Bonus Study One: Air

Air

I now turn to the element of ‘air’. While it may seem to some that the early writers of scripture may have anthropomorphized just a bit, we of the present still ended up with what God wanted us to work with. There is little doubt that early man tackled the mysteries of nature, the physical and invisible realms, with comfortable concepts and terms that worked for them. Their grasping capabilities might rather seem like mittens than gloves, but they held on. We, too, must get some kind of hold on these issues. God brought them to us as He wanted us to have them. It would be a mistake to assume that the writers of scripture were ignorant of spiritual fine points, though zealous and somewhat poetic. It is never so much that man discovers, as it is that God reveals.

If ‘water’ was cement steps, ‘air’ is a marble staircase.

As with water, air had more than one symbolic significance. Though the divergent meanings, like startled swallows, flew to the four winds – over time, a transition of meanings coalesced into the kernel of our present study, which is best summed up in Christ’s reference to the invisible wind. That is where this study is going, but a proper study demands a close inspection, first, of those earlier divergent meanings. Higher meanings normally develop upward through common applications of understanding.

Man’s understanding of the wind comes from his relationship with something powerful though unseen. Sometimes the wind was good, sometimes the wind was bad. Even today, all of us are inclined toward a healthy respect of the wind for the things it can do. In researching this topic, I found that the early writers attributed unique qualities to each of the four winds as if each had a personality of its own.

What was the East wind? The East wind was a bane and a sorrow. It was a hot dry wind that brought destruction of crops on land, and ships on water. It brought plagues and sucked up wells. It has been described as both ‘strong’ and ‘vehement’; as the ‘wind of the Lord’. Men associated the East wind with the might of the invisible God, which could either terribly destroy life or miraculously spare it. Witness the following verses.

Genesis 41:6, “. . . blasted with the east wind . . .”,

Genesis 41:23, “. . . blasted with the east wind . . .”,

Genesis 41:27, “. . . blasted with the east wind . . .”

On the other hand, the east wind can be a two-edged sword. God fought for Israel; He fought against Egypt.

Exodus 14:21, “And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.”

Exodus 15:10, “Thou didst blow with Thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters.”

Isaiah 11:15, “And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with His mighty wind shall He shake His hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod.”

God also used the east wind to bring plagues.

Exodus 10:13, “And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.”

It was the opposite, or west, wind that drove the locust plague into the red sea (where the Egyptians would also drown). They knew that the east wind both spared Israel and spoiled Egypt. The east wind came to be associated with God’s corrective retribution. God has rough winds at His disposal, but when He wants to accomplish something special, He calls out the east wind.

Isaiah 27:8, “In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it: He stayeth His rough wind in the day of the east wind.”

This next verse from Ezekiel points to the fact that ‘air’ is a preparation for ‘fire’. While the last two verses may border on higher meaning, they point, however, to the power of air over water and earth.

Ezekiel 19:12, “But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them.”

Ezekiel 27:26, “Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: the east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas.”

Ezekiel 17:10, “Yea, behold, being planted, shall it prosper? Shall it not utterly wither, when the east wind toucheth it? It shall wither in the furrows where it grew.”

By extension, the east wind was used to signify man’s inclination toward destruction by way of his own folly.

Job 15:2, “Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?”

Job 21:17 and 18, “How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! And how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in His anger. They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.”

Note the connection between air and water by way of the storm.

Job 27:21, “The east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth: and as a storm hurleth him out of his place.”

Man tries to understand the connection between God and the forces of nature that they attribute to Him.

Psalms 48:7, “Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.”

Psalms 78:26, “He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by His power He brought in the south wind.”

Job 38:24, “By what way is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?”

I have often noticed that a breeze is brought forth from a still morning when the sun comes up.

Ecclesiastes 1:6, “The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.”

Hosea 13:15, “Though he be fruitful among his brethren, an east wind shall come, the wind of the Lord shall come up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up: He shall spoil the treasure of all pleasant vessels.”

Jonah 4:8, “And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, it is better for me to die than to live.”

Acts 27:14, “But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon.”

Thoughts of the mysteries of wind enlarged to include man’s transience in general, meaninglessness, and destructions that fall upon the enemies of a Holy God.

Psalms 78:39, “For He remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.”

Psalms 103:16, “For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; the place thereof shall know it no more.”

Job 6:26, “Do ye imagine to reprove words, and the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind?”

Job 7:7 - “O remember that my life is wind: mine eye shall no more see good.”

Job 30:15, “Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.”

Job 30:22, “Thou liftest me up to the wind; Thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance.”

Psalms 1:4, “The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.”

Ecclesiastes 3:19 - “For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they all have one breath.”

Isaiah 11:4, “And He shall smite the earth: with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked.”

Man believed that God owned and controlled the wind; that it was the breath of God. It was not a long jump for man, also, to associate the wind with God’s spiritual nature, or by extension to believe that winds and clouds were angelic beings, donned for different occasions, like clothing worn by men. By the same wind or spiritual breath, God could give life and take it back again.

Amos 4:13, “For, Lo, He that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is His thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, the Lord, the God of hosts, is His name.”

Isaiah 42:5, “Thus saith God the Lord, He that created the heavens, and stretched them out; He that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; He that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein . . .”

Proverbs 30:4, “Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? Who hath gathered the wind in His fists? Who hath bound the waters in a garment? Who hath established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son’s name, if thou canst tell?”

Ezekiel 37:9, “Then said He unto me, prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, thus saith the Lord God; come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.”

Ezekiel 37:6, “And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I Am the Lord.”

Daniel 5:23, “But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of His house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified.”

Just a quick note for all the people who like to distance themselves from God: according to the preceding verse, even the wicked and the non-believer share their nature in common with God, they just prefer to live a lie.

Job 4:9, “By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of His nostrils are they consumed.”

2 Samuel 22:16, “And the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were discovered, at the rebuking of the Lord, at the blast of the breath of His nostrils.”

Job 12:10, “In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.”

Job 27:3, “All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils.”

Job 33:4, “The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.”

Job 34:14 and 15, “If He set His heart upon man, if He gather unto Himself His spirit and His breath; all flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust.”

Genesis 7:15, “And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.”

Genesis 7:22, “All in whose nostrils was the breath of life . . .”

Psalms 104:29, “Thou hidest Thy face, they are troubled: Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.”

Psalms 146:4, “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” (Our mental attributes depend upon spiritual attributes.)

Psalms 33:6, “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.”

It is amazing that both man and angel live by the same breath. Speaking of angels, they minister in curious ways. Some, clothed in the invisible wind, chase sinners; some, like airplanes, are transportation for God. Here are some verses.

2 Samuel 22:11, “And He rode upon a cherub, and did fly: and He was seen upon the wings of the wind.”

Psalms 35:5, “Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the Lord chase them.”

And here is one of the truly rare instances where angels are described as women rather than men.

Zechariah 5:9, “Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven.”

I have been racing along without mentioning in each instance the connections that are embedded: for they appear easily to me. A reader should keep in mind, however, that any verse that contains two points, must necessarily include some kind of connection between those points. So it is with this study of the elements: two or three of them may be in a verse – air and water or air and earth; water and earth or air and fire; fire and earth or even water, air, and fire. The elements of this study are not intended to infuse cult concepts into Christian thinking; they are simply four reference points by which the broader issues may be simplified for digestion.

For instance, a man may read about the red sea being divided, but totally overlook the part about the east wind. That man is thus deprived of a clear sense of connection between the act and the action, the doing and the accomplishment, not to mention the more subtle levels of understanding required for enlightenment. One may see in black and white, or one may see in color. Noah had to see in color, else he would have missed the rainbow.

The east wind seems most associated with God, in regard of it being mentioned more often but the east wind is but a single wind in a suite of four winds and I wonder if, like the circuit of the four elements, the four winds have an order of their own. The west wind, for example, can be seen as following the east, as it was responsible for driving off the locust that the east wind brought.

Exodus 10:19, “And the Lord turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts, and cast them into the red sea; there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt.”

Now, it was an east wind blowing all night that dried up the red sea for the children of Israel. Was it,

therefore, a west wind that drowned the Egyptian soldiers like so many locusts? If the east wind is

destruction, the west wind may well be deliverance.

What about the north and south winds?

The north and south winds seem to be intermediary between the extremes of retribution and

deliverance. They are the pleasant and sustaining winds; they are the smaller winds that apply most

to smaller lives. They are also transitional winds.

Song of Solomon 4:16, “Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.”

Proverbs 25:23, “The north wind driveth away rain.”

Job 37:22, “Fair weather cometh out of the north.”

Job 37:10, “By the breath of God frost is given.”

Job 37:17, “How thy garments are warm, when He quieteth the earth by the south wind?”

Luke 12:55, “And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, there will be heat; and it cometh to pass.”

It is known that the early Hebrew included the element of water within his temple rites, that water played an important role. What is not clear is the part wind played in ceremony, if any. However, just as water was thought to cleanse, so also was the wind thought to cleanse.

Job 37:21, “And now men see not the bright light which is in the clouds: but the wind passeth, and cleanseth them.”

I think it possible that the wind was represented by the smoke of incense, which seems cloud-like. I say this because clouds are a half-way point between water and air, just as blood may be considered a half-way point between earth and water.

Concepts of wind take a decidedly spiritual inclination. Anything spiritual can be related in terms of the wind. Angels are wind; God is wind; the Son of man is wind; spiritual purposes and ends, good or bad, are wind, and God owns all of it.

Psalms 104:3, “Who layeth the beams of His chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: (cherub?) who walketh upon the wings of the wind.”

Psalms 135:7, “He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; He maketh lightnings for the rain; He bringeth the wind out of His treasuries.”

He controls all four elements, but – are they more than physical elements?

Psalms 148:8, “Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling His word.”

Can we see or know such things on the next higher plain? Consider the next verse; if water has been used to symbolize the masses, and waves have symbolized nations and governments, what kind of ‘stormy wind’ will lift up those waves?

Psalms 107:25, “For He commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.”

Christ our Lord is spoken of both as a protection from wind (tribulation; evil), and as the wind in our make-up (the breath of life itself).

Isaiah 32:2, “And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; (stormy wind) as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.”

Lamentations 4:20, “The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, was taken in their pits, of Whom we said, under His shadow we shall live among the heathen.”

Things evil and contrary, in a spiritual sense, were portrayed by the wind.

Ephesians 4:14, “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.”

We are painted as little children adrift in a storm, tossed from wave to wave, having many directions

but no path. We find in this study that wind is a mover and a shaker – it accomplishes the will of

God.

Numbers 11:31, “And there went forth a wind from the Lord, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were a day’s journey on this side, and as it were a day’s journey on the other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth.”

That was one colossal accomplishment. God does great things. He owns everything, is in everything, but most truly He is not the vehicle so much as the operator.

1 Kings 19:11 and 12, “And He said, go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.”

In this study we see the good wind push against the bad wind. We are molded by these forces.

Revelation 6:13, “And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.”

Revelation 7:1, “And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.”

As the mightier wind blows against all lesser winds, it gathers them into its train. They become a part of that mighty wind; they magnify that mighty wind. To be taken from the lesser and included into the greater is considered a birth of sorts. To be born of the spirit (the wind) is to be born all over again into something greater. We become a part of the greatness, taking on the nature of greatness, and the greatness is thus magnified. We see this connection clearly in the New Testament verses about being born again. The elemental concept of air is now everything God, everything Jesus, every enhancement of man that leads him toward and includes him within the greatness that Jesus, the Son of man, was the model of.

I’ll take just a moment to point out the concept of a son. The general thought was that the son was the strength and glory of the father – he was an enhancement of all that came before. In leading mankind forward by example, Christ took on the appellation ‘Son of man’, which may be understood to mean ‘Son of mankind’: an application of ‘Son of God’.

Luke 1:35, “And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”

Let’s do a little interconnective tracing. The Holy Ghost is the power of the Highest; two other names for the Holy Ghost are ‘Holy Spirit’, and ‘Holy Spirit of Truth’. Spirit is wind, as in the ‘breath of God’ or the ‘breath of life’. Jesus is both truth and life. Truth, the word of God, is a light: a lamp unto our feet. Jesus is also the light. Being of God (the still small voice), and being brought about by the Holy Spirit (air), Christ is, therefore, that core wind that, in pushing against opposing winds, turns them into His own. Around Him are the apostles and disciples, and then those of the rest of us who are all gathered in.

It is no wonder Jesus said in John 3:8, “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the spirit.”

To be born of the spirit, to become part of the greater wind, is to be born of Christ, to be born of God, to be born of the word, to be born of love, to be molded by the ‘stormy wind’.

1 John 2:29, “If ye know that He is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of Him.”

1 John 4:7 and 8, “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”

Let us recall that similar things were written of Christ: in that, in the beginning, He was with God, of God; and was and still is God. If God is love, love is Christ.

1 Peter 1:23 through 25, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. (Jesus Christ is the word) For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.”

1 John 3:9 and 10, “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for His seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.”

1 John 5:18, “We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.”

1 John 5:1 and 2, 4 and 5, “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth Him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep His commandments. For whosoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?”

Matthew 3:11, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: (water) but He that cometh after me is mightier than I, (air) whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, (air, which is a preparation for) and with fire.”

I’ve already stated that the element of air prepares for the next element in the cycle, which is fire, and I

take this from a highly reputable source: Luke 12:49, “I am come to send fire on earth; and what

will I, if it be already kindled?”

Bonus Study One: Water

Water

Our Lord marks the commencement of fruition and ingathering. An analogy may be taken from the planting cycle: the seed is planted in earth, the plant arises by watering, the fan gathers grain and the wind causes fruit to fall, finally, fields are burned and a new cycle begins.

Let us recall what Jesus said. Matthew 11:11, “Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.”

Matthew 11:13, “For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John (water).”

Luke 16:16, “The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.”

John 3:3, “Jesus answered and said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

John 3:5, “Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water (John and baptism) and of the spirit (Christ and born again) he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”

John 3:6, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; (ending with John, the greatest of those born of women) and that which is born of the spirit is spirit (beginning with Jesus, greater than John because of the spirit).”

Let’s try this next one without parentheses. John 1:33, “And I knew Him not: but He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, upon whom thou shalt see the spirit descending, and remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.”

How was he to recognize the spirit, had he seen the spirit previously? Whatever the case may be, this is what went down: Mark 1:10, “And straightway coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opened, and the spirit like a dove descending upon Him.”

That is what Jesus was shown.

Luke 7:44, “John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.”

John 3:8, “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the spirit.”

Christ makes clear the symbolic use of the word ‘wind’. Clearly, He has moved past the washing of water. Christ is the beginning of the second half of the process, no matter what level that process is applied to.

Acts 11:16, “Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that He said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost (wind).”

It is evident, therefore, in verses such as Mark 1:8, where it is said, “I indeed have baptized you with water: but He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost”, that a break from the old has occurred, and that the process has graduated to something higher.

I think that among the elemental connections (sets of two), one element affects the other unto change. That is easily seen in Job 14:19, “The waters wear the stones: Thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and Thou destroyest the hope of man.”

Water affects earth; wind affects water.

Read in Matthew 14:25-29 how spirit affects water. Jesus, in the fourth watch, walked from dry land out to the boat where the disciples were. The disciples saw a figure on the water, defying the laws of nature as they knew them. They thought it was a spirit. Jesus identified Himself but Peter put Him to the test, saying, if you really are a solid man walking on water, let me also do the same. And for a while, filled with the spirit, Peter actually did walk on the water: the spirit affected the water.

Genesis 8:1 also shows how the wind affects the water: “And God remembered Noah . . . and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged.”

Compare that last verse, where wind affected water, to the incident at the red sea.

2 Peter 3:5-7 shows earth affected by water: “. . . whereby the world that was then, being overflowed with water, perished . . .”

Whether physically or spiritually applied, ‘wind’ has a greater effect on water than ‘water’ has on wind. That is the image in Christ stilling the waves of a raging sea, but do not forget that it was the wind that caused the sea to rage. Both water and wind, symbolically, speak of salvation, but the wind is always the higher state, the greater power, while water is more a path to the other side. As with Noah, to be on top of, or above, the water is rather like the wind: Noah is an image of spirituality.

1 Peter 3:20, “. . . when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.” The eight souls, like a wind, passed over the waters to the mount of salvation.

In Exodus 14:21 we are given an image of wind affecting water in such a way as to reveal the way to salvation: “And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.”

I have already addressed ‘dust and ashes’ in the ceremonies of early man; blood, also, had its place in ceremonial activities. Now, I wish to touch on ceremonial water. To the early Hebrews, water was a life symbol. In hostile and inhospitable lands, wells were dug and fiercely protected. Water kept alive the living; water soothed and refreshed; water washed away the dirt that clung to a man; water purified and sanctified a wife. It is no wonder that the physical and social importance of water carried over into religious ceremony. The application of water lifted early man up from the dust that held him in common with the beast.

The symbolism of water grew up out of two main sources: the social use of water and the ceremonial use of water. There is a progression from the social use of water through the ceremonial, and to its use in spiritual cleansing by baptism. The social use I refer to is the washing of feet. An Old Testament custom presents itself to us in Genesis 18:4 and 43:24, “Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet” and “The man brought the men into Joseph’s house, and gave them water, and they washed their feet.”

The custom was still extant in Jesus’ day, as we see from the reading of Luke 7:44, “And He turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest Me no water for My feet: but she hath washed My feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.”

Christ also washed feet in John 13:5, “After that He poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded.”

The social courtesy of washing from the feet the dust of one’s sojourn, by Jesus’ day, had gained the symbolic significance of lifting a man from the world, of separating him from the earth, and from worldliness. It is this perception of separation that is the core meaning in the washing of baptism. If, as the contemporary Christian is led to believe, baptism was intended to represent resurrection after death, then the element of earth would be more appropriate than the element of water. Water points to the removal of dust, whereas dust points to the corporeal existence between creation and the grave. I think that, rather than death and resurrection, the full intent of what water had evolved into, symbolically, is summed up in the next two verses.

Hebrews 10:22 and Ephesians 5:26, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled (washed, baptized) from an evil conscience (the dust of worldliness), and our bodies washed with pure water” and “That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word (the Holy Ghost).”

In the ceremonial sense, everything and everyone that approached the Holiness of God had to be washed. Exodus 29:4 and 40:12 show us the washing of persons, “And Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shalt wash them with water,” also “And thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and wash them with water.”

Exodus 30:20 shows a little more of the reason why, “When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the Lord.”

God told them to wash with water; Leviticus 8:6 shows obedience, “And Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water.”

The washing by water had early on taken upon itself the spiritual significance of separation from lesser and unwanted matters. See Ezekiel 36:25, “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.”

Even Rome, in the hour of Christ’s trial, used the washing of water to suggest separation. Matthew 27:24, “When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.”

Symbolically, water was used in broadcast application. Water has been used to differentiate between good and evil. James 3:11, “Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?”

Water has been used to illustrate the fullness or completeness of an action: Hosea 5:10, “The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound: therefore I will pour out My wrath upon them like water.” Here, the pouring out of water has several attributes: it runs out full throttle; it spatters, reaching far; and it is fully absorbed, nothing being lost or wasted.

Water has been used to describe that upon which there is no constraint or control. Genesis 49:4, “Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel.”

Water has been used to speak of the flood, but in a higher sense, water’s power over earth to deprive it of the breath (wind or spirit) of life. Genesis 6:17, “And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.”

Water has been used to speak of the general multitudes of people: Revelation 12:15 and 16, “And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth open her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.” A similar event occurred in the camp of Moses when the earth opened up and swallowed many people (refer to Numbers 16:32).

Now, why would I suggest that the serpent would spew ‘people’ out of his mouth rather than words?

Do I refer to the enemy’s prowess in communicated deceptions and snares? No, I refer to something

really wild. In order for me to explain my thoughts, I must turn back, and speak again of ‘dust’.

Firstly, there was a curse on the serpent in the story of Adam and Eve: Genesis 3:14, “And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.” Never mind that all cattle and beasts of the field were cursed to walk on all fours and eat things growing out of the dust; never mind that the serpent was, by that reference, also a kind

of grazing animal, but the thing to see is that the serpent lost all his arms and legs (didn’t have a leg

to stand on), had to crawl on his belly, and eat dust. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a

worm to me.

Somewhere in the subconscious, the worm is just as relatable to the forbidden fruit as Eve is. But wait, you say! We were talking about a serpent. If memory serves, the word ‘worm’ comes from a spelling for dragon or serpent in some older European or nomadic cultures. But, does scripture make a connection between the worm and the serpent? Let’s take a look.

Micah 7:17, “They shall lick the dust like a serpent; they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth.”

Now, I realize that primitive man, upon seeing the tongue action of a snake or large lizard, would have considered, in his scientific ignorance, that dust was being licked. But there are levels to everything. As I have probably written in another study, I believe that our understanding has come down to us in terms and words that are right for our time, that is regardless of the intent of original writers, or missing text. We have what God has brought to us. A connection between the serpent and the worm is viable. The serpent was cursed to eat dust.

Isaiah 65:25, “And dust shall be the serpent’s meat.”

So let’s talk a moment about dust. Who returns to and becomes a part of dust? Man Does.

Daniel 12:2, “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth . . .”

Isaiah 26:19, “Ye that dwell in dust.”

So then, the thought goes: man turns to dust; the worm eats the dust (but don’t forget about levels) - the clouds are the dust under God’s feet, and the original serpent is thought by some to be a spiritual being. These are sideline thoughts to the present study: we were looking at water.

Water points to the spirit and is in some cases used interchangeably with air. When we speak of the spirit, being on the human plane, we speak of a quality that we may only understand by its effect upon this plane (refer back to Christ’s illustration of the wind in John 3:8). We hear the sound of the wind in the trees, and the trees are greatly affected by the wind; they are bowed down by the wind. They are humbled; sometimes they are uprooted and destroyed. Where the invisible touches the visible, the unseen may be proven by its footprint.

A connection is seen between air and water – that connection varies in how the earth is affected. Using my own comparison of air and water via the wind in the trees, we can see the tree as a representative expression of man. The early writer of scripture saw the same connection.

Job 8:11, “Can the rush grow up without mire? Can the flag grow without water?”

Psalms 1:3, “And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water.”

Isaiah 44:4, “And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses.”

The tree as a symbol of mankind: his roots are in the dust; he draws from the water that is life on this

plane; the blood of the tree (sap), the life within the tree, is drawn upward. I think the early writers understood the spiritual nuances better than most of us do. Their language was rife with an understanding of spirituality housed in common symbolism.

Psalms 107:35, “He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into watersprings.”

Psalms 65:9, “Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: Thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water.”

Psalms 63:1, “O God, Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee: my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is.”

Psalms 42:1, “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, (and is it any mystery that the spirit brought us the word hart, which seems so much like the word heart?) so panteth my soul after Thee, O God.”

Proverbs 21:1, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: (twisty, ever-changing: fluid) He turneth it whithersoever He will.”

Proverbs 27:19, “As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man.”

We should learn to see double: there is a lower and a higher in all things. Christ said that He was from above, and we were from beneath; the Tabernacle was designed from spiritual specs. This physical plane is an image, in a dark glass, of a higher plane. Our souls are in earthen vessels, but they long to be new wine in new bottles.

Proverbs 20:5, “Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out.”

Isaiah 12:3, “Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.”

Our thinking, and thus our writing, from earliest times, is shaped not by earthly, but by spiritual standards. It is no wonder to me that such emphasis was placed on water, that it came to symbolize life itself, that the higher plane of air (Life) has such an effect on the lower plane of water (life).

Exodus 7:17, “Thus saith the Lord, In this thou shalt know that I Am the Lord: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in Mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood.”

In case any fail to understand, this verse is about the rod that is in God’s hand and the action that God takes. The things which Moses did with his staff were a mirror image of the actions of God - but that’s another study. Suffice it to say that there is a real correlation between the things that occur in Heaven and the things that accrue on earth.

Air affects water.

Isaiah 63:12, “That led them by the right hand of Moses with His glorious arm, dividing the water before them, to make Himself an everlasting name?”

Joshua 2:10, “For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the red sea for you.”

Acts 10:47, “Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have (already) received the Holy Ghost as well as we?”

John 5:4, “For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water.”

Air affects water.

Those same spiritual standards point to the predispositions of God and the Hebrews toward the importance of water unto life.

Deuteronomy 8:7, “For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of the valleys and hills.”

John 4:14, “But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”

John 7:38, “He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly (inner man) shall flow rivers of living water.”

John 4:10, “Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water.”

Revelation 21:6, “And He said unto me, It is done. I Am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of Life freely.”

Revelation 22:17, “And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of Life freely.”

Revelation 22:1, “And he shewed me a pure river of water of Life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.”

Jeremiah 2:13, “For My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me the fountain of living waters, and hewn them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.”

How should we diagram the four elements? Should we draw a straight line; put earth first and fire last? Should we draw a circle? Christ’s claim is that He is both the beginning and the end; in that regard, a circle might be the better diagram, but if we put earth at the top, fire must go on the side, not the bottom. There are two remedies. First is to take the circle and twist it into a figure 8 (the symbol of eternity); we could place water and air at the top, fire and earth at the bottom. Second is to use the pyramid, making air and water the cradle for earth, and fire the pinnacle. The pinnacle can represent the “beginning and the end”; considerably more than just destruction, it must include the re-molding of a new earth: completing a living circuit. Fire may be both pinnacle and core. It may be difficult to understand such a circuit unless one sees the course running in sets. This pyramid may be but one slice of the cosmic pizza.

Bonus Study One: Earth

I have been blogging the chapters of my book, "The Great Reflection" one chapter per week. That ended with chapter sixteen. The original book contained three bonus studies which I include here in the same order. The first of those was a topical study of the four elements as referenced in scripture. Here, then, is study one beginning at earth.

Study One

Earth

The theme of this Bible study: ‘Elements’. My search for references of the elements garnered twenty-one printed pages. God willing, and with the help of the Holy Ghost, I think this study will afford a more complete view of the circuit of life: from the dust of creation to the fire of destruction. It is not a study I had planned; rather, it came about when I read one of those verses (in Acts, I think) about being baptized with ‘water’ and ‘the spirit’. What occurred to me on that reading was the comparison, that Christ had earlier made for Nicodemus, between the ‘born of the spirit’ & the ‘wind’. I saw, then, a partial glimpse of the four basic elements: earth, water, wind, & fire.

Mention was made in a single scripture reference, John 3:5 through 8, of the elements of water and wind. Now I, like most others, am used to hearing the ‘born of water and spirit’, verses presented as if water is the beginning (the birth of physical man), and wind is the end result (or, the second birth). I had to ask: what then of the other two elements? To place the order of elements as earth, water, wind, and fire, to me, seemed at once to make more sense, and to be more complete.

It is ‘earth’ that I believe to be the first birth; it may be that all the elements are representative of a level of birth. Since the beginning, since Adam, man has been associated with the dust of creation, or clay, or earth. Our lowest estate is dust and ashes, in fact, many funeral services include the words ‘dust to dust’ and ‘ashes to ashes’.

The preacher, in Ecclesiastes 3:19-20, tells us: “For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; all go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.”

A long time before the preacher lived, the writer of the book of Genesis quoted God thus (vs. 3:19), “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”

Did the writers of the Bible, when inspired to write about the physical nature of man, intend for the rest of us to understand the word ‘dust’ to mean the same thing as ‘earth’ or ‘clay’?

Job 38:38 says, “When the dust groweth into hardness, and the clods cleave fast together?”

Job 4:19 refers to the human body in this manner, “How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?”

Abraham said, in Genesis 18:27, “Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes.”

Jumping ahead historically, we see the Psalmist write this, in Psalms 103:14, “For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust.”

We should all remember the account of Adam. Genesis 2:7 puts it this way: “The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

There is a connection here between the element of earth and the element of wind (the breath of life). I will address this and other connections as this study progresses, and I will record what the spirit teaches, but for now, I wish to bring up an association to the element of earth that should be kept in mind. That association comes from the name Adam, which translates as ‘red’. That word was the generic name given to man; it was Babylonian in origin but had the same meaning in the Hebrew language. ‘Red’ is also the color of blood, and that is the association to be mindful of. Man was taken from dust, mixed with water, quickened by the spirit, and called red.

Blood is the first association to the element of ‘earth’ which points to a connection to the element of ‘water’: it represents the half-way mark between earth and water. The channels of blood that course through the human body, in their most fundamental symbolism, are like rivers of watery earth. Allusions to the Nile being turned to blood should not be passed over. Men in those early days made an instant connection between earth, water, and wind. The blood of the body, equally with the breath in the nostrils, was considered the life of the body. The association was unmistakable when a man-child came forth in a shower of blood and water.

Job 14:1 says, “Man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.”

Job also says, in 15:14 and in 25:4, “What is man, that he should be clean? And he which is born of woman, that he should be righteous? How then can man be justified with God? Or how can he be clean that is born of woman?”

The association here is through blood back to the element of earth. Jesus spoke of a man that was born of woman, in Matthew 11:11, “Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.”

But Christ, Himself, apart from being born of the spirit, was also a man born of a woman. For that reason, the writers of the scriptures were compelled to say of Jesus, in 1 John 5:6, that His relationship to man could not simply be based in a spiritual awakening, as in His baptism by water. While that is a necessary step, it could have no validity apart from Christ’s physical birth.

The verse says, “This is He that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.”

1 John 5:8 continues, “There are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.”

That verse seems to show a ‘forward progression’ by counting back from the Truth in sets: spirit/water, water/blood, blood/earth - the former being the affecting catalyst upon the latter to bring each forward. Not only the Hebrews, but all early cultures had religious ceremonial rites, believing in a real connection between physical objects, physical actions, spoken words, and spiritual ends. The Hebrews had regular rituals that reflected their beliefs concerning the earth and blood. They believed that the life of the body (which was made from dust) was in the blood. They had a ceremonial restriction against eating blood.

See Deut. 12:16, “Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water”

In effect, they were returning life to the dust from which all came. Notice the symbolic admixture of earth and water.

In Exodus 4:9, God tells Moses, “And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land.”

And blood speaks to God from the earth, as when Abel’s blood cried out.

There was a difference between blood in the ground, and blood left exposed on an altar. Note Ezekiel 24:7 and 8, “For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it upon the top of a rock; she poured it not upon the ground, to cover it with dust; that it might cause fury to come up to take vengeance; I have set her blood upon the top of a rock, that it should not be covered.”

Man continues in his relationship to dust. It is man’s humble beginning, his low estate. In all of mankind’s striving to be lifted up from the shame of dirt, it still clings to him and is reflected in his thinking.

Isaiah 29:4, “And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and as one that hath a familiar spirit, thy voice shall be out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.”

The earth, in regard to man’s inability to escape his return to it, has connotations of shame and reproach. The early Hebrew, in his daily sacrificing of animals, pouring their life back into the earth, had an inbred belief against man’s blood being poured out in similar fashion – thus the absolute horror of murder, thus God’s response to Abel’s blood and to the suffering of His people in Egypt.

We note man’s belief that the life of men moved onward and upward after death, while the life of animals went back into the earth by reading the next scripture reference: Ecclesiastes 3:20 & 21. “All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?”

Since physical man cannot know spiritual matters, this verse is doubtless based on man’s assumptions. If, as man believes, God breathed life into every living creature, then the spirit of the animal is no less of God than the spirit of man. The same writer also states, in Ecclesiastes 12:7, “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”

There is no denying that man seeks to be better than the animal but that is only because man sees the animal in his own nature. In both of the verses just cited, a clear connection can be seen between the element of earth and the element of air, which symbolically points to the breath of life, the spirit given by God.

In the writings of early man, there is a clear connection between the dust of man’s creation, the dust of death, and man’s low estate before a Holy God. Psalms 22:15 associates the element of earth with the grave thusly, “My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and Thou hast brought me into the dust of death.”

Note, in the reference to the dust of the Psalmist’s demise, the drying up of his moisture, or, a loss of water. The connection in early thinking between water and earth is irrepressible.

Also, take a look at Psalms 44:25, “For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly (heart, or, inner man) cleaveth unto the earth.” We have always felt helpless in the face of death; quite frankly, we are helpless. Life and death are simply beyond our jurisdiction. They belong to God. And we lament, as in Psalms 30:9, “What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise Thee? Shall it declare Thy truth?”

Even though, as in Psalms 22:29, we evince an adequate understanding: “All they that be fat upon the earth shall eat and worship; all they that go down to the dust shall bow before Him: and none (but neither) can keep alive his own soul.”

Now, perhaps we can get a better grasp on that whole deal about lamenting, or fasting in sackcloth and ashes. It was a representation of a people’s low estate and humility before the God that brought them from and sent them back to the dust. It was a ceremonial act that connected their physical state to their spiritual desires.

Joshua 7:6, “And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the Ark of the Lord until the eventide, (a watery reference to a new beginning, as the Jewish day ran from the evening to the morning) he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads.”

The element of earth, or dust, is used as a symbol of man’s low estate in the writing of 1 Samuel 2:8, “He raiseth up the poor out of the dust . . . to make them inherit the throne of glory.”

Also, read 1Kings 16:2, “Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of the dust, and made thee prince over my people Israel.”

When man was convinced of his low estate, he would repent in dust and ashes; witness Job 42:5 & 6, “I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

Could it have been an attempt to bury one’s base nature, or sins; did they think that was possible? Read Job 20:11, “His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which lie down with him in the dust.”

All words and deeds have a progressive direction. They are not static. We need to keep in mind that a

man can fling his body into the dust and catapult his spirit into heaven.

Job 2:12, “And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven.”

Just as ‘earth’ has a connection to ‘water’ through ‘blood’, so too does ‘water’ have a connection to ‘wind’ through ‘vapor’, or ‘cloud’, and by allusion, the dust can be compared to the cloud.

Nahum 1:3 speaks of the lower end of higher levels when the writer states that “The clouds are the dust of His (God’s) feet.”

Man’s highest reach: the sky, with all its billowing fleets of clouds, is still beneath God, is where we begin to get a glimpse (order-of-element-wise). The earth is God’s footstool; clouds would be where His lowest aspect touches our highest, where spiritual touches physical. Or is it just so much poetry? Let us read some dust of the feet verses with this in mind.

In Matthew 10:14, Jesus, the only begotten son of God, said to His disciples, “And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.”

Why shake off the dust? Mark 6:11 puts it this way: “And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony.”

What is a testimony in this case but an attestation, or indictment, and who would that be against?

Read Luke 9:5, “And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them.”

Is that like saying, ‘since you love your low estate so much, keep it’?

Luke 10:11 seems to say just that, “Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.”

The elements show an equal division in the purpose of God, and in the instruments of His fulfillment. Earth and water are the first half; air and fire are the second half, with the ‘cross-over’ set being water and air.

The number of the triune is evident in a progressions chart: (1) earth/water; (2) water/air; and (3) air/fire. The half-way mark is water (the end of the old), and air (the beginning of the new). John the Baptist, in this regard, is representative of mankind, who progressed from their beginning in the earth, to their preparatory cleansing or spiritual washing in water.