Living Water Article
Estimated reading time: 14 minutes
Living water is what comes from a spring or fountain, bubbling up from beneath the ground. We might call it “running water.” It is not water collected in a cistern. When we were in Israel, we saw a huge, two-level cistern at Masada that collected rainwater from the mountains and held thousands of gallons. There was enough water to sustain over 900 people for more than two years during the Roman siege. But it was still a cistern, not living water. Rain can also be living water.
Jeremiah 2:13 NET
Do so because my people have committed a double wrong: they have rejected me, the fountain of life-giving water, and they have dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that cannot even hold water.
Jeremiah is listing the contrast between a fountain of “living waters” and a cistern. And he also states that when a cistern is broken, then it is even worse. It cannot hold any water. The Lord is the fountain of living waters, meaning water that is life-giving and sustaining. In Hebrew, the words “living water” rhyme: mayim khayim.
Jeremiah 17:13 ESV
O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living water.
Psalm 36:8–9 ESV
8 They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
9For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light.
The fountain is a living spring, a living fountain.
Psalm 1:2–3 ESV
2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
Isn’t that a fabulous promise? There are three key things to note here. You delight yourself in the Lord.
Then it’s God’s job to make you like a tree, and you bear fruit. I always had this picture of a tree by a river of water because I grew up in the Midwest and loved oak trees. I pictured this big, huge oak tree with all these branches, by this nice, beautiful river, with the river kind of rolling by and little logs going by. But unfortunately, that’s not the Eastern picture.
The picture is actually of an Eastern garden that is fed by a life-giving spring. The trees in the Eastern garden were planted in specific locations, and then different irrigation ditches were set up all around the plants in the garden so that every single plant in the garden would be able to have exactly the right amount of water that it needed.
And it was the gardener’s job to determine how much water each tree needed. The irrigation ditches would surround the plots of ground, and the gardener would come by with his foot and block off a little bit of the ditch so that this tree wouldn’t get so much water, and then he’d open it up for this one over here that needed a lot more water right at that moment. Every single one of the trees in the garden was completely taken care of by this life-giving water.
The real point I want you to see from this passage is that it is the job of the gardener to take care of the tree, and the source of the life is the living water.
Proverbs 14:27 ESV
The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death. There is a condition for having this life-giving source be part of our lives and for bearing fruit. The condition is delighting yourself in the Lord. That’s why it says here that the fear of the Lord, or the awe, the respect of the Lord, is a fountain.
Jesus had a discussion with a Samaritan woman at a well in John 4, where he teaches the concept of living water.
John 4:7–11 APNT
7 And a woman from Samaria came to draw water. And Jesus said to her, “Give me water to drink,”
8 for his disciples had entered the city to buy food for them.
9 That Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it [since] you are a Judean, yet you ask to drink of me, who am a Samaritan woman? For the Judeans do not deal with the Samaritans.”
10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you were aware of the gift of God and who this is who said to you, ‘Give me to drink,’ you would ask him and he would give you living water.”
11 That woman said to him, “My Lord, you have no water pot and the well is deep. Where [is] your living water?
Jesus is saying to the woman that he is the source of living water.
John 4:12–15 APNT
12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and from which he and his sons and his flocks drank?”
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks from this water will thirst again,
14 but everyone who drinks from the water that I give him will not thirst forever. But that water that I give him will be in him a spring of water that will bubble up to eternal life.”
15 That woman said to him, “My Lord, give to me from this water, so that I will not thirst again nor have to come [and] draw [water] from here.”
The Samaritan woman begins to understand what he is talking about, and eventually she realizes that he is the Messiah. We need to understand two points here. The living water bubbles up to eternal life, and whoever drinks it will never thirst again.
It reminded me of when we lived in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, because the city was originally called Hot Springs. It’s a place with natural hot springs that have very hot water right near the surface. In many parts of the town, they built little bathhouses and piped the water in from the spring. You could go into a big, giant tub and turn on the water. You’d actually have to add cold water to it because it was so hot. You could get in the bathtub with only a bit of your nose hanging out, and the rest of you would just be lying there in the water. It’s steamy hot, and you just turn into a wet noodle.
I could hardly stand staying in it for more than 15 minutes. My friend could stay there for an hour, and I couldn’t understand how. You’re also supposed to drink it because it has lots of minerals. And it is just this incredibly cleansing experience. And so many people come from very far away to go to this little town in New Mexico that has these hot springs. And that’s what John 4 reminded me of: the source of it is unending. But the spiritual water that we can drink from is even more unending than that. It never runs out, ever.
Now we will read what happened at the Feast of Tabernacles.
John 7:37–38 APNT
37 And on the high day, which is the last [day] of the feast, Jesus was standing and he cried out and said, “If anyone is thirsty, he should come to me and drink.
38 Whoever believes in me, as the scriptures have said, rivers of living water will flow from his inner part.”
Each day of the Feast of Tabernacles, the priests observed the water-pouring ceremony. As the morning sacrifice was being prepared, a priest, accompanied by a joyous, music-filled procession, went down to the Pool of Siloam (fed by the Gihon Spring). They drew water into a golden pitcher and then returned to the temple in procession. As they entered through the “Water-gate,” there was a threefold blast of trumpets. The water was then poured into basins beside the altar. 1
As soon as the wine offering and the water were poured out, the temple choir and singers began to sing the “Hallel,” which was the section of praise psalms from Psalm 113-118. It was a great production each day! One of the verses in these Psalms celebrates the time when God caused water to come out of the rock.
Psalm 114:7–8 KJV
7 Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob; 8 Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.
The last verses of Psalm 118 are about the salvation that was promised to Israel.
Psalm 118:21–26 KJV
21 I will praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation. 22 The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. 23 This is the LORD’S doing; it is marvellous in our eyes. 24 This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. 25 Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. 26 Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD.
At the height of this ceremony, Jesus stood up in the temple and shouted: “Come to me and drink.” Then he quotes a scripture passage that says, “out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” There is no specific scripture in the Old Testament that says this about the belly. There are several scriptures that Jesus might have had in mind, all of which refer to something that will happen after he comes back.
Joel 3:18 ESV
And in that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the streambeds of Judah shall flow with water; and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the LORD and water the Valley of Shittim.
There is a description in Zechariah 14 (which was also read during this particular feast) that tells what will happen in the future when Jesus comes back to the Mount of Olives.
Zechariah 14:3–4 ESV
3 Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. 4 On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward.
At the height of the last battle, Jesus’ feet touch the top of the Mount of Olives and the whole mountain is split from east to west.
Zechariah 14:8–9 ESV
8 On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter.
9 And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.
From the split in the mountain, living waters or a great bubbling spring gushes out and flows until it waters the land all the way west to the Mediterranean Sea and east to the Dead Sea. It heals the Dead Sea until it becomes filled with fish.
Ezekiel 47:8–10 ESV
8 And he said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, and enters the sea; when the water flows into the sea, the water will become fresh. 9 And wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes.
Now we can understand that the verses about living water in Revelation refer to this time prior to the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom.
Revelation 7:16–17 APNT
16 They will not hunger and not thirst and the sun will not fall on them and not any heat,
17 because the Lamb who is in the middle of the throne will feed them and will guide them to life and to the fountains of water and will wipe away all the tears from their eyes.
Revelation 22:1–3 APNT
1 And he showed me a pure river of living water, also shining as crystal, coming out from the throne of God and of the Lamb.
2 And in the middle of its broad streets, on this side and on that side by the river, was the tree of life that produced twelve fruits and in every month gave its fruits. And its leaves [were] for the healing of the nations.
3 And there will be no devoted [thing] there and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it and his servants will minister to him.
So now we can go back to John 7 and see that there is an ellipsis in verse 38. “Whoever believes in me, as the scriptures have said [concerning Jerusalem, so will it be that], rivers of living water will flow from his inner part.” The closest verse to this is Zechariah 14:8: “living waters shall go out from Jerusalem.”
Jesus was also prophesying about the Spirit that would come and compared it to water flowing out of the mountains of Jerusalem. Just as the spring of water would come from the middle of the mountain, out of a person’s inner being would flow living water, so that he would not thirst anymore. The word “belly” means inner part in both Greek and Aramaic.
This living water comes from the Spirit that resides in each believer in Christ.
John 7:39 APNT
Now he said this about the Spirit that those who believed in him were about to receive, for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Rivers of living water will flow from the inside, not from man-made rules and regulations or our human minds. Mankind always needs water to live. So, he always needs the insight of the spiritual water that comes from God through Jesus Christ. That is why we don’t ever need to thirst. We can always have spiritual answers to the deepest needs in our lives. We can draw water out of the fountain of deliverance.
Isaiah 12:2–3 NET
2 Look, God is my deliverer! I will trust in him and not fear. For the Lord gives me strength and protects me; he has become my deliverer.”
3 Joyfully you will draw water from the springs of deliverance.
Isaiah 44:3–4 ESV
3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.
4 They shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams.
This is the same image as Psalm 1. Whatever he does will prosper. The Lord is the fountain of living waters, and just as the water will heal the land in the end times, so this spiritual flow heals all of the “dead” stuff in our lives. What answers of spiritual water do you need today? Jesus says, “Come and drink of me.”
Yeshua does not offer only temporary relief. He gives life that continues to flow. Through the Holy Spirit, God’s presence becomes a living stream within the believer—renewing, cleansing, strengthening, and bringing life even in dry seasons. For believers today, this word is deeply practical. Many turn to things to satisfy spiritual thirst: success, distraction, comfort, approval, entertainment, or control. But eventually every earthly source runs empty. Only God can satisfy the deepest places of the soul.
Mayim Chayim reminds us that faith is not meant to become dry, mechanical, or empty. God invites us into ongoing relationship with Him—a continual source of living water that refreshes the heart again and again. Sometimes we do not realize how thirsty we are until life becomes difficult. Yet often those very moments are where Yeshua meets us most personally. He still invites people to come and drink.
Scripture References
Scripture quotations marked (APNT) taken from the Aramaic Peshitta New Testament Translation: With explanatory footnotes marking variant readings, customs and figures of speech, Copyright © 2006 by Janet M. Magiera, Light of the Word Ministry, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission. (www.lightofword.org)
Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from The NET Bible® Copyright © 1996, 2019 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. www.netbible.com. All rights reserved.
Footnotes:
1 Alfred Edersheim, The Temple, pp. 241-244.
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