Upper Path Valley Presbyterian Church

Ezekiel 47:1-12 November 26, 2006 “Deep River” Rev. Meagan Boozer

All year long we have been marching through the Bible with our Year of the Bible program. This particular reading schedule challenged us to read through the entire Bible by reading several chapters from the Old Testament and several chapters from the New Testament every day, and some chapters or verses from the book of Psalms every week. It’s the end of November, so that means we’re getting close to the ends of all of these sections. Our Scriptures for Advent are going to be a bit different this year, but we will all learn more about the beauty and the promise of the whole Scripture as we are challenged to go beyond the norm.

Today we are in Ezekiel. You’ve heard perhaps of the major prophets in the Scriptures and the minor prophets. Those descriptors have to do, not with importance, but with the length of the book. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel are the major prophets. All the others, those short little books, are attributed to the minor prophets. Of the 39 books in the Old Testament, 17 of them are written by the prophets – and all of them line up at the end of the Old Testament, first the major prophets then the minor ones.

The dictionary defines a prophet as “somebody who interprets or passes on the will of a deity, or; somebody who foretells the future, or somebody considered to be an inspired leader or teacher.” Prophets, in biblical times, served a very important role. God told us, before they came, that he would use prophets. He warned the people not to seek guidance from occult sources when they entered the Promised land. He said in Deut. 18:14, “The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so.” (18-22): “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command. Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable. But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak—that prophet shall die.” You may say to yourself, “How can we recognize a word that the LORD has not spoken?” If a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; do not be frightened by it.”

The biblical prophets have a number of themes. Most, if not all, begin with doom and gloom (telling the people how bad it was going to get if they didn’t straighten up) – and all of them end with hope of restoration. All of them look forward to a time which is still the future for us today. We read in the prophets of a terrible time of judgment marked by trials and tribulations for the entire earth. We read of wars that ravage the earth, and power blocks of nations that seem to match the great powers of our own time. We read of the antichrist, this one who will come to rule the earth with nothing but evil intent, we read of God’s appointed and coming King, and we read of a glorious kingdom which that King will establish on earth.

Some of what is written in the prophetic books has already come to fulfillment. The fulfillment of other prophecies we await with hope for a better day.

Ezekiel’s book begins with doom and gloom. He is ranting and raving, telling the Israelite people that the Babylonians were going to come and crush their country. He had many pretty weird ways of trying to get his message across. Instead of only speaking of the coming siege of Jerusalem, he got a large brick, drew a city on it, and like a child in a sandbox, pretended to attack it. Lying on his side then, Ezekiel looked at the attacked city for 390 days, representing the number of years that Israel sinned against God. Then, to represent the fate of the people still in Palestine, Ezekiel carefully shaved off his hair and beard. With great care he weighed and divided the hairs of his head. One third of his hair he placed in the center of his sandbox city and burned. This represented those who would die when the Babylonians finally overran Jerusalem. He spread another third of his hair on the ground around the city, and attacked it with a sword. Finally Ezekiel took the last third of his hair and tossed it high, to be scattered by the wind. This represented those who would be taken to surrounding nations and scattered across the face of the earth.

We hear that and we think, “cuckoo.” But, it is clear in the book that God was in communication with Ezekiel. He had amazing visions from God which displayed a powerful sense of God’s awesome majesty. He was a true prophet – speaking for God – trying with every fiber (and hair) to get the people to turn back to God and renounce their sinful, God-forsaken ways.

Ezekiel, who was one of the exiles in Babylon, was silent for 13 years after the destruction of Jerusalem and the beloved Temple built by Solomon. And then he took up a new prophetic message – a message of hope.

Today, we’re going to look at the end section of Ezekiel from chapter 47. But first we need to read from Ezekiel 40:1-4, “In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was struck down, on that very day, the hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me there. He brought me, in visions of God, to the land of Israel, and set me down upon a very high mountain, on which was a structure like a city to the south. When he brought me there, a man was there, whose appearance shone like bronze, with a linen cord and a measuring reed in his hand; and he was standing in the gateway. The man said to me, “Mortal, look closely and listen attentively, and set your mind upon all that I shall show you, for you were brought here in order that I might show it to you; declare all that you see to the house of Israel.”

Now let’s turn to chapter 47 together, “Then he brought me back to the entrance of the temple; 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.”

May I remind you of a couple other rivers in God’s Holy Word? From way back in Genesis 2, in the Garden of Eden we read, “A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes four branches. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.”

Obviously, God wanted us to know there was an important river that was part of that beautiful, perfect community. And then, back in Revelation 22:1-6, “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true, for the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”

From Genesis to Ezekiel to Revelation, a message comes through. It is a message of washing, of cleansing, of freshness, of purity, and of power. Ezekiel’s vision of the Dead Sea actually coming to life – that’s power.

The Dead Sea is 1300 feet below sea level. It is surrounded by barren hills and a rocky shoreline. It is not the kind of body of water where you take your picnic basket, or your towel for sunbathing – it is not a place for a beach chair. The Dead Sea is a good place for a brief visit because it has so many minerals in it, that it literally stinks. When John and I traveled to the Holy Land in 1999, when we went to the Dead Sea, we wanted the experience of floating in it (of course) – but we were given very clear instructions. “Do not open your mouth while in the water.” (The salt content is so high, it would burn the tender places inside the mouth.) Well, it was hard not to open your mouth, because you wanted to laugh. You have to get in very, very carefully so you don’t splash – and then you find yourself completely supported in this very warm, stinky salt-infested water as if you are sitting in one of those float chairs. It’s truly a unique experience. But you can’t take it for long. And then you have to go shower in sulfur showers because that’s all they have there. It was a blessing to get back to a fresh water shower.

Ezekiel says that the River that is running from the Temple will be such a perfectly, powerfully pure River, that it will make the Dead Sea a fresh body of water in which fish can live! That’s a miracle!

Do you remember that in Old Testament days, the people believed that God lived in the Temple in the Most Holy Place behind the curtain on the Ark of the Covenant? Ezekiel’s vision of the New Temple reveals a God who cannot and will not be contained in a building. As we get closer and closer to the time of Jesus’ birth, Ezekiel’s vision reveals a God whose love and power seeps from the Temple, and then grows deeper and wider with each passing day. Ezekiel’s vision speaks to us of a time of restoration – when all things will be made new, for the old order of things would have passed away.

Ezekiel tells us in Chapter 36, “I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”

The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2 for those who believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, “We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us… But we have the mind of Christ.” (2:10-16)

We, who call ourselves Christians (little Christ), have been given a new heart, a new spirit, and a new mind. The River that flows, flows to us – and through us – and renews us day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment. Jesus said as recorded in John 7, “As the Scripture has said, out of the believer’s heart, shall flow rivers of living water.” To what Scripture was Jesus referring? The prophet Isaiah wrote in 58:11, “ The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.”

On this earth as we know it, there is no end to God’s cleansing, restoring work in your life and mine. No matter how bad things seem to be or seem to get, God’s River is deeper yet.

But there is coming a day when things will cease to get worse.

There is coming a day when there will be no more need for God’s cleansing, restoring work – for the work will be completed.

There is coming a day when the earth as we know it will be gone, and all that remains will be all that God chooses to retain.

And in the middle of it all will be a River.

That River will be lined with people who endured, who kept the faith, whose bodies wasted away – but whose spirits remained strong in the LORD. People like Mid Hammond and Clyde Allison – and so many others with whom they are now united.

Ezekiel saw that River. The apostle John saw it. And one day, we’ll see it, too. But in the meantime, and especially in these days of the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, may others see that River pouring out from each of us. May we share with great purpose and joy, the hope we have in the King of kings and Lord of Lords

– Jesus the Christ, the babe from Bethlehem, the Redeemer, the Savior, and the true Living Water. Amen

Upper Path Valley Presbyterian Church

11-26-2006