A Topographical Reading of the Bible

In this post, I would like to share with you a beautiful insight that the Lord recently gave me. Like most of the material on this blog, it does not provide anything new per se; rather, it provides an interesting way to ‘connect the dots’ of the Christian story with which most readers are probably quite familiar. The overriding image on which I would like to focus is that of the River of Life along with its associated topographical features, Mount Zion and the Tree of Life.

Eden

In Genesis 2:10-4, we read that “a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers”. Because the garden contained creation in all its perfection, including the Tree of Life, we can also deduce that this river was a sort of ‘River of Life’. But what is ‘Eden’ in this passage? It is not the garden itself, because the river mentioned in the passage flows out of Eden and into the garden. We know that rivers originate in ‘high places’ and make their way ‘downwards’ (I think it’s called ‘gravity’ or something), eventually reaching the sea or another body of water. So, by implication, there is some ‘Mount Eden’ in this passage.

The Fall

The sins of Israel – and indeed, the ubiquitously sinful state of mankind (Isaiah 53:6; Romans 3:23) – reflects the eviction from Eden, where the River of Life first flowed and where the Tree of Life first blossomed. Like Adam and Even, we have all rejected the Tree of Life in favour of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Thus in Jeremiah 2:12-3 (see also Jeremiah 17:13; Isaiah 8:6ff) we read: “Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, 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.” This statement has a parallel in Jesus’ teaching that new wine requires new wineskins (Mark 2:21-2; Matthew 9:16-7). The essence of these passages, I think, is that man’s sin has not only deprived him of the Water of Life, but has also (and in thus doing) depraved him to the point of spiritual death, so that, in his present state, he is no longer capable of acting as a vessel for the Spirit of God (for which water acts as a metaphor throughout the Bible). The Jeremiah passage also reveals to us the mysterious source of the River – it is the Lord, symbolised in the Old Testament by Mount Sinai.

The Promise of Restoration

Despite cutting ourselves off from the source of life, we are given the hope of being restored to its fullness. Zechariah prophecies to Israel, “On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness” (Zechariah 13:1), while the Psalmist (possibly David himself) avers, “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High” (Psalm 46: 4). The prophet Joel (3:17-8) also tells of a Jerusalem restored to the River of Life, while also drawing attention to its source, God Himself, who “dwells in…[His] holy mountain”. Interestingly, however, he refers not to Mount Sinai, but rather to mount Zion. According to Hebrews 12:18-24, the Sinai/Zion distinction is a picture of the Old Covenant being replaced by the New. Accordingly, this prophecy in Joel is in fact a messianic prophecy. Indeed, Joel specifically refers to “the streambeds of Judah”, the tribe of Jesus (in Psalm 78:68 we also see the connection between Judah and Mount Zion).

In the latter part of the passage, Joel is also specific that “a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord and water the Valley of Shittim”. What is this Shittim? To start with, Shittim is another name for acacia wood, the material from which the Ark of the Covenant – the symbol of the Old Covenant and God’s presence – was hewn in the book of Exodus. The Valley of Shittim, meanwhile, is the location in which the Israelite men consorted with the daughters of Moab, while also engaging in spiritual fornication by worshipping Baalpeor – a sin which incurred a plague in which 23,000 people died (Numbers 25, Psalm 106, Deuteronomy 4: 3-4, Joshua 22:17-18, Hoseah 9:10, Micah 6:1-5; 1 Corinthians 10:8). So for this “fountain” to “water the Valley of Shittim” is an indirect reference to Jesus atoning for sin, fulfilling the Old Covenant, and conquering death. Intriguingly, it is actually topographically impossible for Jerusalem to water the valley of Shittim, as any river originating in Jerusalem would have to go down into (and thus up out of) the valley of the Jordan River – the very river that the Israelites crossed to enter the Promised Land (indeed, the River of Life is referred to as ‘flowing with milk and honey’ throughout the scriptures), and in which Jesus was baptised.

In Ezekiel 47 we see another image of a “healed[ed]” Jerusalem, this time fixating on the Temple. Like the garden, the Temple in Ezekiel’s vision acts as a sort of ‘fork’ from which the River of Life flows in multiple directions. The angelic figure guiding Ezekiel through the scene speaks of the restorative qualities of this river, which even gives life to the Great Sea (that is, the Dead Sea). The vision also implies a sort of ‘double blessing’ – “on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food” – that will be even more bountiful than the First Covenant. Zechariah (14:6-9) recounts a vision with remarkably similar features: “On that day there shall be no light, cold, or frost. 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. 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. And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.”

Restoration

Alas, restoration does indeed come at last through Christ. In John 4:14, Jesus tells the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, “whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life”. As we also learn from Isaiah 55:1, Revelation 21:6, and Revelation 22:17, this Water of Life is completely free. In John 7: 37-9, moreover, we read: “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. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”’ Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive.” Thus, the River of Life flows and is multiplied through us – new creations in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17) and Temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19-20) – just as it was multiplied by flowing through the Garden of Eden and the Temple of Jerusalem. All we have to do is to choose (the Tree of) life, so that we may live (Deutoronomy 30:19).

The Future

As incredible as the story is so far, it is by no means over, for in Revelation 22:1-2 we read: “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 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.” Apart from the fact that there is no Temple in this heavenly city, “for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (Rev. 21:22), this vision of the New Jerusalem corresponds directly to both the Zechariah's vision, which also referred to a timeless universe witout seasons or night, and to Ezekiel’s vision, which also referred to trees growing “on both sides of the river” bearing their fruit “every month”, the leaves of which were “for healing”. Indeed, the dimensions of Ezekiel’s heavenly temple are repeated in the depiction of the New Jerusalem.

We see, then, that the New, healed, spiritual Jerusalem will surpass even the abundance, life, and blessing of Eden. Having “the firstfruits of the Spirit”, we look forward to – and indeed, “groan” for – this great restoration and 'making new' of all things, when “the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Romans 8; Revelation 7:17).