River of Life

Two Sundays ago, Jon Piper's sermon was on Psalm 1 (an overview of the entire chapter)
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/2008/2785_Songs_That_Shape_the_Heart_and_Mind/
1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, ....
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.

Verse 3 had me ping-ponging mentally through the scriptures. I will list them off here and discuss them on other posts.

---

There is the River of Life and the Tree of Life in Revelation 22:1-3a:
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
2 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.
3 No longer will there be anything accursed

This is a restoration of creation, an "uncursing" from the curse of the fall in Genesis 3.
In Genesis 2:
8 And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.
9 And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers.

---

Ezekiel 47:1-9
1 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.
2 Then he brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate that faces toward the east; and behold, the water was trickling out on the south side.
3 Going on eastward with a measuring line in his hand, the man measured a thousand cubits, and then led me through the water, and it was ankle-deep.
4 Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was knee-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was waist-deep.
5 Again he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the water had risen. It was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be passed through.
6 And he said to me, "Son of man, have you seen this?" Then he led me back to the bank of the river.
7 As I went back, I saw on the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other.
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 any fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live here the river goes.

---

Zechariah 14:6-9
6 On that day there shall be no light, cold, or frost.
7 And there shall be a unique day, which is known to the LORD, neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light.
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.

---

Jeremiah 17:7-8
7 "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD.
8 He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit."

---

Jeremiah 2:12-13
12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD,
13 for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

---

Jesus told Nicodemus that a person must be "born again" to enter the Kingdom of heaven.

John 3:5-6
5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.


This is a reference back to Ezekiel 36:25
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.


John 7:37-39a
37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'"
39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive

---

Some important cross references:
Ephesians 5:26
Titus 3:5
Hebrews 10:22

One reason I am listing these verses is that the Reformed camp equates the water with baptism and they equate Jesus statement about eating his flesh in John 7 with commumion. I am investigating and evaluating this.