In his dystopian novel titled “1984,” George Orwell wrote: “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” Within just the last few days, I’ve seen lots of people using this quote as descriptive of what they’re observing of 2024 instead. Regardless of political persuasion, I think that we can all agree that the truth – particularly in the public square – is getting harder and harder to find. We find this unsettling, but I’m writing today to cheer you up, and to cheer you on.
In what’s perhaps the lowest point in his nation’s history, as it’s recorded for us in Ezekiel 47, the Lord gives the prophet an incredible vision. From the temple itself – constructed entirely on dry ground – a river is flowing! The vision is good news during a season of bad news. You may remember that there were a lot of sins, and a lot of unwise and tragic mistakes, that had landed God’s people in the mess they were in. They had rebelled against the God who claimed them as His own. God had given them the patriarchs. God had delivered them from the chains of slavery, by way of a great miracle that still served as the centerpiece of their shared history and identity. God had provided for them wondrously throughout their desert wanderings. God had established them as a nation. God had given them judges and kings. And God had never been less than absolutely faithful to them at every point along the way.
Now they’re divided and powerless and overtaken by their enemies. Their worship is corrupted. Their capital city has been invaded. Their temple is destroyed. They’re exiled and lost, in nearly every way that people can be lost. So God’s people are wrestling with reality. “How could we have landed here?” “How could God allow all of this to happen?” “Will we ever again know the favor of the Lord?” And, at this point in history, their problems have lingered for years.
Into all of that spiritual, social, moral, and political chaos, God speaks a fresh vision of hope! “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 …” (Ezekiel 47:1). What happens in the vision is nothing short of staggering. As Ezekiel moves “south of the altar” and “around on the outside to the outer gate,” the water continues to flow. At first, it’s just a trickle, but the farther away that Ezekiel moves, the more water he encounters. The Bible’s description moves from “ankle-deep” to “knee-deep” to “waist deep.” It’s fascinating. Finally, the river is so deep that Ezekiel can swim in it! Stunned Ezekiel is asked, “Have you seen this?”
My question is, “Have we seen this?” Every detail in the vision points to what only God can do: in us, for us, among us, and through us. And, I might add, in spite of us. What’s described is a river of living water. It starts in the temple. It starts in the place where God is worshipped. It starts in His people’s sacred space. It starts unnoticeably small. But small is only the beginning.
In the good Providence of our God, a tiny trickle of water … a mere teardrop from a place of humble prayer and sacrifice … grows into a stream … and then a river. And, where the river enters the sea – where the waters are stagnant and lifeless – the river makes the waters fresh! Such is the incomparable power of this living water. “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 that everything will live where the river goes. Fishermen will stand beside the sea … 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” (Ezekiel 47:8-12).
“Everything will live where the river goes.”
I don’t know about you, but I find this vision exceptionally promising. Even amidst all the trouble in which the U.S.A. finds itself, the Church has bona fide reason to set our hopes on the Giver of Life! Think about it. God wants us to see and to acknowledge that only He can bring life to a desert. In a culture and community with skeptics on every corner, where many of our neighbors mock our God, that’s where the Lord – through us – does His best work. We must trust Him. We must lean on Him. We must look to Him for the life of the Spirit. We celebrate an autumn harvest of crops, but what’s described here is a soul-harvest in every season. Nonstop! Jesus says to us, “Lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest” (John 4:35).
God gives Ezekiel – and ultimately us – a vision of a river so powerful that it can transform the landlocked Dead Sea. By way of reminder, the Dead Sea is aptly named. It’s dead. The Jordan flows into it, and nothing flows out of it. But our faithful God looks at a place like that and says, “Perfect! That’s where I’ll make a river of living water. That’s where I’ll bring life.” Surely, friends, we – individually or collectively – are not up against anything that our God can’t handle.
“Everything will live where the river goes.”
This vision represents a major turning point in the metanarrative of human history and in the grand story of our salvation in Christ. Among other important things, it’s a vision of the good news of the gospel. By Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, God brings us from death to life! The prophet has lived through a quarter of a century of his nation’s failure, a failure which broke his heart. But God gives Ezekiel a vision of a coming grace so amazing that it will overcome every obstacle in its path.
Why do I make that claim? Because of the New Testament. At least three times in his Gospel, the apostle John points us back to Ezekiel 47. With the beloved woman at the well, we discover – in the words of our Lord Jesus – God’s unmistakable promise of living water: “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” (John 4:14). Later, as the Cross was approaching – during the Feast of Tabernacles – 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 …” (John 7:37-39). And, in the famous Passion account, when the soldiers pierced Christ’s side, we’re reminded that blood and water flowed (John 19:34).
“Everything will live where the river goes.”
In nearly every direction that we look today, we see evidence of what our Lord described as the “sinking sand” of spiritual lostness (Matthew 7:26-27). This may not be our lowest point, culturally or spiritually, but I think you agree that revival and renewal are desperately needed among God’s people. The challenges before us are significant, and perhaps overwhelming.
But we must not lose heart. Instead, it’s time to get to work! You and I must re-dig the wells of timeless truth so that spiritual refreshment can flow (see also Jeremiah 2:11-13). You and I must unstop the vital springs of faith that have been clogged by our neglect and worldliness. You and I must come to a new place of prayer and sacrifice. When is the last time that we sat in God’s presence long enough to know what He’s calling us to do in this fallen world?
May God visit us with a fresh and exhilarating vision of what it means to be a Christlike Church. May God help us – even in age of relativism – to put on the true character of Christ (Romans 13:14). May God grant us the grace to die to ourselves, that we may rediscover the joy of repentance and obedience. And may God take us deeper in faith than we’ve ever gone before.
“Everything will live where the river goes.”
Because of Jesus, we have a better word than Orwell’s. Much better, in fact. You and I have big responsibilities right now. The revival and renewal that the world needs start with us. And, wherever we go with the love and gospel of Christ, the river of grace just gets wider and wider. “The water for them flows from the sanctuary.”
If all you can do today is put your toe in the water, do it. The Spirit can take it from there. In the wake of the summer Olympics, I’m ready to swim. What say you?
Pastor Charles
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