“1 The man brought me back to the entrance of 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 flowing from the south side. …
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 Sea. When it empties into the Sea, the 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 Great 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, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing."
--Ezekiel 47:1-2, 6b-12
Ezekiel 47 paints a picture of a river flowing out of the sanctuary of the Lord. And it is no ordinary river, for “where the river flows everything will live” (v. 9). This water makes a dead sea teem with fish. It nourishes trees that produce fruit for food and leaves for healing. This water brings life. Jesus talks about the Holy Spirit in terms of living water when he says:
“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him”(John 7:37b-38).
And Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians:
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;” (1 Corinthians 6:19)
If God’s Spirit lives in us as the Glory of the Lord dwelt in the temple in Ezekiel’s vision, and if the Holy Spirit flows from within us as the river flowed out of the sanctuary in Ezekiel, can we draw a parallel about how the river in Ezekiel brings life, nourishment, and healing and how the Holy Spirit should be made manifest in our lives?
One of the things the river in Ezekiel does is bring nourishment. The fruit trees on the banks of the river bear fruit every month, and the “fruit will serve for food” (v. 12). Similarly, in 1 Corinthians 12:7 , Paul tells believers that, “to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” In other words, we’re all given spiritual gifts to be used to build up the body of Christ. Some are prophets, some teachers, some have discernment, but in every case, the gift is to be used to nourish the body of Christ.
The Ezekiel river also brings life and healing. The Hebrew literally says that the river water “heals” the salt water by making it fresh, and verse 7 talks about the leaves on the trees of the riverbanks bringing healing. There is no greater healing than a man who is dead in his sins being made alive in Christ. Jesus tells his disciples in Acts 1 to wait in Jerusalem for the coming of the Holy Spirit. Then once they receive the Spirit, they will go out and proclaim the gospel of Christ among the nations. The image of the temple and the river in Ezekiel is beautiful because not only does the Glory of the Lord dwell within the temple, but there is a river that flows from the temple to bring the goodness of God to all the surrounding country. It’s a reminder for us that our salvation doesn’t stop in us alone, but that God has “appointed [us] to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last” (John 15:16).
However, while this is a good reminder, it’s easy to take this idea and say to ourselves: Go out and do more. Minister more. Use your gifts for the kingdom. Maybe these are things that we should do, but Jesus doesn’t say in John, “Pump streams of living water from your own heart.” He says “come to me and drink.” The only way we can be sources of healing, nourishment, and encouragement—ambassadors of Christ—is to come to the Savior and drink deeply, to abide in him. We ourselves are not responsible for the miracle of living water. It is not the gifts the Lord gives that are the living water, but the Holy Spirit himself. We are but jars of clay, full of all-surpassing power that is from God and not from us (2 Corinthians 4:7). So let us rejoice in the ministry that God has given us! But let us rejoice all the more that this ministry is not of our own creation, because if it were, it would undoubtedly be flawed, sinners that we are. It is only by the blood of Christ that the Spirit of God dwells in our hearts at all, and it is he that causes streams of living water to flow from us, for his glory, and his glory alone.
