The children of Israel had been in the
wilderness for only three days when they came to the waters of Marah, but found that
they couldn't drink, for the waters were bitter, Ex 15:22-23, "And the people
murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? 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," vv., 24-25.
This is a picture of Calvary; but in order to
see that picture it is necessary to recognize that in Scripture trees are used as
symbols of men, e.g., in Judges chapter nine the appointment of the bramble to be
king over the trees is used parabolically to declare the folly of the men of Shechem
in having chosen Abimelech to be their king. In Ps 1:3 the wise man is likened to a
tree planted by rivers of water. In Ps 37:35 the wicked man, increased with power and
wealth, is likened to a green bay tree. David described himself as being "like a
green olive tree in the house of God," Ps 52:8. Of the righteous man it is said
that he "shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in
Lebanon," Ps 92:12. Daniel's interpretation of the great tree seen by
Nebuchadnezzar in his dream, was, "The tree which thou sawest.... It is thou, O
king," Dan 4:20-22. In Isa 56:3 the obedient man, even though a eunuch, is
blessed, and encouraged not to say, "Behold, I am a dry tree." In Ca 2:3
the apple tree is used as a figure of Christ, "As the apple tree among the trees
of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons." And then there is perhaps the
best known of all, the unmistakable reference to the Lord in Isa 53:2, "For He
(Christ) shall grow up before Him (the Father) as a tender plant (sapling), and as a
root out of a dry ground...."
Since that tree by Marah's bitter waters
represents Christ, and since water is one of the symbols of the Word, a truth being
presented is, that apart from Christ, the Word of God must bring death, not life, for
that Word declares, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die," Ez 18:20, and,
"All have sinned," Ro 3:23. But in that tree cut down and cast into the
bitter waters, God would have us see Christ "cut down" at Calvary;
entering, as the believer's Representative, into the death pronounced by the
"water" of the written Word. Note for example the scriptural references to
Christ's death in association with raging, overwhelming waters, "Deep calleth
unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone
over me," Ps 42:7; "Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my
soul. I sink in the deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep
waters, where the floods overflow me.... Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not
sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters. Let not
the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit
shut her mouth upon me," Ps 69:1-2, 14-15; "Thou hast laid me in the lowest
pit, in darkness, in the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou has afflicted
me with all thy waves. Selah.... Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut
me off. They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about
together," Ps 88:6-7, 16-17. By His willingness to enter into death on our
behalf, having by His death, exhausted the wrath of God against sin, the condemnation
of the Word has been transmuted for the believer into the water of life. The
"bitter waters" that once meant death, have become instead the "water
of life," first to give life, and then to sustain it. But in the transformation
of the waters of Marah from bitter to sweet through the casting in of the tree, we
have a second typological picture. Those bitter waters in the desert portray also the
bitter experiences which are the inevitable lot of the believer who would be faithful
to the Lord. Those "bitter waters" are sweetened by the knowledge that the
Lord Himself has drunk a far more bitter cup than any believer will ever have to
drink, and by the knowledge that it is a privilege to be counted worthy to
participate in "the fellowship of His sufferings," Php 3:10. For the
faithful believer the bitter waters of earthly experience are made sweet by the
knowledge that, "All things work together for good to them that love God,"
Ro 8:28. "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a
far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory," 2 Co 4:17.
In 2 Sa 23:15-17 it is recorded that in response
to David's expressed longing for a drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, three
of his mighty men, at the risk of their lives, brought him that water; but he refused
to drink it, pouring it out instead as a drink offering to God, saying, "Is not
this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives?" Can it be that
we who have had the bitter waters of death transformed into the sweet water of life,
through the Lord's death, and given us as God's priceless gift, place so little value
upon it that we neither drink it, nor pour it out as an offering to God by preaching
the gospel to sinners, and in using Scripture to upbuild and comfort His people?