When Jesus says He gives us water that will never make us thirsty, do you think that is literal or figurative? How does it connect to the tree of life? Let’s find out.
The river of water of life and the tree of life are both referenced by Ezekiel’s prophecies and John’s Revelation, with a focus here on Ezekiel 47 and Revelation 22. By reading and analyzing both we can come to a fuller understanding.
The temple built by Solomon was destroyed by the Babylonians. Later, as written in Ezekiel 40, Ezekiel has a series of visions with the Lord in which he sees a new temple:
In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was struck down, on that very day, the hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me to the city. In visions of God he brought me to the land of Israel, and set me down on a very high mountain, on which was a structure like a city to the south.
Ezekiel 40:1-2
The following chapters walk through the temple in detail. In chapter 47 Ezekiel describes a river flowing from the temple:
Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar.
Ezekiel 47:1
The water grows from a trickle into a river that is so deep Ezekiel cannot swim across it. Ezekiel is shown trees growing on the banks of the river:
Then he led me back to the bank of the river. As I went back, I saw on the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other.
Ezekiel 47:6-7
The leaves of the trees are for healing:
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. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.
Ezekiel 47:12
What tree has the property that the leaves are for healing? The tree of life in Revelation 22:
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 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
Revelation 22:1-2
Revelation gives new information that the trees Ezekiel saw were of the tree of life. Putting the two verses together, it can be seen that the tree of life is a type of tree, not a singular tree. There are many trees lining the banks of the river.
The river of the water of life comes from the throne of God and of the Lamb in Revelation, where in Ezekiel it is coming from a temple. How do we square that? John writes of his vision in Revelation:
And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.
Revelation 21:22
In John’s gospel, Jesus calls His body the temple:
Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews then said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?" But he was speaking about the temple of his body.
John 2:19-21
What type of water was flowing in the river? The water of life. What does Jesus say about His water?
... whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.
John 4:14
Jesus will give us literal water, the water of life, which gives us eternal life. He will also feed us:
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
John 6:35
When Jesus said He gives us water that gives us eternal life, I have to believe that is referencing the river of the water of life.