Water and the Spirit

In Scripture, water is often used as a metaphor to describe the Spirit of God that will come as a sign of the Messianic Age. In John 7:37-38, the Beloved Disciple records Jesus as standing up on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles and crying 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.'" Interestingly (and perhaps warningly to all those prone to a rigid fundamentalism) Jesus' words are not an exact quote of any extant Scripture, but rather is an amalgamation of several OT references. The following is not intended to be an exhaustive treatment of water/Spirit references in the Scriptures, but rather is to give some specificity to general comments made in my sermon Sunday, April 28.

"With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day: 'Give thanks to the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted.'" (Isaiah 12:3)

"[They] shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them." (Isaiah 49:10)

"Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." (Isaiah 55:1)

"And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail." (Isaiah 58:11)

"I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you." (Ezekiel 36:25)

"Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east..." (Ezekiel 47:1ff)

"Be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God, for he has given the early rain for your vindication; he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the latter rain, as before...And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh..." (Joel 2:23,28a)

"And in that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the streambeds of Judah shall flow with water; and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the LORD and water the Valley of Shittim." (Joel 3:18)

"On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness." (Zechariah 13:1)

"On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter." (Zechariah 14:8)

One can certainly link the water from the rock in the wilderness wanderings as a precursor/parallel to the Feast of Tabernacles libation ceremony (cf. Ex. 17; Nu. 20). The point is that water/Spirit brings life wherever it flows. Jesus' announcement of himself as the supplier/provider of life-giving water/Spirit is to mark the beginning of the Messianic age--"that day", as it is alluded to in OT prophecy. The Beloved Disciple, ever-concerned with connecting Jesus to the anticipated Prophet, draws extensively on the metaphor of water/Spirit in Jesus' self-disclosure. These connections would not be lost on his largely Jewish audience.

If you remember, we claim the following words in our baptismal liturgy: "Baptism is the sign and seal of God's promises to this covenant people. In baptism God promises by grace alone: to forgive our sins, to adopt us into the Body of Christ, the Church, to send the Holy Spirit daily to renew and cleanse us, and to resurrect us to eternal life. This promises is made visible in the water of baptism. Water cleanses, purifies, refreshes, sustains; Jesus Christ is living water" (Worship the Lord: The Liturgy of the Reformed Church in America, 27). Neither will the connection between water/Spirit be lost on us!