Sermon Notes

1-2 Now He brought me back to the entrance to the Temple. I saw water pouring out from under the Temple porch to the east (the Temple faced east). The water poured from the south side of the Temple, south of the altar. He then took me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the gate complex on the east. The water was gushing from under the south front of the Temple. 3-5 He walked to the east with a measuring tape and measured off fifteen hundred feet, leading me through water that was ankle-deep. He measured off another fifteen hundred feet, leading me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another fifteen hundred feet, leading me through water waist deep. He measured off another fifteen hundred feet. By now it was a river over my head, water to swim in, water no one could possibly walk through. 6-7 He said, “Son of man, have you had a good look?” Then He took me back to the riverbank. While sitting on the bank, I noticed a lot of trees on both sides of the river. 8-10 He told me, “This water flows east, descends to the Arabah and then into the sea, the sea of stagnant waters. When it empties into those waters, the sea will become fresh. Wherever the river flows, life will flourish—great schools of fish—because the river is turning the salt sea into fresh water. Where the river flows, life abounds. Fishermen will stand shoulder to shoulder along the shore from En-Gedi all the way north to En-Eglaim, casting their nets. The sea will teem with fish of all kinds, like the fish of the Great Mediterranean. 11 The swamps and marshes won’t become fresh. They’ll stay salty. 12 But the river itself, on both banks, will grow fruit trees of all kinds. Their leaves won’t wither, the fruit won’t fail. Every month they’ll bear fresh fruit because the river from the Sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.”

The passage reveals to us those aspects of Ezekiel’s final vision that have to do with the promise of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

In Ezekiel 43, we are given a detailed description of the spiritual temple (not a literal temple) that will reside in the rebuilt Jerusa-lem, after the time of judgment has passed. Great detail is given to the dimensions of both the temple structure and the altar, from which the sacrifices for the people will be made. The temple is for the correct and authentic worship of God. The altar is for the atonement of our sin and the restoration of fellowship between God and us.

In a real sense, these descriptions convey two Personalities of the Triune God. The temple is representative of the worship of the Divine Parent; the altar is representative of the work of the Son.

In Ezekiel 47, we see a picture of the third Personality of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is pictured as a life-making, life-giving, life-sustaining river. It is intended to remind us that God does not simply want to reign over us, but desires to be

our constant Companion in life.

Though the printed lesson omits certain verses from this pericope, we include them all for the purposes of context and detail.

1 Now He brought me back to the entrance to the Temple. I saw water pouring out from under the Temple porch to the east (the Temple faced east). The water poured from the south side of the Temple, south of the altar.

In this portion of Ezekiel’s vision, a picture is painted of a river that flows from under the threshold of the temple. Specifically, it flowed from under the altar, the place of sacrifice. As a matter of fact, there is no river in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is situated on a series of hills. A seasonal brook may have flowed along the Kidron Valley, but there was nothing resembling a river anywhere near Jerusalem.
Along the seashore, trees grow and produce fruit. And these are extraordinary fruit trees, in that they produce fruit on a monthly basis. More than that, the leaves of these trees are beneficial for healing.

*The power of the Holy Spirit not only produces life, but sus-tains it and causes it to consistently reoccur. When there is sickness—the presence of sin—the potency of the fresh river water is such that it will produce leaves that are good for healing—forgiveness and reconciliation. It’s a powerful reminder that, once we are in the family of God, He not only draws us, but He keeps us.

11 The swamps and marshes won’t become fresh. They’ll stay salty.

We cannot overlook the power of this truth. God affirms for Ezekiel that there will be some who will not enjoy the refreshment and life that accompanies the flow of the river, the flow of the Holy Spirit. By their own choice, some will remain in swampy areas, those areas that will become waste places, those areas that will remain lifeless.

*Only those who bar themselves against the gracious stream of God’s divine love and are, therefore, unwilling to regain health, forfeit themselves to spiritual death.

Geographers describe rivers as, “a flow of water that has a source, a course and a force.” “Source” refers to where the river has its start. “Course” speaks to where the river flows. “Force” speaks to what effect the river will have.

With regard to “Source,” Ezekiel says that it came from underneath the altar in the temple. Historically, of course, such a temple as the one Ezekiel describes was never built. Herod’s temple—the temple of Jesus’ day—was far more modest than the one described here. Yet, Jesus seems to speak to this prophecy, when He was attending the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7).

Two very vivid demonstrations took place each year at the Feast of Tabernacles: The illumination of the temple, when there was a dazzling display of lights. It was in this context that Jesus declared Himself to be the Light of the world (John 8:12). But also, there was a ceremony that involved lots of water being poured to run down the temple courtyards. Jesus used that popular and graphic ceremony to draw attention to Himself (John 7:37-39).

Additionally, Jesus tells His disciples, in the upper room, that the Holy Spirit cannot be poured out until He has returned to His Father by way of crucifixion, resurrection and ascension. Significantly the river finds its source underneath the altar—the place of sacrifice—we start then to build up a picture of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross becoming the Source of the life giving river of the Holy Spirit.

Moreover, consider Revelation 22:1, 2: “Then the Angel showed me Water-of-Life River, crystal bright. It flowed from the Throne of God and the Lamb, right down the middle of the street. The Tree of Life was planted on each side of the River, producing twelve kinds of fruit, a ripe fruit each month.”

*There is just One Source of this spiritual river, and that is the sacrificial work of Jesus. There are no feeder streams or tributaries, meaning that, His work alone is sufficient. Moreover, we cannot add to it or take away from it. We can only embrace it and accept it.

2 He then took me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the gate complex on the east. The water was gushing from under the south front of the Temple. 3-5 He walked to the east with a measuring tape and measured off fifteen hundred feet, leading me through water that was ankle-deep. He measured off another fifteen hundred feet, leading me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another fifteen hundred feet, leading me through water waist-deep. He measured off another fifteen hundred feet. By now it was a river over my head, water to swim in, water no one could possibly walk through. 6-7 He said, “Son of man, have you had a good look?” Then He took me back to the riverbank. While sitting on the bank, I noticed a lot of trees on both sides of the river. 8-10 He told me, “This water flows east, descends to the Arabah and then into the sea, the sea of stagnant waters. When it empties into those waters, the sea will become fresh. Wherever the river flows, life will flourish—great schools of fish—because the river is turning the salt sea into fresh water. Where the river flows, life abounds. Fishermen will stand shoulder to shoulder along the shore from En-gedi all the way north to En-eglaim, casting their nets. The sea will teem with fish of all kinds, like the fish of the Great Mediterranean… 12 But the river itself, on both banks, will grow fruit trees of all kinds. Their leaves won’t wither, the fruit won’t fail. Every month they’ll bear fresh fruit because the river from the Sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.”

With regard to the river’s course, Ezekiel records that the water flowed eastward from the temple and the city of Jerusalem, through the Judean wilderness until it reaches the Arabah—a sandy desert—and enters the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth.

*This is a poignant picture of the power of the Holy Spirit to reach anyone, no matter how low they may be—in the eyes of the world or in the eyes of self. As the river flows from the heights of Jerusalem to the depths of the Dead Sea, so the reach of the Holy Spirit is from the high to low…and is all-inclusive.

With regard to force, this river is remarkable in that, though it starts

as a mere trickle, within a relatively short distance, it increases in depth—ankle deep, knee deep, waist deep. Within 7000 feet, the water was too deep for a man to stand. And as the river deepens it irrigates the desert on either side.

*There is a practical challenge for each one of us: “Where are we in the River?” The depth of the water becomes allegory to our depth of surrender to the Holy Spirit. If we are splashing about in the shallows, where the water is only ankle deep, knee deep, waist deep, it would mean that we are in the wa-ter, but on a conditional basis. We want to stay only where it is safe, where the challenges to us to conform to a higher quality of life are minimal; where we feel that we are in control. The only way for us to fully experience the Holy Spirit is to lose control by surrendering to Him—surrender to the flow of the river, wherever it takes us. We can trust that the Holy spirit can support us; thus, we should not resist or fight Him.

The practical challenge for the Church today is to go further into the river of the Holy Spirit than we have ever gone before. There are depths to be plumbed and places to be explored. We will never exhaust the Holy Spirit; there will always be new experi-ences to be enjoyed and new places to discover.

As the water enters the Dead Sea, the seawater becomes fresh and capable of producing and sustaining life. The Dead Sea was so named because of the high concentration of minerals that were in the water. No plant could grow there; no creature could live within. But the force of this inflow of fresh water is such that the Dead Sea itself becomes alive with fish and all manner of water creatures. There will be fishermen along its banks. This refreshing river of living water represents the life giving power of the Holy Spirit.

*Where the Holy Spirit is, there is new life—not merely resus-citation (restoration of life that was but no longer is, but life where there was not life before. Again, Jesus pictures this in His first recorded miracle, where He turns water into wine (John 2). Water has no life. Wine comes from fermented grapes (that which is alive). To produce life where there was no life is a picture of the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit.

In Ezekiel’s vision, he is shown a river that flows out from the temple, the place of sacrifice, the dwelling place of Almighty God, and the further the river flows. The deeper it gets, the more impact it has on the dry and barren places through which it flows.

It begs us to ask ourselves the question: “What will be the result of our immersing ourselves in an even greater experience of the Holy Spirit?” Ezekiel’s answer is that the result will be more blessing for others. This is what it means to become a community of faith for the community. It reminds us that, our experience with the Holy Spirit—exciting and life changing though it may be—is principally not to bless us, but to bless those who do not yet know Christ. It is for us to be more fruitful.