Living Water Flows (Ez. 47; Rev. 22)

The Living Water is not meant to be contained in the sanctuary. It is running water that should seep out, then increase its flow until it saturates everything around it. As I read Ezekiel 47 again, the picture God offers Ezekiel in the vision of water flowing from the temple beckons deeper thought about my worship and its effect on those around me. 

As Ezekiel’s spirit-tour of the temple nears its completion, he is brought to the door of the temple and sees water issuing out from under its threshold. It is made clear to him that the water is not only spreading in every direction but that it is also rising. The measuring by the man with Ezekiel is eastward, the direction of the gate that was to remain shut and not be used for foot traffic because the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered by it (Ez. 44:1-2, ESV). God’s glory radiated from the temple when Ezekiel was taken around to view it by entering the north gate to the front of the temple, and he rightly falls on his face before the glory of the LORD (v. 4).

Just as the gospel spread from Jerusalem to the uttermost parts of the world, so this water, life-giving water, flows and rises, giving life to the areas around the temple. The water becomes a river, deep enough to swim in, and the river flows to the sea, causing life to flourish in it (the fish) and around it (specifically here fruit from trees whose leaves won’t wither and that produce fruit year-round is mentioned). The sentence that caught me is this: “Everything will live where the river goes” (v. 9b). In this vision of the temple complex Ezekiel sees, there is also a vision of a future spent with Christ, a time when all will be as intended, where leaves don’t wither and work is not a chore, where life is abundant and time spent in the presence of God’s glory is a reality. The old points to the new, as is seen in John’s vision in Revelation 22:1-7, which speaks in more detail of this hope we hold inside us of an eternity with the One who has ransomed us from death to life: 

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place. And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”

EVERYTHING will live where the river goes, and it is unceasing. Fruit trees are seasonal where I live. They produce one crop for just a limited time each year, but we as Christians have been given fruit that is not seasonal. It should yield constantly, just as the trees in these visions do, year-round without ceasing. The nations are hungry for the food we have already been given, and we have been given it abundantly that we might share. The Spirit of God dwells in the souls of men who have been saved by Jesus’ acceptable sacrifice. When “we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn. 1:9). Matthew Henry says this: “The grace of God makes dead sinners alive and living saints lively; everything is made fruitful and flourishing by it.” 

Not some things, EVERYTHING. 

I am not to be hindered by past sins. I am never partially cleansed when I confess my sins because HE is faithful and just even though I fall woefully short of the mark. I have been cleansed not by a puddle at my feet or water at my ankles or water that is knee-deep. I am washed by the blood of Christ, cleansed from all my sin. He is able to do what I cannot do, and because of His power, I can go and share and love and minister and grow. Even though I am a sinful human, I have access to the living water that restores my soul and makes me usable. 

When I enter in to life eternal, I worship. When I enter the sanctuary, I worship collectively with other believers. When I leave the sanctuary, I take that life with me and spread living water everywhere I go. I don’t leave the glory of God locked inside a building only used a few times every week to be seen from a distance. Jesus is alive; He is with me. The living water is meant to flow out of me.

So my question to myself this week is this: is it? Is it flowing unhindered? What can I do to share more of the living water with those around me, with my community? As much as I love to sit and soak up the water, that is not my sole purpose. I must take it in (reading, studying, learning, growing, evaluating my life), but it must also flow out. It’s a bit sobering to think on because I know how water escapes a vessel—the holes and leaks that are inside it allow water to escape by trickles or by seeping, but it is the shattering of the vessel that causes the water to rush from it. 

Psalm 51:17 reminds me of this: "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise."LORD, help me be always willing to use the life you’ve given me to share the love that has changed it and made it new.

Matthew Henry: "Grace in the soul is still pressing forward."