Saved by the Wellspring – Ezekiel’s Vision of Water from the Sanctuary

Saved by the Wellspring – Ezekiel’s Vision of Water from the Sanctuary.

“My heavenly guide brought me back to the entrance to the Temple, and I saw a stream of 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…” (Ezekiel 47:1-5).

SAVED: The Hebrew word for save is “Yasha,” which means to be set free into the wide open; to be delivered in a time of desperate need; to be saved from destruction and certain death. “Salvation” literally means to become spacious, and refers to “the sense of deliverance from an existence that had become confined, compressed, or cramped.” (Eugene Peterson). When Jesus delivers us from our inner spiritual confinement, we are liberated into a wide open, broad, expansive place. The word for “wide open space” is the opposite of a straitjacket. Without Jesus, our soul will never be freed from our spiritual straitjacket. There are three passages in Psalms that describe this freedom deliverance beautifully:

1. “From my distress, I called upon the Lord. He answered me and set me on a large place. After being in a tight spot, the Lord placed me into a broad space. Because I was hemmed in, I called on Lord Yahweh. He answered me and gave me room.” (Ps. 118:5);
2. “Lord, you have not given me over into the hands of the Enemy; You have liberated me and set my feet in a wide expanse, a good and spacious land. You have given me the freedom to roam at large, where I can freely move. You have given me room to breathe.” (Ps. 31:8);
3. “The Lord rescued me because He delighted in me. He brought me out to freedom into a wide-open space. My soul has been delivered because of God’s love for me, and my soul finally has some elbow room!” (Ps. 18:19).

THE WELL: There are four Hebrew words used in the Jewish Bible to describe the different kinds of ancient wells. There was the traditional well that was a deep hole dug in the ground to tap into an underground source of water. Another type of well was a fountain spring that had naturally broken through the earth’s surface on its own without man’s help. The wellspring is another version of well in Scripture in which fresh water flowed out of the ground in any number of ways to become available for cleansing, nourishment, refreshment, for survival itself. Life-giving wells of water have always been a powerful picture of our dependence upon God for spiritual survival. Just as Creator God has designed the human body to completely depend on water to live, our spiritual life totally relies on His presence in us to not just survive but to flourish. God is our spiritual well of fresh water, the only stable source of nourishment and purity. He is our fountain of life that gushes forth to replenish and cleanse us. God is our eternal wellspring of living water that will never run dry. Each of us is born spiritually dehydrated, and God alone is the constant, reliable water source to bring us back to life. As the silly joke goes, wells are a deep subject, and the biblical wells involve such stalwarts as Hagar and Abraham; Isaac and Moses; Samson and Solomon; the psalmists and the prophets. And of course, the glorious fulfillment of all these ancient stories of wells… Messiah Jesus and the woman at the well.

“My heavenly guide brought me back to the entrance to the Temple, and I saw a stream of 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).

The Prophet of the Holy Spirit. 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.” This vision of his especially speaks to the life-giving water of the Holy Spirit coming from the presence of the Lord God and His Son Jesus.

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).