TEACHING BOX 19A
Rivers of Blessings From Jehovah
Consider some different Bible passages that use the terms “river” and “water” to picture blessings that flow from Jehovah. Taken together, they say something very encouraging about the means by which Jehovah blesses us. How so?
JOEL 3:18 This prophecy shows a spring emanating from the temple sanctuary. It flows out to irrigate the dry “Valley of the Acacia Trees.” So both Joel and Ezekiel see a river bringing life to a barren place. In both cases, the river comes from Jehovah’s house, or temple.
ZECHARIAH 14:8 The prophet Zechariah sees “living waters” flowing from the city of Jerusalem. Half of the water runs to the eastern sea, or Dead Sea, and half, to the western sea, or Mediterranean Sea. Jerusalem was “the city of the great King,” Jehovah God. (Matt. 5:35) Zechariah’s mention of that city thus reminds us of Jehovah’s rulership over the whole earth in times to come. We have long understood that the waters in this prophecy suggest that Jehovah will bless two groups of faithful humans in Paradise, those who live through the great tribulation and those who are resurrected afterward.
REVELATION 22:1, 2 The apostle John sees a symbolic river much like the one that Ezekiel saw. However, it emanates, not from a temple, but from Jehovah’s throne. So this vision, like that of Zechariah, seems to stress the blessings of divine rulership during the Millennium.
Of course, there is only a subtle distinction between the blessings that come from Jehovah’s rulership and those that are represented by the river that Ezekiel saw in vision. All such blessings come from Jehovah and flow to all faithful people.
PSALM 46:4 Note how this one verse seems to embrace both aspects—worship and rulership. Here we see a river that brings rejoicing to “the city of God,” suggesting the Kingdom and rulership, as well as to “the holy grand tabernacle of the Most High,” suggesting pure worship.
Taken as a whole, these passages assure us that Jehovah will bless faithful mankind in two ways. We will benefit eternally, first, from his rulership and, second, from his arrangement for pure worship. So let us be determined now to keep seeking from Jehovah God and his Son “living water”—their loving provisions for everlasting life!—Jer. 2:13; John 4:10.