Shall We Gather At The River

The preacher in full fervor suggests that all the booze of the

world be poured into the river.

The song leader leads the congregation in this song.

Introduction

• There are many rivers mentioned in the Bible.

• Some are literal, and some are symbolic.

• Our concept of a river may not be the same as someone who lives in another part of the world.

• But let us notice a few of them.

The Garden Of Eden

• Genesis 2:10-14 One river becomes four.• Pishon----land of Havilah• Gihon ---land of Cush• Tigris (Hiddekel)---East of Assyria• Euphrates---through Chaldea• Don’t rightly know where it was. Perhaps

modern day Turkey or Northern Iran• Topography different after the flood.

The Promised Land

• Between Two great rivers. Genesis 15:18

• The great river of Egypt (Nile)

• And the great river Euphrates.

• Joseph intrepreted Pharoah’s dream about a river and the seven cows that came up from it.

River turned to blood

• Nile river the book of Exodus

• Pharoah commanded all male children of the Israelites be cast into the river

• Moses was spared.

• Eighty years later, Moses took his staff and turned the river into blood. 1st plague

• Frogs came from the river 2nd plague

Crossing The River

• Spies sent to cross the river to view all the land.

• Unbelief.

• Finally the ark of the covenant came to the River. Joshua 3:8

• Stand still in the water and see that God is with you. Joshua 3:10

• A memorial set up in the middle of river.

Rivers

• Boundaries

• Markers,

• Reference points

• Until we get to 2 Kings 5.

2 Kings 5

• Namaan the leper came to be healed.

• Was told to go dip in the Jordan river seven times.

• Thought other rivers would be better.

• After obedience, was healed.

River was a separation

• The people wanted to be in Jerusalem

• But there was a river in the way.

• The great river Euphrates is most likely the river mentioned in Ezra and Nehemiah.

Symbolic of God’s provisions

• Psalm 36:8 They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house, And You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures.

• Psalm 46:4 There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.

• Psalm 65:9 You visit the earth and water it, You greatly enrich it; The river of God is full of water; You provide their grain, For so You have prepared it.

The River In Heaven

• Revelation 22:1 And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

• Revelation 22:2 In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

Throughout The Bible

• Water has been key for survival of man.

• God provided this life giving water many times.

• And He withheld it to teach them a lesson.

• Sometimes rain is given as a blessing.

• Showers of blessings

The Fountain of God

• Sometimes the blessings from God are described as a fountain.

• Jeremiah 2:13 "For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns-broken cisterns that can hold no water.

The Fountain of Life

• Psalm 36:9 For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.

• Proverbs 5:18 Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice with the wife of your youth.

• Proverbs 13:14 The law of the wise is a fountain of life, To turn one away from the snares of death.

• Proverbs 14:27 The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, To turn one away from the snares of death.

The Water Of Salvation

• Baptism is to be done in water.

• Examples in the Bible.

• Symbolic of a cleansing

• Symbolic of a washing of regeneration.

• Symbolic of becoming pure by the symbolic blood of Christ

• Have you come to the fountain of life?