Kari Jobe – Heal Our Land

American Contemporary Christian artist and Cody Carnes’ wife Kari Jobe is a former member of Gateway Worship, serving as a worship leader from 2003 to 2008 before pursuing a solo career.

She released five albums and one EP, including:

• Bethlehem (2007)
• Kari Jobe (2009)
• Where I Find You (2012)
• The Acoustic Sessions (Live) (EP, 2012)
• Majestic (2014)
• The Garden (2017)

Jobe won a Grammy in 2013 for Best Contemporary Christian Album (Where I Find You) and three Doves:

• Spanish Language Album of the Year (Le Canto [Spanish version of Kari Jobe]) (2010)
• Special Events Album of the Year (Glory Revealed II: The Word of God in Worship) (2010, with Matt Maher)
• Recorded Music Packaging of the Year (The Garden) (2017)

Also, check out my review of The Cause of Christ and Forever.

Note to new users: This is a different kind of review site!  Read About the Berean Test and Evaluation Criteria prior to reading this review.

1. What message does the song communicate?

God is in the transforming business, making wicked, ugly sinners into an obedient masterpiece, demonstrating His mercy.  Jobe asks for God to increase our sensitivity to the Holy Spirit’s Presence, praying that unbelievers may know the God who died for their sins and rose again.

Score: 10/10

2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?

The whole song agrees with Scripture.

Lyrics posted with permission.*

[Verse 1]

You take, our lives
Flawed yet beautiful
Restore, refine
Lord You’re merciful
Redeem, revive

God takes our sinful lives and transforms us into a right relationship with Him.  We were once dead in sin and are now alive in God (Romans 6:1-11, Romans 7:4-6, Galatians 2:19-20, 2 Timothy 2:11, and 1 Peter 2:24).

[Chorus]

Spirit of God
Breathe on Your church
Pour out Your presence

Jobe asks for increased sensitivity to the Spirit’s Presence.

Speak through Your word

God’s word is living and active (Hebrews 4:12), useful for teaching, correction, rebuke, and training for our completion (2 TImothy 3:16-17).

We pray in every nation, Christ be known

Jobe’s prayer is that all people enter into a relationship with God.

Our hope and salvation, Christ alone

There is no other name in heaven by which we can be saved (Acts 4:12).

[Verse 2]

New power, new wine

My initial thought is that this imagery describes God’s discipline of His children to aid us in becoming better than we are, yielding the perfect fruits of righteousness (Hebrews 12:4-11). Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 9:14-17, Mark 2:18-22, and Luke 5:33-39 regarding old/new wine, according to Gill’s commentary, is that the new wineskins are sinners saved by grace, vessels of righteousness regenerated by the Holy Spirit. This is consistent with Hillsong’s point regarding new wine contextualized by the rest of the lyrics.

If the new wineskins are the vessels, then the new self must be the new wine (Ezekiel 11:19, Romans 6:1-7, Romans 8:12-13, 2 Corinthians 3:18, 2 Corinthians 4:16, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 5:16-18, Ephesians 4:22-24, Ephesians 2:14-16, Colossians 3:10, and 1 Peter 2:24).

Another common interpretation of “new wine” is that Jesus rejects Pharisaical teaching, ushering in a new religion of Christianity. This plays into the hand of the NAR movement. There are a few problems with this view:

1. Jesus didn’t have a problem with the teaching of the Pharisees. His issue was their behavior. For example, in Matthew 23:1-4, Jesus laid out the difference between the teaching of the Pharisees and their acts. He says to do as they say, but not as they do.

Side note: How many times have our parents told us that? At least, my parents did. But, children tend to do as their parents and often not what they say!

2. The larger context of this parable is in response to the Pharisees’ questioning why Jesus’ disciples do not fast and pray as the disciples of Pharisees and disciples of John the Baptist. Jesus responds that His disciples will fast and pray when He is taken from them. This is an Old Testament practice that Jesus does not reject.

Luke 5:39 specifically has been marinating within me.  This passage doesn’t show up in Matthew or Mark and seems to indicate that the wineskins are people. The person requires transformation before they stop saying “the old is good enough”, willing to drink new wine. So, the wineskin is the transformed life, not the wine itself.

This begs the question: what is this “new wine”? Jesus’ overarching message is to establish a new covenant, where there would be forgiveness of sins. This connects with wine in Matthew 26:27-28, Luke 22:20, 1 Corinthians 11:25, and Hebrews 13:20 and aligns with the Scriptures you provided. The promised Holy Spirit comes with the package, reiterated at the beginning of Acts 1 and begins to enter the disciples of Jesus post-ascension in Acts 2.

Therefore, the new wine is the new covenant and the new wineskins are vessels willing to enter into this new covenant with Jesus, prepared to receive the Holy Spirit. Then, Hillsong is on the right track, but incorrect in the usage of wine in their song. God has already made new wine, the new covenant, about 2,000 years ago. He is making new wineskins, prepared hearts that enter into this new covenant and receive the Holy Spirit, which fits the overall theme of Jobe’s song.

This also means that Gills’ commentary is incorrect.

As divisions fall
One church, one bride
Jesus, Lord of all
With one voice, we cry

These lyrics call for unity within the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 10:17, 1 Corinthians 12:12-27, and Ephesians 4:1-16), also known as the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:22-32 and Revelation 19:7-9).

[Bridge]

So God we pray to You
Humble ourselves again
Lord would You hear our cry?
Lord will You heal our land?

The short answer is, yes, if we humbly repent, God will do these things (2 Chronicles 7:14).

That every eye will see
That every heart will know
The One who took our sin
The One who died and rose

Another prayer for the nations similar to Chorus, line 5.  It adds that Jesus paid for our lawbreaking (Isaiah 53:1-12, Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45, John 1:29, John 3:16, John 19:30, Acts 4:12, Acts 20:28, Romans 5:6-10, Romans 6:23, 1 Corinthians 1:30, 1 Corinthians 6:20, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Galatians 1:3-4, Galatians 3:13, Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 2:14, 1 Timothy 2:6, Titus 2:14, Hebrews 9:12, Hebrews 9:15, Hebrews 9:22, Hebrews 9:26, 1 Peter 1:17-21, 1 Peter 2:24, 1 Peter 1:18-19, 1 John 1:7, 1 John 2:1-2, and Revelation 5:9) and resurrected (Matthew 28:1-20, Mark 16:1-20, Luke 24:1-12, John 20:1-29, Acts 1:3, Acts 3:15, Acts 4:33, and 1 Corinthians 15:3-8).

So God we pray to You
Humble ourselves again
Lord would You hear our cry?
Lord will You heal our land?
That every eye will see
That every heart will know
The One who took our sin
The One who died and rose

Repeats lines 1-8.

And when Your kingdom comes
And when at last You call
We’ll rise to worship You alone

When Jesus comes again (Matthew 24:43, Acts 1:9-11, 1 Corinthians 11:26, 1 Thessalonians 5:2-4, 2 Peter 3:10, and Revelation 16:15), we will experience the final resurrection (Luke 20:34-38, Acts 24:15-16, Romans 6:1-5, Romans 8:11-13, 1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 1 Corinthians 15:50-56, 2 Corinthians 4:13-14, and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

Those outside Christianity will understand the gist of Jobe’s message, that Christians pray for unity and that unbelievers will become Christians.  Jobe’s explicit naming God and Jesus, along with Christ’s payment for sins and resurrection, contribute to this conclusion.

They will likely not comprehend the Holy Spirit’s breathing, new power/wine, the correct idea of sin, and the coming Kingdom without deeper research.

Score: 7/10

4. What does this song glorify?

It glorifies God that He makes us new, asking for unity, sensitivity to the Spirit’s Presence, and that others would enter into a personal relationship with God.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Kari Jobe’s Heal Our Land is a great song.  It calls us to unite together, become more aware of His Presence, and to pray for others to know Christ, that He would transform us to become better people.  These bring God glory.  Unbelievers will understand its basic message, but some of its details such as new wine, God’s Presence, and sin unless they study Christianity.

I highly recommend it for corporate worship.  Seeker-sensitive churches may want to reconsider unless you’re ready to stretch your congregants.

Final Score: 9.5/10

Artist Info

Track: Heal Our Land (listen to the song)

Artist: Kari Jobe

Album: The Garden

Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)

Release Year: 2017

Duration: 5:00

Agree?  Disagree?  Don’t be shy or have a cow!  Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.

*Copyright © 2016 SHOUT! Music Publishing (APRA) (adm. in the US and Canada at CapitolCMGPublishing.com) / Writers Roof Publishing (BMI) Worship Together Music (BMI) Capitol CMG Paragon (BMI) Kari Jobe Carnes Music (BMI) (adm. at CapitolCMGPublishing.com) All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Updates:

03/25/2021 – Updated per repetition announcement.