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Water
in Bible Prophecy
by Don Henson
The Bible describes terrible end-time plagues
on the earth’s water systems; but after Jesus Christ’s return, fresh water will
bring life even to barren lands.
God promised that obeying His laws would bring
great blessings.
He also warned that disobedience would lead to
punishments, such as lack of fresh water (Deuteronomy
28:23-24; Psalm 107:33-34).
The world’s developing water crises are the
result of God’s withholding His blessing.
But, at the end of the age, water will play an
even more dramatic role in bringing mankind to repentance.
Trumpet plagues
Bible prophecy describes a time when the cycle
of sin will grow worse and worse — to the point that Jesus will need to
intervene to save mankind from self-destruction (Matthew
24:21).
In the end times God will punish the sinful
nations with a series of plagues, each preceded by the divine blast of a trumpet.
Two of these plagues will directly affect our
oceans and supplies of fresh water (Revelation
8:8-11).
With the second trumpet plague, a third of the
sea will become blood and a third of sea creatures will die.
After the third trumpet, the fresh waters of
the earth will become polluted and poisonous, causing many to die.
Yet after six trumpet plagues, people will
still not repent of their destructive sins (Revelation
9:20-21).
Last plagues
Even after the seventh trumpet, which will
signal Jesus’ return, most of the people on earth will continue to resist Him
and God will respond with seven catastrophic “bowls of wrath” (Revelation 16:1-6).
Two of these will also involve water: Every
sea creature will die in the areas where those plagues strike when the waters
become like the blood of a dead man.
The fresh waters (rivers and springs) will
also be turned to blood, killing everything in them.
Between the terrible, vile stench permeating
much of the earth and the unimaginable suffering that will stem from a land
without water, the stiff-necked remnants of humanity will be one step closer to
accepting Christ’s authority.
Jesus will refresh and restore all
things — physically and spiritually
It’s difficult to grasp just how battered and
chaotic the earth will be when Jesus returns.
But in the midst of this devastation, God
promises a future restoration linked to fresh, healing waters.
Peter called the time after Jesus’ return the
times of “refreshing” and “restoration of all things” (Acts 3:19-21).
Isaiah painted this beautiful word picture: “The
wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall
rejoice and blossom as the rose. … For waters shall burst forth in the
wilderness, and streams in the desert. The parched ground shall become a pool,
and the thirsty land springs of water” (Isaiah 35:1, 6-7).
Ezekiel prophesied, “The desolate land will
be cultivated instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass through
it. They will say, ‘This land that was laid waste has become like the garden of
Eden’” (Ezekiel 36:34-35, New
International Version). Also note Isaiah 41:18-20; 43:19-20; and Psalm
107:35-38.
Don Henson, along with his wife, Rannie, is currently the pastor
of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association, congregations in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, and Wheeling, West Virginia. He has been in the pastoral ministry
since 1986, previously serving congregations in Oregon, Tennessee and Ohio.
When
was the last time that you caught yourself straying from a passionate walk with
the Lord?
