's statement in the NT Luke 1:51. Mary is visiting her relative (the KJV's 'cousin' is too precise) Elizabeth who is pregnant with John the Baptist. John leaps for joy in Elizabeth's womb (reminds me of the controversial Christmas adverts that are going to go up later this year of Jesus in the womb),  and she blesses Marry "Blessed is she who has believed what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished" v44. Mary responds in praise to God including the insightful statement "He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;" Even if Mary didn't have Babel in mind, along with Psalm 55:9  "Destroy, O Lord, divide their tongues (NIV has confuse); for I see violence and strife in the city",  and 1 Cor 1:19 "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise" it shows that Babel is not just an isolated one off, it's actually part of God's nature to confuse and scatter the wicked and the wise.

  

As the fear of God is removed from a people foolishness and fragmentation begins. As man basks in his own glory the lights are dimmed in is understanding.  The more he thinks he sees the less he truly perceives. The scattering at Babel is not just about languages, it's about how communities fragment when God is not at the centre. Joy ebbs away, family life breaks down, streets become increasingly violent, intelligent popular people grope about in despair. When they built the tower God didn't frustrate their tower building technology (we can build even bigger towers today) but confused their communication and relationships.

The converse is also true. As we put Jesus firmly at the centre of our lives, family and church, our communications and relationships should thrive. We should step into tremendous fruitfulness in the purposes of God as we enjoy the unity of the Spirit. I want to make my private thoughts and public conversation richer in their content about Christ. This blog is a key strategy to that end. It's been so good reading and thinking about Jesus these last few months. Feeding on the word. Chewing on these early chapters and verses in Genesis.

For many years of my life I babbled. Jesus was not at the centre of my life as I built my tower to the heavens. My plans, my thoughts, my ideas, my guesses, my hunches, my theories, my desires and dreams, my sin piling up. Then one day the lights went on. I saw my moral failure and need of a saviour. My next words were the wisest thing I have ever said or done. They went something like this : "Jesus, I am sorry for the things I have done wrong, for living life without you and against you. Thank you for sending Jesus to die on the cross for me so that my sin could be forgiven. Jesus I want to follow you.  Please help me to do that and get to know you more. Amen". 

Just as it is in the nature of God to let people have it their way and experience the consequences of rejecting him, it is also his nature to seek us out and find us, even at great personal cost. Thank you Jesus you searched me out when I was in darkness. You are the light that has lit up my life. You are the foundation upon which I build. Jesus be the centre of my life.

June 10th Update

Just read this tweet form Reinhard Bonnke “'Theology is limited thinking, philosophy unlimited', said a doubter to me. I replied that to be free of God is like a ship that’s free of water when it’s lying on a sandbank. The Bible says that 'in Him we live and move and have our being.' That is unlimited, true freedom. Agreed?" Reinhard Bonnke