The older book
Living Water
There's something else beside the tree.
He showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Genesis 2:10 · Ezekiel 47:1-12 · John 2:19-21 · John 7:37-39 · Revelation 22:1-3
The scene
The river flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Beside it is the tree of life. It produces fruit every month, and its leaves are for the healing of the nations.
In John's Gospel, during a feast in Jerusalem, Jesus stood up and cried:
"If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink!"John 7:37
He went on to speak about rivers of living water, and John tells us what he meant:
"But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive."John 7:39
Earlier, Jesus had stood in the temple and said:
"Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."John 2:19
The people listening thought he meant the building.
"But he spoke of the temple of his body."John 2:21
Centuries before Jesus, Ezekiel is shown a vision of a temple with water flowing out from underneath it.
He is led through the water as it rises from his ankles to his knees, then his waist, until it becomes a river deep enough to swim in.
Wherever the river goes, things live.
Trees grow along both banks. Their leaves don't wither and their fruit doesn't fail. They produce new fruit every month, and their leaves are for healing.
John's Gospel never says the water Jesus offers is Ezekiel's river. But in it, Jesus' body is the temple, and Jesus is where the thirsty are told to come and drink.
Before any temple, before Jerusalem, before Israel, there was a garden.
"A river went out of Eden to water the garden."Genesis 2:10
And in the middle of that garden:
"The tree of life."Revelation 22:2
The point
If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink!John 7:37
Sit with this
Follow the water.