Laver - God's Peace

When King Solomon replaced the Israel’s primitive tabernacle with a magnificent temple, he had a huge water-reservoir built to serve as the laver for the purification for the priests (1 Kings 7:23 and 2 Chronicles 4:2-6) It was so large – 15 feet across, 45 feet circumference and holding 16,500 gallons – that it was called a “sea”. This grandiose symbolic ocean illustrated the expansive dimensions of God’s grace and forgiveness.

But it also conveyed another level of meaning. Since the sea for Israel represented the chaotic forces of evil opposed to God, this artifact probably also symbolized “the forces of chaos that have been subdued and brought to order by the Lord who is creator of the world”(1) It affirmed that Yahweh was supreme over the Canaanite deities Yamm and Baal, gods of sea and storm.

Waters of Unity

In the first twenty years after the resurrection of Jesus, thousands of people expressed their faith in him through the water-ritual of baptism. Baptism is laced with connotations of cleansing, forgiveness, repentance, resurrection and new life.

One early story of baptism adds another dimension that speaks especially into our fragmented globalized world.  Acts 8 tells about an African government official who had been on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and was now travelling home by chariot, reading the prophecy of Isaiah. By coincidence he met a Christian named Philip who just happened to be on the same road. He offered Philip a ride and asked him about the text he was trying to decipher.

World Water Day - Imagine This!

Tomorrow, March 22, is the UN's annual World Water Day. This year's theme is "Water for Cities". 1000 delegates from 66 countries are gathered at a UN conference in Cape Town to address issues related to water, poverty, politics and urban issues.

The Bible describes a magnificent urban river scene in the last chapter of Revelation – a dazzling river with crystal clear water flowing down the middle of a great avenue.

The river flows from the throne of God which tells us that God loves this city* and sustains it as a place of refuge* and safety and where its citizens are being spiritually renewed* and nourished. Jesus is the spring of living water for the thirst and cleansing of the world.