Kingdom of God - You are the river of living water.

Friend,

Have we not been indoctrinated and intimidated into believing that we cannot hope to understand the book of Revelation? A vast majority of Christians haven't even ventured to glance through the book being deluded by such indoctrination. Remember, this apocalyptophobia or revelationphobia is despite the fact that it is the only book which starts up with an assured blessing.

Rev 1:3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

The purpose of this post is to convince you that you can get rid of the fear of the book of Revelation. The book could be understood if we study the Bible thoroughly and analytically. Here we analyze a single verse from the book of Revelation to prove this point.

Rev 22:1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

Whatever be the symbolism of 'the river of the water of life', many do presume that it would come to pass during the Millennium. They fail to notice that the New Jerusalem, where this river is, had to come down from heaven after the Millennium. (Rev 20:7-10; 21)

If we are thorough with the scriptures the highlighted expression should be ring a bell. In fact it does, in the mind of almost everyone who reads, but the fear of being wrong and the indoctrination that we received stops us from thinking in simpler terms. Here is the passage that complements Rev 22:1:

Joh 7:37 ... "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
Joh 7:38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.Joh 7:39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.



I don't think that anyone who has read the scriptures has failed to notice this passage. It is our pursuit for finding something of a grandiose scale in Revelation that has failed us in seeing the connection between Rev 22:1 and John 7:38.

As John 7:39 says, the passage is about the Holy Spirit. If we rephrase the passage in contemporary English, you are a channel of the Holy Spirit.

As we have discussed elsewhere, the narrative in Ezekiel 47, from which John draws the imagery of the river of living waters, makes it plain that wherever the fresh water of the river doesn't reach the waters of the sea would remain unhealed. (Eze 47:8-11).

In the narrative about the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21 and 22, we are not told that the water of the river of living waters will flow out of the city, but it is told that the evildoers outside the city have to wash their robes in order to enter through the gates and to have rights in the tree of life.

Rev 22:14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.

(King James Version has this verse as: 'Blessed are they that do his commandments'. This is because of some minor variations in the Greek manuscripts.)

There are many who ask: Why to preach the gospel, if all the prophecies are fulfilled in 70 AD? Even futurists do agree that the the events detailed in Revelation 21 and 22 have to unfold after the end of world and after/during the Millennium. Since we see evildoers outside the city, who have an opportunity to enter through the city gates after cleansing themselves, it is obvious that the preaching of the gospel has to continue, no matter whether the end was in 70 AD or it will be in 2070 AD or 7000 AD or 7000000 AD.


Here is your opportunity to bless the world. Let the rivers of living waters (Holy Spirit) flow from your heart. Heal the world, make it a better place! To achieve the goal, you need to move out of your comfort zone and reach out to those who are outside the city gates, since, the river, by itself, won't flow to where they are.

In Christ,

Tomsan Kattackal

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NB: The purpose of my writings is to encourage the reader for good works for the glory of Our Lord. These are not very scholarly writings as I am not a scholar. If you find any errors or anything that could discourage the reader, kindly mention it in the comments.