What is Living Water?

Have you ever wondered what it means to say Jesus gives living water? What I found out about living water may surprise and inspire you!

I started studying living water when I learned about Jewish mikveh baths and the pools of Bethesda and Siloam when I was writing Forgotten Followers from Broken to Bold (set in the Gospels).

I revisited these concepts for my upcoming fiction, Finding Her Voice from Broken to Bold, A Novel of the Earliest Female Apostles. In it, Junia is an apostle who visits Colossae. This city is at the base of Mount Cadmus, at the headwaters of the Lycus River, and the residents valued the healing powers of their freshwater spring. Imagine how Junia could have invited whoever was thirsty in Colossae to drink from Jesus, the source of living water.

Living Water Gushes out of a Spring

Living water had a unique meaning in the first century. It means water that is not still, stale or stagnant. Living water is water that is sourced from a spring and flows ever-fresh. Jesus calls himself living water and offers new life to whoever drinks this living water. The Gospel of John provides several illustrations showing how living water purifies and provides new life to whoever asks for it.

When Jesus spoke to the woman at the well, he provided an image of himself giving the Spirit to whoever believes, and the Spirit in each of us constantly gushing out with new life.

"But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life.” (John 4:14 CSB) [bold added].

Living Water provides Ritual Purification

At the time of Jesus, Jews ritually purified themselves by immersing in a mikveh bath with water sourced from living water. The living water from underground springs filled the pools of Bethesda and Siloam with water naturally cleansed from impurities and was used for ritual purification. Sick, blind, disabled, and paralyzed people lay under the covered porches beside the Pool of Bethesda, which bubbled up whenever an underwater geyser gushed fresh water. They believed that the first person to step in after the water stirred would be healed. Jesus healed a man, performing the same task as the living waters of the spring (John 5:2-9).

When Jesus saw a man who was born blind, he spat on the ground to make some mud with his saliva, and spread the mud on the man's eyes as a salve, then told the man to go and wash in the pool of Siloam (John 9:6-7). Again, Jesus is the source of living water that heals people. The name Siloam means the ‘One Who Will Be Sent.’

Jesus claims to offer Living Water

When Jesus attended the Festival of Shelters, he stood before everyone and claimed to that living waters gushed out of him. It was such a strong claim that it seemed blasphemous, pointing to himself as the God who provided water for the children of Israel. This statement caused a division between whether or not people believed Jesus was the Messiah:

“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.” He said this about the Spirit. Those who believed in Jesus were going to receive the Spirit, for the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified" (John 7:37-39 CSB) [bold added]/

God Offers Living Water

Jesus's claim reminded Jews of how God made water gush out of a rock for the children of Israel when they were in desperate need.

"Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff, so that abundant water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank" (Numbers 20:11) CSB).

Israel confirms its faith by remembering its past:

"[God] split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as abundant as the depths. He brought streams out of the stone and made water flow down like rivers ... [then] They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God, their Redeemer.(Psalm 78:15, 16, 35).

The Bible refers to God as the fountain gushing out with living water:

"They have abandoned me, the fountain of living water " Jeremiah 2:13 CSB).

Living water from springs providing new life is a recurring theme of spiritual blessings:

"For I will pour water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants and my blessing on your offspring" (Isaiah 44:3)

The Lord says that Israel will be a light for all the nations, raising up flat roads and reducing mountains to flat plains.

"They will not hunger or thirst,the scorching heat or sun will not strike them; for their compassionate one will guide them, and lead them to springs" (Isaiah 49:6, 10, 11).

Jesus Tells Disciples to Wash One Another

On the last night that Jesus spent with his disciples, he washed their feet. When Peter argued that Jesus should not take the role of a servant, Jesus explained that he had to wash whoever wanted to be one of his people (John 13:7-8). Jesus explains that in washing his followers' feet, he has provided an example for us to wash each other's feet (John 13:14-15).

When Jesus died, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and water came gushing out (John 19:34).

Jesus is the Rock that Provides Springs of Living Water

Jesus calls himself the rock, the source of living water, just like the rock that gushed out living water for the thirsty Israelites. Jesus, the stone the builders rejected, becomes the founding cornerstone and the beginning of the church (Matthew 21:42).

Paul draws a direct parallel between the rock that gushed out water for the Israelites and Jesus, who is the rock providing believers with springs of living water.

"They all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. (1 Corinthians 10:3-4 CSB).

Paul says that Jesus is the source and beginning of the church (Ephesians 5:23); Jesus washed the church with his living water to create the church as holy and blameless (Ephesians 5:26-27). Christ and the church are united in a mysterious way that can be illustrated as a vine and branches, a head and a torso, or a husband and a wife.

Living Water Gives New Life

Jesus places within each believer a spring of fresh, living water that purifies us and helps the good fruit of the Spirit. John's vision in the book of Revelation describes how living water from God makes everything new:

"I will freely give to the thirsty from the spring of the water of life" (Revelation 21:6-7)

"Then he showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the city’s main street. The tree of life was on each side of the river, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations, and there will no longer be any curse... Night will be no more; people will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will give them light, and they will reign forever and ever. (Revelation 22:1-5).

Let anyone who is thirsty drink from the ever-fresh spring of living water and produce the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, kindness. This spring water that gushes out heals the nations and brings light to the world. It is a beautiful picture of how God, our source of living water, purifies us from the inside out and provides new life, resulting in good fruit.

Whoever drinks from the water that God gives will never thirst again. Including women and men, gay and straight, all ethnicities. That includes everyone. Whoever is thirsty.

Fresh, living water from a natural spring https://www.pexels.com/photo/stream-water-flowing-into-a-jar-with-mint-leaves-15238986/

Elaine Ricker Kelly Author is empowering women with historical fiction about women in the Bible and early church and Christian blogs about women in leadership, church history and doctrine. Her books include:

• Forgotten Followers from Broken to Bold, Book 1, A Novel (2022)

• The Sword: A Fun Way to Engage in Healthy Debate on What the Bible Says About a Woman's Role (2023)

• Because She Was Called from Broken to Bold, Book 2, A Novel of the Early Church (2024)

• Walk with Mara on Her Healing Journey: 21 Steps to Emotional Resilience (2024)

• Finding Her Voice from Broken to Bold, Book 3, A Novel of the Earliest Female Apostles (coming October 2025)