Fresh Water in the Vision of Ezekiel

Fresh Water in the Vision of Ezekiel.

“My heavenly guide brought me back to the entrance to the Temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the Temple. The water was coming out in a trickle. As the guide went eastward with a measuring line in  his hand, he measured off about 1,500 feet and led me through the water that was now ankle-deep. He measured off another 1,500 feet and led me through the water that had become knee-deep. He measured off another 1,500 feet through the water that was now up to my waist. He measured off the same amount once again, but the flow of water had become a gushing river that I could not cross. The water had risen and was deep enough to swim in… My guide then led me back to the bank of the river. When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. The man then said to me, ‘This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Jordan Valley, where it enters the Dead Sea Valley. When it empties into the Dead Sea, the water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be a large number of fish, because this water makes the salt water fresh. Where the river flows, everything will live… Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.” (Ezekiel 47:1-12).

While Isaiah is the prophet of God the Son, and Jeremiah is the prophet of God the Father, Ezekiel is known as the prophet of the Holy Spirit. He repeatedly reports that “the Spirit entered me,” or “the Spirit lifted me up,” or “the Spirit of the Lord fell on me.” Ezekiel makes it very clear that the Holy Spirit is the driving force throughout his book. The Spirit is in charge. The book of Ezekiel could just as easily be called “the gospel according to the Holy Spirit.”

CONTEXT. Ezekiel was called to be in exile with all the other Israelites in Babylon. They all felt abandoned, defeated, and hopeless. They were in enemy territory 600 miles from their homeland, and everything they once had was now gone…. the comforts of home, their close-knit families, their livelihoods, and most of all, the presence of God. The Israelites were cut off from their Temple, and they felt spiritually dead with no hope of recovery. They were beyond discouraged, for they had nothing left that felt life-giving. They too were subdued with guilt, knowing that their Temple was desecrated by the Israelites before even the destruction of Jerusalem. God had abandoned their Temple even before they were exiled. As Ezekiel reported in chapters 10 and 11, the glory of the Lord left the Temple because of their desecration. Added to their sense of hopelessness and their shame, they had to endure for over 100 years the devastating fracture within the house of Israel. There was the nation of Israel in the north, and the nation of Judah in the south, a broken nation of God’s chosen people. And there was no hope of reunion any time soon.

Ezekiel’s calling was very similar to that of Isaiah and Jeremiah. God handpicked him to demonstrate His Word and preach His message. Ezekiel’s success was based on how faithful he was to God’s call, regardless of whether the people responded or not. These three major prophets did their work and found little openness in the hearts and minds of the people. There were times when the exiles were unkind to Ezekiel, bordering on abusive. But Ezekiel stayed true and faithful throughout his ministry. God told Ezekiel during His call to him to be unafraid, to be fearless when the people ridiculed or rejected him. God repeated that command three times…. don’t be afraid; do not fear. do not be dismayed. It appears that directive from God was received, because Ezekiel was indeed a fearless prophet unafraid to make a fool of himself, in the face of consistent opposition.

“Then He said to me, ‘Son of man, eat what you find: eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.’ So I opened my mouth, and He fed me this scroll. And He said to me, ‘Son of man, feed your stomach, and fill your body with this scroll which I am giving you.’ Then I ate it, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth. Then He said to me, ‘Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them.” (ch. 3:1-4).

In telling Ezekiel to eat the scroll, the Lord is saying that before Ezekiel can speak God’s word to the people, he must first take those words into himself. God’s word needs to be consumed before Ezekiel can become His mouthpiece. It’s the prophetic cycle… First, the message goes into his mouth, and only then the message goes out of his mouth. Full digestion is the goal in our spiritual diet. The Lord literally told Ezekiel to “fill your inner parts.” God’s word is chewed, swallowed, digested, and then assimilated into his mind, heart, spirit, his inner gut. God’s word is spiritual food, making the one who eats it grow and increase in strength and vitality. Without God’s word, the believer would not enjoy the abundance of spiritual nutrition it provides. And how does this word taste? It is sweet, just as Jeremiah experienced it (Jer. 15:16), and just as the psalmist observed: “How sweet are your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Ps. 119:103). And it seems the Word only gets sweeter as one continues to eat it.

Ezekiel was called to be a Hebrew prophet, a priest and a street preacher in Babylon during the captivity of the Israelites. God appointed him at the tender age of 30 years old, and he continued in this role for 22 years. Time and again, God asked Ezekiel to demonstrate the Word of the Lord. God seemed to have a larger list of expectations for Ezekiel than most other prophets, and so Ezekiel had the widest spectrum of methods as he spoke and demonstrated what God had on His mind. You name a method and he did it: visual aid, demonstration, show and tell, poems, proverbs, parables, direct prophecies, and visions that were other-worldly and difficult to comprehend. Ezekiel tended to preach about Israel’s judgment as well as its salvation. He experienced many otherworldly visions, both apocalyptic and heavenly. He had a rich and lively imagination that was put to good use by the Lord. God showed a sense of humor when He told Ezekiel that He is going to make him just as stubborn as the Israelites in exile. “I have made you as obstinate as they are. I have made your forehead as hard as granite. So don’t be afraid of them.” (3:8). The Lord asked him to engage in street theater that was sometimes a bit comical… At times during his preaching the Lord would ask him to clap his hands, stamp his feet and cry ‘Alas!’ (6:11). Or the Lord would ask him to cry and wail and slap his thighs to get attention. (21:12).

The River from the Temple. One of Ezekiel’s most fascinating visions occurred when his heavenly guide led him to the restored Temple, when the Holy Spirit will flood His people with blessings of flourishing life and spiritual vitality. The flowing spring from the sanctuary will cause the Dead Sea to go from death to life, from poisonous to healthy, from stagnant to glorious. The presence of Yahweh turns the putrid water to fresh water, bitter water to sweet, the very picture of redemption. The River of Life expands as it flows in this vision, the power of God at work in the world. The fulfillment of Ezekiel’s vision is found in Revelation 22:1-2… “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, down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the River stood the Tree of Life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding their fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.”

The Dead Sea. One would have to look far and wide to discover anything more desolate on earth than the Dead Sea Valley. It lies in the lowest place on the continent, and has been a repository for salt and other minerals since ancient times. The water of the Dead Sea is putrid, stagnant, and is not able to support any plant or animal life. The Dead Sea is literally lifeless. The reason is simple… Water flows in from the Jordan River, but water never flows out. It takes in fresh water, but there is no outflow. Fittingly, at the bottom of the Dead Sea lie the ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah,  a morally dead culture long ago judged and destroyed by the Lord Himself.

Swim! In his vision, it appears that Ezekiel had no choice but to happily dive into the flowing river and go swimming! Renowned Bible teacher, Bev Iber, winsomely expands on this… “Swimming is not like wading; it is the most strenuous form of motion. It involves every part of us. And it is only in fresh water that one can swim. One can only float in salt water. We “anawim” (those who are poor in spirit) must learn to be led like Ezekiel until we can swim in the flowing river of God’s love, knowing His current will carry us through the valleys and the deserts, until His river runs right through us. This is the domain of the Holy Spirit. All persons are invited to drink from the living water of our Lord Jesus Christ until the Day when we can swim in the eternal river of the water of life.”

Let it Flow! As Rev. Richard Bieber mentions in one of his sermons (2008), we can become one or the other… the Dead Sea or the Jordan River, a source of death or a source of life. When we keep drinking in the living water of God but don’t provide any outflow, we become lifeless, stagnant, a sea of death. If we keep feeding on the Bread of Life but don’t bother to share that bread with others; when we keep receiving God’s mercy but don’t bother to forgive others; when we take in the Word of God but don’t flesh it out; when we receive God’s blessing and ignore the need to praise Him and bless His Name; when we walk out the church doors and leave behind any sign of God’s life in us… We inevitably become the Dead Sea. If the life of God flows into us but does not find an outlet, we will become lifeless. But when we give out what the Lord puts into us, we will be a gushing stream of life and vitality and healing, and His life will be constantly flowing out of us into the world. So let it flow!

Flowing from the Temple of Jesus. Jesus called Himself the Temple (John 2:19), and He is the Ultimate Temple through whom flows the River of Life, the Holy Spirit. The River of Life very well did flow from Him to ankle-deep and then waist-high levels during His ministry on earth. But after His Ascension, the River of the Spirit flowed to unimagined heights, and the followers of Jesus learned how to swim, just like Ezekiel. Those who drank of the eternal springs of Christ took His life in, and then they gave it out. The life of God in them found an outlet, the Church became the Jordan River bringing life and health, and the world hasn’t been the same since.

“There is a river whose waters make glad the City of God.” (Psalm 46:4).