God Used Water

Water can bring life and death. It keeps us alive. Plants, animals and humans need it or they will die. Water can be dangerous. Too much of it can cause a person to die. It can be used to make new starts much like God did when he destroyed the earth with great floods in Noah’s time. Water is used to bring new life much like God did after the terrible flood when He promised Noah and his family a new life. “Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything…I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.’” (Genesis 9: 1-3, 9-11).

God used water to save His people at the crossing of the Red Sea. “Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea…Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the LORD swept them into the sea. The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived” (Exodus 14: 21-23, 27-28). God used water to show His power in the dessert. When the children of Israel thought there was none He miraculously provided it for His people (see Exodus 17, 17 and Numbers 20). He quenched their thirst and saved them from certain death.

Jesus allowed Himself to be baptized with water by John in order to fulfill the prophecies about Him. He calmed the waters to save His disciples and show how we could live in peace with Him. Water is used for cleansing and growing. In humbleness we come to Him, asking to be made clean again. “Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow” (Psalm 51: 2,7) and we are saved.

Through the waters of baptism our sins are drowned and, through His resurrection, Christ saves us and proclaims us clean.“…and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 3:21).

Finally, water is used to remind us what and who we are as we live out our sanctified lives here on earth. “…Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.’” (John 7: 37b-38).