October 18, 2024 | Be God's Light
The River from the Temple
Scripture: Ezekiel 47:1-12(NIV)
1 The man brought me back to the entrance to the temple, and I saw water coming out 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 temple, south of the altar. 2 He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was trickling from the south side.
3 As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. 4 He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. 5 He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross. 6 He asked me, “Son of man, do you see this?”
Then he led me back to the bank of the river. 7 When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. 8 He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh. 9 Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. 10 Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds—like the fish of the Mediterranean Sea. 11 But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. 12 Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.”
Devotional
A Shepherd who cares for His exiled people. God is always with us.
A valley of skeletons with new flesh on their bones and new breath in their lungs. The remnant would live.
Two old sticks which grow together and form one new stick. The nation would be established once again.
A rebuilt temple in the Holy City that is filled with the glory of the Lord.
What could top all this? In today’s reading, Ezekiel gives a beautiful picture of the river of life flowing out of the rebuilt temple in rebuilt Jerusalem. Keep in mind that the land to the east of the city toward the Dead Sea is nothing but desert. The Dead Sea itself is a lifeless body of water, filled with six times more salt than the ocean. The Dead Sea scrolls were preserved for two thousand years because of the hot, dry desert climate of the region.
Ezekiel sees that there is so much vibrant life coming forth from Jerusalem’s rebuilt temple that the desert produces fruit trees and the Dead Sea is the home for schools of fish. Wildlife is everywhere in a once desolate landscape. The glory of the Lord is so abundant that life is everywhere!
Once when Jesus was talking to a Samaritan woman, he told her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water” (John 4:10). Jesus is the source of living water!
But that’s not all. He also said that His followers produce that same kind of life-giving water. In John 7:38 Jesus said, “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” How is this possible?
The answer is given in John 7:39, “By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.” The Holy Spirit, dwelling in us, gives us life-giving potential for others!
How has Jesus poured his living water into your life? How are you pouring it into others?
Poem
The Reign
The blazing Son
The somber heat
Left branches bent
Left leaves curled, brittle
Left fruit dried up
All worthless
Though dead stalks pruned
Though weak limbs shored
The heart was bent
The will exhausted, spent
The gifts unused
All barren
Then came the Reign
Then Living Water
Streaming droplets
Streaming pour, down walls
Streaming river swelling
All renewing
Now blazing Son
Now warming heart
Brought branches girth
Brought green life, vibrant
Brought fruit to swell
All fervent
