Revelation 22:16-17 to Isaiah 55:1

OT Source(s):

Isaiah 55:1 ("Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters")

Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Reference Type: Allusion

Connection Method(s): Promise-Fulfillment + Longitudinal Theme

Significance: Isaiah 55:1 opens with the great invitation: "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!" Revelation 22:17 echoes this invitation as the Bible's final appeal: "The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come!' ... And let the one who is thirsty come, and the one who desires the water of life drink freely." Both texts use "come" (deute / erchomai) addressed to the thirsty, offering water without cost. Isaiah's invitation occurs in the context of the everlasting Davidic covenant (55:3); Revelation's follows Christ's self-identification as "the Root and the Offspring of David" (22:16), maintaining the Davidic covenantal frame. The escalation is from Isaiah's invitation to physical and spiritual sustenance to the final offer of "the water of life" — eternal life in the New Jerusalem. This forms the last great evangelistic appeal in Scripture, framed in Isaianic language.