Water and Oil: Physical and Spiritual Milk

 

As we saw last week, water and oil in Scripture are rich symbols of the Holy Spirit, with His light shimmering on the surface of the Living Water (Jeremiah 17:13; John 4; 7:38). But the symbolism may also extend to God’s physical and spiritual provision, as He is not only our Creator and Redeemer, but also our Sustainer, feeding us with water and oil.

1. Water nourishes plant and animal life on earth (Genesis 2:6,10; Job 8:11) and marine life in the seas (Genesis 1:20,21). Without these, we would have no food source, and without water, we die (Genesis 21:15,19; Psalm 23:2). 
   
   Polluting the water is a terrible plague, as in Pharaoh’s judgment when God turned the waters to blood (Exodus 7:17-24; Psalm 105:29). Moses ground up the golden calf and added it to the drinking water, so that the Israelites would be reminded of their sin of idolatry that separated them from fellowship with God (Exodus 32:20).
   
   Springs and fountains are a blessing from God (Joshua 15:19, Judges 1:15, Song of Solomon 4:15), Who provides water (Psalm 78:16; 104:13; 105:41; 107:33-35; Isaiah 35:6-7; 4117-18; 44:3-4, etc.). When we place our faith in Him, we become “like a tree planted by the rivers of water,” (Psalm 1:3; Jeremiah 17:8), growing in the spiritual blessings of fruitfulness and abundant, eternal life (John 10:10).

Water and oil are each necessary for human life, to quench our thirst and appease our hunger, and to keep our body hydrated and lubricated like the finely tuned machine that God designed it to be (Psalm 139:14). As I am reminded whenever I step on our high-tech digital bathroom scale, our body is made up of about 50% water and less than 13% to more than 35% fat, depending on age, sex, and physical fitness.

Jesus, the Good Shepherd, provides water and oil to His sheep, symbolizing the physical blessing of food and water and the spiritual blessing of joy and peace in Him (Psalm 23). Man may mistakenly think that oil and drink come from the world (Hosea 2:5), forgetting that every perfect gift comes from above (James 1:17).

Oil is a food staple that binds wheat together into cakes (Deuteronomy 7:13), and even the manna from Heaven tasted like fresh oil (Numbers 11:8). The Promised Land was a “land of oil olive,” along with other bountiful provisions (Deuteronomy 8:8).

God used both Elijah (1 Kings 17:9-16) and Elisha (2 Kings 4:1-7) to demonstrate His sustenance and miraculous provision in desperate times to those with faith. When the widow gave her last drops of oil to feed Elijah before she and her son had what she thought would be their last meal, God rewarded her by continually replenishing the oil in her cruse and the meal in her barrel until the drought was over.

In Elisha’s case, a woman had a debt so large that she would have to sell her sons into slavery to repay it, and all she had was a pot of oil. He told her to pour the oil into every vessel she could find at home and round up from all her neighbors, and God poured out a blessing of oil so abundant that it covered her debt and freed her sons. What a beautiful picture of how God Himself paid the price to redeem us from bondage to sin and death, if we place our trust in His Son’s death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:4) as the only Way to Heaven! (John 14:6)

Although water and oil do not mix, they can be blended into an emulsion by adding a third substance known as an emulsifier. When we vigorously shake a mixture of oil and vinegar, we see a cloudy liquid as tiny globules of oil swirl through the water. This is a temporary emulsion, for as soon as we set the bottle down, the oil again floats to the top of the water in a smooth layer. Adding an emulsifier stabilizes the emulsion so that the oil, or fat, and water mix together in an opaque blend of even consistency. Milk, for example, is a permanent emulsion of butterfat in water, with casein, or milk protein, acting as the emulsifier.

Breast milk alone contains all the nourishment needed to sustain a newborn infant’s life, for it is a perfect blend of water, butterfat, and protein in ideal proportions for survival and growth, and it also contains antibodies and other vital substances from the mother’s blood that help protect the infant from disease. Only God could have designed such a perfect, complete first food! Job compares God’s nurturing love and source of all provision to “breasts full of milk.” (Job 21:24).

Throughout Scripture, milk and butter are symbols of God’s abundant physical and spiritual blessing (Isaiah 7:22; 55:1; Joel 3:18). God promised the Israelites a land of milk and honey (Exodus 3:8, 17; 13:5, etc.) and nourished them with milk and butter, animal fat (meat), and grape juice, which is mostly water but which also symbolizes Christ’s blood shed for us (Deuteronomy 32:14).

Abraham offered a meal of milk, butter, and a calf to his three heavenly guests – preincarnate Jesus and two angels – and was rewarded with the promise of a son who would bring abundant spiritual blessing, as he would give rise to the great nation of God’s chosen people (Genesis 18:1-19).

Peter wanted new believers in Christ to be fed with the sincere milk of the Word (1 Peter 2:2). Jesus, our beloved Bridegroom, delights us as if with milk and honey under His tongue and clear eyes as if washed with milk (Song of Solomon 4:11; 5:1,12)

Water and oil may also have lessons to teach regarding worship, healing, and judgment  May we thank God daily for His physical and spiritual sustenance, symbolized by water and oil! 

© 2013 Laurie Collett

Reposted from the archives

Tres Leches

Photo by AndonicO 2006

Although our physically demanding dance ministry demands that I pursue a healthy lifestyle overall, and particularly a healthy diet, I must confess that I love sweets. As my husband and dance partner likes to point out, “She never met a dessert she didn’t like.”

To which I often reply, “Just hand over my ‘medicinal’ chocolate, and no one will get hurt!”

One of my favorite desserts is Tres Leches, a delectable Mexican concoction so named because its recipe calls for three milks, namely evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream. The end result is a sponge cake layered in custard, drenched in sauce redolent of caramel, and topped with whipped cream.

This unique confection got me thinking about symbolism involving milk in Scripture, and I realized that it can involve God’s creation, God’s provision, and God’s Word, consistent with the pattern of threes echoing the Trinity reflected throughout the Bible.

In the midst of his suffering, Job imagines a conversation he would like to have with God, and he asks for God’s mercy on His own creation. He poetically compares God’s creation of man to sculpting a masterpiece from clay, curdling cheese from milk, and clothing him in flesh and skin supported by bones and sinews (Job 10:8-11).

The process of curdling cheese from milk may symbolize seminal fluid entering the womb, and, at conception, beginning a process in which the developing embryo and fetus become progressively solidified, albeit containing fluid within blood vessels, brain ventricles, and lymph vessels. It is unlikely that Job understood this completely, yet by inspiration of the Holy Spirit he wrote a beautiful metaphor describing prenatal development, a process totally governed by God (Psalm 139:13-16).

Milk as a symbol of God’s provision is abundant in references to the Promised Land He offered to His children as a land flowing with milk and honey (Exodus 3:8, 17; 13:5, 33:3, etc.). God promises that if we work diligently, He will bless us with goat’s milk, referring generally to the food He provides, to meet our own needs and those of our family and employees (Proverbs 27:27).

In the Song of Solomon, the love between a man and his wife, which is also a symbol of the love Jesus Christ the Bridegroom has for His bride, the church, is portrayed three times using milk as a symbol of delight, purity and beauty. He praises His beloved, for her lips “drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon (4:11).”

He further describes his delight in their union as “I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk“(5:1). In return, the beloved spouse praises her Bridegroom, for "His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set (5:12).”

Jesus Christ, Who is the Living Water, promised us that once we know Him, we will never thirst again (John 4:10-14). The prophet Isaiah foretold this and promised that God offers not only water to all who thirst, but also milk and wine offered freely at no cost (Isaiah 55:1), for we cannot buy or earn our own salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9). Rather, it is only by trusting in Christ’s completed work on the cross to pay for our sins, in His burial and in His resurrection proving that He is God, that we can be saved and have eternal life (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

Isaiah also prophesied that God would bless Israel so richly that her breasts would nourish not only her own people, but also all nations and even Gentiles (Isaiah 66:10-13). This has been fulfilled in part through the birth of Jesus in Israel (Luke 2) and will be fulfilled completely when Christ returns and rules in the New Jerusalem (Revelation 3:12; 21:2). The prophet Joel describes the blessings of the New Jerusalem as “the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters” (Joel 3:18).

God is honored when we give a portion of His blessings back to Him as an offering, so it is appropriate that Abraham offered a feast of milk and butter, and a calf representing their earthly source, to God and two angels who visited him in human form (Genesis 18:8).

Just as God created us and provides for all our physical needs, He also satisfies our soul with spiritual blessings. He communicates with us, leads us, and nourishes us primarily through His Word. Newborn infants receive nourishment exclusively from the perfect food of their mother’s milk, or from infant formula, whereas babes in Christ grow spiritually from the sincere milk of the Word, meaning fundamental passages explaining salvation (1 Peter 2:2).

But as we grow physically, our diet becomes more varied and comprehensive, including meat once we are able to digest it. Similarly, as Christians growing in our walk with Christ, we need to supplement our spiritual diet with all Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16), including the “strong meat” that is more difficult to assimilate (1 Corinthians 3:2; Hebrews 5:12-13) yet is essential to our strength and vitality as Christ’s ministers (1 Corinthians 4:1), fellow-laborers (1 Corinthians 3:9) and ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20) doing His work in this lost, sinful and dying world (John 17).

Still, we should never lose our taste for the milk of the Word, and we should never tire of hearing the Gospel message. Even after a hearty steak dinner, I can always find room for the sweet, rich, satisfying experience of Tres Leches. May we always taste and see that the Lord is good!  (Psalm 34:8)

© 2018 Laurie Collett