E17-2: How the bitter water incident at Mara foreshadows Yeshua’s work on the cross

Today I want to share something I should have showed you when we were back in Chapter 15 of Exodus.

In chapter 15, we see Israel complaining about not having any water to drink.

Moses brings them to a spring whose water in its natural state was bitter.

This is a perfect reflection of how the world we live in today is in its natural state bitter.

Do you recall how Moses transformed the natural bitterness of this water into sweetness that saved the Israelites’ lives?

He took a piece of wood and IMMERSED it into that undrinkable water at God’s command.

The water was then cleansed of its bitterness and became useful to save lives.

Now is this not a picture of what Yeshua would do for us 1400 years later?

Yeshua is nailed onto a piece of wood.

And by Yeshua’s precious blood being spilled all over it, this wooden cross transforms into an object that when IMMERSED into our lives, frees us from the bitterness and oppression of the world.

Or another way to look at it is, whenever something is IMMERSED into a liquid, the object that has been dunked transforms or takes on a different character.

Note that the Greek word for IMMERSE is “BAPTIZMO” from where we get our English word “baptize”.

Let me share a few quick words about the origin of the word “baptize”.

This word actually comes from the cloth dying trade.

A natural piece of cloth was taken and BAPTIZMO or IMMERSED into a vat of dye.

The result is that the dipped cloth takes on the characteristics of the substance it was IMMERSED in.

So what’s the takeaway here?

Those who are crucified with Yeshua, take His wooden cross and IMMERSE it into their bitter, sin-stained lives, will be transformed by its purifying power just as the piece of wood IMMERSED into the spring at Mara transformed that bitter water into sweetness resulting in salvation.