Read: Revelation 21:1-6
To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. (v. 6 NRSV)
The vision is mind-boggling. John the Seer is trying to describe God’s good future of shalom. There is a new heaven and new earth—renewed really, not destroyed. The holy city Jerusalem descends and heaven and earth are one. The home of God is among humans. God pitches his tent with us mortals and wipes every tear from our eyes. Death and mourning and crying and pain are no more. And the One seated on the great throne declares that he is making all things new (not all new things). To the thirsty (that’s all of us, isn’t it?) God will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.
It was the end of a long day of backpacking and we were hot and tired and thirsty. All of our water was gone. I knew where we were on the map, and the map showed a spring, so the spring must be here somewhere. But where? What if the spring had dried up? What if we had to hike many more miles to the find the water we desperately needed? Then one of the students stumbled upon a trickle of water flowing from the ground. Water, as a gift, life-giving, from a spring. It was a taste of heaven on earth.
As you pray, thank our good and loving God, the giver of life, for the gift of water and the many ways that he nourishes you with the blessings of life.
Steve Bouma-Prediger is the Leonard and Marjorie Mass Professor of Reformed Theology at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. A graduate of Hope College, his Ph.D. is in religious studies from The University of Chicago. His most recent book is Earthkeeping and Character: Exploring a Christian Ecological Virtue Ethic.
When not teaching or writing, he spends as much time as possible canoeing or backpacking in his favorite places in North America or simply hiking among the magnificent trees in southwest Michigan parks.
