M E R I D I A N M A G A Z I N E
The Voice of Rushing Waters
By Janet Lisonbee
As I sat waiting, with approximately 3,000 other people,
for this year’s high school graduation ceremony to begin,
I noticed that most folks were visiting with one another.
As I listened, I found it interesting that the accumulative
effect of these many voices had the sound of rushing waters.
This took me by surprise because I remembered that Joseph
Smith described the Lord’s voice as rushing waters when He
appeared in the
…and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters, even the voice of Jehovah (Doctrine & Covenants 110:3)
Ezekiel also described the Lord’s voice, “And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like the noise of many waters” [Ezekiel 43:2]. John the Revelator likewise says the voice of the Lord was “as the sound of many waters” [Revelations 1:15, 14:12].
After my experience in truly hearing this sound at the graduation ceremony, I decided to see if there were any scriptural references that compared the voices of people with rushing waters. Even though Isaiah speaks of this in a negative way, he made this comparison in chapter 17:
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! [verse12]John the Revelator, however, puts it in a much more positive light. In chapter 19 of Revelations, regarding the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, a voice from under the throne of God says,
Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters … saying,
Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage supper of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready [verses 5-7].
On
July 24, 1876 at a grand Sunday School celebration held in
the Tabernacle in
It was a most pleasing and meritorious celebration, and will be ever remembered by those who participated in it …The singing exercises concluded with “Praise God From Whom All Blessing Flow,” in which the whole assemblage, including spectators, joined, making the sound like the rushing of many waters. The benediction was pronounced by President George A. Smith. [1]
Why
would the Lord’s voice and the voices of mankind be described
in similar terms? It is interesting that right after the
description of the Lord’s voice as “rushing waters” in the
I am the first and the last; I am he who liveth, I am he who was slain; I am your advocate with the Father (Doctrine and Covenants 110:4).
Perhaps the depiction of the Lord’s voice as rushing waters is symbolic, not literal. As the advocate for the people, His voice represents the people or the “voices” of mankind!
Human Droplets
Symbolically, each of us represent a “droplet,” thus mankind as a whole, represents “many waters.” Therefore the voice of Christ is as the voice of rushing waters as He pleads for us before the Father.
Rushing
water is also symbolic of purity and the ability to make clean.
Yet rivers can become impure because of pollutants and muddy
when storms arise. Water can become stagnant when sitting
for a long period of time. After the children of
Later,
after the miracle of the manna, the children of
Ironically,
in order to heal us, to make us clean, Jesus Christ had to
drink the bitter cup of mankind’s sins in
When people do not repent and receive the cleansing, healing “waters” of the atonement, they must drink their own bitter cup “for they are unclean … and consigned to partake of the fruits of their labors or their works, which have been evil; and they drink the dregs of a bitter cup” (Alma 40:26).
Fountain of Living Waters
Christ is known as the fountain of living waters [4] and it is through Him that the bitter and polluted rivers of humanity can be transformed into clear, pure streams of water. Even though Joseph Smith was speaking about the persecutions and troubles of the early Church, this statement could also apply symbolically to mankind. He said,
Like the torrent of rain from the mountains, that floods the most pure and crystal stream with mire, and dirt, and filthiness, and obscures everything that was clear before, and all rushes along in one general deluge; but time weathers tide; and notwithstanding we are rolled in the more of the flood for the time being, the next surge peradventure, as time rolls on, may bring to us the fountain as clear as crystal (Jesus Christ), and as pure as snow; while the filthiness, flood-wood and rubbish is left and purged out by the way. How long can rolling waters remain impure? [5] (parenthesis added)
1. Without water, there can be no life.
But
these things are written, that ye might believe that
Jesus is the Christ, The Son of God; and that believing
ye might have life through his name (John 20:31).
2. Throughout history, water has been people’s slave and
their master.
Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am (John 13:16). He that is ordained of God and sent forth, the same is appointed to be the greatest, notwithstanding he is the least and the servant of all (Doctrine & Covenants 50:26). 3. Great civilizations have risen where water supplies were plentiful. They have fallen where these supplies failed. Inasmuch
as ye will keep my commandments, ye shall prosper in
the land (Jarom 1:9).
Inasmuch
as ye will not keep my commandments, ye shall not
prosper in the land (Omni 1:6) Jesus
is the Christ, the eternal God (2 Nephi 26:12).
5.
Some regions have a water shortage because the people
have managed their supply
poorly. 6. Water is known as the universal solvent. Over time,
water can dissolve almost anything. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isaiah 1:18). |
Water is a beautiful metaphor for Jesus Christ. As our Creator, it is through Him that life began and it is through Him that we can have eternal life. It is fitting that John the Revelator saw in vision water associated with God:
And he shewed me a pure river of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb” which watered the tree of life (Rev. 22:1-2).
As we turn our lives over to Him and keep His commandments, our lives will be enriched and we will be like a goodly tree planted by a river of water.
Verily I say unto you, all among them who know their hearts are honest, and are broken, and their spirits contrite, and are willing to observe their covenants by sacrifice — yea, every sacrifice which I, the Lord shall command — they are accepted of me. For I, the Lord, will cause them to bring forth as a very fruitful tree which is planted in a goodly land, by a pure stream [running water!], that yieldeth much precious fruit (Doctrine & Covenants 97:9).
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper (Psalms 1:3).
Isaiah used water to describe the millennial peace:
Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her … For thus saith the Lord, Behold I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream (Isaiah 66:10-12).
In conclusion, water is used a metaphor for Jesus Christ and also mankind and it is appropriate how both voices have the sound of rushing water. To fulfill His role as advocate, Jesus Christ “drank the bitter cup” of mankind’s fallen nature, and mankind must partake of the “living water” that only Jesus Christ can offer in order to become clean, to be healed, and to have eternal life.
[1] Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 16, p.66 – 67
[2] Exodus 15:22-25
[3] Exodus 17:3-6
[4] Jeremiah 17:3
[5] History of the Church, Vol. 3, pg. 289–305, Doctrine and Covenants 121:33
[6] John 7:37
[7] John 4:14
[8] Most of these facts came from the World Book Encyclopedia, 1990 edition, under the heading of water.
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