Living Water

Follow one image from the first page of the Bible to the last: water that gives life.

Few images run as far through Scripture as living water. It begins as a literal river watering Eden, becomes water struck from a rock to keep a nation alive, turns into a prophet's lament that the people have abandoned "the spring of living waters," swells into Ezekiel's river flowing from the temple to heal a dead sea — and then Jesus stands up and says *he* is the source, the living water being the Spirit he gives. The trail ends where the Bible ends: a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from God's throne. Walk it and you watch a single thread become the gospel.

1
A river flows out of Eden
Genesis 2:10
Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers.
Creation begins with a river watering a garden where God dwells with humanity.
2
Water from the rock at Horeb
Exodus 17:6
Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
In the wilderness, God brings water from a struck rock to keep Israel alive — Paul later says "that rock was Christ."
3
The spring of living waters
Jeremiah 2:13
“For My people have committed two evils: They have abandoned Me, The fountain of living waters, To carve out for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That do not hold water.
Jeremiah's indictment: the people have forsaken God, "the spring of living waters," for broken cisterns.
4
The river from the temple
Ezekiel 47:9
And it will come about that every living creature which swarms in every place where the river goes, will live. And there will be very many fish, for these waters go there and the others become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes.
Ezekiel sees a river flowing from the temple, deepening as it goes, bringing life everywhere it touches.
5
"Living water" at the well
John 4:10
Jesus replied to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
Jesus tells a Samaritan woman he can give "living water" that becomes a spring welling up to eternal life.
6
Rivers of living water
John 7:38
The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ ”
At the festival Jesus cries out — and John explains the living water is the Spirit believers would receive.
7
The river of the water of life
Revelation 22:1
And he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb,
The Bible ends with a crystal river flowing from God's throne through the new creation.

Living Water

A river flows out of Eden

Water from the rock at Horeb

The spring of living waters

The river from the temple

"Living water" at the well

Rivers of living water

The river of the water of life