Good morning and welcome to Starting Right with Danny Mac . I'm going to be here every Monday to Friday to help you get a great five-minute start to your day . So grab your cup of coffee , sit back , relax and let me help you start your day right . If you look at a map of Israel , you will see three very distinct and very important bodies of water .
Up at the north there is the Sea of Galilee . It is the lowest freshwater lake on earth . In fact , its shores sit about 686 feet below sea level . The lake itself is about 13 miles long and just over 8 miles wide . At its fullest and at its maximum depth it's approximately 141 feet deep .
This lake is fed partly by underground springs , but its main source is the Jordan River , which flows through it from north to south . The Sea of Galilee is the most famous lake in the Bible . It's where the disciples were fishermen . It's where Jesus walked on the water and calmed the storm .
Many of the things that happened in Jesus' ministry happened around this lake . Flowing out of the Sea of Galilee and heading directly south is the Jordan River . This is the river that God paused and opened up to allow Joshua and the people of Israel to enter into the promised land .
It's also the river where John the Baptist was baptized and where Jesus was baptized , and , after winding its way 156 miles to the south , it finally empties into the Dead Sea .
The shores of the Dead Sea have the lowest land-based elevation on the earth , sitting at approximately 1400 feet below sea level , and the Dead Sea gets its name because there's absolutely nothing that can live in it .
The water here is 34% salt , which is over nine and a half times as salty as the ocean , and that means that there is nothing that can live there . And one of the other interesting things about it is that there is no outlet of water from the Dead Sea to anywhere else . The water comes there and it stays , but everything dies .
What's really interesting for us is if we go back and take a look , first of all at the Sea of Galilee . The water here is life-giving . People surround that lake even to this very day , using it as the source for their livelihoods , for fishing , for watering crops and every other purpose that fresh water would be used for . It provides life and health .
Up here at the Sea of Galilee , this life-giving water now flows into the Jordan River , which wanders south till it enters the Dead Sea , where that same water , instead of being life-giving , is now dead . And you know , I think there's a symbolism there for us as Christians that we can learn from about the Sea of Galilee and about the Dead Sea .
In John , chapter 7 , starting in verse 37 , it says On the last day , the climax of the festival , jesus stood and shouted to the crowds Anyone who is thirsty may come to me . Anyone who believes in me may come and drink , for the scriptures declare rivers of living water will flow from his heart .
Jesus declared that when we come to him , there will be rivers of living water that will flow out from us . There will be excitement , there will be joy , there will be blessings that will come from us as Christ works in us . The Dead Sea is a stark contrast to the Sea of Galilee .
Instead of there being life and growth taking place there , there is nothing but death . Things cannot grow there at all . These two bodies of water exemplify John 10.10 , which says the thief comes only to steal , kill and destroy . But I have come that they may have life and have it to the full .
The Dead Sea exemplifies the kind of life that we have without Christ . It's one where the enemy comes to steal , to kill and destroy . There's just no life there at all .
But we see around the Sea of Galilee , the place that everybody wants to be , the place where there is life , where there are resources for their needs to be met , where they want to be , at that place there is blessing . The Sea of Galilee represents that life to the full .
The Dead Sea represents the thief where life has been stolen , killed and destroyed , and it's also a reminder that what God has given to us needs to flow through us . It's never meant to come into us and stay within us . That's what happens down in the Dead Sea .
All of the good stuff that was in the Sea of Galilee flowed down the River Jordan into the Dead Sea , where it just died . God doesn't want the good things that he pours in us to die . He wants them to be shared with people , people that we know , people we've just met , people who are neighbors , people who are even those that don't like us .
God wants us to share with the people around us his goodness that he's poured into us , because if we don't share it , it will die , just like it does in the Dead Sea . So these two lakes and this river in Israel are an important lesson for us to grasp . We are to be like the Sea of Galilee , where goodness flows through and benefits those around us .
Let God bless you and let God's blessings flow through you to the people around you . Have a great day , my friends . We will talk again tomorrow . Thank you for joining us today and I invite you to join us every Monday to Friday , right here at Starting Right , with Danny Mac .