The River of God

The God we meet on the last page of the Bible is triune. The Bible tells us what we will see on the bright and cloudless morning of eternity: "And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb." (Revelation 22:1).

In this life, we see through a glass darkly, but in the life to come, we will see God as He is: "Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." (1 John 3:2). But John the Revelator got a glimpse, even in this life, into what it will be like to live ever in the presence of God. And the God in whose presence we will spend eternity is triune:

"And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever."
(Revelation 22:1-5).

John has introduced this "Lamb" previously; He turns up in Chapter 5: "And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne." (Revelation 5:6-7).

John the Baptist identified Jesus as the Lamb: "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.'" (John 1:29-30). (Jesus was "before" John the Baptist not in birth order -- John was born first, by about six months -- but in His eternal pre-existence.)

By 'God' here, John means 'God the Father'. Scripture may use 'God' of one person of the Trinity, for instance in Hebrews 1:8, where it's the Son who is called 'God': "But to the Son He says: 'Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.'" It's not John's intention to rob Deity of Son and Spirit by referring to the Father as 'God'. He makes clear the Lamb's right to divine worship in Chapter 5, where "every creature" joins in the hymn of praise to God and the Lamb: "And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: 'Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!'" (Revelation 5:13).

So where's the Holy Spirit? Right before our faces: the "pure river of water of life". This river has turned up before on the pages of scripture:

"There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn." (Psalm 46:4-5).

This river has more than ordinary virtue. It gives life: "Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and there was water, flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the front of the temple faced east; the water was flowing from under the right side of the temple, south of the altar. He brought me out by way of the north gate, and led me around on the outside to the outer gateway that faces east; and there was water, running out on the right side. And when the man went out to the east with the line in his hand, he measured one thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the water came up to my ankles...Again he measured one thousand, and it was a river that I could not cross; for the water was too deep, water in which one must swim, a river that could not be crossed...And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters go there; for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes...Along the bank of the river, on this side and that, will grow all kinds of trees used for food; their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. They will bear fruit every month, because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for medicine."" (Ezekiel 47:1-12).

The waters flowing from the throne of God have their start in Biblical imagery as meteorological phenomena. There is a lower sea and an upper sea known to Biblical meteorology. The waters above the sky are the oceanic reservoir contained in the storm-clouds; the waters beneath, the horizontal surface waters. Waters above the heavens are mentioned in Genesis and Psalms: "Then God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters." Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so." (Genesis 1:6-7); "Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, and you waters above the heavens!" (Psalm 148:4).

John M. W. Turner, Llanthony Abbey

These heavenly oceans are the water-charged storm clouds:

"When He utters His voice, There is a multitude of waters in the heavens: And He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, He brings the wind out of His treasuries." (Jeremiah 10:13).

"He bowed the heavens also, and came down With darkness under His feet. He rode upon a cherub, and flew; and He was seen upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness canopies around Him, dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. From the brightness before Him coals of fire were kindled. The LORD thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered His voice. He sent out arrows and scattered them; Lightning bolts, and He vanquished them." (2 Samuel 22:10-15).

"And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies." (Psalm 18:10-11).

"The LORD has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, And the clouds are the dust of His feet." (Nahum 1:3).

"To Him who rides on the heaven of heavens, which were of old! Indeed, He sends out His voice, a mighty voice. Ascribe strength to God; His excellence is over Israel, And His strength is in the clouds." (Psalm 68:33-34).

". . .I understand the making the firmament to signify that, so far as man is concerned, most magnificent ordinance of the clouds;-- the ordinance, that as the great plain of waters was formed on the face of the earth, so also a plain of waters should be stretched along the height of air, and the face of the cloud answer the face of the ocean; and that this upper and heavenly plain should be of waters, as it were, glorified in their nature, no longer quenching the fire, but now bearing fire in their own bosoms; no longer murmuring only when the winds raise them or rocks divide, but answering each other with their own voices from pole to pole; no longer restrained by established shores, and guided through unchanging channels, but going forth at their pleasure like the armies of the angels, and choosing their encampments upon the heights of the hills; no longer hurried downwards for ever, moving but to fall, nor lost in lightless accumulation of the abyss, but covering the east and west with the waving of their wings, and robing the gloom of the farther infinite with a vesture of divers colors, of which the threads are purple and scarlet, and the embroideries flame."
(John Ruskin, Modern Painters, Volume 4, Part V, Chapter VI, The Firmament, 8).

Rain-storms and thunder are a commonly noted feature of God's theophany:

"The waters saw You, O God; The waters saw You, they were afraid; The depths also trembled. The clouds poured out water; The skies sent out a sound; Your arrows also flashed about. The voice of Your thunder was in the whirlwind; The lightnings lit up the world; The earth trembled and shook." (Psalm 77:16-18).

"He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters, Who makes the clouds His chariot, Who walks on the wings of the wind, Who makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire." (Psalm 104:3-4).

"He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them. He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it. He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end." (Job 26:8-10 KJV).

"Or who shut in the sea with doors, When it burst forth and issued from the womb; when I made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band; when I fixed My limit for it, and set bars and doors; when I said, 'This far you may come, but no farther, and here your proud waves must stop!' ...Have you entered the treasury of snow, Or have you seen the treasury of hail, which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?... Who has divided a channel for the overflowing water, or a path for the thunderbolt, to cause it to rain on a land where there is no one, a wilderness in which there is no man..." (Job 38:8-26)

What is the significance of all these down-pours? God made this lower world to be like a child's picture book, with colorful imagery providing us a lesson in color of God's eternal design. The visible rain-storms signify and symbolize the spiritual rain: "See, the streams of living waters, Springing from eternal love, Well supply thy sons and daughters And all fear of want remove: Who can faint while such a river Ever flows their thirst to assuage? Grace which, like the Lord, the Giver, Never fails from age to age." (John Newton, Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken).

The meteorological fountain of life-giving waters flowing onto a parched land symbolizes the spiritual fount. Precious as water is in an arid land, there is another river flowing from the throne of God, of greater worth than the visible watercourses. Robert Lowry's great hymn tells of this river: "Shall we gather at the river, Where bright angel feet have trod, With its crystal tide forever, Flowing by the throne of God? Yes, we'll gather at the river, The beautiful, the beautiful river, Gather with the saints at the river That flows by the throne of God." (Robert Lowry, Shall We Gather at the River?).

The waters of this river give wisdom: "The words of a man's mouth are deep waters; the wellspring of wisdom is a flowing brook." (Proverbs 18:4). Jesus promised these waters to the woman at the well: "Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." (John 4:13).

The promised fountain of life-giving water is the Holy Spirit: "For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring; they will spring up among the grass like willows by the watercourses." (Isaiah 44:3-4).

This is the life-giving stream Jesus promised the woman at the well: "On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.' But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified." (John 7:37-39).

The Odes of Solomon is a piece of extra-Biblical literature of doubtful orthodoxy, but this bit about the life-giving waters is too good to pass up quoting it:

"As the hand moves over the harp and the strings speak
so the spirit of the Lord speaks in my members
and I speak by his love,

"for he destroys what is foreign
and bitter.

"So he was from the beginning
and will be to the end:
nothing will be his adversary
nor resist him.

"The Lord multiplied his knowledge
and was zealous to make us know what he gives us
through his grace.

"He gave us praise for his name
and our spirits praise his holy spirit.

"A stream went forth
and became a long and broad river.
It flooded and broke and carried away the Temple.

Ordinary men could not stop it,
nor could those whose art is to halt the waters.

"And it spread over the face of the whole earth,
filling everything,
and the thirsty of the earth drank
and their thirst was quenched.

"The drink came from the highest one...

"They gave strength to our feebleness
and light to our eyes.

"Everyone knew them in the Lord
and by the water they lived forever."
(Ode 6, The Odes of Solomon).

Hallelujah -- the God in whose presence we will spend eternity is Father, Son and Holy Spirit!

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