In the previous chapters we have seen that the Lord is our life supply as water for us to drink and as food for us to eat. We have also seen that the food is in the water. Isaiah 55 tells us that when we come to the waters, we eat. The tree of life as the food grows in the water of life. Thus, if we are going to eat the tree of life, we have to come to the water of life. We must come to the water to get our food. Isaiah 55:1 tells us that when we come to the waters we eat, and we “buy wine and milk without money and without price.” It is hard to say whether milk is water or food because milk is food in water. Wine is the same in principle as milk; it is food in water. Wine is made from grapes, which are food. When the grapes become wine, they are food in water.
The food is in the water, and the water is in the air. When water becomes vapor, it gets into the air. The air sends water to the earth in the form of rain, and the water on the earth vaporizes and goes back to the air. There are devices called vaporizers which convert the water into vapor for inhalation. After a certain time the water in the vaporizer goes into the air. When we stay in a room where a vaporizer is being used, we breathe in the air and get the water because the water is in the air.
Genesis 2:5-6 says, “And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.” The mist from the earth is the vapor. Plants grow to produce food by being watered, and the water comes from the air. The air sends the water, and the water issues in the food. In Ezekiel 47 we saw that along with the water are the trees for food. The water heals the Salt Sea and produces many fish. The water also waters the desert, turning it into fountains of kids and of calves. The trees, the fish, and the cattle are for food. This food came from the water, and the water comes from the air.
If we want to get the food, we have to go to the water. If we are going to get the water, we need the air. If we are going to eat, we have to drink. If we are going to drink, we have to breathe. When we breathe in the air, we have the water. Furthermore, in the water we have the food.
Eventually, the air is the breath, and in the Bible the breath is the Spirit. In both the Hebrew and Greek languages, the word for Spirit is the same word for breath. The Greek word for Spirit is pneuma, and the Hebrew word for Spirit is ruach. In Ezekiel 37 this Hebrew word is translated into three words: Spirit, breath, and wind. The American Standard Version points out in the margin of the text that breath can be translated into Spirit (v. 5), wind can be translated into breath (v. 9), and breath can be translated into wind or Spirit (v. 9).
The food is in the water, the water is in the air, the air is the breath, the breath is the Spirit, and the Spirit is God. John 4:24 tells us that God is Spirit. The essence of God is Spirit. Just as wood may be the essence of a table, Spirit is the divine essence. God is Spirit; He is ruach or pneuma. The essence of God is the divine breath. God is breath to us. Man was the only item of God’s creation into whom God breathed the breath of life (Gen. 2:7). This breath of life became man’s human spirit. God made man by forming him out of the dust of the ground and breathing the breath of life into him. Revelation 11:11 also records an instance of the breath of life out of God entering into men. Among God’s creatures, only man has this privilege.
The three main chapters in the book of Ezekiel are chapter one, chapter thirty-seven, and chapter forty-seven. In chapter one is the fire, in chapter thirty-seven is the breath, and in chapter forty-seven is the water. All the worldly and sinful things including Satan and his host are under the burning fire. Eventually, all of these negative things will be put into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:10), but we believers will be the constituents of the city of water, the New Jerusalem (Rev. 22:1). In between the fire and the water is the breath.
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