GOD'S RIVER

“Then he brought me back to the entrance of the temple and there was water flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the temple faced east. The water was coming down from under the south side [of the threshold] of the temple, south of the altar. Next he brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate that faced east; there the water was trickling from the south side. As the man went out east with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a third of a mile and led me through the water. It came up to [my] ankles. Then he measured off a third [of a mile] and led me through the water. It came up to [my] knees. He measured off another third [of a mile] and led me through [the water]. It came up to [my] waist. Again he measured off a third [of a mile], and it was a river that I could not cross [on foot]. For the water had risen; it was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be crossed [on foot].” (Ezekiel 47:1-5 HCSB)

Water is life. You can live for weeks without food, but only days without water. No wonder, then, that Scripture often uses water as an analogy for spiritual life. Specifically, it is one of the emblems of the Holy Spirit.

“On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, ‘If anyone is thirsty, he should come to Me and drink! The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.’

He said this about the Spirit. Those who believed in Jesus were going to receive the Spirit, for the Spirit had not yet been received because Jesus had not yet been glorified.” (John 7:37-39)

This promise has now become a reality. The river of God—His mighty Spirit—flows from within the believer. Using this metaphor, I want us to look at an illustration of an ever-deepening spiritual experience we may enjoy as the people of God.

We expect a literal fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecy. One day when Christ returns, He will reign for 1,000 years—Earth’s Golden Age—and from a rebuilt temple, there will flow a refreshing river. As God watered Eden in that old creation before sin came, the planet will be redeemed and He will make it bloom again, well-watered in the new creation! So, don’t forget this fact!

With that in mind, we will also see in this text the implications of what it means to have the River of God flowing from the depths of our soul, as our Lord said would happen in this present age. We will examine it under three headings: the source, the course and the force of God’s River.

The outline did not originate with me. I have heard three remarkable preachers use it in sermons: two now departed to glory—Alan Redpath and Stephen Olford, and the third, Jack Taylor. All these men have been a blessing, and as they shared this message, the truths touched me such that the outline is firmly fixed in my mind. I can’t read this text without recalling those lessons. I can’t improve on the outline, but I will give credit where credit is due. Except for the fact, that since all three of them used it, they may have also heard it somewhere before! Would it have been Graham Scroggie or G. Campbell Morgan? I don’t know. What I do know is that if the message impacts you as it has me, then we will give God the glory!

Let’s dive in! Consider first, THE SOURCE OF THE RIVER.

“Then he brought me back to the entrance of the temple and there was water flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the temple faced east. The water was coming down from under the south side [of the threshold] of the temple, south of the altar.” (Ezek.47:1)

There are two elements in this: the temple and the altar.

The Temple Ezekiel knew, in Jerusalem, was destroyed in the prophet’s lifetime. God promised him that one day Messiah’s reign on Earth would mean a reconstructed Temple. But, in the meantime, the New Testament declares that the Christian’s body houses the Holy Spirit—and is God’s Temple. From that Temple, Jesus promised this life-giving River.

That brings us to the matter of the altar. The water begins with a trickle and widens and deepens into a river—and notice the mention of the altar. The altar is the place of sacrifice. It is the place of commitment.

The well of water comes within when a sinner surrenders in repentance to the Lord Jesus Christ. That is where eternal life begins to flow. As we look at John 4, we see Christ offered this to a thirsty woman in Samaria, as they met at Jacob’s Well. Her life was changed in that momentous meeting. Jesus extended this promise to all who would follow Him in the obedience of faith.

Yet, our Lord fully intends for us not to stop with that initial surrender, but to live in a daily—moment by moment—yielding to His Lordship. The altar of sacrifice—my body given to His holy calling—is how my experience deepens, and the means by which I am filled with the Spirit. We see that what begins with a trickle becomes a torrent, what bubbles up, broadens and bursts out in bounty and blessing!

This brings us to the next point: THE COURSE OF THE RIVER.

“Next he brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate that faced east; there the water was trickling from the south side. As the man went out east with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a third of a mile and led me through the water. It came up to [my] ankles. Then he measured off a third [of a mile] and led me through the water. It came up to [my] knees. He measured off another third [of a mile] and led me through [the water]. It came up to [my] waist. Again he measured off a third [of a mile], and it was a river that I could not cross [on foot]. For the water had risen; it was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be crossed [on foot].” (Ezek.47:2-5)

An angel of God leads Ezekiel along. He obediently follows. The key phrases used are, “he brought me” and “he led me.” It is in this continuing walk of faith that we come to know the fullness of the Holy Spirit—as He who resides within us, comes to preside over us. You can’t be full of your self and be full of the Spirit. Walking in surrender to the will of God is the key to walking in the Spirit.

What does it mean when we are commanded in Ephesians 5:18 to reject being filled with alcoholic spirits, but be filled with God’s Spirit? It is not accidental that God chooses to connect these truths. On the Day of Pentecost, when the church was first immersed in the Holy Spirit and He came to indwell them fully, they were accused of being drunk. They weren’t—and they were! While Peter denies they are drunk with wine, he doesn’t deny they are under the Spirit’s control—intoxicated with God! As alcohol will control us—and affects everything about us when we surrender to it: our thinking, our vision, our hearing, our speech, our conduct, our temperament, our walk—so when we are instead filled with the Spirit, all that we are is transformed by Him who takes over the reins of a life yielded to the Lordship of Christ.

We begin, “ankle deep,” so to speak. At first, we surrender all we know to all Christ is, insofar as we understand. We are saved, but our experience is shallow. That’s fine to start there—we have to—but it isn’t proper to stay there! “He brought me out” and “led me through” emphasizes an on-going surrender that brings a deeper life. Sadly, many Christians stop here. They are content to splash ankle deep when God wants them to swim in the deep water!

See how the River of God next becomes “knee deep.” This is a big moment in our spiritual development—when God gets us to our knees. No Christian matures in faith until they get on their knees and cry out to God. The Spirit came in power at Pentecost to a people who prayed persistently. Time alone with God is indispensable, if we want a deeper experience of Him. You have not because you ask not.

“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?" (Luke 11:13)

Next, Ezekiel is taken to water that is, “waist deep.” It would flow over his “loins” as the old King James Version renders it. That is the place of fruitfulness. The River within us enables us to produce the Fruit of the Spirit. It is a matter of whether I choose to follow the flesh or surrender to the Spirit:

“I say then, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don't do what you want.

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I tell you about these things in advance—as I told you before—that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, we must also follow the Spirit.” (Gal.5:16-25)

A life dominated by the flesh and absent any spiritual fruit is a person who cannot claim to be regenerate. But, we must also acknowledge an on-going struggle between our flesh and our new nature even for those who are God’s children. The way to abandoning the old lifestyle is to abandon ourselves to the will of God—to be filled with the Spirit and thus fruitful in Him and for God’s glory. We will say more about that in the final point.

For now, we see this surrendered man becoming a swimming man! He finds that the River of God has become so wide and deep that he can plunge in and be swept away by the current! This is how God desires for us to live. Spiritual maturity is found in complete submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Have you taken the plunge?

What would keep a person from jumping in? Fear—we think we will be in over our heads! We will! But, faith trusts that wherever the current bears us, God has cut the channel for us. Faith leads us to get in over our heads that the Lord might take us on His course for us, and that brings us to our final consideration.

Ezekiel shows THE FORCE OF THE RIVER.

“He asked me, ‘Do you see [this], son of man?’ Then he led me back to the bank of the river. When I had returned, I saw a very large number of trees along both sides of the riverbank. He said to me, ‘This water flows out to the eastern region and goes down to the Arabah. When it enters the sea, the sea of foul water, the water [of the sea] becomes fresh. Every [kind of] living creature that swarms will live wherever the river flows, and there will be a huge number of fish because this water goes there. Since the water will become fresh, there will be life everywhere the river goes. Fishermen will stand beside it from En-gedi to En-eglaim. These will become places where nets are spread out to dry. Their fish will consist of many different kinds, like the fish of the Mediterranean Sea. Yet its swamps and marshes will not be healed; they will be left for salt.

All [kinds of] trees providing food will grow along both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. Each month they will bear fresh fruit because the water [comes] from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be used for food and their leaves for medicine.’" (Ezek.47:6-12)

There is a life-giving force which resides in those waters. It pushes into the Dead Sea and the Dead Sea comes to life! All along the banks of God’s River are trees laden with fruit—and the fruit sustains life and the leaves of the trees have healing power. The River is teeming with fish and where there are fish, you will find fishermen—their nets are filled.

Jesus promised that we would become fishermen—fishers of men! The one who provides the force to accomplish this task is the Holy Spirit. Just read the book of Acts. See what happened to those disciples when the Spirit came upon them. They caught an abundance of fish—men and women and children who came to faith in Christ, by the thousands. The Spirit bears witness to Jesus and He draws people in by the Gospel net.

There will be abundant fruitfulness when there is this flowing River. In this place of death, due to the curse of sin, we will bring a life-giving force to push back, and reverse the curse. Of course, the ultimate fulfillment awaits the literal return of Christ and this River. Eden will be restored. But, in the meantime, we can carve out a chunk of paradise from the world’s jungle—in our hearts, our homes, our churches—and extend the influence in our community, culture—indeed globally—through Spirit-energized lives!

Don’t let disobedience dam up the flow.

Don’t be content with a trickle.

Get to your knees.

Then get up and move on—take the plunge, get in over your head, abandoned to the will of God.

Your life will become a channel of blessing!

“Is your life a channel of blessing?
Is the love of God flowing through you?
Are you telling the lost of the Savior?
Are you ready His service to do?

Is your life a channel of blessing?
Are you burdened for those that are lost?
Have you urged upon those who are straying,
The Savior who died on the cross?

We cannot be channels of blessing
If our lives are not free from all sin;
We will barriers be and a hindrance
To those we are trying to win.
Make me a channel of blessing today,
Make me a channel of blessing, I pray;
My life possessing, my service blessing,
Make me a channel of blessing today.” (James George Deck)