Water Was Flowing Down
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Introduction
Introduction
[Illus] One one of those outdoor survival shows, wilderness expert Bear Grills taught me that a river means survival.
He said that if you find your self lost in the wilderness and want to find civilization, follow the flow of the river.
Almost certainly, people live somewhere along that river.
The river means life.
That same principle is at work in .
[Context] Recall where we’ve been in Ezekiel.
Ezekiel and many other of his people have been taken by the Babylonians into exile. God was disciplining his people because they had filled their hearts with the worship of idols.
God’s Spirit departed the Temple and it, Jerusalem, and all of Judah was toppled as a result.
Even so, God did not abandon his people.
He fought for them when other nations celebrated Judah’s fall.
He promised to change their hearts and put his Spirit within them.
He gave them this picture of pure worship in a new Temple in .
This new Temple was first described in detail, it’s holy-readiness plain for Ezekiel to see.
Offerings are described, the roles of the priests, Levites, prince, and people are explained.
But perhaps most significant is ...
Then he led me to the gate, the gate facing east. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east. And the sound of his coming was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with his glory. And the vision I saw was just like the vision that I had seen when he came to destroy the city, and just like the vision that I had seen by the Chebar canal. And I fell on my face. As the glory of the Lord entered the temple by the gate facing east, the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple.
God’s glory (i.e., God’s very presence, the perfect radiance of his being) came to reside in the Temple!
The gate by which God had left the Temple was sealed up, which was a way of saying that God’s Spirit would always dwell with his people.
Then we come to and we see this river, which begins as a trickle in Temple, strengthens to a great river, and transforms everything it touches.
[inter] How are we to understand this river?
flowing out of the south side of the outer east gate.
Fortunately, we are helped in our understanding by our Lord Jesus.
In , Jesus asked the Samaritan woman at the well for a drink of water.
She was surprised that Jesus, a Jewish rabbi, would dare speak to her so publically. She asked, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (v. 9)
Jesus responded with these words in ...
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
Then a moment later he followed up with ...
Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
That language is intentionally reminiscent of …
On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
So is the language of ...
On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”
And then John helps us understand what exactly these rivers of living water refers to in ...
Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
[cit] The river of life in , which began as a trickle flowing from the very presence of God, is the flow of the Holy Spirit in and through every believer in Jesus Christ.
[prop] The river means life in the Spirit, and life in the Spirit is only found through faith in Jesus Christ—and a greater experience of life in the Spirit requires keeping in step with the Spirit.
[ts] Tonight we want to see the source of the river, the increase of the river, and the effects of the river...
…i.e., we want to see the source of the Spirit, the increase of the Spirit, and the effects of the Spirit.
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
#1: The Source of the Spirit ().
#1: The Source of the Spirit ().
Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar. Then he brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate that faces toward the east; and behold, the water was trickling out on the south side.
[exp] The water that Ezekiel sees springing from below the platform of the temple comes toward the east before flowing south. Here, as it first comes up out of the ground, it is just a trickle.
Soon it will be an impassible river sustaining tress on both banks and transforming the Dead Sea into a place teeming with life.
In Genesis, the Garden of Eden was the center of life with a life-giving river flowing from it. We read in …
A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
The flow of the water described here in is similar to that of the Gihon Spring mentioned in Genesis 2:13, which was the primary source of water for Jerusalem.
It emerged east of the city and flowed south by way of two aqueducts to a rock-cut pool called the Pool of Siloam.
Just as the Gihon Spring flowed from the center of God’s old dwelling place with man, Eden, so the spring in flows from the center of God’s new dwelling place with man— this new Temple in — the Temple of God’s very presence.
[app] Of course you know that I believe this new Temple in is Jesus who is Emmanuel, God with us. He is the meeting place between God and man, and from him flows living water—i.e., from him flows the Holy Spirit of God.
All those who are reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ receive the Holy Spirit the moment they first believe. As says...
Sometimes people will ask, “Who sent the Holy Spirit? Was it God the Father or was it God the Son?”
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
And the answer is “YES!”
The living water, the Holy Spirit of God, lives within us because we’ve believed the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ.
It was both God the Father and God the Son who sent the Holy Spirit
We’ve believed that God exists;
that he is holy;
that we’ve sinned against him;
that the price for our sin is death;
that Jesus, his Son, paid that price for us on the cross;
that he raised him from the dead;
took him up in glory,
seated him at his right...
...from where he poured out the Holy Spirit on all those who believe!
The Spirit comes to us no other way.
This living water only comes from the source.
The Spirit only flows down to us from the place of God’s presence—and that place is faith in Jesus Christ crucified, resurrected, ascended, and sending.
[ts] #1: The Source of the Spirit.
#2: The Increase of the Spirit ().
#2: The Increase of the Spirit ().
Going on eastward with a measuring line in his hand, the man measured a thousand cubits, and then led me through the water, and it was ankle-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was knee-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was waist-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the water had risen. It was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be passed through. And he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he led me back to the bank of the river.
[exp] The man who has been guiding Ezekiel on this tour of the Temple in Ezekiel’s Temple vision now begins to measure the depth of the water flowing from the Temple, which began just as a trickle.
He measured a thousand cubits or a third of a mile and led Ezekiel through the water.
It was ankle-deep.
He measured the same distance and led Ezekiel through the water again.
It was knee-deep.
He did the same thing a third time and this time...
…Ezekiel couldn’t pass through it.
The water had risen deep enough to swim in.
Now it was overwhelming in its power.
Then Ezekiel’s tour guide asked him, “Son of man, have you seen this?”
Which is to says, “There’s more than meets the eye here. Do you understand what you are being shown?”
Do we?
[app] When we first trust Jesus as Lord and Savior and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, we might not notice very much change.
[app] When we first trust Jesus as Lord and Savior and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, we might not notice very much change.
The Spirit may be just a trickle in our hearts in that moment...
…but as we keep in step with the Spirit, soon we feel that trickle begin to increase—up to our ankles, knees, and soon over our heads!
The Spirit, that Living Water that Jesus gave to us when we trusted him, is having its way with us!
[illus] I have been white water rafting and I’ve also been on a lazy river.
White water rafting is a little scary depending on the class of rapid you’re encountering, but its way more fun than a lazy river.
A lazy river is that little stream you see at water parks filled with inner-tubes stuffed with people who just drift along with the easy flowing current.
Nothing dangerous happens.
But nothing much exciting happens either.
The kind of river that Ezekiel sees is more white water rapid than lazy river.
It may start as a trickle but as we keep in step with Spirit, we find its influence ever more powerful and soon we are swept away to the glory of God.
The Apostle Paul says it like this in ...
Galatians 5:16-
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
Ezekiel 47:6-12
If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
[ts] #2: The Increase of the Spirit
#3: The effects of the Spirit ().
#3: The effects of the Spirit ().
And he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he led me back to the bank of the river. As I went back, I saw on the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other. And he said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, and enters the sea; when the water flows into the sea, the water will become fresh. And wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes. Fishermen will stand beside the sea. From Engedi to Eneglaim it will be a place for the spreading of nets. Its fish will be of very many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea. But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt. And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.”
[exp] This river of living water creates life on both its banks; it creates life wherever it goes.
It flows toward the east and goes down toward the Arabah, which probably refers to the plains of Jericho, as the water is en route to the Dead Sea.
Amazingly when this river of living water flows into the Dead Sea, the Dead Sea will be brought to life—the water will become fresh—or it will be healed.
Every living creature that swarms will live in those once dead waters.
Very many fish will live there.
Fishermen will fish waters that once contained no fish, no seaweed, and no plants.
From Engedi to Eneglaim (i.e., from one coast to the other) fishermen will fish for very many different kinds of fish.
But the salt of the Dead Sea will not be completely removed—the swamps and salt marshes will not become fresh.
As a covenant symbol between God and his people, it will remain.
In the OT, ingesting salt was a way of signifying that an agreement was legally binding.
King Abijah mentions this in ...
Ought you not to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingship over Israel forever to David and his sons by a covenant of salt?
Likewise, says that salt was to be used in all grain offereings...
You shall season all your grain offerings with salt. You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt.
Salt was a reminder that God’s people were his covenant people, so some of it remains in Ezekiel’s vision.
On both banks of this river of life, all kinds of trees will grow for food.
They will never wither, never fail to produce, but will produce every month because “the water for them flows from the sanctuary,” (v. 12).
Their fruit will be for good, and their leave for healing.
[app] This is the effect of the Spirit on the people of God.
The Spirit gives life to dead souls like the water in Ezekiel’s vision gave life to the Dead Sea.
The Spirit not only gives life, but gives it more abundantly, just as we see the river of life in Ezekiel’s vision give life to every living creature that swarms—to very many kinds of fish like those in the Great Sea (i.e., the Mediterranean Sea)—and turns the Dead Sea into a commercial fishing hotbed from shore to shore.
The Spirit also reminds us that we are the people of God just as those swamps and salt marshes in Ezekiel’s vision were a reminder to Ezekiel and his people that they were the covenant people of God.
As says...
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
The Spirit produces fruit without fail in our lives.
says...
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
The Spirit produces fruit in us, and as people inquire about that fruit, they find healing for themselves.
[illus] I was reading in World Magazine about a missionary couple that had been married for 70 years if I remember correctly.
After only being married a short period of time, they went to serve the Lord in the jungles of Southeast Asia.
There they lived sharing the Gospel and translating the Bible into the native language of the native people around them.
They are now both around 90-years-old and of course retired, but they remember their time on the mission field fondly.
Specifically, they remember how their marriage was different from the marriages of the natives they lived among.
Men would come to the husband and ask, “Can you train my wife to be like your wife?”
Women would come to the wife and ask, “Why is your husband so different? He doesn’t treat you like property but like a brother!”
Those people noticed the fruit of those missionaries and that fruit served as the catalyst for their own healing through faith in Christ.
[ts] {see below}
Conclusion
Conclusion
Are you bearing fruit?
We’ve been thinking about that question a lot because of Jesus’ sermon in .
He says that there that a good tree cannot bear bad fruit, but that a good tree will produce good fruit.
In other words, if the root is bad, the fruit is bad.
What Ezekiel sees in v. 12 is very similar, “Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary.”
And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.”
If we are not bearing fruit, perhaps we aren’t connected to the source—perhaps we don’t have the Holy Spirit living within us.
Or perhaps we aren’t keeping in step with the Spirit as we should.
Ezekiel’s river of living water reminds us that we are the people of God, raised to life by the Spirit, filled with the Spirit, bearing the fruit of the Spirit, for the healing of the nations.
[cit/prop] The Spirit may begin as a trickle, but He flows from the very presence of God through every believer in Jesus Christ, getting stronger as we keep in step with Him.
[prop] The river means life in the Spirit, and life in the Spirit is only found through faith in Jesus Christ—and a greater experience of life in the Spirit requires keeping in step with the Spirit.
ESV Study Bible
The ESV Study Bible Chapter 47
47:1 Refreshing water from the presence of God (see Ps. 46:4) prefigures the living water that Christ offers through the Spirit (John 4:10, 13–14; 6:35; 7:37–39; Rev. 22:1–2).
The ESV Study Bible Chapter 47
47:8 The Arabah generally refers to the Jordan (Rift) Valley, usually the part south of the Dead Sea, but here it probably refers in a more limited sense to the plains of Jericho (cf. 2 Kings 25:4–5), as the waters are en route to the sea, i.e., the Dead Sea.
The ESV Study Bible Chapter 47
47:10 Engedi and Eneglaim are both on the shores of the Dead Sea. Engedi is known (about the midpoint of the west side), but the location of Eneglaim remains uncertain.
The ESV Study Bible Chapter 47
47:11 The saltiness of the Dead Sea inhibits life, but provides salt. This essential element is preserved in spite of the overall revivification of the region.
The ESV Study Bible Chapter 47
47:12 The trees prefigure the tree of life as a symbol of abundant blessing from God (Rev. 22:2).
Jewish Study Bible
Once the temple is reestablished, water streams up from below the platform of the Temple eastward to water the land of Israel.
This indicates the role of the Temple as the center of creation (the garden of Eden, ; ).
A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.
The water flows into the Jordan Valley and eventually into the Arabah (the Jordan rift where the Dead Sea is located) to transform the waters of the Dead Sea into fresh water that supports fish and fruit tress (see ).
A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers.
The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush.
King David said, “Call to me Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada.” So they came before the king. And the king said to them, “Take with you the servants of your lord and have Solomon my son ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon. And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet there anoint him king over Israel. Then blow the trumpet and say, ‘Long live King Solomon!’ You shall then come up after him, and he shall come and sit on my throne, for he shall be king in my place. And I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah.” And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, “Amen! May the Lord, the God of my lord the king, say so. As the Lord has been with my lord the king, even so may he be with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David.” So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon ride on King David’s mule and brought him to Gihon. There Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, “Long live King Solomon!” And all the people went up after him, playing on pipes, and rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth was split by their noise.
Isaiah
And the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field.
A great many people were gathered, and they stopped all the springs and the brook that flowed through the land, saying, “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find much water?”
The water flows into the Jordan Valley and eventually into the Arabah (the Jordan rift where the Dead Sea is located) to transform the waters of the Dead Sea into fresh water that supports fish and fruit tress (see ).
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.