The Water of Life
The term “water of life” or “living water” indicates the word of God, which is necessary for the life of a soul. It also refers to the Holy Spirit which will come upon the saints through the words of truth. It is God who gives the water of life. In the Old Testament times, the source of living water was Jehovah, and in the New Testament times, it was Jesus. In these last days, the Spirit and the Bride give us the water of life.
The Meaning of the Water of Life
Water (molecular formula: H₂O) is essential for sustaining life. Although it varies according to each person's physical condition, roughly 50 to 80% of the body is water.[1] If a person loses 1%-2% of their body fluid, it can cause severe thirst; if they lose 5%-10%, it can lead to a coma; and if they lose at least 12%, it can lead to death.[2] Animals and plants also need water to sustain its life. Just as those who wander in the desert desire water over gold, the water of life is essential for those who desire salvation the most.
“The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign LORD, “when I will send a famine through the land—not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it.”
The prophet Amos likened the world without God’s word to a famine. A famine is when there is a severe shortage of food and water; if it progresses, living things come to die. In reference to the Bible, God’s word is the water of life. God’s word is likened to water because it sustains the life of the soul. The water of life also indicates the Holy Spirit that will come upon the saints through the word of truth. This is why the Bible describes the descent of the Holy Spirit as streams of living water.[3]
On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive...
The water of life, which is given by God’s grace, is not only given to the saints while God is carrying out the work of salvation on this earth. Even when the members go to heaven, the blessing of the water of life continues.[4]
God Gives the Water of Life in Each Age
Age of the Father: God Jehovah
It was Jehovah who gave the water of life in the Age of the Father. The prophet Jeremiah proclaimed the word of God as follows:
“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”
God Jehovah called Himself the spring of living water. To dig your own cistern rather than asking God for the water of life means to make and follow doctrines based on men’s opinions.[5] Like broken cisterns that cannot hold water, doctrines made by men are useless. In the Age of the Father, those who came to God Jehovah, the Savior, could receive the water of life. There were many prophets who preached the word of God in the Age of the Father, but nowhere in the Old Testament does it say that the prophets gave the water of life.
Age of the Son: Jesus
It is Jesus, the Savior of the Age of the Son, who gave the water of life in the Age of the Son. Through the conversation between Jesus Christ and the Samaritan woman, we can learn who provides the water of life.
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The water that makes us never thirst is the water of life that quenches our spiritual thirst. The spring of water welling up to eternal life is also the water of life. Jesus, who gives us this water, is the spring of the water of life. Jesus taught the words of life for three years during His public life. The prophet Isaiah saw that Jesus would preach to the Israelites, dying from not hearing the word, and wrote, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters” (Isa 55:1).[6] Only God, the Savior, has the authority to give the water of life. In the Age of the Son, there were many apostles and saints who preached the word of God, but nowhere in the Bible does it say that any of them gave the water of life. It was only Jesus, the Savior, who gave the water of life.
Age of the Holy Spirit: Spirit and Bride
The Bible tells us that the Spirit and the Bride are the sources of living water in the Age of the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.
According to the Trinity, the Holy Spirit is the same as God the Father and God the Son; therefore, He is God the Father.[7] The Bride, the Wife of the Lamb, was represented as Jerusalem coming down from heaven in Apostle John's vision.[8] It is only God who gave the water of life in the Age of the Father and the Age of the Son. Therefore, the Spirit and the Bride who give the water of life in the Age of the Holy Spirit are also Gods. Apostle Paul wrote in his letter that the Heavenly Jerusalem was the Mother of the saints.
But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother.
In the Age of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit and the Bride, the Saviors—God the Father and God the Mother—give the water of life to those who want to quench their spiritual thirst.
Jerusalem Where the Water of Life Flows Out From
The Old Testament records Jerusalem as the source of the water of life.
On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea and half to the western sea, in summer and in winter.
The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was flowing from the south side.
Around 520 B.C., the prophet Zechariah prophesied that living water would flow out from Jerusalem in the last days. This is a prophecy about God the Mother, who is represented as the Heavenly Jerusalem. The temple mentioned by the prophet Ezekiel is also the Jerusalem temple, and it is a prophecy that the water of life will come from the Bride, Heavenly Jerusalem Mother in the last days. The Old Testament shows the salvation of Heavenly Jerusalem Mother through the earthly Jerusalem, which is a shadow. He described how the water of life would flow out into the whole world as follows:
As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross.
The water of life that was once ankle-deep became knee-deep, reached up to the waist, and even became a river no one could cross. It is a prophecy that the water of life will become stronger as it flows. According to this prophecy, the word of the water of life, which began from Heavenly Jerusalem, is now spreading rapidly throughout the whole world. The evidence is clearly seen through the advancement of the gospel work that is led by Heavenly Mother. The gospel of the new covenant has been preached in 175 different countries, and members from various backgrounds are coming to Heavenly Mother.[9][10]
The Effect of the Water of Life
The Power to Revive All Nations
The book of Ezekiel talks about the water of life and its effect.
“Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live.”
Wherever the water of life flows, living things prosper and the salt water becomes fresh. In the Bible, the sea refers to human society.[11] The “salt water being made fresh” means that mankind, dying in the spiritual famine, will come to life by receiving the water of life.
“Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.”
On both sides of the river of life, there are trees that bear fruit every month and have leaves that can be used for healing. The leaves of trees grown with the water of life also have the effect of giving life to human beings who are destined to die. God showed the effect of the water of life again through Apostle John in the New Testament.
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
The source of the river of life is God and the throne of the Lamb. The throne of God refers to Heavenly Jerusalem Mother.[12] Although the water of life has the power to revive souls, we cannot obtain it without knowing its source. The book of Revelation reveals the effect of the water of life and that its source is Heavenly Mother.
The Glory of Becoming Kings of the Kingdom of Heaven
Revelation 22 foretells the glory that those who have received the water of life will enjoy as well as the power of the water of life that redeems all nations.
There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
In heaven, since there is no more darkness, there is no need for the light of a lamp or the light of the sun; it is a place where we will spend eternity with God, who is light. “They,” who are there, are those who have received the water of life from Heavenly Mother.[13] Those who accept the water of life will not only be revived but become kings who reign forever in heaven. Since such a blessing has been prepared, the Spirit and the Bride invite mankind to come to receive the water of life at the end of the same chapter.[14] On the other hand, the prophet Ezekiel prophesied against those who rejected the water of life by likening them to swamps and marshes.
“But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt.”
The Dead Sea is a lake that spans Israel and Jordan. Because it is below sea level, it cannot flow out to other places, and its salinity is about five times more than that of seawater because it evaporates fast.[15] The swamps and marshes around the Dead Sea become salty lands when water evaporates in the sunlight, where grass or trees cannot grow. Those who reject the water of life will not become fresh, but desolate just like swamps and marshes where living things cannot live.
In the last days, those who come to the Spirit and the Bride, God the Father (Heavenly Father) and God the Mother (Heavenly Mother), will receive the water of life and eternal life. Those who have received the water of life from Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother, who are the sources of the water of life, will never thirst but will enjoy eternal happiness in heaven.
See also
Related videos
- The Holy Spirit and the Bride who give the water of life
References
- ↑ The Water in You: Water and the Human Body, U.S. Geological Survey, May 22, 2019
- ↑ The Turnover of Body Water as an Indicator of Health, Hideki Shimamoto and Shuichi Komiya, Journal of Physiological Anthropology and Applied Human Science, 2000 Sep;19(5), pp. 207-212
- ↑ "Zechariah 14:16–17".
- ↑ Chapter 3 Life and Activities in the Angelic World, VISITORS FROM THE ANGELIC WORLD, Ahnsahnghong, pg.15, Melchizedek Pub. Co., Ltd
- ↑ Chapter 9 The Holy Spirit of the Latter Rain, THE LAW OF MOSES & THE LAW OF CHRIST, Ahnsahnghong, pg.136, Melchizedek Pub. Co., Ltd
- ↑ "Isaiah 55:1".
- ↑ "1 Corinthians 2:10–11".
- ↑ "Revelation 21:9–10".
- ↑ World Mission Society Church of God Opens the Age of 3 Million Saints on 55th Anniversary, Shindonga, June 2019
- ↑ [Special Feature ● Luther's 500 Years of Religious Reformation—Church of God and Truth in the Bible] 2.7 Million World Mission Society Church of God Saints' 'Grand Chorus', Monthly JoongAng, November 17, 2017
- ↑ "Revelation 17:15".
- ↑ "Jeremiah 3:17".
- ↑ "Revelation 22:1–2".
- ↑ "Revelation 22:17".
- ↑ Why Is the Dead Sea So Salty?, Live Science, September 10, 2016