You may have heard of the marvel of the Dead Sea that marks the land of Israel. Just 35 km east of Jerusalem, the Dead Sea is the lowest part of the earth at 440 meters (1,443 feet) below sea level. It is endorheic, with the Jordan River as its main infill without any rivers exiting it. Centuries of water flowing from mineral rich mountains leave the Dead Sea mainly by evaporation under the burning desert sun. It has left the salinity of the Dead Sea 40 times that of ocean water. Nothing lives in it. Nothing can.
In the last two months since May 2026, the Dead Sea has hit the news again. Surprisingly, it is not because of the conflicts among Israel, Jordan and the West Bank that surround it, but because of an impending ecological disaster looming menacingly around it. With human diversion of water from the Jordan, the Dead Sea is shrinking rapidly at the rate of 3 to 4 feet a year. In the last 50 years, the Dead Sea has shrunken by 33%. And now, the area around the Sea is swallowed up by deep sinkholes, some large enough to fit an ocean liner. And there are now in excess of 7,000 of them, eating up roads, homes and long-abandoned resorts. One report stated more descriptively than dramatically, “The Dead Sea is dying.”
The name “Dead Sea” Mare Mortuum (Latin) was given by the Romans in 200 AD. But the Biblical name for the Dead Sea for centuries before was the “Valley of Siddim” (“featureless flatness”), the “Salt Sea and the “Arabah” (“the wilderness”). By all accounts, it is a formidable wasteland where the soul pants, where tar pits yawn open to consume both horse and rider (Genesis 14:10), where David fled from Saul, where thirst reigns in the day, where fears reign in the night, and where lions hunt and hyenas roam in packs. It is symbol of spiritual dryness where Satan tempts and where demons harass the possessed. In this backdrop, it is surprising that Ezekiel 47:8 prophesizes a massive river flowing from temple of God in Jerusalem, pouring into the Arabah 35 km away and transforming the Dead Sea into a fresh water oasis of abundant trees and marine life. Only God can do it.
The prophecy is not only about the coming of Christ and the life that He brings among the people of God, but about the future of the new heaven and new earth found in Revelation 22. What a picture! God’s goodness to a desperate world. Today, sinkholes exist. We hate each other; we wage war rather than forgive; we love our issues rather than each other. The result is a Dead Sea that is dying. Let’s not wait for the Coming Judgment to make good the dry places. The time to be church is now. May the River of Life flow from within us to the wilderness.
