Participating in the Tree of Life series: Abundant, continuous water

This is the 8th post in the Tree of Life series.  Here are links to the first and most recent posts.

This Tree of Life series has been anchored in Revelation 22, verses 1-3:

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.  No longer will there be any curse.

The last post discussed how the Tree of Life is perpetually in the light of God, meaning that water is able to continuously flow through and out of it.  For this to happen, there needs to be a reliable water source.  Plants in dry soil, when exposed to light, will wilt, due to lack of water.  The Tree of Life does not wilt, because there is always water.

The Tree of Life has an abundant, continuous water source

Have you ever heard someone say they are going through a spiritually dry time?  For anyone connected to Jesus, that’s a misperception of their spiritual reality.  There is never a dry spell when you remain in Him.  Recall John 7: 37-39

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

Look at the connection between what Jesus says here about rivers of living water and what John describes in Revelation 22:1 as the river of the water of life.  It’s the same river – the river flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb is what Jesus foretold in John 7.  But wait, there’s more!  What John described in Revelation was prophesied in the Old Testament by Ezekiel and Zechariah.

There are several chapters in Ezekiel describing the temple of God.  Ezekiel 47:1-12 describes a river flowing from the temple. Verse 12 reads

Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.

Zechariah prophesies concerning Jesus, and a day of the Lord, including this passage from Zechariah 14:8

On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it east to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea, in summer and in winter.

These passages are clearly connected to the vision John records in Revelation 22.  Note what Ezekiel 47:12 says – the leaves of the trees will NOT wither, nor with their fruit fail.  Why?  A tree planted on the banks of a river has as much water as it needs.  Those connected to Jesus has as much Holy Spirit as they need, all the time!  If you hike in a remote area, along a waterway, you often encounter trees that are much larger than those growing away from a creek or river.  Why?  When water is limited, growth occurs more slowly, and growth potential is lower.

We have unlimited Holy Spirit available to us

Participating in the Tree of Life means there are no limitations God places on your spiritual growth.  We, as Christians, might limit our spiritual growth, if we are ignorant (lack knowledge), fail to believe, or intentionally remove ourselves from our relationship with Jesus.  But our true spiritual reality is that we never lack spiritual water (Holy Spirit).  There is never a spiritual drought when you are connected to Jesus.  Look what Jesus says, as recorded in John 6:35 

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Never thirsty means never without water.

Let the river flow

There’s a Christian worship song I remember from the 1990s, Let The River Flow.  I’ve sung it many times in church, although not recently. 

Since this Tree of Life revelation occurred to me, I’ve wondered if the lyrics to this song reflect our spiritual reality correctly.  Are we asking God to let the river flow?  Do we need to?  If the Tree of Life is our ongoing spiritual reality, isn’t the river continuously flowing from the throne of God? If anything, we can sing it to each other as an exhortation to let the river flow, as a reminder that we are always in the light of God and there is always abundant water, and the scripture indicates that our role is for water to flow through us.  The song also implores the Holy Spirit to come.  Do we need to do that?  I think it’s ok to ask, but the reality is, when Jesus resurrected from the dead, the Holy Spirit did come, as Jesus indicated it would (John 16:7) 

I want to end with a few additional Old Testament passages which reinforce Ezekiel 47.  Keep in mind that the geographical context of the Old Testament is the Middle East.  Many people place the Garden of Eden in the Fertile Crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and Abraham came from the city of Ur, located in southern Iraq.  Much of the land was arid (and still is), and both ancient settlements, and current towns and cities are located along these rivers, along with the majority of plant life.

Psalm 1:1-3 reads

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.

Jeremiah 17: 7-8 reads

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

This passage from Jeremiah does indicate a year of drought.  Those not connected to Jesus are thirsty, and their spiritual reality is a drought.  We carry with us spiritual water to quench their thirst.  

Isaiah 44:3-4 states

For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams.

Finally, returning to the 22nd chapter of the Book of Revelation, verse 17 states

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.

We’re the bride of Christ and this is our role – to be the means through which the Holy Spirit is poured out for the benefit of thirsty people living in a dry land.  Are you letting the river flow?

I started this blog series with the last Bible passage mentioning the tree of life.  Do you know where the first Bible passage mentioning the tree of life is?  Genesis.  The topic of the next post is the tree of life in the beginning.