“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” (Rev. 22:1).
I WOULD like to carry my reader back to Genesis 2, so that he may see how a river of refreshing was in the Garden of Eden at the beginning. It is mentioned immediately after the two special trees which the Lord God made to grow out of the soil of Eden. “And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.” So that in the mind of God this river, in the garden which God had planted for the abode of Adam, was not only to fertilize the garden itself, but to carry refreshment and blessing to the four corners of the earth.
Now turn with me to John 7:37. It was the last day of the Jewish feast of tabernacles, the harvest home of the people of Israel. This feast had an eighth day, the opening of a new period. Let us note how the Lord Jesus seized that new period to speak of something quite new and outside of Jewish thought: “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, 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.” The eighth day for the Lord Jesus was His resurrection day; on that day the old order of the fruits of man’s labor was superseded by the new. Listen to what Jesus said in another place of Scripture:” Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” The Lord Jesus was that corn of wheat, and it was from Him in resurrection that much fruit of a new order sprang up.
Pass on with me to chapter 20 of this Gospel (10:21, 22). Hear the Lord in resurrection speaking to His disciples, “As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you.” As in Eden the river was to go out into the earth, so the disciples were sent out by the risen Saviour. “And when He had said this, He breathed on them―or, rather, into them―and saith unto them, Receive ye (the) Holy Ghost.” They received, not the Holy Spirit personally as at Pentecost, but the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus was breathed into them by Himself; and thus were they enabled to carry the message of life to others. There are many allusions in Scripture to the power of the Word of God, as a Word living and powerful, reaching the conscience and the heart, and carrying refreshment with it. (See Psalms 23:2: “He leadeth me beside the still waters.”) There we can hear the gentleness, the quietness of His precious words. Can we conceive of anything more gracious and inviting than these waters of quietness as Jesus speaks to an opened ear? So we have them in Revelation 22:16, 17. Mark the quietness in which He proclaims Himself as “the Bright and Morning Star,” and the quietness of the response to Him, “The Spirit and the bride say, Come.” And then, from the inner chambers of the bride’s heart go out the words, “Let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Note also the quiet and peaceful atmosphere, if we may so call it, of the heavenly city, and of the pure river of the water of life, clear as crystal, as it proceeds from the throne of God and the Lamb, and flows through the city. There, in undisturbed peace, we shall―
“Drink of life’s perennial river,
Feed on life’s perennial food,
Christ the fruit of life, and Giver―
Safe through His redeeming blood.”
T. H. R.