The second article of our beautiful Belgic Confession describes God’s creation as a most elegant book, full of characters that lead us to contemplate His power and divinity. When we study these characters through the spectacles of Scripture we learn blessed spiritual truths.

What or who are these characters that lead us to contemplate the invisible things of God? Certainly they include the aspects of creation that one readily sees, such as mighty mountain ranges, fluffy white snowflakes, and migrating geese. But they also include things not so readily seen, including nitrogen gas molecules, DNA, and even your gall bladder. We hope, in future articles in this rubric, to begin a study of what might be considered some of the “main” characters in creation. These main characters are those with which we may be more familiar, either because of their commonness or because of their central place within the creation. The vital role these characters have within the creation will afford us good opportunity to meditate upon the wisdom of God in interweaving all creatures together into one unified and harmonious creation. Perhaps there is no better character to begin with than water.

Abundance of Water

W. Conrad Fernelius once wrote, in the Journal of Chemical Education, that water “is both the most familiar and the most abundant chemical compound on the earth. Probably there is no single factor which so much influences the activities of the inhabitants of this planet as does water.”1 Scientists estimate that there are more than 300 million cubic miles of water on the surface of the earth—that is, in the oceans, lakes, rivers, streams, and swamps of the world. If that amount of water could be poured over all Earth’s continents, it would cover the land area to a depth of more than 5.5 miles (deep enough to cover even the peak of Mt. Everest—29,000 ft.). In addition to this surface water, Earth’s ground water supply accounts for an additional two million cubic miles of water, while three thousand cubic miles of water are found in the atmosphere as vapor. Although there is a tremendous amount of water on Earth, only a very small fraction of it is in drinkable condition, since much of it is either salt water, frozen in glaciers, or contaminated in some way. Covering 75% of Earth’s surface area and comprising approximately 60% of our bodies’ mass, as well as a very large portion of animal and plant tissue, water is the most common compound on earth.

As abundant as it is, Fernelius was undoubtedly correct that water is also the compound with which we are most familiar. This is because the life of every human from every age, throughout every corner of the earth, depends on it. Consider for a moment that water directly affects man’s ability to transport goods (ocean and river transportation systems); to generate electricity (hydroelectric power plants directly use moving water to generate electricity, while coal and nuclear power plants generate heat that converts water into steam to generate electricity); and even to affect the earth’s climate. More importantly, water is vital for a man’s sustenance, providing life support for all plant and animal life (which ultimately becomes his food supply), as well as providing his critical drinking supply. Every human, without fresh water, is only a few short days away from death. Therefore, we ought to be keenly familiar with water and desire to keep it clean and unpolluted, for we are, most certainly, completely dependent upon water for every aspect of our physical life. Consequently, everyone—from every nation and tribe in history—is intimately familiar with water.

Water’s Unique Structure

Water has some unique characteristics that make it stand out from other molecules in the creation. In this article and the next we intend to illustrate some of water’s unique properties. We hope that the reader, by considering these properties, will gain an appreciation for the majesty of God the Creator and His wisdom in creating water as He did. In order to do this we must briefly consider the structure of water.

Water is a compound composed of two hydrogen atoms that are chemically bonded to one oxygen atom. Atoms, such as hydrogen and oxygen, are the tiny building blocks of all substances in the creation. They are, themselves, composed of tinier particles called protons, neutrons, and electrons. The positively charged protons are packed into a dense central area with the uncharged neutrons. Surrounding this central area is an orderly arrangement of negatively charged electrons. Atoms are combined together to make larger and more complex building blocks called chemical compounds or molecules, which will have much different properties and characteristics than the individual atoms had. Water is one such compound; howbeit, a fairly simple one.

In order to form a chemical compound like water, the atoms must bond to each other. What keeps atoms chemically bonded is that they share or use each other’s electrons. The interaction of the electrons of one atom with another atom is what links one atom to another to make a chemical compound. In many compounds, water being no exception, the electrons used to link the atoms together are not, for lack of a better word, shared equally. This ultimately results in the molecule having one part or side unbalanced in terms of its electrical charge—one side has a higher density of electrons than the other, giving one side a partially negative charge and the other a partially positive charge. Water strongly exhibits this condition. Water is therefore said to be a very polar molecule.

In addition to its strong polar nature, water also has a bent shape. Rather than the two hydrogen atoms bonding directly on opposite sides of the oxygen atom, forming a linear molecule (180° apart), they actually bond somewhat on the same side of the oxygen atom, forming a bent molecule (104.5° apart). This bent shape helps to accentuate water’s polar nature.

These two aspects of water’s structure—its bent shape and its strong polarity—are the key contributing factors that give water its unique properties, as we shall see in more detail in the next article. In this article, however, we will briefly consider just one of these properties: water’s ability to dissolve many substances.

Water As Universal Solvent

Water is called the universal solvent. Because of its polarity, water is able to attract a myriad of compounds— themselves also polar molecules—and draw them into a solution. For example, perhaps you want to dissolve some table salt (sodium chloride crystal) in water as you cook. The salt crystal, composed of millions of positively charged sodium ions that alternate with negatively charged chlorine ions, will be dissolved into the water. This is accomplished because the one end of the water molecules (the partially charged negative side) attracts the positively charged sodium ions, ripping them from the sodium chloride crystal. Likewise other water molecules, with their partially charged positive side, attract the negatively charged chlorine ions, ripping them from the sodium chloride crystal. Meanwhile, many water molecules surround the sodium ions, keeping them from being attracted back to the chlorine ions and returning to bond with them. In this way the sodium chloride crystal is broken apart, piece by piece, reduced to its component parts, and kept that way. This process converts the solid sodium chloride crystal into a salt water solution that can be utilized in many different ways, more than the original crystal could. In similar ways, multitudes of crystals are dissolved in water to make a host of solutions, from saline solution to household cleaners.

In a similar manner, dirt is washed from our hands. Water’s partially charged positive end and its partially charged negative end are attracted to the charged components of dirt. Sometimes we use soap to help us remove the dirt. Soap molecules help make a “bridge” between the polar water molecules and other molecules in the dirt that are not polar. The one end of the soap molecules is polar and is attracted to the similar natured water molecules. Meanwhile, the other end of the soap molecules is non-polar and can be attracted to other non-polar molecules in the dirt. In this way, water—the universal solvent—is even used to free us from dirt.

Spiritual Truths to Contemplate

Water is a remarkable character in the Elegant Book of Creation. It is used by God to reveal many things about Himself. We hope, in the next article, to develop a few more of water’s unique properties that illustrate our Creator’s wisdom. We resist the urge to discuss this any further in this article. But we would be remiss if we did not briefly comment on the pictures we see in water. The Scriptures often use the cleansing ability of water and our utter dependence on water as pictures of things spiritual. It uses water in baptism to point to the cleansing work of Christ’s blood, and it uses the nourishing and life-sustaining power of water to picture Jesus Christ, the Living Water.

As a universal solvent, water dissolves many substances. In particular, water dissolves and washes away the dirt and the bacteria/viruses from our hands. In that cleansing power of water is the picture of the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus Christ.

Therefore He has commanded all those who are His to be baptized with pure water, “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,” thereby signifying to us that, as water washeth away the filth of the body when poured upon it, and is seen on the body of the baptized when sprinkled upon him; so doth the blood of Christ, by the power of the Holy Ghost, internally sprinkle the soul, cleanse it from its sins, and regenerate us from children of wrath unto children of God (Belgic Confession, Art. 34).

Baptism (the sprinkling with water) is that physical sign of the washing away of our sins. What a simple yet beautiful picture—easily understood throughout the world, and throughout all ages, by young and old alike! May we learn to see in this physical cleansing the glorious picture of Christ’s cleansing of us from all our sin.

In addition to this picture, our absolute dependence on it ought to stir in our mind another picture—the need for the Living Water. Jesus, in answering the woman at the well, said, “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:13-14). Jesus is the Living Water. Just as our physical life depends on the sustaining power of water, so our spiritual life depends on Christ, the Living Water. Thanks be to God, who has regenerated us and given us the life of Christ so that we have a life from above! Just as the deer pants for the brooks of water, so we long and thirst for Christ. Thanks be to God, who causes us to thirst after Him and then faithfully nourishes us through His Word and Spirit! In that light, we are especially grateful for the faithful preaching we receive each Sunday. For in the preaching of the gospel we truly hear Christ, the Living Water, speak unto us—by whom we receive the spiritual food and drink for our soul.

Water is one of the main characters in God’s Elegant Book of Creation—precious life-giving, life-cleansing water! It is absolutely vital for all of life. Its abundance and special properties, given to it by God, lead us to contemplate various spiritual truths. This we have only begun to do. In our next article, the Lord willing, we will consider this in some more detail.

1 W. Conrad Fernelius. Journal of Chemical Education, vol. 8, issue 1, p. 55, 1931