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And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Revelation 22:1
Apocalypse Revealed # 50
50. And His voice as the sound of many waters. This symbolizes natural Divine truth.
A voice, when coming from the Lord, symbolizes Divine truth, as may be seen in no. 37 above. Waters symbolize truths, and specifically natural truths, which are concepts from the Word, as follows from many passages in the Word, of which we cite only the following:
...the earth is full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:9)
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. (Isaiah 12:3)
He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly...: bread will be given him, (and) his water will be constant. (Isaiah 33:15-16)
The poor and needy seek water, but there is none; their tongue fails for thirst... I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will turn the wilderness into a pool of water, and the dry land into springs of water..., that they may see, know, consider and understand... (Isaiah 41:17-18, 20)
I will pour out water on him who is thirsty, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit... (Isaiah 44:3)
...your light shall rise in the darkness..., that you may be like a watered garden, and like an issue of water, whose waters do not deceive. (Isaiah 58:10-11)
...My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns... that hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:13)
Their great ones have sent their young ones for water. They went to the cisterns and found no water. Their vessels came back empty. (Jeremiah 14:3)
...they have forsaken Jehovah, the fountain of living waters. (Jeremiah 17:13)
They shall come with weeping, and with prayers I will lead them. I will lead them to a fountain of waters, in the way of rectitude... (Jeremiah 31:9)
...I will break the staff of bread... and they shall drink water by measure and with astonishment..., so that... they waste away because of their iniquities. (Ezekiel 4:16-17; cf. 12:18-19, Isaiah 51:14)
Behold, the days will come... when I will send hunger on the land, not a hunger for bread, nor a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of Jehovah. They shall wander from sea to sea, and... shall run to and fro, to hear the word of Jehovah, but shall not find it. In that day the... young women and the young men shall faint for thirst. (Amos 8:11-13)
In that day... living waters shall flow from Jerusalem... (Zechariah 14:8)
Jehovah is my shepherd..., He leads me to still waters. (Psalms 23:1-2)
They did not thirst...; He caused waters to flow from the rock for them, and He split the rock, so that waters gushed out. (Isaiah 48:21)
O God..., in the morning will I seek You; My soul thirsts...; ...(I am) weary, without water. (Psalms 63:1)
(Jehovah) sends out His word...; He causes (the) wind to blow, so that the waters flow. (Psalms 147:18)
Praise (Jehovah), you heavens of heavens, and you waters from above the heavens! (Psalms 148:4)
(Jesus sitting by Jacob's well said to the woman,) "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will not thirst to eternity. And the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." (John 4:7-15)
(Jesus said,) "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture says, out of his belly will flow rivers of living water." (John 7:37-38)
To him who thirsts I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely. (Revelation 21:6)
He showed (him) a... river of the water of life..., proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. (Revelation 22:1)
And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" And let him who thirsts come. And whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. (Revelation 22:17)
Waters in these passages mean truths, and it is apparent from this that the sound of many waters means the Lord's Divine truth in the Word, as also in the following places:
Behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east, and His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth was illumined by His glory. (Ezekiel 43:2)
I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters... (Revelation 14:2)
The voice of Jehovah is on the waters...; Jehovah is on many waters. (Psalms 29:3)
When it is known that waters in the Word mean truths in the natural self, it can be seen what washings in the Israelite Church symbolized, and also what baptism symbolizes, and moreover what is symbolically meant by these words of the Lord in John,
Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. (John 3:5)
"Of water" means, symbolically, "by truths," and "of the Spirit" means, symbolically, "by a life in accordance with them."
In an opposite sense, waters symbolize falsities, as we will see in subsequent explanations.
John 3
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Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
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The same came to him by night, and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him."
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Jesus answered him, "Most certainly, I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can't see the Kingdom of God."
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Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born?"
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Jesus answered, "Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can't enter into the Kingdom of God!
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That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.
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Don't marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born anew.'
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The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don't know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
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Nicodemus answered him, "How can these things be?"
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Jesus answered him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and don't understand these things?
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Most certainly I tell you, we speak that which we know, and testify of that which we have seen, and you don't receive our witness.
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If I told you earthly things and you don't believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
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No one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.
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As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
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that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
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For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
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For God didn't send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.
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He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn't believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.
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This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.
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For everyone who does evil hates the light, and doesn't come to the light, lest his works would be exposed.
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But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be revealed, that they have been done in God."
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After these things, Jesus came with his disciples into the land of Judea. He stayed there with them, and baptized.
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John also was baptizing in Enon near Salim, because there was much water there. They came, and were baptized.
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For John was not yet thrown into prison.
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There arose therefore a questioning on the part of John's disciples with some Jews about purification.
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They came to John, and said to him, "Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, the same baptizes, and everyone is coming to him."
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John answered, "A man can receive nothing, unless it has been given him from heaven.
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You yourselves testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ,' but, 'I have been sent before him.'
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He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This, my joy, therefore is made full.
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He must increase, but I must decrease.
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He who comes from above is above all. He who is from the Earth belongs to the Earth, and speaks of the Earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.
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What he has seen and heard, of that he testifies; and no one receives his witness.
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He who has received his witness has set his seal to this, that God is true.
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For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for God gives the Spirit without measure.
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The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand.
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One who believes in the Son has eternal life, but one who disobeys the Son won't see life, but the wrath of God remains on him."
