~ Water: The Bottom Line ~
Introduction
~ Water—whether physical or
spiritual—is life-giving and life-sustaining.
In this series we are taking a brief look at water as a consistent theme
throughout all of The Holy Bible.
Key
Passage ~
“This is He who came by water and
blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it
is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear witness in
heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are
one. And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood;
and these three agree as one.
If we receive the witness
of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He
has testified of His Son. He who
believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe
God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has
given of His Son. And this is the
testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His
Son. He who has the Son has life; he who
does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who
believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal
life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. (1
John 5:6-8).
The
Second Witness On Earth Is The Water ~
Water has to do with the cleansing aspect of
salvation, the morality aspect and the man-ward side of Christian life and our
salvation. The Psalmist understood the
cleansing power of the Word of God.
“Your Word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You”
(Psalm 119:11).
Remember
Jesus’ words to the Samaritan woman, “Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Whoever
drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I
shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will
become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life’” (John
4:13-14). The Word of God washes and
cleanses us. “Husbands, love your
wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He
might sanctify and cleanse her with the
washing of water by the Word, that He might present her to Himself a
glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she
should be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:25-27).
It
is an inward washing that occurs by the Word of God. “Peter said to Jesus, ‘You shall never wash
my feet!’ Jesus answered him, ‘If I do
not wash you, you have no part with Me.’
Simon Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and
my head!’ Jesus said to him, ‘He who is
bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean,
but not all of you [not everyone in the group He was talking to].’ For He knew who would betray Him; therefore
He said, ‘You are not all clean.’ (John 13:8-11).
the bottom line ~ The
Spirit of God uses the Word of God to open the tap of the Water of Life to
those who accept salvation through Jesus Christ. “On the last day, that great day of the
feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to
Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will
flow rivers of living water.’ But
this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive;
for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (John
7:37-39).
~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW
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