W.A.T.E.R

by Tales of 2Timothy1.7

For a few weeks now I felt the need to share with you about this particular subject, water. But I felt like I didn’t know enough about this subject and thus kept on putting this off. But more and more I am realising that we shouldn’t wait for perfection before opening up to the world but be brave enough to share the little that we have and trust that the Creator of all things will use that little bit that we are willing to share and multiply it to everyone’s needs. Just like Jesus multiplied the two fish and five loaf of bread and fed a multitude. We need to give the little that we have and trust that it will fulfil its purpose even when we can’t understand it all just yet.

Although it seems like a simple subject, “water” is one of the most complex element I have come across so far in my search for understanding. Even more complex than faith because faith is what it is, a subjective matter that can’t be measured; whilst water, is at the same time an objective substance but also a subjective concept.

I will try to explain it here, but I believe that there should be a study made about this concept alone because there is so much to know about it. Bare with me as I try to bring it all together in this one blogpost.

As for many of my question marks, I turned to the scriptures to find understanding of this concept and to my surprise the scriptures put a lot of emphasis on the concept of water. In fact the word “water” is mentioned 722 times in the bible, more often than worship, prayer, faith, hope or even love. This surprised me as I expected concepts such as love or faith to be mentioned much more often than water. So I searched for the meaning of water in the scriptures and the most important one is the notion of “Living water”, which appears both in the old and new testament.

When looking first at the old testament we see in Jeremiah 2.13 the prophet describes G-d the Creator of all things as “Living water”. Here he says: My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me the “spring of Living water and have dug their own cisterns broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”
As we see here according to one of the great prophets of Israel, G-d describes himself as “Living water”.
This is repeated again on Jeremiah 17.13.

When we look at the new testament we see here that Jesus who is the son of G-d, uses the same terminology and calls Himself “Living water”
This happens several times but one of the most important one is the clear dialogue that is held between Jesus and the woman at the well in John 4.

John 4.10 says:
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” Referring to Himself.

An other very important declaration is made by Jesus when He stands in the middle of the crowd at the height of the preparations for the Passover celebrations and says:

Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink. For the scriptures declare, “Rivers of Living water will flow from his heart.”
When he said “Living water” he was speaking of the spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in Him. But the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.

This definition of living water could be translated as:

·         Anyone who is thirsty may come to me – Anyone who is hungry for the truth

·         Anyone who believes in me may come and drink – Anyone who has faith in G-d; (even the faith in the size of a mustered seed).

For the scriptures declares “those who seek the truth and by seeking the truth find G-d; the source, rivers will flow through them, because they are connected to the infinite wisdom through faith.

As vast as this may sound, this is just one meaning of water in the scriptures, well it is undoubtedly the most important one.

Further on we see the scriptures talking about water as a mean for Baptism. Baptism on itself is interpreted in Greek as “submersion of body in water” –  this as a symbolic meaning of being dead to sin and being raised, (resurrection) through Jesus Christ.

Regarding Baptism, Luke says in 3.16 “John answered them all, I baptize you with water but the one who is more powerful than I, will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to unite. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Here John says the Baptism in water symbolises the baptism through the Holy Spirit.

So first recap we have here:

Living water – as a symbol for G-d Himself
Living water – as a symbol for the Son of G-d
Living water – as a symbol for the Holy Spirit

For Christians these three symbolises the pillars of our faith, and as we can see here; in three examples water is used as a symbol for these three pillars.

Now we as humans know that the earth is filled with much more natural elements that are, in our eyes, more valuable than water. Let’s take a stone for example, or diamonds, or trees, or even animals or the sun, the stars; if you put it into human perspective you would argue as to why the Creator of all things would go and identify Himself as water, while He could have chosen any other element that for us seems more relevant or more valuable. But the Infinite Wisdom declared Himself, according to the scriptures, as being Living Water.

Now I went back to the scriptures to see where water was mentioned for the very first time and to my surprise I found the very first mentioning in Genesis 1.1. That on itself would already be wonderful enough to know that water is mentioned in the story of Creation in the very beginning. But when looking closer there is more:
“Genesis 1.1-2 says: “In the beginning G-d created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty; darkness was over the surface of the deep and the Spirit of G-d was hovering over the WATERS.

So after reading this I got very excited because you know what this means? That even before G-d started with the creation of the world, there was already water! Of course we have other scriptures that states that G-d created all things such as John 1:1-3, but the remarkable thing here is that from all the things, there was only water before G-d even started creating the heavens and the earth.

When reading further in the creation process in Genesis:
We see that G-d created light on the first day, as stated in Genesis 3 and on the second day He divided the waters from the waters. The waters above became the heavens and the waters below became earth which was further devided between the land and the sea.

So what we can constate here is that before G-d created the world as we know it, there was already one element; water. Ofcourse this arises in me a whole new series of questions which I haven’t found the answers for just yet; questions such as when, what, who, where, why? Because all we know is that G-d created the world in seven “days” and that when he started there was one substance already present “water”.

An other important element is that G-d is already hovering over the waters in Genesis 1.2. Meaning that G-d is already in the water and the movement of water is G-d.

Further into the understanding of this notion, when looking at the story of beginnings I realise that when we are born, the mother’s womb is filled with water where the child lives in untill birth, the moment where the waters breaks and the child is ready for the world. Here again we have it, water. Remember the submersion in baptisme happened in water, that is why Christians call Baptisme, “being born again”.

Science tells us that a man can live about 21 days without food but as our body is made up of 60% water, a man needs water to survive.

When we look back at the scriptures we see that G-d often uses water to show His power. In times of Noah this is done by a complete flood of the world where Noah and his family survive in the arc together with a few animals. Which is on itself a remarkable story.
One of the most impressive ways G-d has shown his power in the old testament is when He parts the Red sea to let the Israelites pass and to stop the Egyptians. Here again He could have chosen many other impressive elements to show his power but He chose water.

Jesus’ first miracle was turning water into wine. ( Some of you may see this as sign but nope this is not a sign for you to get more wine, if you need a glass let it be a glass of Water).

We see also in the scriptures that there is healing in water: In 2Kings 5.10 Elisha sents a messenger to tell Naaman to wash himself 7 times in the Jordan Sea to restore his skin and be cleansed.

The scriptures is full of other examples of the importance of water. Such as Moses, the one who led G-d’s children out of slavery, was set in a basket by his mother and was later found by Farao’s daughter. There are more examples out there than I can name both in the bible and in life such as the importance of water in the economy of a country, but for now, I’ll leave you with this.

Update

Ok, I wrote all this a few days ago, and here I was ready to publish it but then went back to the scriptures to see where water is mentioned for the last time and then found out that the scrptures talks alot about water in the end of the bible, underlining the importance of yielding to G-d’s law. Those who wouldn’t do so would find their rivers turning into deserts, flowing streams into thursty grounds, and fruitful land into salt waste.

Knowing the importance of water as mentioned here above and knowing that water gives life we can all agree that the lack of it is something we all want to avoid. The best way to avoid this is by going back to the scriptures, learning G-d’s law and living accordingly.
It’s funny to realise that here I was wondering why on earth I would feel the need and urge to talk about something as random as water. But now I understand that the Creator of all things wants us to live according to His will and law, by neglecting this he will take out from those who disobey Him the most important thing which is water.

Like I have said in previous posts, the Creator of all things often gives us the lesson before we see it in practicality. There for it is important for the nations to live according to His will which is found in the scriptures to avoid being a nation without Living water.

The richest countries are those who have seas or rivers that flows through and can be used for all kind of things including transport of goods. So if the Creator of all things would take that element out, those cities would be in econmical distress. Which shows that G-d’s law is linked to everything including the ability for us to survive both spiritually and economically.

Oh, and if you were still wandering if water is mentioned at the end of the scriptures, you can take a little guess… In one of the very last verses it says ” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life. Revelation 21.





 

 

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