What is the water of life?

In turning to the gospel by John, it is said of Christ, in the first chapter, "In Him was life," and that He was "full of grace and truth;" and in various other Scriptures, life and grace are found together. For instance, in Rom. 5 we read, that "grace reigns, through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." In 1 Peter 3:7, we read of "the grace of life." In Rom. 8:2, of the "Spirit of life in Christ Jesus." My reader will remember how the Lord Himself spoke to the sinful Samaritan woman about the necessity of drinking "living water," in order to find peace and joy. "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water." Here we see Him who was the life, the dispenser of living water to a sinner dead in trespasses and sins; and He also speaks of the effects of this living water in the soul. Speaking of the water of Jacob's well, He saith, "He that 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." In the previous chapter our Lord had told Nicodemus the Pharisee, not only of the eternal importance of the new birth, but that it consisted of being born of water and of the Spirit, which was known only to those who believed in the Son of man lifted up; and the chapter concludes with the most positive declaration, that to be without Christ is to be without life. In the fifth of John we have Christ presented to us as the quickener of whom He will, and He declares that he that heareth His word, and believes on Him that sent Him hath everlasting life, and is passed from death unto life. The resurrection of believers is there called "the resurrection of life;" and the reproof of Christ is, that persons would not come unto Him, that they might have life. In the next chapter we again see Christ as the dispenser of living water — eternal life — promising life for evermore to every one that comes to Him, and saying, "The words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are life;" and when Peter was asked if he would go away, he exclaimed, "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life." The seventh chapter shows us that Christ is the fountain to satisfy the thirsty soul, and also that living water, taken in by faith, sinks deep into the feelings and affections, and is felt to be so precious and abundant, as to flow out copiously to those around. "If any man thirst," said Jesus, "let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." Would that we knew more of this in our day, beloved! Why is it that there is not more testimony to Christ? but because we so little go unto Him and drink. The tenth chapter of John shows us that the sheep have life only through the death of the Good Shepherd, teaching us that Jesus crucified is the only fountain of living water. In the next chapter we see Jesus the life-giver, and raiser of the dead, eminently set forth; while the 12th chapter still more plainly shows us that life and union with Christ could only have come to us through His death. "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." In the 14th chapter Christ is emphatically called "the Life;" and the next chapter shows us that fruit-bearing to the glory of the Father is only by living union with Christ the Life; and to pass on to the 20th chapter, after the person, death, and resurrection of Christ have been set before us, the Holy Ghost, by John, says, "These are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name."

The water of life, then, is God's blessed grace unto life eternal, flowing out to man as a sinner through Christ, whether a profligate Samaritan, or an outwardly decent Pharisee. Like the river in Eden was to water the ground, so living water is blessing, eternal blessing, to the poor and needy. This seems to me proved from the many Scriptures already quoted; and perhaps the endless occupation and joy of the Church of God will be perpetually drinking this living water; ever having unfolded to us more and more of the love of God, and our souls ever rejoicing before Him with fulness of joy, when we shall sing — For ever of His grace, For ever of His love; being abundantly satisfied with the fatness of His house, and made to drink of the river of His pleasure: for the Lamb Himself will be to us a fountain of living water.

But this is only possible through the glory and the humiliation of the Son of God, stooping down and suffering to the uttermost for sinners. How truly and beautifully then the Lord says, "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water:" in other words, had she known God's grace and the glory of Him who freely talked with her, she would have sought and found all she wanted. Little did she suspect who the lowly One was whom she supposed to be but a Jew, though she did wonder that a Jew could be so tender and so bend down to a Samaritan woman. Little did she think that it was the Lord God of heaven and earth, the only-begotten in the bosom of the Father; had she known but a little of this, she would have asked, and He would have given her living water. It is the Holy Ghost that is meant by the "living water." Thus in a single verse we have the whole Trinity in one way or another concerned. God's own grace is the first thought, the source; then we have the glory of the Person of the Son, and His presence in humiliation among men on the earth; finally the Son according to His proper glory gives to needy thirsty souls the living water — the Holy Ghost. Is it necessary to say that none but a person supremely divine could impart such a blessing?

Yet new birth alone does not make one a Christian worshipper. Supposing you had ever so many born of God, you would, were this all, have not one "true worshipper." Not only, therefore, the world cannot be true worshippers, but even if people were truly converted, this of itself would not constitute them such. Hence it is that Christ does not say a word about worship in John 3, because He is there simply insisting on the necessity of the new birth. But in John 4, we have Christ Jesus the Giver of the living water, and true worship follows. In John 3, the Lord is the Gift, in John 4, He is the Giver. If some think these distinctions rather fine, it is because they do not understand them. They are as plain as they are important; and men simply show their own lack of intelligence in the truth by such quibbling. Are they ever happy men? Do they really enjoy peace with God? When we see clearly our own state and His grace, the truth as revealed is enjoyed without cavil. I have said that in John 3, the Lord Jesus is the gift of God the Father, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son." In John 4, the Son of God says, "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." The living water is therefore the figure not of Christ, but of the Holy Ghost; and I wish to prove the truth that you not only need life in Christ, but even if you had it, unless you have also the living water, you cannot be a true worshipper. The Holy Spirit must be given in order to this.

The first five verses of chapter 22 give us yet lovely details, as to the connection of the holy city with the earth, although not on it. "He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." (Rev. 22:1) The city is refreshed by the river of God, and the fruits of the tree of life — always ripening — are for its inhabitants. The fruit, only the glorified saints eat, whereas the leaves — that which is visible without — are for the blessing of those on earth. Observe there is only one river here, and only one tree. You recollect in Genesis 2 there were four rivers, and two trees — the tree of the knowledge of good, and evil, and the tree of life. When man sinned, he was driven out, that he might not touch the tree of life. But when driven out of the earthly paradise, God opens a heavenly one to him. In Eden there were four rivers, and with two of them, Hiddekel, or Tigris, and Euphrates, are connected some of the most sorrowful passages of the history of God's earthly people. On the Tigris, was built Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, which carried captive the ten tribes. On the Euphrates, Babylon was built, whither the two tribes were taken. When we come to the last chapter of Scripture, we have but one river, the river of life, and one tree, the tree of life, and that seen on both sides of the river. The tree of the knowledge of good, and evil, is for ever gone. The day of man's responsibility, and testing, is, for ever, over, and everything is settled absolutely according to divine sovereign grace in Christ. There may be trouble on the earth, to begin with, but the Lord will put all right, in that day, for "the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." It must be borne in mind that these are only God's figures of fullest blessing. There will not be any real river, or visible tree, I take it, but, the river of water of life symbolises the superabundance of life, and blessing, which will flow through the city — i.e., the Bride, the Lamb's wife — and, clearly, we are on millennial ground, in this chapter, for, in eternity, there are no nations or kings.

(Revelation 22:1-2) We have seen that only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life will enter the city. Now we learn the everlasting provision for the sustainment of the life. The life of believers is indeed eternal life, but none the less it is a dependent life; it is not life apart from Christ. "The river" and "the tree" are symbols that very blessedly bring Christ before our souls. Further, they speak of Christ in connection with "life," for the river is the "river of water of life," and the tree is "the tree of life." Christ is not only the fountain of life through whom we receive life, according to His own touching words, "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely," but, as the river of life He is the One that sustains the life He gives. So the Apostle Paul can say, "Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). The new life is sustained by Christ in all His wondrous love as the object before the soul. Alas! it may be but feebly that we keep our eyes on Christ, and thus feebly live the new life we have. In the day of glory the new life will be sustained and enjoyed to the full as, without let or hindrance, we shall have Christ before the soul and thus drink of the river of water of life. Thus we can say,

By "living water" the Lord indicated the Spirit of God as is quite evident when we reach chapter 7:39. In the previous chapter the only begotten Son is God's gift to the world but in this chapter, the Spirit of God is God's gift to the believer, but a gift which is administered by the Son of God; who was the Speaker, seated on Sychar's well. By the Spirit we have the life within — He is spoken of elsewhere as "the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:2) — and by Him the life within springs up to the Source of the life above. In this way did the Lord indicate the life of communion and worship and satisfaction which He was about to make available for the believer. As a result, the believer today may anticipate the millennial joy, set forth figuratively in the beginning of miracles at Cana of Galilee: and not only anticipate, but also know it in truer measure and a more spiritual way.

First, there is "a river of water of life" (v. 1), a symbol of the fulness of life in the Spirit flowing from the throne. In an early part of the Revelation when John was raptured to heaven, he records that "out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices;" fit symbols of the holy judgments of God that were about to proceed from the throne. Here we have passed beyond the judgment and learn that the throne that dealt out judgment to the nations has become the source of unceasing blessing to the City. For the City, the judgments of the throne were exhausted at the Cross. The fulness of blessing in the City by the Spirit, is the glorious answer to the Cross.

John thus proceeds, "And he showed me a pure* river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb." (v. 1.) The tabernacle in the wilderness was made, as we are distinctly told, after the pattern of heavenly things; and it would seem that the earthly Jerusalem also, in the coming day of her glory, will in some respects be the counterpart of the heavenly city. We thus read in Psalm 66, "There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High." (v. 4.) And so too Ezekiel speaks of the waters that will issue "out from under the threshold of the house eastward", and of the fact that the waters become a river; and he further says, "And it shall come to pass, that everything that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live … and every thing shall live whither the river cometh." (Ezek. 47:1-9.) In both cases, therefore, it is a river of water of life; only, it must be remembered, that in the heavenly Jerusalem it is vivifying and refreshing rather than life-giving, inasmuch as all there are in the possession and enjoyment of eternal life. It proceeds out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, and it will thus represent the blessed streams of grace, of life, which will for ever flow out from God and the Lamb, in the "heavenly kingdom," to gladden the hearts of the redeemed in glory. This river is secured for them through the eternal government of God on the ground of accomplished redemption; for this would seem to be the purport of the words, "proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb."

In connection with the Temple of Ezekiel, neither Brazen Sea nor Brazen Laver are mentioned: the waters that issue from under the threshold take their place. These waters flow eastward from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar, the exact position occupied by the Brazen Sea in Solomon's Temple. These waters are emblematic of life in the Spirit, in its origin and progress, deepening and widening as it flows, carrying with it and diffusing healing and life, verdure and fertility. This life, having its source in God, is spiritually and divinely pure, and needs no cleansing such as is typified by the Laver or the Brazen Sea. The pure river of water of life proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb (Rev. 22:1) is a figure corresponding to that of Ezek. 47. Its LOWLY and HOLY origin is set forth in its issuing from the THRESHOLD of the SANCTUARY; the SOVEREIGNTY of God's GRACE, founded on the atoning work of Christ, is revealed in its proceeding from the THRONE of God and of the LAMB. Ezekiel 47 gives the LITERAL and EARTHLY view of it; Revelation 22 gives the SPIRITUAL and HEAVENLY; and both are millennial.

Our attention is now directed to another consequence of Jehovah's coming. "And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be." (v. 8.) That is, living waters shall flow out to the Dead Sea on the one side, and to the Great, or the Mediterranean Sea on the other, and neither the heat of summer nor the cold of winter shall interrupt the perennial flood. Two things must be carefully noted: the time when this shall occur, and the meaning of the living waters. We learn from Ezekiel (47) that these waters will not flow forth until after the rebuilding of the temple, and after the glory of God has returned to His dwelling-place in the midst of His people. This fact will supply the reader with a needed caution. He will learn from it that he cannot define the order of events at the Lord's appearing from any one of the prophets, that therefore it is only by the study and comparison of all he will be able to trace the footsteps of the Lord in that day. We thus find that Zechariah passes from the coming of Jehovah over a number of intervening events, to the issuing forth of the living waters "from under," as we gather from Ezekiel, "the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under, from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar." (Ezek. 47:1-8; cp. Rev. 22:1) The very term used, "living waters," will, in consonance with its employment in other scriptures, explain its meaning. In the gospel of John the Lord speaks of the living water which He would give (John 4), and we learn from the same Gospel that He used the words as a figure of the Holy Spirit, "which they that believe on Him should receive" (John 7:39); and hence we know that the living water in John is an emblem of the Holy Ghost as the power of life — life eternal. Ezekiel also, who speaks of the same river of water as we find in Zechariah, says, "And it shall come to pass, that everything that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live … and everything shall live whither the river cometh." (Ezek. 47:9.) There is thus again the quickening and life-giving power seen in the waters — the waters that carry life with them wherever they flow.