Revelation 21:6 “And He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.”
Revelation 22:17 “And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires let him take the water of life freely.”
So what will happen to the river, when it reaches the gates of the city? Unlike the fruit of the tree of life, which only the saints will be allowed to eat, the water of the river of Life, will be freely available for all to drink from, in the new earth. The above passages of scripture confirm the truth to us that God freely allows all of His creation to drink from the waters of the river of Life. And so, whereas the street of the New Jerusalem will end at the city gates, the river will continue to flow out of the city gates. And so, in effect, twelve branches of the river of Life will flow out from each gate and will continue to flow throughout the earth to the north, south, east and west. This agrees with what happened to the river of Life during our Lord’s millennial reign, for that river flowed all the way into the sea (Ezekiel 47:8). The only difference in the new earth is that the rivers will not flow into any sea. So then, where will the rivers finally end up? Again on this point we can only speculate, but there are rivers in the earth today, that do not flow into the sea, but are rather just absorbed into the earth at the end of their path. And so, that is one possibility regarding the rivers of Life.
Michael E.B. Maher
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