“And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.”
(Revelation 22:1)
Seeing the world through the eyes of faith, virtually everything is an object lesson, a reminder of things pertaining to all sorts of blessed and wonderful realities. Today we draw our attention to the two rivers that run through our city, the Red and the Assiniboine. When we consider their waters, we note that water itself is a unique and remarkable substance. Unlike almost very other liquid, water expands as it freezes. That means that as our rivers freeze, they do so from the top down. God is the architect and creator of this amazing process (Job 37:10; 38:29-30), which allows fish to survive beneath the growing ice above them. When we think of our frozen rivers and how we are able to walk (or skate!) safely across them, we remember the Lord Jesus walking on the sea (Matthew 14:22-33), a supernatural sign miracle that proved His deity beyond doubt (Job 9:8). When we think about the fish in our rivers we remember that the first living things God made were not small, single-celled organisms (as in the evolution story) but swarms of sea creatures including great whales and other “sea monsters” (Genesis 1:21). We also remember that the Lord commissioned His apostles, and those who would carry their message, to be “fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). We also pause to reflect on the fact that rivers typically run downhill. That is to say, any point along a river will be lower than the river’s source. This is analogous to man’s ability to reason and behave in a morally upright way. These abilities and capacities are derivative in man; they were granted by God in whom they are original, eternal, and maximally exemplified. We can say with confidence that, just as a river cannot rise above its material source, man’s reason and morality cannot never rise about their Divine Source. How foolish it is to argue against the existence of God (Psalm 14:1) or to attempt to form a principled moral complaint against Him! (Job 9:12; Daniel 4:35; Romans 11:34) Every river is a reminder of the river that flowed out of Eden at the dawn of human history, which parted and became four river-heads (Genesis 2:10). That beautiful “very good” world was tragically ruined by sin (Genesis 3; Romans 8:19-22), which became so serious God destroyed the world in a flood (Genesis 6-9). Every river we lay eyes on today is a puny remnant of the mighty torrents that washed off the continents and into the oceans following the deluge (Psalm 104:5-9). Thus, every river is a reminder not only of God’s judgment of sin, but of His salvation also. Today, those who receive Jesus for salvation are promised new birth and the indwelling Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9; Ephesians 2:22). Just as physical rivers remind us of both God’s judgment and His salvation, so to does the indwelling Holy Spirit, typified as rivers of living waters (John 7:38-39), remind us of these awesome spiritual realities!
God bless you my dear friends,
pastor john
English