Rivers of Living Water

God bestows on us the dignity and honor of partaking in his cosmic work of redemption.

"Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:38).

Photo by Jack Anstey on Unsplash

Throughout Scripture, water often symbolizes life, healing, and restoration. What is striking, however, is how the biblical authors connect this imagery into a unified vision of God’s redeeming work.

In Ezekiel 47, the prophet Ezekiel sees a vision of God’s temple. At one point, he is led to the door of the temple, where he sees water flowing out from it and through the land. He describes it this way:

"Wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live... so everything will live where the river goes. And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary." (Ezek. 47:9, 12)

The water flowing from God’s temple brings life and healing to everything in its path—trees, fruit, fish. In some sense, this imagery recalls the life-giving garden of Eden in Genesis and points forward to Revelation 22, where we again see a river flowing from God’s throne.

Yet in John 7, Jesus evokes this same imagery from Ezekiel but—wonder of wonders—He declares that this living water will now flow from His followers. “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

Immanuel family, the New Testament is clear: we are now God’s temple (1 Cor. 6:19-20). God has bestowed on us the dignity and honor of partaking in his cosmic work of redemption through our union with Christ. As a result, God’s holy presence now flows out of us into the world to bring life, healing, and restoration to everything around us.