By Wayne Johnston

When our kids were young, one thing my wife and I wanted them to take was swimming lessons. I would tell my kids that 3/4 of the earth’s surface is water, so it’s a good idea to learn how to swim.

Recently at a men’s fellowship time we got talking about going deeper in God. This brought back all the times at the pool with our kids watching them learn to overcome the fear of water and to go deeper. There are so many parallels to the kingdom of God in this analogy.

So what do we mean to go deeper in the kingdom?

“Then He brought me back to the door of the temple; and there was water, flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the front of the temple faced east; the water was flowing from under the right side of the temple, south of the altar.” …

“Again he measured one thousand, and it was a river I could not cross; For the water was too deep, water in which one must swim, a river that could be crossed.” Ezekiel 47:1, 5 (NKJV)

The above passage is an allegory. The river of life beginning at the altar flows out from the place of sacrifice and becomes wider and deeper as it flows ahead.

The vast majority interpret this passage to refer to the sacrifice of Christ and His gospel flowing out to the four corners of the world.

Ezekiel says that the further it goes the deeper it gets, writing “water in which one must swim, a river that could not be crossed” (V 5).

If it’s man made, the further the river (the movement) gets from its source, the weaker and shallower it gets. As you move forward in distance and time the weaker it becomes.

But this river is different.

“Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end .…” (Isaiah 9:7 NKJV)

This gospel, this supernatural life changing river, can’t be stopped. It might be slowed down by the odd “high place” temporarily, but it will continue to grow.

To accept this gospel, the river, we must get our feet wet. We must jump in. All the mental assent will not make you part of it. You must chose to jump in and get wet.

When we signed our kids up for swimming lessons, it was a decision to come under the authority of the life guard. The life guards were at home in the waters. They rose up through the levels and became certified to teach others.

The head life guards are the boss of the pool. Their rules are like the Bible of swimming. If you want to go deeper follow their lead. People can learn to swim on their own, but it’s a lot safer and funner to learn from the pros.

Jesus is our Head Shepherd and Life Guard for our souls.

It’s interesting to see how many of Christ’s miracles had water involved in them.

• His first “sign” in John 2:1-10 deals with turning water into wine;
• He witnessed to the woman at the well in John 4; and
• Jesus also stilled the storm and even played a real life guard by saving Peter from drowning in Matthew. 14.

Every life guard must be proven and certified to teach the people how to go deeper.

In Luke 3:21-22, Luke describes God’s approval of Jesus as one who went through the water, just like the rest of us. This heavenly sign of approval happened as Jesus was baptized in the Jordan river.

“Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, ‘You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.’” (Luke 3:21-22 NKJV)

But what of those who are happy just splashing in the kiddy zone, who are in the water but never go on to ‘deepen’ things.

Paul chided some believers who always needed ‘milk’, but never grew up to eat ‘meat’. Our Christian walk is never to be static. It’s a journey.

God’s river, like all rivers, is on a journey. It’s always moving ahead. At times our trip may be fast or slow. We may spend some time in the reeds or class 5 rapids.

Enjoy the ride.

I know I’ll be in ‘hot water’ with some on the left and right. Every river has a left and right bank. When navigating a river, the pilot must stay where the river is deepest, normally that’s the center.

Either bank can get the boat hung up on sand bars. We can find ourselves hung up on ‘stuff’.

Every river grows by having small creeks from both banks flowing into the main river and becoming part of something bigger and better.

When I was in my late teens while living in Southern Alberta, Canada, near the Bow River, I had a crazy experience in a irrigation canal. The local kids would jump off the road bridge into the fast flowing current.

I could see that the canal was about 25 to 30 feet across, but because of its current no one could tell the depth.

So me being, well different, I came up with a plan, I would go deeper! I grabbed the largest rock I could carry and started to walk across the sandy bottom. I almost won the infamous ‘Darwin award’ on that faithful day. I did make it across the bottom in a single breath, the center was about 6.5 to 7 feet deep.

When I was about 3/4 of the way across, the pressure of carrying a rock and holding my breath and fighting the current almost made my head explode. For science to move ahead, someone must make sacrifices.

Ok, the above crazy true story makes a point, the deeper you go, the more you fall under the rules of a different environment (the kingdom).

To walk across the canal in winter was easy, no water just frozen ice, no problem, two completely different worlds (environments) with very different rules.

When you read Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, you see two worlds colliding. His gospel, like a river, goes by different rules. The words “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3 NKJV) is just one small example of how these two worlds are opposed to one another.

I have hit the bottom a few times in the shallows, I’ve choked on lungs full of water. I’ve hit rocks and the odd submerged stump on my journey. I don’t want the kid zone, just so I could live my life on my terms, yet still say I am in the river.

We may all swim a little differently, but we are in His river. Go deeper.