Is the Dead Sea Really Dead?
The Dead Sea. Nothing lives in it. No fish. No scavengers. No plant life. And I wondered why.
Was it always like this?
To find the answer, I turned the pages of history back to the time of Abraham and his nephew, Lot, found in the book of Genesis. You may remember that at one point, Abraham and Lot separated ways because their respective people were quarreling, and their possessions were becoming too great for the land to handle. Abraham gave Lot his choice of areas. Lot looked around and saw that the “whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the Garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt” and that is the area he decided to settle in, the region near the Dead Sea, Sodom and Gomorrah.
So if the area around the Dead Sea was once lush and beautiful like the Garden of Eden, what happened?
The same thing that happened at the garden.
Sin. In fact, God called it “grievous sin.”
Because of that, the Lord decided to destroy the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, as well as the area. Sin changed the face of the Dead Sea landscape forever, just as it can change the landscape of our lives.
But in his mercy, God saved Lot and his family when he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with burning sulfur. Believe it or not, they were the only righteous people living there. One stipulation though. As Lot and his family members fled the fiery inferno they once called home, they were instructed to not look back or they would die like the rest of them. Lot’s wife didn’t listen, and took a peek. Because of that, she turned into a pillar of salt.
Interesting. What is the Dead Sea composed of? Mostly salt, and minerals.
But today, even thought it’s dead, people still flock to this lifeless sea, as our tour group did.
The salt in the Dead Sea is so rock hard, you have to wear shoes as you enter it. The minerals so thick, they hold your body up, so there’s no need for a float. And the water and mud in the Dead Sea, are apparently so therapeutic, that many seek healing from them.
But I thought the Dead Sea was….dead?
Not totally. I believe the healing powers of the Dead Sea represent God’s hope, and nature.
Just like the Dead Sea still has something to offer, we too have something to offer. We can be dead in our sins, but can be forgiven and resurrected through belief in Jesus Christ, and still used for God’s glory. God sees the flicker of goodness in us, and that make us worth saving.
Paul says in Romans 6:11-13: “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.”
God takes us, dead in our sins, and makes us alive again. It’s called grace.
Sin should have wiped me out a long time ago; I deserved to be destroyed just like Sodom and Gomorrah, but I am thankful that through God’s grace, I am alive and have a hope and a future. I am no longer living in a wasteland.
Here’s more good news. There’s also hope for the Dead Sea, and the wasteland around it. One day, it is prophesied that upon Jesus’ return to Earth, God will restore the Dead Sea to its previous, fruitful state. In Zechariah 14:8, it says, “On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it east to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea…”
Ezekiel 47:8-10 claims that when this living water empties into the Dead Sea, the salty water there will become fresh, and swarms of living creatures will live there, “large numbers of fish.”
The Dead Sea will be alive again. The desert land around the once uninhabited sea will be green and fruitful.
Only God can do something like this. Only the Lord can bring the dead to life.
He did it with his Son.
He did it with our lives.
And one day, his people will be fishing in the Dead Sea again.
