Written by
Isaac
God subjected Ezekiel through an immersive experience in the vision of walking in the river. From Ezekiel’s first account that the water reaches his ankle, to the next encounter where the waters reaches his knees, to the point that the waters reaches his waist and finally when the waters became so deep that it was impossible to walk but one needs to swim, and even so the currents are so strong that one cannot swim across.
From our personal experiences, such first-hand experiential activities leave a deeper and more lasting impressions, as compared to just seeing (visual) and listening (audial). So why did God use this approach? What key and essential message did He want to impart to Ezekiel? And what bearing does it have for us today?
“And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters go there; for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes.”
“And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters go there; for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes.”
The power and significance of the river can be seen through the effects.
The teeming vitality, the abundance of life brought about by the healing powers of the river.
Jesus proclaimed on the last day of the feast (John 7:38 – 39), “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” And the scriptures continued to explain that the river of living water refers to the Holy Spirit.
Paul also declared to us “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Cor 6: 19 – 20)
Is this same power that God revealed to Ezekiel manifested in us as well. Do we bring God’s healing power to the people that we meet each day. Do we live up to God’s expectations of us? Have we truly and sincerely do all that we can to repay God for His great love and mercy towards us. There is definitely still much that we must do. Let us continue to stir up and encourage one another as we see the day of the Lord approaching.
“But its swamps and marshes will not be healed; they will be given over to salt.”
Alas, we do see also that there are areas that the healing power of God do not reach. Let us however not be mistaken thinking that it is the limitation to the power of God. Rather, it is sadly the deplorable state of man’s heart as Stephen declared in Acts 7:51, “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.”
Let us thus guard our hearts with all diligence, that we do not fall in the same error in our ways. Let us not be the barren fig tree that waste the ground (Luke 13:6 – 9), nor should we be the enlightened but to fall away and put our Lord to open shame (Heb 6: 4 – 8).