Sweet and bitter waters

[Stewardofthemystery]

In the story of the Exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt we read in Exodus 15:22-23 that after Moses brought the children of Israel from the Red Sea, and were 3 days journey in the wilderness they found no water. And they came to a place called Marah,(Marah= "bitter") but could not drink the waters because they were "bitter". 

But after Moses cried unto the Lord, the Lord then told Moses what to do to make the bitter waters "sweet". 
 

Exodus 15:25;”And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed him "a tree", which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were "made sweet": there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them,”

I believe this Tree that was cast into the waters to make them sweet is a "similitude" of the "Tree of Life", which also speaks of the Word of Life; just as God’s words are shown "as sweet." 

Psalm 119:103;”How "sweet are thy words" unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” 

So if God’s Word is like a sweet blessing, the opposite could be said of "bitter words" as in a "curse."

 And we see this here James 3:10-11;” Out of the same mouth proceeds blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?”

We also see this same sign of God’s Word given “as sweet”as honey in Ezekiel 3:3;”Then he said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it tasted as “sweet as honey”in my mouth.”

Which also brings us to another mystery of the sweet becoming bitter shown here in Revelation 10:10;

“I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. 
 

This is the sign of the blessing of God’s Word becoming "a curse". And so you might ask why?

It all goes back to what the Lord told the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt, how if they would hearken to His Word then they would receive the"blessings" from it.  But if they refuse to hearken to His Word it would then become"a curse" unto them. 

Deuteronomy 30:1;” When all these"blessings and curses" I have set before you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the LORD your God disperses you among the nations,” 

Which dispersal also happened after Israel, in part, rejected their Passover Lamb in Jesus, which I also believe is why the Lord commanded them to eat the Passover with a "bitter herb". 

Exodus 12:8;”That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with "bitter herbs", and bread made without yeast.” 

And this sign is also shown here Lamentations 3:15; “He has filled me with "bitter herbs" and given me gall to drink.”
 

This giving of gall to drink was shown in Jesus on the cross as well, which is a "similitude" of how the people would also "curse" the blessing sent to them in Jesus, by the "bitterness" of their own words. 
 

Matthew 27:34;”There they offered Jesus wine to drink, "mixed with gall"; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it.”

So in effect the blessing of the Living waters were made "a curse" to them because they did not receive the Word of God sent unto them; just as it was in the days of Ezekiel.

 Ezekiel 3:7;” But the house of Israel "will not hearken" unto thee; for they "will not hearken unto me": for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.”

So instead of receiving God’s Word and being "blessed", they would reject it and be consumed by it, just as the Lord told Jeremiah. 

Jeremiah 5:14;”Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

This is all a sign of the"consumption" that would be decreed by the Lord as was also forewarned of in Joshua 24:20;”If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and "consume you", after that he hath done you good.” 

This consumption by fire and water was also shown in the judgments determined on the third parts in the book of Revelation, even in the waters "made bitter" by Wormwood. 
 

Revelation 8:11;”And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made "bitter". 

Keep in mind God symbolizes many peoples and nations like “many waters”

And why were they "made bitter"? 

Amos 5:7;”Ye who turn judgment to"wormwood", and leave off righteousness in the earth,”

Their words ( like the sound of many waters) were made bitter…

Psalm 64:3
Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitterwords:

Proverbs 5:4
But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.

Isaiah 5:20
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Jeremiah 2:19
Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts.

Jeremiah 4:18
Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart.

Lamentations 3:15
He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood.

Acts 8:23
For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.

Romans 3:14
Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:

Ephesians 4:31
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:

Hebrews 12:15
Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

James 3:11
Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?

James 3:14
But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.

Revelation 8:11
And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

Revelation 17:15
And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the ***** sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

Those who have ears to hear, let them hear what the Spirit is saying.

Peace

 

[R. Hartono]

The bitter water of Marah was simply the literal picture of the Jews' bitter rejection of Almighty God Elohim leadership. 

The water revealed their hearts.

Edited July 28, 2023 by R. Hartono

[Stewardofthemystery]

In the beginning God “divided”the waters from below from the waters that are from above. Just as He also divided the Light from the darkness, and the children of light from the children of darkness.

There are the waters from below that speak…

Isaiah 57:20

But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.

 

Isaiah 17:12

Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!

Isaiah 17:13

The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.

 

And there are the waters from above that speak…

 

Revelation 1:15

And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.

 

Ezekiel 1:24

And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings.

Ezekiel 43:2

And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory.

 

Revelation 14:2

And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:

 

Revelation 19:6

And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth”