John 1:1-5
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. (KJV)
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The 'River" of Water and the necessaries of all life....

Air is the first prerequisite for human life, followed secondly by water to extend life, and finally, food to preserve it.

Air, as many understand it, is often a metaphor for ’Spirit’ in the Word, given by the First Testament word, Ruach (wind, breath) , or the Second Testament kindred word Pneuma (breath, spirit).

Almost all Bible students eventually ’see’ the Spiritual meaning of ‘air’ , thus opening up some hard to understand passages. Many many times is ’air’ referred to by Christ, and of course Paul states that we will ’meet the Lord in the ’air’ (spirit) on the last day.

So, the ‘Spirit’ must be present for life to even exist. Think of Genesis 1:2, where the Spirit of God ‘moved over the face of the WATERS’.

Which ’leads’ us to water…the second prerequisite for ‘life’…

Everyone understands that water as we know it is a physical thing and second only to air as being necessary to preserve human life.
But seldom is it brought out about the ‘Spiritual’ meaning of water.

So, For now, lets think about water.

It is assumed that food, famines, and hunger as mentioned in the Word is understood by most is often a metaphor for ’spiritual food’, ie. The Word of God. So we will save that discussion for later.

Allow me to hypothesize for a moment. Spiritual water can be envisioned as representing TIME.

There are certain metaphors which we feel constrained to use when discussing time. We may say that we are advancing through time, much as a ship advances through the sea into unknown waters. Sometimes, again, we think of ourselves as stationary, watching time go by, just as we stand on a riverbank or a bridge, watching sticks and leaves float down the stream.
Events, we sometimes think, are like the leaves and sticks; They approach from the future, from upstream, are momentarily in our present , and then recede into the past.

Hence, instead of speaking of our advance through time, we often speak of the flow of time. Like a river of water. On occasion we feel inclined to say that time flows at an even rate. Yet we are all aware that sometimes time appears to us to move faster than at other times. To-day, we may say, “time just flew past, how differently than yesterday, when time seemed to crawl“.
When the banks of a flowing stream become narrower, the rate of flow of water increases naturally. When an obstacle such as dam is encountered, the flow decreases but only temporarily, for if a dam does not have a bypass, it is doomed to eventually be overcome. And a great deluge released with suddenness.

On occasion, we even picture an extremely large sea of water, the extent of which is essentially, unknown.

So, now if we go back to the Word, and it’s many uses of the word water, sea, etc we may be able to enlarge some meanings we have not yet seen.

Most probably, though, it will engender many more questions, which will force deep study and Prayer.

Here are just a very few.

Did ‘time’ begin when God ‘moved’ over the face of the waters?

Was the Apostle John the ‘man on the other bank’ of the river in Dan 12:5?
And is that why the accounts of Daniel and Revelation appear to be so similar, ie did they both see essentially the same account, though from a different ‘direction’ as was given by Christ who was ’over the waters’ of the river?

Exactly what is the ultimate meaning of Moses ‘striking’ the rock twice to bring forth water?

When John the Baptist ‘stood’ and baptized with water, was he not proclaiming salvation for all time?

When Christ offered the woman at the well water that would slake her thirst for all TIME, what exactly was meant?

When Christ walked on the water (and Peter for a TIME),was He demonstrating temporary man and Eternal God, by the same method as in Gen 1:2?

When John (the Revelator) ‘stood’ on the sands of the sea (ie., water) and saw the beast rising, was he not glancing into the future?

There are just so many more examples and uses of the word water as actually describing time in the Word, that it is amazing.