Hidden (Krypto) Treasures

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Tag: Living Water

Psalm 1 :: By rivers of water, fruitful and unwithering

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On July 6, 2012

In Christian, Psalm Ponderings

The Bible teaches us that “The blessed man is like a tree planted by the rivers of water, who brings forth his fruit in his season, and his leaves does not wither and in whatsoever he does, he prospers.” (Psalm 1:3).

A tree that is planted by the rivers of water implies that the tree has perpetually proximity to water, which is a primary source of its life. Jesus said, I am the resurrection and THE LIFE (John 11:25) and his Holy Spirit is the living water that flows out of those who have believed and received Jesus Christ (John 4:13-14). A blessed man, is one who is perpetually in proximity to Jesus Christ, the author and personification of life.

Not only is he watered by the Holy Spirit of God, the blessed man is also fruitful in his mission of reconciling God to man. Just as a mango tree will bear only mango fruit and not any other kind of fruit, the fruit of a believing blessed person and can only be another believer who will also be blessed. Unlike the fig tree that was worthless to the owner of the vineyard, but fit only to be cut down for being fruitless (Luke 13:6-9), the man who is fruitful brings joy to the owner of the vineyard, producing many others who believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ; much fruit in thirty, sixty and hundredfold.

Additionally, just as leaves are a source of medicine that brings healing (Revelation 22:12; Ezekiel 47:12), the blessed man is unwithering in his mission of bringing healing to the nations; healing from the sickness of sin and the power of death, by pointing others to Jesus Christ, the master physician and healer of all mankind.

Psalm 1:3 (KJV)
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

I thirst

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On March 31, 2010

In Christian, Seven Sayings

The fifth saying of Jesus as He hung on the Cross, living up to His Name, which was to save His people from their sins was a request in which Jesus expressed a need. His saying was ‘I thirst’ (John 19:28). Though cursorily it may seem like an expression of his physical condition, is there more to this than what is evident.

One of the dictionary definitions of the word, ‘thirst’ is an ardent desire, craving or longing. Interestingly, one can go without food for days, but not without water. Thirst is a physical condition that can bring the strongest of the strong to their knees, some even to the point of death. Samson the strong after killing a thousand warriors in battle cried to the Lord when he felt thirsty, questioning, now shall I die of thirst? (Judges 15:18-20). The grumbling Israelite pilgrims questioned Moses, if he had led them out of Egypt to kill them and their children and cattle with thirst (Exodus 17:3). When no water in the desert of Beersheba was found, Hagar, unable to bear the possibility of her son, Ishmael dying of thirst, goes a bow shot length away until God miraculous opens her eyes and she sees a well (Genesis 21:14-16). So thirst can make the strong weak, and the living dead.

And here we hear Jesus saying that He thirsted. Why did Jesus say that he thirsted?

The logical human explanation was that He experienced a human physical condition and that is certainly plausible. Jesus hungered (Matthew 4:2), slept (Mark 4:38), grew (Luke 2:42), groaned (John 11:33), wept (John 11:35) and so in his Humanity also thirsted (John 19:28). Now if this was merely a personal physical need to be satisfied, isn’t it interesting that Jesus only asks for being quenched after he accomplished all the things He knew He had to fulfill (John 19:28). Jesus’ personal needs came only after doing what God wanted Him to do. He satisfied God before He prayed to be satisfied himself. We must have the same attitude as well.

But the scripture gives us evidence that there is more. Jesus said, ‘I thirst’ so that the scripture may be fulfilled (John 19:28). Jesus came to fulfill the scripture and fulfilled it (Psalm 69:21). Jesus, who knew no sin was made sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21) and the imputation of our sins on Him made him experience a separation from God the Holy Father as expressed by the prophet Isaiah who said “… your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2) . So Jesus’ relationship with God the Father had been broken because of our sins. This is further substantiated by the fact that Jesus addressed God, in His previous saying as My God, my God (Eloi, Eloi) and not as Father (which is how He addressed God in the first saying from the Cross). Jesus very well could have thirsted for the oneness He had with God the Father (John 10:30). Another explanation as to why Jesus thirsted is that he experienced the thirst of hell. Acts 2:27 and 31 are very explicit that God would not let soul of his Holy  One (Jesus) in hell.  In Matthew 12:40, we hear Jesus saying that “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly: so shall the Son of man (Jesus) be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. ” Revelation refers to hell as the bottomless pit or abyss (Revelation 9:1-2). Ephesians 4:9 tells us that Jesus ascended into heavens, but that he also first descended into the lower parts (heart) of the earth.

So Jesus descended down to hell on our account, but what is the state of affairs in hell? An overbearing need to be quenched. We see this in the parable that Jesus told about Lazarus and the rich man. The rich man died and was buried and in hell he was tormented by thirst. (Luke 16:19-31). So it is not implausible that when Jesus’ soul descended to hell, he thirsted as well.

But in hell, the thirst that is to be quenched is not physical as the rich man describes but more in the spiritual realms. Jesus spiritually thirsted that his desire to bring many sons unto glory be quenched (Hebrews 2:10); that all are saved and none perish (2 Peter 3:9); that God’s eternal wrath would now be quenched as he accomplishes his task of saving all men and women in totality and that all will drink of Him (Jesus) and receive from Him living water (the Holy Spirit – John 7:38-39) so that they will no longer be thirsty.

Finally, when the curtain falls, we can find ourselves in only one of two states – eternally thirsty or eternally quenched and this depends on whether we agree to drink of (believe) Him, Jesus Christ, who with a craving, a longing and an ardent desire said, ‘I thirst’ [for you].

Water – satisfying and purifying LORD

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On August 18, 2009

In Christian, The Elements

The fourth and final element in our series is Water.

Recently as I watched an episode of  “I shouldn’t be alive” covering the lives of certain folks lost at sea, and how their desires for water after the second or third day started to drive some members delusional leading eventually to their death as they hallucinated seeing land in the open ocean and trying to swim to it. This got me thinking about the length of term that one could possibly stay alive without drinking water and from the Holy Scriptures I read that for a period of forty days and forty nights, Moses did not eat any bread or drink water (Deuteronomy 9:9) as he went up to the mountain to receive the tablets of the covenant of the LORD. I wondered as to how Moses could have stayed alive and without being able to rationalize in a human sense, how this could have been possible, I had to remind myself of the words of Jesus, that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4) and that Jesus is the giver of living water and whoever drank of him shall thirst no more (John 4:14). It was the Water from the Rock (Jesus) that sustained and saved the Israelites as they trekked toward the promised land, led by God’s servant, Moses. (Numbers 20:7-11)

Water not only satisfy one’s thirst, but it also purifies (Number 31:23). When Naaman the leper immersed himself in water, his skin was purified and he was made into a new creation with skin as if it was like that of a child (2 Kings 5:14).

Just as water is essential for physical survival, Jesus, the Living water is essential for Spiritual survival. Despite the fact that the human body is composed 90% of water, we still need water to live. Despite the fact that we are made in the image of God, we need the expressed image of invisible God (Colossians 1:15), who is Jesus Christ to live eternally (John 3:16).

Jesus is THE ELEMENT, the LIVING WATER that satisfies and purifies us making us a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) when we believe in Him.

The Elements – Earth, Air, Fire and Water

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On August 12, 2009

In Christian, Movie Motions, The Elements

Earth Air Fire Water Ambigram

Earth Air Fire Water Ambigram

One of the movies that I like to watch is The Fifth Element, whose synopsis is two hundred and fifty years in the future, life as we know it is threatened by the arrival of Evil. Only the fifth element (divine supreme being) can stop the Evil from extinguishing life. The other four elements in the movie are earth, air, fire and water, which are not foreign to astrology and horoscopes and even fictional writers such as Dan Brown (author of the Da Vinci Code), in his book Angels and Demons refers to these four elements as mystical elements used as Illuminati markers and depicted artistically as an ambigram (as seen in this picture).

With a heavy undertone of these elements in horoscopes that several blindly follow, it perplexes me to realize as to why so many people would look to the stars (horoscopes) for answers, when they can look to the very One (Jesus Christ) who made the stars.

This series is entitled “The Elements”. My intent is to see from the scriptures how the LORD Jesus Christ is so beautifully represented in these elements, so that those who are seeking answers need NOT have to look at the elements but at THE ELEMENT and answer to all of their questions. You can view today’s articles as merely a preview of articles to come in which we will expand on each of these elements, representative of THE Christ and Savior, Jesus and what we are commissioned to be and do as followers of Christ, apropos.

Earth (rock) – Jesus Christ is the Rock (1 Corinthians 10:4), the Only One that stands, on whom on can stand and not fall, the Only One that Saves (Psalm 95:1)
Air –  The breath (air) of the Almighty God gives Life (Job 33:4)
Fire – The indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God was externally expressed as tongues of Fire on the day of the Pentecost (Acts 2:3-4)
Water – Jesus is the living Water (John 4:10-14)

Evident in the scriptures, the apt conclusion to this day’s article is this- For by him (Jesus) were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist (Colossians 1:16-17).

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