I am a quilter – both a quilter of fabrics, and a quilter of words. When working with fabric, I carefully choose the patterns and colors that I believe will make a beautiful finished product. But when I complete piecing the quilt top, that does not mean my work is finished. It means it is time for a border.

A border gives a project stability. It surrounds the pieced quilt top, keeping all of those little seams from unraveling. Borders help to keep it all together – with quilt tops and with nations.

Borders come up frequently in the Bible. One can find the word “border” there anywhere from seventy-two to 201 times, depending on which translation you are reading. Borders are important to God. If they weren’t, He wouldn’t have written about them so extensively.

Borders are Biblical.

Curiously, the first border found in the Bible does not specifically mention the word “border” at all. In Genesis 3:24 we read, [God] drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. Because Adam and Eve sinned, eating fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God banned them from the garden. He set a border to differentiate between where Adam and Eve were allowed to go, and where they were forbidden to be.

Borders entered the world when sin entered the world.

To ensure that Adam and Eve did not reenter the garden of Eden, that border was secured by  armed guards, placed there by God. He is the creator of borders. Borders define territory, and guards defend that territory.

In Exodus 23:31 we find the boundaries of the Promised Land; the land God gave to the nation of Israel. And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates (ESV). Many borders appear in the book of Numbers. We see the location of borders belonging to the nations established before the land was given to Israel. Then, in Numbers 34, we are shown the borders of the Promised Land.

Many of the kingdoms in the Bible were what we now call cities. A border wall built around the territory protected the citizens from outsiders. And just like in the Garden of Eden, there were armed guards who were tasked with guarding the border.

Because of their sin, the tribe of Levi was not given any territory in the Promised Land. Instead, clans of Levites were given cities within the territories of the other tribes. These cities were surrounded by border walls. The pasturelands of the cities, which you shall give to the Levites, shall reach from the wall of the city outward a thousand cubits all around (Nu 35:4, ESV).

We also find borders in the New Testament. Twelve of the parables of Jesus begin with, “The kingdom of heaven is like…” These are known as the kingdom parables. When Jesus spoke these words, his audience would have pictured earthly kingdoms. The kingdoms of that day consisted of three parts. There was the ruler, the subjects or citizens governed by the king, and a territory – the place where the king rules and the citizens dwell. This land is outlined by a border.

In the Kingdom of Heaven, God is the King. His territory is all of creation, and His subjects are everyone who submits to His authority.

Contrary to what may be popular opinion, borders are a good thing. They provide safety and security. Imagine you are playing a soccer game. The field is on a mesa, which has a flat top and steep sides. Will you go all out as you play, always keeping your eyes focused on the ball? Or will your eyes be focused on the edge of the mesa – being careful not to get too close, lest you plunge to your death.

Now imagine the top of the mesa is surrounded by a tall, sturdy fence. You have the freedom to focus on the game without worrying about falling off the mesa because the fence enforces the border. There is actually more freedom on the mesa with a border fence than there is without one.

Borders define the territory within it. A nation without borders is no longer a nation.