Sisters and brothers, fathers and mothers,
Children come on down to river like no other.
Waters of healing, all truth it is revealing,
Our sin is in the open no longer concealing.
All of you who thirst, who’re tired of Satan’s curse,
Those weary from their heavy load that never felt no worse.
Down to the River, Jesus, Savior, Life Giver,
The River of Life so sweet, Lord Jesus Christ.
Come down to the waters all you sons and you daughters,
Don’t hesitate and don’t be late, do just like you ought to.
Waters so refreshing, oh what a Holy blessing,
When it soaks you to the bone, your sin you are confessing.
Every mouth that is so dry, every heavy-hearted sigh,
The River will cleanse you so God can draw you nigh.
Down to the River, Jesus, Savior, Life Giver,
The River of Life so sweet, Lord Jesus Christ.
The Waters will wash you clean of all your sin,
When they cover up your head, your soul is born again.
The Water it is crystal clear, Water of great Love,
This River flows from Heaven, Heaven High above.
If you have affliction, if your life’s a contradiction,
Perhaps you are a slave to a miserable addiction.
Jesus can save you from the devil who enslaves you,
He’ll free you from all chains that hold men like the grave do.
Every burden, every care this heavy load that you now bear,
Is washed away forever when we drown them in our prayer.
Down to the River, Jesus, Savior, Life Giver,
The River of Life so sweet, Lord Jesus Christ.
Tertius
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life,
as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Revelation 22:1
A note about “Come Down to the River”: A former inmate invited me to his baptism at a Methodist church. Unbeknown to me, Methodists don’t do the full dunk but do a sprinkle instead. I questioned the preacher saying, “I’m a Baptist and we put the person getting baptized all the way under, it represents the death of the old nature and when they come up it represents being born again, a new creation.” He answered and said, “I’m a Methodist and sprinkling is our method. Just kidding! But some Baptists by looking at the way they live seem as though they barely got wet where some Methodists would seem to have totally destroyed the old nature and walk, talk, live in a new way altogether. The River referred to flows from the city of God (Revelation 22:1-2) and has nothing, other than comparison, to do with earthly H20.