The Garden and River in Isaiah Reminds Us of the Richness Found in Christ
Share
The imagery of Isaiah suggests a contrast between the life Israel was leading and God’s perfect plan for his people. For instance, verdant gardens thriving beside flowing streams suggest a right relationship with God; however, Israel’s heart was often dry towards the Almighty. He sought for them to be rich and fruitful in love for him and for their neighbors.
Yet, Isaiah reminded the people that they had been in this predicament before, and the Lord had rescued them. “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you” (Isaiah 43:2). The Almighty is not done with Israel. Looking forward, the Garden will be restored, fed by a stream of Living Water which is Christ. This imagery is again evoked early on, the bedrock of Isaiah’s prophecy. “It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it” (Isaiah 2:2). This word flow, from the Hebrew nahar, means “flow together, be lightened.”
The river flows upstream, back to the source which is the mountain – the Messiah from which water pours out to feed the garden. Matthew Henry observed that “though it be uphill and against heart, yet it is the mountain of the Lord, who will assist the ascent of our souls towards him.” Isaiah 2:2 depicts the return of God’s people to himself through Christ, and the word “flow” calls to mind Christ’s role as Living Water, quenching the thirst of those who follow him but grow weary, whether because of spiritual dryness in their own hearts or in their respective communities.
John the Baptist spoke of “one crying in the wilderness: ‘prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” (Mark 1:2-3). His words echo God’s declaration: “Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:19). Salvation through the blood of Jesus was that new thing.
John 4:10 recounts an interaction between Jesus and a woman fetching water from a well in the middle of the day, when only shame and desperation could have driven her under the punishing midday sun. She was going to draw water for Jesus, but he replied, “if you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” She declared to her entire community that she had met the One whom they had been waiting for. He cleansed and restored her with himself. The woman’s spiritual life and identity had been revived and transformed through this encounter with Jesus.
When one truly drinks from the well of Living Water, transformation is inevitable, and fruitfulness will follow. Enmity dissolves. The woman at the well ran back to the community which had rejected her in order to declare that the Messiah had come. The Garden in one sense represents the fruitfulness emerging from salvation and sanctification, manifested in the woman’s intention to share the “water.” This is a declaration of joy and peace.
Christians plant the seed of faith through their spoken, written, and lived testimonies of faith. But even if her news had been rejected (we do not learn what comes of her bravery), and even if her reputation and status were not restored, the woman demonstrated unity with Christ by putting enmity aside and picking up her gardening implements.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). This call to make disciples is a direction to plant seeds – bring people to the well, and he will do the watering.
Rivers and gardens permeate God’s Word, depicting the dryness of community without Christ and the spiritual richness of life with him. Swords and spears must be reshaped, just as the hearts of God’s people are refined and sanctified for the purpose of spiritual sowing and harvesting for their own good and for the benefit of others.
Revelation shows us what true restoration looks like: a garden fed by “the river of the water of life” and “the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:1-2). Jesus himself is the sweet water of Edenic restoration and peace with the Father.
Sources
https://bibleproject.com/guides/book-of-isaiah/#:~:text=Context,(586%2D539%20B.C.E.).
https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hbd/f/famine-and-drought.html
https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/isaiah-1-39/
https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/isaiah
https://biblehub.com/hebrew/5102.htm
Commentary On The Whole Bible, Henry, Matthew, Grand Rapids: Regency, 1960, p.829
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Dulyanut Swdp
