Receiving Water from the Rock
By Linda Rex
May 31, 2020, DAY OF PENTECOST—There is a place as you drive down Illinois state road 100 where the road begins to meander next to the Illinois River. As you continue south on this road, the Illinois River joins with the Mississippi River, creating a huge flowing mass of water. On the banks of the river, you can see birds feeding on the fish and other creatures, and hanging over the water are many varieties of trees.
The Great River Road goes on following this massive body of water downstream, and next to it are bike and walking trails and small tourist communities where people gather to rest and recreate. In many ways, it reminds me of the description in Ezekiel 47 of the river which flows out from the temple bringing healing to the nations in the last days.
Looking way back, there was a time in the life of the people of Israel as they wandered in the wilderness when they found themselves without any water to drink. Being in a desert without water is a critical situation, and they complained that God had abandoned them and left them to die. But God told Moses to take his rod, which he had held over the Red Sea when God parted it, and to strike the rock with it. Out of the rock came water that kept the people from death.
This is a critical lesson for us to understand. The story of the beginnings we read in Genesis tells us how Adam and Eve walked and talked with God in the garden of Eden. They had all that they needed there in the garden, and could eat of the tree of life at any time. There was no need to be concerned about death or suffering.
But it seems that we have a tendency as human beings to listen to voices we should not listen to. They believed the serpent when he told them that eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would not cause them to die but to become like God instead. They believed him when he told them God was holding out on them, keeping them from having real life, even though it was available to them at all times, right at their fingertips, should they desire it.
The human condition is such that we think we are choosing life when so often we choose death instead. And when faced with death, we insist that God doesn’t love us, that he doesn’t care about what is happening to us. We neglect to see that right there in front of us is what we are needing—God is present, loving us and desiring to be a part of our lives, and to help us choose life rather than death.
God is so concerned that we choose life rather than death, that he chose to take death upon himself so we could be free from the fear of death once and for all. In Christ, God took on our humanity, lived our life and died our death, rising from the grave to lift us all beyond the grave into new life. But that wasn’t enough for him. Bearing our resurrected glorified humanity, Jesus rose, bringing us into the presence of the Father. As the scripture says, we are hidden with Christ in God—the truth of our being is there for us to participate in by the Spirit (Col. 3:3).
So the Father’s sending of the Spirit on all flesh which we read about in Joel and see fulfilled in Acts 2, gives humans the capacity to share in Jesus’ mission in this world and to participate in the divine life and love through Jesus in the Spirit. As the Spirit moved the believers that Pentecost millennia ago to tell of the wonderful works of God, so he moves today to bring healing, renewal, and to bring people to faith in Christ, giving them spiritual life.
Sometimes it may feel as though we live in a spiritual desert, where there seems to be more death than there is life. We may find ourselves facing little deaths and even major deaths, including the loss of our home, our job, a significant relationship, or a person we love. Death seems to be the voice which speaks loudest to us. We may find ourselves in the same position as those Israelites in the desert wondering how they were going to survive without any water to drink. If all you see around you are rocks and absolutely no water, it is very difficult to have hope.
But think of it this way. The human condition was such that we walked out of the garden away from our source of life. We decided we could live apart from the Creator who made us and who sustains us. In reality—the only reason any of this exists in our cosmos is that he sustains it by the word of his power. Death meant we would drop back into non-existence because God made everything out of nothing. If Jesus had not done what he did, we would have no hope of life after death.
Now, because Jesus died and rose again and sent his Spirit, we have life—life in relationship with the God who made us and who sustains us. Our human existence doesn’t end at the grave—Jesus took it beyond the grave into the presence of the Father, and sent the Spirit so each of us could participate in that eternal life, that eternal knowing and being known which have always existed between the Father and the Son, and which we were created to participate in.
Our human bodies were meant to be temples of the Holy Spirit, and believers together were created to be a temple overflowing with the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. From the body of Christ, the church, is meant to flow a vast stream of life-giving water, giving God’s life to the world around us. But this does not happen apart from what Jesus did in planting in our humanity a fountain of living water, a resting place for the Holy Spirit.
God’s presence isn’t just found in a garden now. It is found within us as well as with us. There is no escaping the presence of God—he is everywhere all at once. But now, as we trust in Christ, we find he dwells within us, including us in the life-giving interrelations of the Father and the Son in the Spirit.
What we need to do first is to recognize our thirst—our need for a living connection with the God who made us and who loves us deeply and completely, even in our brokenness. Then we need to drink—to turn to Jesus Christ, trusting in his death and resurrection, receiving the grace he offers and the life he gives. Jesus breathes on us—receive his life-giving Spirit.
Could it be that you are immersed right now in his living streams and don’t realize it? Ask God to awaken you anew to the indwelling Christ—the presence of God himself in you and in your life. Rest quietly in his presence as he brings healing and renewal in your life. May you experience the life-giving overflowing waters of his love and grace today.
Abba, thank you for loving us so much that you did not abandon us in the spiritual desert we’ve chosen for ourselves. Thank you for sending through Jesus your life-giving Spirit that we might share in your grace and love now and forever. Awaken us anew to your presence in us and with us through Jesus and by your Spirit. Amen.
“Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” John 7:37–39 NASB
“You hide Your face, they are dismayed; | You take away their spirit, they expire | And return to their dust. | You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; | And You renew the face of the ground.” Psalm 104:29–30 NASB
“And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” John 20:22 NASB
Our Life in the Trinity 