Which Old Testament prophecies align with the invitation in Revelation 22:17? A Quick Look at Revelation 22:17 “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let the one who is thirsty come, and the one who desires the water of life drink freely.” Old-Testament Echoes of “Come” and “Drink” “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters… without money and without cost.” – Free invitation, water imagery, call to listen and live. “I will pour water on the thirsty land… I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants.” – Thirst satisfied by Spirit-outpouring, directly paralleling the Spirit’s plea in Revelation. “With joy you will draw water from the springs of salvation.” – Salvation pictured as accessible, abundant water. Prophecies of a Cleansing Fountain “On that day a fountain will be opened… to cleanse them from sin and impurity.” – The opened fountain anticipates the “water of life” offered freely in the closing chapter of Scripture. Visions of Life-Giving Rivers • Ezekiel 47:1-12 (selected) “Wherever the river flows… there will be life.” – A river from God’s Temple heals every place it reaches, foreshadowing the life-giving waters of Revelation 22:1-2 and the invitation of verse 17. “On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem.” “A spring will issue from the house of the LORD.” – Both point to an eschatological river whose very nature is life, echoing the final appeal, “Come… drink.” Universal Call to Salvation “Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.” “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth.” – Old-Testament groundwork for the universal scope of Revelation 22:17: anyone who desires may come. The LORD as Fountain of Life “You give them drink from Your river of delights. For with You is the fountain of life.” “They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water.” – Both passages identify God Himself as the only true source of life-giving water, matching the final biblical invitation to come to Him. Putting It Together From Isaiah’s free offer of water, to Ezekiel’s healing river, to Zechariah’s cleansing fountain, the Old Testament consistently anticipates a future moment when thirst is quenched without price. Revelation 22:17 gathers every one of those streams into a single, final invitation: the Spirit and the bride extend God’s ancient promise—“Come… drink freely.” |
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