(REFLECTIONS ON EZEKIEL 47:1-12)

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.

In today’s Scripture, we see an image of a trickle of water flowing from the temple, and getting deeper as it flows eastward. At first just a trickle from the south side, but eventually being ankle-deep, knee deep, up to the waist, until it became a river.

That this trickle of water turned into a river is very interesting. We normally would image a large body of water flowing outward and eventually trickling out, rather than the current going from a trickle into a larger body of water.

There is a force at work here, a force against nature, a supernatural spring going against the ways of the world. Eventually the water enters the Sea (Dead Sea) and Scripture tell us, “when it empties into the Sea, the water there becomes fresh.” The water will provide refreshment and life, “so where the river flows everything will live.”

The temple, filled with the glory of God, is the place where the water flows out from. God is the source of the water. The water flows out from God into His creation and brings healing and life for His creation. This river of life and times of refreshing are still here with us today, but where does this water flow from if not the physical temple? In 1 Peter 2, we are told that we are being built into a spiritual house,

5 you also, like living stones, are being built into the spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Paul in 1 Corinthians 3 writes,

16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?

The Holy Spirit lives in us, and we are the living stones, being built into the spiritual house, God’s temple. Just as we see in today’s Scripture, flowing from the temple, from a trickle to a river of life, is God’s Spirit. This river of life is available today to give His creation times of refreshing.

The source of the water is God, and the force that propels this trickle outward into the world to become a river of life is the Holy Spirit at work in us. We are not the source of the water, but as believers in Christ, we are a vessel, the temple that the Lord works through to provide times of refreshing to His creation.

May we remember this morning that through Christ, as we live in relationship with God, that there are times of refreshing for us. There is healing in the waters, turning our mourning to dancing, turning our sorrows to joy. May we experience times of refreshing in the Lord, and may the water flow from us through the work of Holy Spirit to provide healing and times of refreshing for the broken people and broken world around us.

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: Ezekiel 47