Why “Fountain of Life”?
The name comes from Psalm 36:9: “For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light” (ESV). Life is not something we generate. It flows from God, and we see clearly only in his light. The Hebrew phrase is meqôr ḥayyîm, a “source” or spring of living water, and it runs like a stream through the whole Bible.
The Bible opens in Eden, where “a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden” (Genesis 2:10, ESV). The prophets mourn a people who have “forsaken me, the fountain of living waters” (Jeremiah 2:13, ESV). Jesus offers living water to a Samaritan woman at a well. And the story ends with “the river of the water of life” flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb (Revelation 22:1, ESV). In between, God’s people are pictured as trees “planted by streams of water” (Psalm 1:3, ESV), slowly growing in the Word.
The Reformers wanted the church to drink from that source again: Scripture itself, read in the light of Christ. Geneva’s motto, Post Tenebras Lux (“after darkness, light”), still names that hope here.
Fountain of Life is one name for everything: this blog and the FountainOfLifePrints shop on Etsy.
What you’ll find here
- Word Studies. Hebrew and Greek words, shown in their original script with transliteration and meaning, and why they matter for reading well.
- Biblical Theology. Tracing themes across the whole canon: garden and temple, heaven and earth, the image of God and royal priests, the Exodus pattern, and the Davidic Messiah and the Spirit.
- Devotionals. Slow, warm readings of a single passage, meant to be prayed as well as studied.
- Church History. Stories from the Reformation and beyond, especially from Geneva.
- Family Worship. Simple, practical help for reading, singing, and praying Scripture together at home.
How we read the Bible
This blog stands in the Reformed Protestant tradition. We confess that Scripture alone is our final authority, that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, and that all of it is to the glory of God alone. Historic confessions like the Westminster Standards and the Three Forms of Unity shape our convictions.
We also love reading Scripture as one unified story that leads to Jesus. The Bible is a carefully designed work of literature. Its authors use repeated words, patterns, and scenes to tie the story together. Adam in the garden, Israel coming out of Egypt, David’s throne, and the temple on Zion are not separate lessons. They are chapters of one story that comes to its climax in Jesus, the faithful Son and true King, who pours out the Spirit and will one day make heaven and earth one again.
Scripture quotations come from the English Standard Version and are kept short. We’d always rather you open your own Bible and read the whole passage.
A note on the shop
The blog is a labor of love. The Fountain of Life shop, FountainOfLifePrints on Etsy, offers printables for Advent, Easter, and family worship, along with Reformed-theology shirts and hoodies. Browse the shop if you’d like to support the work.