Water in desolate wilderness has always symbolized life. A human can only go without water for approximately three days. The Lord tested Israel in the desert following their escape from Egypt. They camped at Rephidim and there was no water there. The Israelites were getting thirsty and they grumbled against Moses. They had just seen the waters of the Red Sea parted and yet they found no faith to ask the Lord for help. The LORD answered Moses, "Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink." So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.
Exodus 17:5-6. They should have at least been humble enough to ask the Lord for help instead of assuming the Lord had brought them to the desert to die.
The Lord in the Old testament uses water often to symbolize the giving of life. In
Ezekiel 47:1-2; The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was flowing from the south side. The image being used here is a vision of the temple of God. Jesus prophesied to the Jews that the temple of God would be his body. The image being used here is a vision of the temple of God. Jesus prophesied to the Jews that the temple of God would be his body. Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?" But He was speaking of the temple of His body.John 2:19-21. God's temple is the living body of Jesus Christ. While Jesus' body died on the cross at Calvary, he was resurrected fully alive three days later from his tomb.Ezekiel records a vision of God's temple. In that vision he saw water springing from beneath the base of the temple. At first it seams to be only a trickle. But then the trickle increases. At first the water is only ankle deep but then it become knee deep. As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in - a river that no one could cross. He asked me, "Son of man, do you see this?"
Ezekiel 47:3-6. In Ezekiel's vision the water begins as a trickle. I believe this trickle of water is an apt metaphor of the blood that flowed from the Son of God's veins hanging from the cross at Calvary.In Ezekiel's vision the trickle begins to flow deeper. At first it is only ankle deep and then it begins to flow knee deep. Finally the trickle becomes a ragging torrent that can not be crossed. Then Ezekiel begins to reveal the purpose of the water. You may not know how worthless salt water is to most life but the Lord said his fountain will enter the Dead sea. I am not sure if we can understand how dead the Dead sea really was. It may have been that way from the time Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. But the Lord through Ezekiel said he would make it a fresh water lake in which life will abound. The blood of Jesus Christ is more than just a metaphor. It is a "living stream" that continues to flow from his veins today. Paul tells us in his letter to the Roman Christian we can be made perfect in God's sight by the blood of Christ. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
Romans 5:8-10. Not that Christians are made perfect but they are perfectly justified by his blood. God no longer sees our sins but only sees the blood of his Son Jesus. Wherever the water from the Lord flows life will flourish again where previously only death existed. Then he led me back to the bank of the river. When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. He said to me, "This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Sea. When it empties into the Sea, the water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live.Ezekiel 47:7-9. The life giving water of the Lord will cause trees to bear fruit and its fruit will be good for food and it leaves will bring healing. Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing."Ezekiel 47: 12. This vision is also a prophetic vision of the New Testament church as salvation begins to trickle down first from the cross at Calvary where our Lord Jesus died and it continued on to the day of Pentecost with the message the apostles preached to the Jews. Paul the apostle reminds us in his letter to the
Colossians.1:18; And He is the head of the body, the church , who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.. The Gospel message also promises the Holy Spirit, God's own Spirit to dwell in the believer's body. If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!". Luke 11:13. Eventually the message of salvation will cover the whole known world so that even the Roman Emperor Constantine declares Christianity the only state religion in the fourth century. Jesus Christ had truly conquered the Roman Empire. But the message of salvation does not stop in the fourth century. It continues today and the preaching of the Gospel message which gives life through his blood and his Spirit where only death once existed. It flows onward bringing life to all who believe and accept it.That is why in Ezekiel's vision the water he sees becomes a ragging torrent. His gift is meant for all mankind and to go to all corners of the earth. It is a free gift to all. God only asks that we return to Him and try to follow in his ways knowing full well we are unable walk as Jesus walked upon this earth. That is why we continue to need cleansing blood of Jesus Christ.
All references are from the New King James translation of the Bible . ©1982
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