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WATER
One of the essentials of life, which covers much of the earth’s surface and is the primary component of the human body. Life cannot be sustained more than a few days without it.
In the beginning, water covered the earth. Then God brought up the dry land from the water (Gn 1:9-10). As Peter said, “God made the heavens by the word of his command, and he brought the earth up from the water and surrounded it with water” (2 Pt 3:5, NLT).
When the Lord created the Garden of Eden, he made a river to water it. This river divided into four rivers, of which two are identified with certainty, the Euphrates and the Tigris, which have sustained agricultural life in the Mesopotamian area both in antiquity and today (Gn 2:10-14). The Bible also relates that early in the history of the earth there was no rain but only a mist that watered the earth (vv 5-6). In the time of Noah, the Lord used an overwhelming mass and movement of water to destroy “the world that then existed” (2 Pt 3:6), as punishment for its wickedness.
In the Near East, water is of special importance, for much of the area receives only moderate amounts of rainfall. In Egypt, for example, only two to four inches (5.1 to 10.2 centimeters) of rain falls in the area of Cairo, and at Aswan the average annual rainfall is zero. Egypt is dependent upon the Nile, which is supplied by equatorial rains. By contrast, Palestine is watered well by “the rain from heaven” (Dt 11:10-11).
Water has many symbolic usages in Scripture (quoted below mostly from the NLT). The righteous man is like a tree planted by streams of water (Ps 1:3; Jer 17:8). The longing of the soul after God is likened to thirst for water: “My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water” (Ps 63:1); “I thirst for you as parched land thirsts for rain” (143:6). Jesus fulfills this need and declares, “If you are thirsty, come to me! If you believe in me, come and drink!” (Jn 7:37-38). And Jesus said, “The water I give them takes away thirst altogether. It becomes a perpetual spring within them, giving them eternal life” (4:14). The Spirit of Jesus is that spiritual water that satisfies the thirst of the human spirit (7:38-39). The Word of God is also presented as water by which spiritual cleansing is effected. The Lord speaks of the cleansing of the church by “the washing of water with the word” (Eph 5:26). And Paul said that people are saved “by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit” (Ti 3:5).
In the closing chapters of the Bible the Lord declares, “To all who are thirsty I will give the springs of the water of life without charge!” (Rv 21:6, NLT). Even in the description of the heavenly Jerusalem there is mention of water—the river of the water of life: “The angel showed me a pure river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, coursing down the center of the main street” (22:1-2). The final invitation of Scripture comes to us in similar terms: “Let the thirsty ones come—anyone who wants to. Let them come and drink the water of life without charge” (v 17).