A Word for the Church: Saltwater to Freshwater

I learned when I lived in Europe, and particularly when I visited Italy, that ice water isn't really a thing there. The day my family and I visited the Leaning Tower of Pisa and took all the pictures in the world, including the traditional touristy ones where you're "propping up" the tower with your hands but you're not really -- yeah, we're just that cool --  we stopped for lunch at one of the caffѐs there. I was pregnant and hot and, even though it was only morning, my clothes were already soaked with sweat, so I asked for water. 

When the waiter brought us a bottle of it, I was unsatisfied. It was tepid, lukewarm. The waiter seemed pleasant, so when he returned to bring us our food, I asked if they happened to have any ice. He looked at me like I had two heads. "Ice?" I might as well have been asking for a pink elephant. I motioned to the bottle. "For the water," I said. "I'd like cold water, please, if you've got ice."

At first, he looked like he wasn't sure what to do, and I realized -- they might not even keep ice in their freezer. But in a moment, he nodded and smiled, and I watched him walk back into the caffѐ, where he approached the display case where they kept the heaping bowls of gelato. He grabbed a glass, dipped it into the display case, and emerged with some of the ice cubes that had surrounded the ice cream to keep it cold.

It made me laugh. It was perhaps a little cringeworthy, but at that point, I didn't care -- and I had my icy drink. I chugged my frigid water and felt the cold liquid permeate my chest and stomach on the inside. I've had my Italian friends explain to me why that's just gross, but I'm afraid we'll have to agree to disagree. I love icy water on a hot day -- it's refreshing and rejuvenating.

As I was praying this morning, the Lord gave me a picture of a tree, rooted in the lapping waves of a beach. An odd place for a tree. Why? Because trees don't grow in saltwater. So, naturally, there were no leaves on this tree; it seemed to be dead. But then I noticed red berries growing on the tips of the branches. Somewhere inside that tree... there was life, fresh water, bringing fruit even though it seemed dead at first.

This morning, I began in Exodus 30, and ended up taking a tour through the whole Bible. In Exodus, God is giving Moses some more Tabernacle specifications, and I've got to admit, I love how much detail, time, and attention He gives His house. It's just a wonderful picture of the time, attention, and detail He spends on us -- the temples of His Holy Spirit. He constantly makes us and shapes us, sculpts us, dusts off some here, carves a little there, and eventually His masterpiece begins to peer through.

But that's not where I was going today.

In Exodus 30:17-21, we get the details for the ceremonial basin where the priests will wash themselves before they do anything in the Tabernacle. "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Make a bronze basin, with its bronze stand for washing. Place it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water in it. Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and feet with water from it. Whenever they enter the Tent of Meeting, they shall wash with water so that they will not die. Also, when they approach the altar to minister by presenting an offering made to the Lord by fire, they shall wash their hands and feet so that they will not die. This is to be a lasting ordinance for Aaron and his descendants for the generations to come.'"

So that they will not die always startles me a little, but it shouldn't. I heard Francis Chan explain it this way once: When you think about the God Who was "In the beginning..." and you truly try to wrap your mind around what He did and how He spoke. And when He opened His mouth and said the words... the sun happened, the planets happened, the vast expanse of space and solar systems and stars and galaxies happened... and then you look at the minutiae of your eye or your brain or plant cells or anything having to do with microbiology... and then you try to understand that the same God created all of it from galaxies to atoms and everything in between...

When you think about all that... why should we get to dictate how God asks for holiness?

In the Tabernacle, He asks the priests to wash their hands and feet so that they will not die. In light of Who is making the request, it doesn't seem like a hard ask.

So anyway, the water that the priests use to cleanse their hands and feet obviously does not wash away sin. The cleansing is a symbolic gesture that says: I am here, Lord, and willing to have You wash me; cleanse my heart and my thoughts, my whole self. And so as I dip my feet into this water, cleanse my actions. As I dip my hands into this water, cleanse my thoughts.

Did you know that over 97% of the water on this planet we're living on is salty? Samuel Taylor Coleridge once wrote: "Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink." I've read books about people who have died at sea from thirst, because they had no way to convert all that water -- so much water that it's holding up their boat -- from saltwater to freshwater.

In 2 Chronicles 4, Solomon is building the Temple in Jerusalem, the greatest work of his entire life. The Temple is essentially the hard-copy of the Tabernacle, just bigger and grander. So in that Temple, what replaces the Tabernacle basin is the Sea, an enormous bronze bowl that holds approximately 17,500 gallons of water. It's grand and awe-inspiring -- a massive container that sits on the backs of twelve bronze bulls facing outward from the bowl in the middle.

I jumped over to Ezekiel 47, then, where Ezekiel, in a vision, is following a man who is busy measuring things at the Temple. Ezekiel notices some water coming out from under the threshold of the south side of the Temple, and it's flowing east. If you know anything about the layout of Jerusalem, the city is west of the Dead Sea, so this water that's coming from the Temple threshold is flowing toward the Dead Sea -- so named because of its high salt content. Nothing can live in it; it's 8.6 times saltier than ocean water.

Ezekiel follows the man along this stream, and as he does, the water gets wider and deeper and more turbulent, and then it becomes a whole river, completely uncrossable. The whole point of this river that comes from the Temple is this: "Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the saltwater fresh, so where the river flows, everything will live" (Ezekiel 47:9).

Living water. The freshwater makes the salty water fresh.

But... that's impossible!

Nuh-uh. ;)

"On that day [the day of the Lord, when He returns], living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea (the Dead Sea) and half to the western sea, in summer and in winter" (Zechariah 14:8). Now, this could be literal, or it could be symbolic. Either way, it wraps up an important message:

Freshwater trumps salty water. Life overcomes death. In this upside-down kingdom that Jesus brings us that is not of this world, where servants are greater than all, where the first shall be last and the last shall be first -- the water of life washes away sin and death. Jesus says: "Whoever drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (John 4:13-14).

Peter, in one of my favorite exchanges with Jesus, sits in the upper room with the rest of his buddies and watches his Teacher, a man he loves and respects greatly, bend over and wash the feet of those around him. When Jesus comes to him, he pulls back his appendages. "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" he asks.

Jesus says, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later, you will understand."

Peter shakes his head. This great Man should not be doing a servant's work. He's just ridden into Jerusalem the same way Solomon rode into Jerusalem, for goodness' sake! He's a King, not a servant! "No," Peter says, "you shall never wash my feet."

Jesus waits patiently. "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me."

Complete capitulation. Passionate response (I love Peter!). "Then, Lord, not just my feet, but my hands and my head as well!"

All of me! All of me! If washing feet is what is required, take the whole thing!

Jesus says: "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you" (referring to Judas Iscariot, who would betray Him later on that night).

Hebrews 9 ties the Tabernacle, the Temple, Ezekiel's river, and Jesus' actions all together in this: "When Christ came as High Priest of the good things that are already here, He went through the greater and more perfect Tabernacle that is not man made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption... How much more then, will the blood of Christ -- Who through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself unblemished to God -- cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!"

He cleanses us, through His perfect blood. He is our High Priest, offering His own blood as atonement for our sins. He offers the water of life that cleanses the water of death.

Saltwater to freshwater.

In the throne room of heaven, described so vividly by John in Revelation, we see God's throne, and "before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal" (Revelation 4:6). "Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, down the middle of the great street of the city... No longer will there be any curse" (Revelation 22:1-3).

The water of life, clear as crystal, is a part of His eternal plan. It's so important, that He places it in the very core of heaven, before His great throne!

What to do with all this?

How about lets take stock of our salt content? Are we letting the freshwater -- impossible though it seems -- cleanse the salt from our spiritual systems? Jesus is the water of life, but is our initial response to Him like Peter's? No, Lord! I'm comfortable in my salty sea.

Unless I wash you, you have no part with Me.

What will your next words be? I'm honestly asking. Don't glibly repeat after Peter unless you truly mean it: Wash me, all of me!

Cleansing and purification aren't easy. In fact, the process downright hurts most of the time. It's unpleasant and smelly. Think about washing dishes -- you have to dip the dirty, gross, burned on, greasy parts of the dishes into the water. The goal is to remove the dish from the water, leaving the dirt in the water and rinsing and drying the clean dish. But the separation process of dirt from pan isn't pleasant.

It is, however, necessary in order to follow Jesus. Unless I wash you, you have no part with Me.

Think about your answer. Be ready to give it when He kneels in front of you and takes your foot in His hand. It's one of the most important decisions you'll ever make.