God’s gift of water Part 4 – Jesus as the water of life

There are two aspects of water in the Bible which make reference to how a believer might be saved.

The first aspect is the cleansing properties of water and the second aspect is the refreshing life-giving properties of it. We have looked at both of these in the context of the world around us (in previous parts of this series), now let’s look at them in the context of the Bible.

First aspect of water – cleansing

The idea of cleansing was an important part of life in the Israelite camp in the wilderness. In the ceremonial system of the priests, washing was a prominent feature. We find that at the priest’s consecration they were washed with water. The Levites were also cleaned with water but this time by the sprinkling of water. Numbers Chapter 8 verses 5 to 7 talks about this

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the Levites from among the people of Israel and cleanse them. Thus you shall do to them to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of purification upon them, and let them go with a razor over all their body, and wash their clothes and cleanse themselves.

The ceremony involved sprinkling with water which symbolized the cleansing impact of the Word. Without God’s word they and we cannot be cleansed. After the ceremonial cleansing, the Levites were publicly presented to God, as representatives of the nation.

Special tasks were demanded of the chief priest on the day of Atonement.

These can be read of in Leviticus Chapter 16 verse 4.

He shall put on the holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarment on his body, and he shall tie the linen sash around his waist, and wear the linen turban; these are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in water and then put them on.

….and verses  24 to 26.

And he shall bathe his body in water in a holy place and put on his garments and come out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people and make atonement for himself and for the people. And the fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar. And he who lets the goat go to Azazel shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp.

We see from these verses that the chief priest had to do this cleansing on the day of Atonement. Why did they have to do it on that day? It is because the Day of Atonement provided for a cleansed nation through the forgiveness of sins. On that annual day, priest and people both obtained atonement for the sins and shortcomings that inevitably appeared in their lives because of human nature.

The water of separation

There is also cleansing involved in the water of separation ritual. We can read of this in Numbers chapter 19 verses 7 to 10. We read here of what the priest must do after he has sacrificed a heifer.

Then the priest shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. But the priest shall be unclean until evening. The one who burns the heifer shall wash his clothes in water and bathe his body in water and shall be unclean until evening. And a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place. And they shall be kept for the water for impurity for the congregation of the people of Israel; it is a sin offering. And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. And this shall be a perpetual statute for the people of Israel, and for the stranger who sojourns among them.

The sacrifice of the red heifer was a sacrifice that could be shared by all. But this sacrifice was able to be still cleansed long after the actual slaying of the animal. This was done by the ashes being kept in a “clean place” and drawn upon as needed. So this sacrifice pointed towards Christ who was the one sacrifice forever offered by the Lord.

The water was mixed with the ash of the offering and was applied to things or persons defiled because of their impurity due to their contact with death.

In addition to the above examples there are of course numerous examples of what men must do to remove ceremonial defilement. Some of these can be read in Leviticus .11:40; 15:5ff.; 17:15; 22:6; Deuteronomy 23:11.

The leper

Another instance of the use of water as a cleansing agent was its use by the priests in the cleansing of a leper. This cleansing points forward in time to the baptized believer, in that, in order to clean themselves of the leprosy that they have, that is, sin, they must wash themselves with the word.

The same goes for the person who has not been baptized and is therefore in a symbolic state of leprosy, he or she must be changed in their mental and moral outlook, and be brought into the scheme of redemption by the priest of God, that is, the Lord Jesus Christ. They do this by being baptised.

The laver

Probably one of the other most important acts of cleansing in those times was the Laver which was found in the courtyard of the tabernacle. It was there as a constant reminder of the need for cleansing in the approach to God.

This is what it says in Exodus Chapter 30 verses 17 to 21.

The Lord said to Moses, “You shall also make a basin of bronze, with its stand of bronze, for washing. You shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it, with which Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet. 20 When they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn a food offering to the Lord, they shall wash with water, so that they may not die. They shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they may not die. It shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his offspring throughout their generations.”

As the priests washed away the uncleanness with water we must likewise wash away the uncleanness of our sins. Firstly through baptism and then by way of the living waters of the scriptures which hopefully will clean us of any bad thoughts.

For it is only through this that we might come unto the living waters of Christ. To become Christ’s people, we must be prepared to accept his way or manner of living and belief, and on confessing it, are baptised in water to wash away our sins.

We must always remember those words found in Romans Chapter 6. For these words say that having been baptised into Christ by total immersion in water, believers are “buried into his death”. Our former way of living and our former ideals are crucified and cease to influence our thoughts and actions, and in their place we gain a new way of life by adopting the teaching and ideas of Christ.

Only through baptism can we be identified with Christ and the covenants of Promise relative to the setting up of the Kingdom of God on earth in the future age. 

Let us use water, then, as the way to spiritually clean ourselves. Look at the way Paul expresses it in Hebrews Ch.10 verse 22.

let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

We can see within these verses that we wash ourselves with water at our baptism but we also wash ourselves with the word after our baptism as we live our lives devoted to Christ.

Paul in his letter to the Ephesians continues on with his exhortation that we might wash ourselves with the word. This is what he says in Ephesians Chapter 5 verses 25 to 27:

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

The word is the cleansing agent, and is therefore made to sound like a washing. Always remember the words of the lord in this context when in John he says (John 15: 3) “You are clean through the word”. So whilst baptism may, to some extent represent washings under the law, it is also the continual absorption of the word which produces a clean and changed mind and heart.

Second aspect of water – Refreshing

The second aspect of water is it’s refreshing, life-giving properties.

Water was frequently symbolical of God’s blessing and of spiritual refreshment. For example there is the time when Jesus sitting by a well in Samaria, talked with a woman whom he had met there. In his conversation with her he drew a comparison between the water being drawn from the well and that water which he had to offer. This incident can be found in John Chapter 4 and verses 10 to 14.

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

We see in these verses that our lord Jesus Christ was the well from which the life-saving truth poured forth to refresh those willing to listen. He was the spring which produced the water of salvation. The lord Jesus Christ was the savior which had come to save the world from its own sin.

Water in a desert

When we go back in time we see that in the days of Isaiah the refreshing attributes of water, even then, had been pointing forward towards this savior.

The picture seen here demonstrates the idea. The picture shows a little oasis in Peru with all the buildings huddled around the water.

Look at Isaiah Chapter 32 verses 1 and 2.

Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule in justice. Each will be like a hiding place from the wind, a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.

Here we see Isaiah talking about Christ’s future kingdom where Christ will be to those who seek him, as a man, who has just found beautiful clear refreshing waters in a desert.

Not only will Christ be a well of refreshing spiritual water but of course so will his father, God. Have a look at Isaiah Chapter 41 verse 17 and 18.

When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord will answer them; I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.

So those who thirst for spiritual knowledge will receive it from their Heavenly Father who will give them whole rivers from which they can drink.

The Israelites in the wilderness

Of course going further back in time we know that the Israelites travelling through the wilderness always saw the lack of water as being a problem. We would remember the incident where the people were complaining of no water to drink. Moses struck the rock at Horeb with his staff and water came out for the people to drink (Exodus 15:1-7)

Once again we see God stepping in to save the Israelites from their thirst. However as in all previous cases there is a spiritual meaning behind this, the apostle Paul wrote these words in I Corinthians Chapter 10 verses 1 to 4.

For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, nd all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.

Here we see God providing water from a rock that prefigured Christ as a manifestation of Himself. Christ is once again being shown as that person from which spiritual refreshment will come.

This type of symbolism is evident in many places throughout the Old Testament whenever it is referring to the refreshing properties of water.

Wells of salvation

But there is one verse in the Old Testament that seems to summarise what God is trying to tell his people. It is found in Isaiah Chapter 12 verse 3.  Isaiah says these words just after the Israelites had been delivered from their enemies, and had conquered Gentiles:

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

What he is saying is if you truly thirst after your Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and those things which they stand for then you will receive refreshment and ultimately salvation. We need to look for the living water with joy. Our heart must be filled with joy.

To look at this theme further let’s move into the New Testament. Look at these words in John Chapter 7 verses 37 to 38.

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

Jesus was the water of life. So drinking of this water which Christ is offering will give us eternal life. All this living water originates from one source and that is God. The prophet Jeremiah calls God, the fountain of living waters because he is the source of all knowledge.

There are some verses in Revelation in relation to this . As we read  these verses think of them in the context of what has been written in the previous parts of this series – in relation to how water was given so many unique characteristics so as to make it life sustaining.

Revelation chapter 7 and verse 17

For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Revelation chapter 21 and verse 6     

And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.

Revelation chapter 22 and verses 1 and 17    

 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb

Verse 17

The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

We must listen to God, as He speaks through that mountain spring which pours forth the waters of life. We have to bend before Him and “lap up” the living water, using our hands, as did the chosen of Gideon.

God has said to us in Isaiah these words:

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;….. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; Isaiah 55

Let us take this up as an invitation. It is not only an invitation but also a challenge to us during our life.

Conclusion

To summarize, the water drawn out, or springing from the well, is the power of the spirit made manifest in the individual who becomes as it were a well. The basic source of this living water is of course God.

In addition to this we should keep in mind the following words which God spoke about his people through His prophet Jeremiah:

for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. Jeremiah 2:13

Let’s make sure that we are wells or cisterns that will be able to hold that perfect clear refreshing substance that we call WATER.