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.

Sea of Glass and Fire

The Book of Revelation overflows with strange scenes. In Chapter 15 verse 2, the narrator John sees a crowd of people standing on the shore of the sea that looks like ‘glass mixed with fire’. If we didn’t know better this might appear to us as a glorious sunset on the water.

But in Revelation, as in common Old Testament imagery, the sea is the domain of evil and everything hostile against God. The Beast who assaults God’s people rises from the sea. But this crowd stands triumphant beside the sea, not frightened in the least. The fire glistening on the water is a sign that the evil has been judged.

Queen of Many Waters

In the last post, Desert, Torrent and Sea, we looked at a puzzling portrait of a woman who had taken refuge in the desert from a beastly assailant who pursued her.

In Revelation 17, we meet another woman, a glittering prostitute who ‘sits on many waters’ (v.1). This description echoes Jeremiah’s description of Babylon, the city surrounded by rivers and canals (Jeremiah 51:13) and shows her to be a formidable force. In the symbolism of Revelation, ‘sitting on many waters’ means that she has influence over ‘many peoples, multitudes, nations and languages’ (17:15). This presents her as a parody of the Church which is also comprised of people from many languages and nations.

Desert, Torrent and Sea

Woven throughout the puzzling images of the Book of Revelation are the twin themes of victory and suffering.

Half-way through the book, in Chapter 12, John sees ‘a great and wondrous sign’ that illustrates this double truth.

A pregnant woman is on the verge of giving birth, but a fierce red dragon stands in front of her ready to pounce on her infant the moment she delivers. It’s a bizarre picture to be sure, but it's a symbolic portrait of the cosmic battle under-lying the history of the human race.

The woman is a composite of Eve, the mother of all living (who was stalked by the serpent) and Mary, the mother of Jesus, stalked by Herod after Jesus was born. The new-born boy-child, we’re told, “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” So we know this is about the reign of Jesus and the hostility of the evil one who seeks to destroy him. The child is no sooner born than he is “snatched up to God and to his throne” (v.5). The story leaps from the birth of Jesus to his ascension to heaven.

Island Get-Away

This week my wife and I are tourists enjoying the delights of Iceland.  The name of this country has nothing to do with ice; it is simply the Icelandic word for 'Island'.  In the history of language the English added an 's' to the Germanic word 'eiland' meaning 'land surrounded by water', but the 's' has never been prounced.

Islands are defined by more than just the water that surrounds them.  Alcatraz and Babados have very different connotations.  Robben Island became known to the world as the prison where Nelson Mandela spent 18 years being shaped into the leader he became. 

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.