Over 75 percent of the Earth’s surface is composed of water. One of the first things God did in the creation was to separate land and water (Genesis 1:9). After man was placed on earth, God often used water as a teaching tool. For example, look at the deliverance of Israel from Egyptian captivity. After the tenth plague, Pharaoh told Moses and Aaron to leave Egypt as they had asked. Exodus 12:31. In Exodus 14:5, Pharaoh changed his mind and pursued the Israelites who were camped by the Red Sea. The Israelites were frightened and, as became their habit, began complaining to Moses.\u00a0The LORD said to Moses, “Tell the sons of Israel to go forward<\/em>” (Exodus 14:15). Forward?<\/strong> That’s where the water was! There we see that the LORD caused the sea to be divided by a strong East wind and turned the sea into dry land. The Israelites walked across on dry land, “…the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left<\/em>” (Exodus 14:21-22).<\/p>\n Of course, the Egyptians tried to follow but were destroyed when they went in after the Israelites into the midst of the sea, and the waters returned and covered Pharaoh’s entire army (Exodus 14:23-28). Nobody claims that the water of the Red Sea saved the nation of Israel. It was the power of God that provided their escape and destroyed Pharaoh and his army.<\/p>\n Consider the example of Naaman in II Kings 5, described as “…captain of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man with his master, and highly respected<\/em>” and “…was a valiant warrior, but he was a leper<\/em>.” Fortunately for Naaman, a little girl taken captive from Israel waited on Naaman’s wife. She knew of the prophet Elisha and boldly proclaimed that he could cure Naaman of the dreaded disease.<\/p>\n Naaman did go to Elisha, who prescribed rather unusual medicine: “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean<\/em>.” We might think that, being a desperate man, Naaman would immediately go and do as he was instructed. But he did not have the faith necessary to obey. The captive Israelite girl had more faith than Naaman. He furiously said to his servants that the rivers of Damascus were far better than all the waters of Israel. He could have stayed home, washed in the cleaner rivers, and saved himself the trouble of the journey.<\/p>\n Naaman’s servants were more reasonable than he. They pointed out, “…had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much <\/em>more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean?’<\/em>” They understood that the power to cleanse Naaman was not in the water of the Jordan River. Sure enough, when he dipped seven times, “…according to the word of the man of God<\/em>…,” he was healed.<\/p>\n Elisha has another interesting water story in the following chapter of II Kings. Apparently, the sons of the prophets lacked sufficient space in their dormitory. (As the wise man said, “There is nothing new under the sun<\/em>.”) Elisha authorized the students to build a larger place in which to live and accompanied them to fell trees for timber. II Kings 6:5 records that as one man was working, the axe head fell into the water. The man was distraught and cried out to Elisha. The man had two good reasons to be dismayed: the tool was borrowed, and iron swims worse than a rock. Perhaps it is hard for us to understand his feelings because we can simply drive to the neighborhood hardware store and replace the lost axe head. It was his good fortune, though, to have a prophet of God at hand. Elisha asked him where it fell, “And when he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it in there, and made the iron float.<\/em>” Float?<\/strong>\u00a0Yes, the iron axe head floated. Was the saline content of the water suddenly sufficient to support the piece of iron? No, it readily sank when it fell in the river. Did Elisha’s stick have a magnetic field that would raise the axe head from the bottom? No, wood has no magnetic properties. Although we may consider this a “little” miracle, the power behind it came from Jehovah.<\/p>\n The next example is the story of the disciples in Mark 4:35-41. In the evening, Jesus wished to go to the other side of the sea and, with the disciples, entered boats. During their crossing, “...there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up.”<\/em> Jesus, seemingly unaware of the situation, was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. The disciples, badly frightened and afraid for their lives, awoke Him and said, “…Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?<\/em>” (Jesus doesn’t care?<\/strong> This was the Son of God, who came to the earth to die for them, and they accuse Him of not caring?) Jesus, after being aroused, rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” The wind died down, and it became perfectly calm.\u00a0Notice that Jesus simply spoke to the wind and sea, and it was so. He then turns His attention to the disciples and speaks to their lack of faith. “Why are you so timid? How is it that you have no faith?<\/em>” They became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?<\/em>” We are somewhat surprised at this question. They had already witnessed miracles that He had performed. Surely they had not forgotten so soon.\u00a0Does Jesus’ question regarding their lack of faith remind us of Naaman? Or even ourselves?<\/p>\n Now review Matthew 14:22-23. Depending on your perspective, this is perhaps the most famous or infamous story involving water. After feeding thousands with only five loaves and two fish, Jesus sent the disciples to the other side of the sea, while He sent the multitudes away. When the people had gone, Jesus went up to the mountain to pray. In the meantime, the boat with the disciples was far away from land and “…battered by the waves; for the wind was contrary.<\/em>”\u00a0After He had prayed, Jesus came to them, walking on the sea. When the disciples saw Him, they were frightened. They cried out in fear, afraid they were seeing a ghost. Jesus immediately spoke to them, “Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid<\/em>.” Centuries later, we think that His voice alone should have been reassuring. But Peter answered Jesus and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water<\/em>.” Jesus’ reply was simple: “Come!” Amazingly, Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. Unfortunately, he saw what was happening all around him and began to sink. Peter cried to Jesus, “Lord, save me!<\/em>” Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him. When they got into the boat, the wind stopped, and those in the boat worshipped Him, saying, “You are certainly God’s Son!<\/em>“<\/p>\n We are often quick to criticize Peter for this incident, but the record shows that he did get out of the boat and walk on water. (Impetuous as he might have been, the other disciples remained in the boat.) Did Peter suddenly have aqua-sandals that would tread on water? Was his body density somehow less than the water he was displacing? No!<\/strong>\u00a0to both questions. Ironically, Jesus explained how Peter was able to walk on water when He saved Peter from sinking: “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?<\/em>” The laws of science fail to explain how this could possibly happen. Peter’s faith in Jesus enabled him to walk on water. It was only when he began to doubt that he started to sink.<\/p>\n What about water and us? We don’t have to cross the Red Sea to escape the Egyptians, nor does Jesus ask us to walk on water. In contrast, He commands us: to walk down into the water (Acts 8:38), to be buried in baptism (Romans 6:3-4), to wash away our sins. (Acts 22:16). This doesn’t make sense to many people. Like Peter, they begin to doubt, asking, “How can that wash away my sins?” We cannot give an answer based on earthly wisdom. However, when we examine it through faith, we realize that God can make it so through the resurrection of Jesus Christ (I Peter 3:21). We are simply to trust in His power to save (Romans 4:24-25).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Clint Gann via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 18 No. 1, 31 March 1992 Over 75 percent of the Earth’s surface is composed of water. One of the first things God did in the creation was to separate land and water (Genesis 1:9). After man was placed on earth, God often used water as a teaching tool.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[49,161],"class_list":["post-91300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-faith","tag-water"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3924,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/crossing-the-sea\/","url_meta":{"origin":91300,"position":0},"title":"Crossing the Sea","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 8, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton The Junior High class had an excellent question the other day: Just where did the Israelites cross over from Egypt to the Sinai Peninsula? If you look at the maps in the back of most of our Bibles you will find multiple routes shown. None of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/01\/RedSea.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":25270,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-is-solomon-hearing-ants-absurd-but-jesus-turning-water-into-wine-or-moses-parting-the-red-sea-not\/","url_meta":{"origin":91300,"position":1},"title":"Why is Solomon hearing ants absurd, but Jesus turning water into wine or Moses parting the Red Sea not?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The Qur'an said Solomon talked with ants and Christians claim this is absurd. But didn't Jesus turn water into wine, and didn't Moses divide the Dead Sea? Doesn't all this fall into the same category as Solomon's issue? Answer: The Qur'an claims that Solomon communicated with ants through the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":94619,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/some-obvious-shadows-of-jesus-in-exodus\/","url_meta":{"origin":91300,"position":2},"title":"Some Obvious Shadows of Jesus in Exodus","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 17, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Exodus is rich in foreshadowing Jesus. A mark of divine wisdom is in the embedding of the shape and form of Jesus long before He arrived in the flesh, showing a wisdom too great for human wisdom alone to account for it. Moses is a lot\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88064,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/on-baptism-into\/","url_meta":{"origin":91300,"position":3},"title":"On Baptism Into\u2026","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 23, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Paul, guided by the Holy Spirit, stated that the Israelites were \"baptized into Moses\" when they crossed the Red Sea while fleeing Pharaoh and his armies. They were immersed under a cloud of water and with the walls of water on each side (I Corinthians 10:1-2).\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":87599,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-would-god-have-moses-strike-the-rock-one-time-and-not-the-next\/","url_meta":{"origin":91300,"position":4},"title":"Why would God have Moses strike the rock one time and not the next?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 7, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Brother Jeffrey, I have a question and would appreciate your insights. In Exodus 17, God commanded Moses to smite the rock for water, and then in Numbers 20, He commanded Moses to speak unto the rock for water. We know that Moses smote the rock in Exodus; he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35991,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/baptized-into-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":91300,"position":5},"title":"Baptized into Christ","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 22, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Paul, guided by the Holy Spirit, said that the Israelites were \"baptized into Moses\" when they were crossing the Red Sea while fleeing Pharaoh and his armies. They were immersed under a cloud of water and with the walls of water on each side (I Corinthians\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"By Distant Shores Media\/Sweet Publishing, CC BY-SA 3.0, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=18898659","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Book_of_Exodus_Chapter_15-7_Bible_Illustrations_by_Sweet_Media-300x222.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91300\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Application<\/h2>\n