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| Painting by Lidia Kosenitzky 2009 (wikimedia) |
Water in the Bible may represent God’s blessings of
physical and spiritual sustenance and healing. But the Lord gives and He takes
away (Job 1:21), and He can use water as an instrument of His
omnipotent wrath as well as His infinite love.
God used water to judge mankind for their sin when He
destroyed the vast majority of men and living creatures in a global flood,
sparing only faithful Noah and his family (Genesis 6:17).
Thankfully, He promised that He would never again destroy the whole earth by
water, and He gave us the rainbow as His sign of that promise (Genesis 9
:11-15).
Nonetheless, God continued to use the destructive force of
water and localized flooding as an instrument of judgment, as in the
”overflowing flood ’’ that destroyed the city of the Philistines (Jeremiah
47:2). While sparing the Israelites and allowing their escape from
captivity as He parted the Red Sea waters (Exodus 14::21-29; Nehemiah
9:11). He released the waves just in time for the pursuing Egyptians to
drown (Psalm 106:11).
Other examples of water as a barricade preventing passage
until God miraculously intervened include His drying up the Jordan waters so
the Israelites could pass over (Joshua 4:23,) and Elijah and then
Elisha parting the waters to cross the Jordan (2 Kings 2:8,14).
Oceans and other great bodies of water tend to isolate peoples and nations,
particularly before modern times of air travel. In the new heaven and new
earth, there will be no more sea (Revelation 21:1), perhaps
representing the unity of all the saints throughout eternity, and free passage
to one another at the speed of thought!
God used the violent power of water to punish Jonah for his
disobedience (Jonah 2:3-5), as his boat was tossed about in the
storm, he was plunged beneath the waves, and he was swallowed by a great fish. But
once he learned his lesson and prayed to God for mercy, the whale vomited so
that the waves could cast Jonah safely onto dry land (Jonah 2:10).
Similarly, the churning waves in a storm tested the faith of Jesus’ disciples
while revealing His supernatural power to save them (Matthew 8:24-27).
Contamination of the water is a terrible judgment, as in
the Egyptian plague of waters turning to blood (Exodus 7:17-24; Psalm
105:29). To punish the Israelites for their sin of idolatry, Moses
ground up the golden calf and added the powder to their drinking water (Exodus
32:20); During the Tribulation, the waters will again be contaminated
as the star Wormwood falls into the sea, polluting one third of the water (Revelation
8:10-11).
Elisha purified barren water with salt (2 Kings 2:
19-22), foreshadowing Christ’s commandment that believers be the salt of
the earth (Matthew 5:13), comforting and restoring those marred
by the sinful world. Moses turned bitter water to sweet with a medicinal branch
(Exodus 15:23-25), and Jesus Christ Who is the Righteous Branch (Jeremiah
23:5; 33:15) purifies our sinful souls.
When believers are born again by placing their faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4)
as the only Way to eternal life (John 14:6), the indwelling Holy
Spirit makes each of us a source of living water to refresh the world (John
7:38) by sharing God’s Word and His love.
But sadly, our remaining sin nature sometimes pollutes our
testimony. As James reminds us, the same fountain cannot give forth sweet and
bitter water (James 3:11-12), and if we allow our sin nature to
gain control, what we spout forth is poison not fit for others to consume (James
3:8). But if believers yield to the Spirit, He can use the living
water, or Scripture spoken in love, flowing from us to help cleanse others from
sin-sickness and to be a healing force for good and for salvation.
With every instance of God’s judgment through water He has
provided deliverance for those who are faithful and obedient to Him. Noah and
his family found refuge in the ark floating safely above the flood waters,
which was echoed in baby Moses floating in his basket to escape infanticide as
he was rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter (Exodus 2:10). In their
angry pursuit of the escaping Israelites, the Egyptians perished in the Red
Sea, but God made a way through the raging waters for His chosen people.
God chastised Jonah by enclosing him in a watery grave for
three days and nights, foreshadowing God’s ultimate plan of salvation as Jesus
Christ rose from the dead to conquer sin and death forever (John 3:16;
Romans 5:12-21). The prince of the power of the air (Ephesians
2:2) may control the waves, but even he must cease and desist when the
Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) rebukes the storm. Praise God that
He is not only the Righteous Judge (Psalm 9:8; Revelation 19:11),
but also our Savior, Deliverer and Redeemer! (Isaiah 47:4; 60:16)
© 2013 Laurie Collett
Reposted from the archives
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