Then he brought me back to the entrance of the temple; there, water was flowing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east); and 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 the water was coming out on the south side.

Going on eastward with a cord in his hand, the man measured one thousand cubits, and then led me through the water; and it was ankle-deep.  Again he measured one thousand, and led me through the water; and it was knee-deep. Again he measured one thousand, and led me through the water; and it was up to the waist.  Again he measured one thousand, and it was a river that I could not cross, for the water had risen; it was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be crossed.  He said to me, “Mortal, have you seen this?”

Then he led me back along the bank of the river.  As I came back, I saw on the bank of the river a great many trees on the one side and on the other.  He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah; and when it enters the sea, the sea of stagnant waters, the water will become fresh.  Wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish, once these waters reach there. It will become fresh; and everything will live where the river goes.  People will stand fishing beside the sea from En-gedi to En-eglaim; it will be a place for the spreading of nets; its fish will be of a great 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.  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.”  Ezekiel 47:1-12

600 years before Christ, God revealed heaven to Ezekiel, and he describes this amazing scene that sends chills up my spine because it paints a beautiful image of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I am also struck by the fact of it.  Here we are, 2,000 years into the post-Easter era, and God is still using Ezekiel to reach us.  2,600 years after he experienced the vision, God continues to reveal His glory through it.  As we move forward each day serving God, we have no idea how He might use us or how our presence might ripple through lives we touch.  

The vision’s content is remarkable, and it involves the Dead Sea.  Lori and I were near the northern edge of the Dead Sea where the Jordan River feeds it.  Fresh water enters, delivering tiny amounts of salt and minerals picked up along its trek across soil.  Because the sea is the lowest place on earth, water does not flow out of the sea – its exit corridor is evaporation, which removes water while leaving minerals and salt behind.  Even though fresh water continuously enters the sea, it grows saltier and saltier.  

As we walk to the shore, signs remind us we are at the lowest spot on earth.  The landscape is barren and lifeless, and the salty shoreline leads to uniquely slimy, mineral laden mud.  Walking on the slimy mud is not at all safe.  Lori and I hold onto one another in an effort to stay upright until reaching a depth where we may safely float.  Lori steps on something hard and pointy.  She reaches down and retrieves a palm-sized clump of salt crystals.  The water is so salty the salt stopped dissolving.  Clumps of salt crystals float in the supersaturated water like salty icebergs; it supports no life except possibly some forms of rare bacteria; and even continuous inflow of fresh water only makes the sea saltier.

Ezekiel describes a vision of a river with physical impossibilities.  The tributary begins at the temple in Jerusalem as a small stream fed by a single source.  In the physical realm, the stream’s flow would be determined by the flow emitted by the single source; yet, the stream in Ezekiel’s vision is small at the source and grows rapidly as it proceeds along its route.  A quarter mile away the river is ankle-deep.  Another quarter mile away the river is waist deep.  After another quarter mile the river is too deep to cross, growing in a physically impossible way.

It flows east to the Dead Sea and where the two blend, the Dead Sea becomes fresh, teaming with life.  In the physical realm, fresh water mixing with saltwater yields saltwater, diluted saltwater, but saltwater nonetheless.  But not this river.  Ezekiel’s heavenly guide says,

“This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah; and when it enters the sea, the sea of stagnant waters, the water will become fresh.  Wherever the river goes,  every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish, once these waters reach there. It will become fresh; and everything will live where the river goes.”  Ezekiel 47:8-9

The river carries water of life.  It delivers life wherever it goes.  The imagery brings chills to my spine.  Christ Jesus offers water of life freely to everyone.  The living water He offers transforms death to life.  His living water flows freely out into the spiritually dead world offering His life in abundance.  Jesus met a woman near a well.  He told her He is the Messiah; He offered her living water; and He said,

“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…. Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” John 4:10 & 13-14

Living water, the water of life, gushes up within people who drink it.  It grows, becomes deeper, wider and more powerful as its stream flows, and it transforms death to life.  We are separated from God and in that state of separation, spiritually dead, until we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.  He offers spiritual life, abundant life, eternal life.  Jesus offers His love, light and life to everyone, but we must receive His holy gift of grace, we must believe, we must have faith, we must ask for living water.

As John visited heaven from a cave on Patmos, he wrote the following:

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?”   I said to him, “Sir, you are the one that knows.” Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.  For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them. They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”  Revelation 7:13-17

The Good Shepherd, Christ Jesus, guides people to springs of living water, and God the Father shelters them and wipes away their tears.  This tells us a great deal about Christ Jesus and God the Father.  He is love.  He loves us.  He is the source of peace, comfort, wholeness.  He offers us His holy grace.  He desires the best possible life for us.

How will your presence ripple through the lives you touch?  May you continuously seek Him and His living water, consume Him and allow Him to abide in you, and recognizing this is truly a matter of life and death, may you tell others about the source of life.  Amen.