Like the Dead Sea

       Have you ever had so much information jammed in your head that you thought it would blow up?  That's how it feels right now.  Who'd have thought studying one of the seven churches of Revelation could be so intensive...  Anyway, there is a physical crash coming soon so I need to post before  I fall asleep.

 

       Today I read an interesting article.  It used the Dead Sea to describe us: how we were dead in sin (Ep. 2:1,5) before we were saved.  I find this a suitable parallel.  The Dead Sea is so salty that 'nothing' living can survive in it.  In fact, it can kill you if you go diving and drink some of it, therefore you have to use a full facemask to dive.  Also, I've read it can blind you if it gets into your eyes.

 

       Ah, but you say, I may be a sinner but I have life in me... 

 

       My answer to that is that even the Dead Sea has bacteria and microbes, but is that genuine life?  Can fishies swim and survive there?  No! Similarly, we cannot have true life without Jesus for He is "the Truth, the Life, the Way..." (Jh. 14:6)  All life is sustained by Him "And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Cl. 1:17 ESV)  Without Him physically sustaining the universe, we would die.  Without Him granting salvation by His blood, we would be spiritually dead- forever dead in our sins and bound for hell.  Dead as the Dead Sea!

 

(Ok, did fall asleep, so didn't post yesterday...)

 

       Thinking of us being like the Dead Sea is a bit of a downer, but not if you know what is coming soon, in the end.  Water will flow from under the temple, reach to the Jordan river, and become an impassable torrent, which then flows into the Dead Sea bringing...  new life!!!

(Ez. 47) 

 

...They are brought out into the sea, and the waters shall be healed. Ez. 47:8
...And there shall be very many fish, because these waters shall come there. And they shall be healed. And all shall live where the torrent goes. And it will be, the fishermen shall stand on it from En-gedi even to En-eglaim, a spreading place for nets shall be there. Their fish shall be according to their kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea, very many. (v.9,10)
And all trees for food shall go up by the torrent, on its bank on this side, and on that side. Its leaf shall not fade, nor its fruit fail. It will bear by its months, because its waters come out from the sanctuary. And its fruit shall be for food, and its leaf for healing. (v.12)

 

       So, one day the Dead Sea will be healed and returned to fresh water where life will abound once again and fishermen will catch fish there.  And beside the waters will be trees for food where their leaves won't fade or their fruit fail to grow/ ripen whose fruit is for food and the leaves for healing. (sound familiar? Rv. 22:1,2)

 

       If we allow the torrent of water (Jesus the living water  Jh. 4:10, 14; 7:37) into our dead lives, then He will bring healing and restoration of life in us.  And trees will grow next to the waters that produce good fruit (Gl. 5:22,23) and their leaves shall not wither.  We can be like the revitalized Dead Sea if we accept Jesus into our lives and do what follows:

 

Blessed is the man who trusts in Jehovah, and Jehovah is his trust. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters; it sends out its roots by the river, and it shall not fear when the heat comes, but its foliage shall be green... Jr. 17:7,8
Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, and has not stood in the way of sinners, and has not sat in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is only in the Law of Jehovah; and in His Law he meditates day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivulets of water that brings forth its fruit in its seasons, and its leaf shall not wither, and all which he does shall be blessed. Ps. 1:1-3