Christ is the Fount of the water of life. The river of the water of life in the paradise of God flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb, which means that it proceeds from God through Christ. The opening of this fountain of living water in Christ was typified and foretold ages before in the old dispensation. Christ followed them all through their wanderings in the desert, and revealed Himself by supplying them with water from the rocks. That fountain is opened in Christ, and from Him flow the streams of living water.
Water has a rich symbolic meaning in Scripture.
Sometimes it symbolizes deep affliction that overwhelms one's soul, and threatens to drown him and swallow him up. The water of baptism is a sign and seal of spiritual separation from the world into the fellowship of Christ, and of cleansing from sin unto eternal righteousness. In the same way the waters of the Red Sea typified baptism, for by these the people of Israel were separated unto God from Pharaoh and his host, and the house of bondage in Egypt. And through baptism the old man of sin is swallowed up, the new man in Christ arises, separated from sin and from the evil world, and raised with Christ into a new life of fellowship with God. It is evident, however, that when Christ is presented as the fount of the water of life, from which we must drink, the meaning of the symbol is somewhat different.