Hydrate: For Life (Genesis 2:8-15)

The Big Blue Marble

Our home here on earth is called the Water Planet. When the first astronauts first got a glimpse and picture of earth as it looks from space, it was a big blue ball. It’s hard to believe that until 1969, nobody knew what the world looked like from a distance. Most of you have grown up always having an image of the earth taken from space to provide perspective. Astronaut Bill Anders was the first one to take a picture from space. Two of his pictures are now some of the most memorable pictures ever taken. The Big Blue Marble is one we see frequent. And his picture call Earthrise was also iconic. Earthrise changed the way we saw ourselves. From the astronauts’ persepctive, everything here on earth was put in its place. Earth’s squabbles and difficulties looked quite small from a distance.

But the other thing we are immediately struck with as we look at Anders’ pictures is how blue the planet is. There’s nothing like it in our solar system. And that’s due mostly to one thing: water. It also has to do with the way our atmosphere is made up… it is in the air we breathe...but mostly it has to to with water. More than 70% of the earth is covered in water. Oceans dominate the globe. Our drinking water comes from aquifers, large bodies of water that are underground. Water is everywhere, even when we are experiencing drought. We live close enough to the gulf that water is always in our air.. so much so that our cars constantly have salt on them and aluminum siding facing east doesn’t last as long as aluminum siding facing west.

We have water in our bodies. 70% of our bodies are water. Healthy bodies are hydrated bodies. I personally found that out with COVID. Water has great healing properties and helps our bodies perform like they are supposed to.

Water saturates the story of the Bible

Water. Water. Water. It’s always been this way. Our story, the big story, the story of Jesus and His people from Genesis to Revelation is flooded, quite literally at times, with water. Like a river, water flows through the story of redemption in the Bible. So, for these dog days of summer, in a heat dome that has yet to lift and dissipate, we’re going to spend the next few weeks looking at water in the Bible.

(BIBLE PROJECT VIDEO)

Water saturates the story of the Bible

Water is a big, big deal and has much to do with our salvation. Jesus uses water to save us. And as this video shows, that story of Jesus saving us through water begins at the beginning. Water dominates the first couple of chapters of the Bible. In fact, the entire creation begins with water covering everything, and then out of that water, God creates the world. God separates land from the water, God creates fish and all the sea creatures to populate the water… and then… in chapter two, God makes a special place, a garden, and he waters that garden.

Water of life for the garden

We’re going to look at a couple of things in this part of the creation story. This part of the story seems quite insignificant at first, but as the story unfolds for the rest of the Bible, we begin to figure out that this part of the story, just may be the most significant part of the entire creation story.

We are told three things:

The LORD God planted a garden in Eden, and there he placed man.

A river went out from Eden to water the garden.

The LORD God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it.

The first thing we see is that God planted a garden. God creates order, and within that order God places man. The story of creation is in chapter 1. And then, within that creation, God also creates a garden. The garden is a microcosm of all that is good and right with the world. The garden is God’s temple, designed for the ongoing conversation and relationship between God and humans, the Creator with his creatures. The garden is whole. The garden is complete. The garden has everything. The imagery here is lush and green and full of water.

The second thing we see is that God places the man in the garden to work it and watch over it. The words for “work” and “watch” are the same words used in the tabernacle and temple stories later in the Old Testament. “Serve” and “guard.” These are the functions of the priests in the tabernacle and temple. Adam and Eve were to serve and guard in the first temple, the first tabernacle, the garden, where God visibly dwells among His people.

And in the middle.. a river went out to water the garden. This is God’s provision. This is life for the garden and for man. Everything man needs is here. Water for the Tree of Life. In this first garden there is one river, and it becomes four rivers. What we are supposed to see is that the garden is both watered by this river, which in turn provides water for the rest of the world downstream. The source, though, is the God of the garden who provides everything that garden needs to sustain life… real life between the Creator and His creatures. This really is heaven on earth. In fact, as this river winds its way through the storyline of the Bible, you begin to realize that the Creator is providing this water for this garden from heaven itself, because heaven is where God dwells. And this garden is where God dwells with his creation. Heaven meets earth in the garden with the tree of life and the water of life and the Creator of all things being given to His creatures.

Water of life for the new garden

Thousands of years pass… and at the end of all time, one of Jesus’ best friends, John is given a glimpse of what is coming. There’s a new heaven. A new earth. A new people. A new garden. And in the middle of it all…

Revelation 22:1 ...the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

There is a difference in this second garden and this second river. Everything is bigger, badder, more beautiful, more extensive than the first garden. That first garden is looking forward and anticipating that final garden. The first garden was limited to just one area and just one mountain. This final garden covers the entire earth. The four rivers were limited in scope. This river is for the entire earth, and here, this river is given a name… the river of the water of life. Crystal clear. This is the same water of life that is given to the thirsty. There’s also a tree of life here, except this tree of life covers both sides of the river.

These two gardens paint a picture of absolute perfection. Lush scenery. Lots of green. Lots of water. Lots of light. And the final garden is off the charts in its brilliance and perfection. You look at these two gardens and you look at your front lawn, you look at Boca Chica beach or Isla Blanca and you think about your thirst, and you begin to notice… what we have now isn’t that. We live in deep south Texas. We have a hard time believing the first garden existed and that a second garden better than the first is coming because what we see isn’t THAT. What happened? Why do we have to water our lawns?

Drought (of sin and death) happens

God placed man in the garden to serve and guard his natural temple where humans and God would enjoy each other’s company and God would love on humans and humans were not satisfied. We wanted it all. We wanted to be God. We wanted control of our own destinies. We rebelled. We sinned. We did what we do best… thumb our nose at our Creator. And so he kicked us out of the garden and into the wilderness. No more garden. No more tree of life. No more river of life. Worst of all, no more daily talks with the Creator. No more conversations. We now have sin, drought, desert, thirst, and death. And it’s been that way ever since.

In fact, the water we have through the pages of scripture, seems to be out of control. Water, which is supposed to be life, is an agent of death. The worldwide flood, the Red Sea, even the story of Jonah, these events that show us our salvation also speak of destruction and death brought about by too much water. Man is a land animal and the water is his doom. You visit Isla Blanca and you see the red flag and you are reminded that the sea is to be feared and respected. This is our doing. We messed up.

The River of Life as a Person

Into a world of drought and thirst and desert and sin and death comes a Person. The very God who kicked Adam and Eve out of the Garden shows up himself one day as a baby. And he begins creating a new garden. And he’s talking about water, living water.

John 7:37-38 On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.”

We not going to get into all the details of this passage at this time. This is the Festival of Lights. Ultimately, Jesus will declare himself as the light of the world. But the festival of lights was also known for its water ceremonies. And at this occasion, Jesus declares himself to be the River of Life. Whatever else is going on in that passage, Jesus is telling us that all drought, all desert, all thirst, find their end point in Him. In fact, he is setting up what we read in Revelation 22 about the new garden and the new river.

Things will not always be like they are. The sin and death that are part of our lives now will not always be. And we know this because the River of Life himself has come and has begun his new creation as the new River of Life. Jesus waters our souls. Jesus floods the desert of our lives. We find all the hydration we need in Him. Jesus provides us with the physical water to keep our bodies healthy. Jesus provides us with the waters of our salvation through Word and Sacrament to quench our spiritual thirst.

We come in here every week so dry. So thirsty. We experience the parched reality of this life. But this isn’t all there is. The desert. The drought. The sin. The death. Jesus is the end of all need for water because He is the water we need. We come here and we drink from Jesus every week as we hear his Word and receive His sacrament and enjoy the company of others who are also drinking from Jesus. Jesus waters His garden on a weekly basis. Every week, we come here to hydrate the thirst and drought of our souls. Jesus will give us living water. He promised.

Let’s pray.

The Table

This Table and this Supper is the garden in miniature. Everything that garden was supposed to be, everything that new garden will be is here for us in this Table. The Lord’s Supper is the Garden of God given to us give us all we need in the Person who is Life for us. In fact, wine, throughout the Bible, provides many of the same benefits and is symbolic of all the benefits provided by the Living Water, the River of Life. That’s right here, right now, in the body and blood of Jesus for us. Christ’s death is our garden. It’s not an accident that Jesus spend his last few hours in a Garden. For you and for me.

The Benediction

Numbers 6:24-26 “May the Lord bless you and protect you;

may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;

may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.”