Trinity Baptist Church

 

This will be the final message in our studies through the book of Ezekiel, this rather unusual, remarkable series of visions which God gave to Ezekiel, who ministered to God's people in days of captivity when they were in exile. We have not gone chapter-by-chapter or verse-by-verse, but we have tried to give you the highlights and the essence of the message of Ezekiel.

 

This evening we are looking at chapter 47, briefly at

48 and we'll conclude with the last verse.

 

To locate us in context we must remember that this is in the midst of the final vision of the glory of God which the Lord God gave to Ezekiel. It is a vision of the millennial temple. It is a temple which the Bible predicts is going to be constructed and will serve as the worship center for the world during the thousand-year reign of Christ.

 

It's a remarkable section of Scripture. When we come to this particular passage this evening about the healing river where the healing waters flow, this is one of the most special and one of the most blessed portions in all of God's Word. 

 

The millennial temple is one of the most amazing structures in all of Scripture. It is a temple that is going to be used, as I have indicated to you, for worship during the millennial reign of the Lord Jesus

Christ.

 

We saw in our previous study that sacrifices are going to be offered in this temple and that has raised the question “why will there be sacrifices?”

 

I take the position that these sacrifices are going to be commemorative in nature and will be used as a teaching tool. We are told that this temple is going to have a holy of holies or “a most holy place”.

 

But there is no reference to an ark of the covenant there or a mercy seat. The reason for this is because Ezekiel has a vision of the glory of the Lord coming from the Mount of Olives, through the eastern gate, into the temple, and enthroning himself in that temple. We believe this is a reference to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth to rule and reign for a thousand years.

 

On the altar, which will be constructed in that temple, sacrifices are going to be made, but we saw that there is a change in the blueprints, so to speak.

When the sacrifices are made in that temple, and questions arise what is the meaning, “what is the fulfillment of these sacrifices?” all they will have to do is to look into the temple and see the Lord Jesus

Christ. The lion of the tribe of Judah, who is also the Lamb as Revelation 5 teaches us.

 

 

Now, Ezekiel gives us another interesting aspect of this millennial temple. He sees a river, a rather amazing river.

 

Water supply has always been an issue for Jerusalem.

 

Back in 2002 Israel entered into an agreement with Turkey to purchase 1.7 billion cubit feet of water annually for the next 20 years in exchange for a weapons agreement which Turkey has been seeking. They will get tanks and other military hardware. The article stated that it is an attempt on the part of Israel to address a continuing problem of water shortage.

 

Jerusalem does not have a river. They have some springs. There are a few springs there. They had

a system of cisterns and aqueducts to insure that they would be an ample water supply for the city of

Jerusalem.

 

But the prophets of God were given to understand that there would come a day when God would solve the problem of the water supply.

 

In fact, in Psalm 46, there is a beautiful passage of Scripture in verse 4. The psalmist says, "There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God. The holy place of the tabernacles of the most high. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved. God shall help her and that right early."

 

There is a river. The word really means continually flowing river. The streams thereof will make glad the city of God. Back to Ezekiel 47.

 

Here is a prediction that there is going to be this supernatural river. The other prophets of God had predicted that there would be a river. You might want to jot these references down.

 

 

 

Joel prophesied about this stream that would flow during the millennium in Joel 3, verse 18. "And it shall come to pass in that day that the mountain shall drop down new wine and the hills shall flow with milk. And all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord and shall water the valley of Shittim."

 

There's another reference in Zechariah 14, verse 8.

Zechariah predicts, "And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be."

 

Those are the predictions, the prophecies of a miraculous river that would flow from the temple during the millennium.

 

Let's look at that river in Ezekiel 47.

 

Ezekiel says that he noticed coming out from under the door of that temple, waters beginning to flow.

 

Of course, this tells us the source of this river. The source of this river is none other than God Himself.

God is the source. This stream issues forth from the temple where the very presence of the Lord Jesus

Christ is. The Bible makes it very clear that God is the source of all spiritual refreshment.

 

Water is a beautiful picture of salvation in the Bible. We know that it is God who brings the refreshing waters of salvation to quench the thirst of the human soul.

 

 

Jesus, you recall, was talking to the woman at the well in John 4. He said to her, "Give me a drink of water." She said, "How is it that you a Jew ask water of me, a woman of Samaria?"

 

Jesus said to her, "I have some water to drink, if you will drink of this water, it will be a well of life springing up into everlasting life." He was talking about the river of salvation that comes to flow in the human heart.

 

"Fill my cup, Lord, I lift it up, Lord. Come and

quench this thirsting of my soul." A beautiful song

about salvation.

 

So here is a picture that God is the source of salvation, that God is the source for the thirsty soul.

 

Ezekiel sees this water coming from the threshold, the door, of the temple.

 

In verse 2 he says that he saw that water and behold there ran out waters on the right side. Notice that in the last part of verse 2. The Hebrew there literally is to bubble forth or to gurgle. Just a little gurgling stream. Just a little bubbling forth.

 

Water sources in the Bible have beautiful spiritual significance. Typically, fountains are a picture of God the Father.

 

Jeremiah 2, verse 13 says, "My people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters and have hewn them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water."

 

 

God the Father is like a fountain flowing.

 

God the Son is like a well.

 

John 4 again, a well of water springing up.

 

The Holy Spirit is pictured like a river.

 

So here is this supernatural stream flowing out. Spiritually, it is a picture of the Holy Spirit who comes to dwell in our hearts as believers.

 

In John 7, verses 37 and following, Jesus said, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink and out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living

water."

 

Then it says that Jesus was talking about the Holy Spirit which those who believed in Him would receive.

 

When you receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you have a river down inside of you. It is the river of the Holy Spirit.

 

So, in this millennial temple, which I take to be literal, by the way, (there is just too much detail given in these chapters for it not to be literal), there is going to be a literal river, but it is a river that has spiritual symbolical connotations. It is a picture to you and to me of the cleansing power of the Holy Spirit who comes to dwell in our hearts at salvation.

 

The way to cleanse a dunghill is to flow a river through it. The way your life can be cleansed is by the flowing of the river of the Holy Spirit through you. So, the source of the river is God Himself. 

Notice the size of this river. Ezekiel says that as he follows this, here's the man with his measuring line. We met him back in chapter 40 measuring all the dimensions of the temple. He begins to measure out a thousand cubits which roughly is about 1500 feet, which roughly is about a quarter of a mile. So he measures out a quarter of a mile of that flowing river, that healing stream.

 

He says it was ankle deep. Then he measures further and gets out about a half a mile. Then he says that the water is up to the knees. Then he measures another quarter of a mile. He's now out to three quarters of a mile. Now, it's up to his waist.

 

Then he measures all the way for a full mile and it becomes waters to swim in, waters over his head.

 

The question is how did that water build like that? There is no mention of tributaries that have been brought in adding their stream and force to the flow.

It is a self-generating, supernatural flow. It is a reminder to us of the ever-increasing work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and in our lives as we yield our lives to Him every day.

 

There are depths to what God wants to do in your heart and life that are rivers to swim in. The question is how far along are you in the things of the Spirit? We have some ankle deep Christians. We have some knee deep Christians. We have some waist deep Christians. I think what God wants us to do is to get on out there in waters to swim in. Total commitment to the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. Total surrender to the flow of the Lord.

 

 

As we allow God to flow freely in our life, He cleanses our life. He gives life to us and blesses us, but also we begin to flow outward to others and become a blessing to other people. The only way you can really be a blessing to other people is to let the rivers of God flow through your life.

 

It is a living river! But notice it is also a nourishing river. He said there are some trees on each side. It is obvious when you read this; you immediately make connections with the book of the Revelation, don't you? 

 

There are three primary rivers that are used in a spiritual sense in the Bible. There is the river of Eden in Genesis 2. There is the river of life in Revelation 22. There is this millennial river here in Ezekiel 47.

 

Notice that as this river begins to flow, everywhere it flows it brings life. It says that it flows all the way down into the sea in verse 8. The sea there is a reference to the Dead Sea.

 

Dead, indeed, it is. It is the Salt Sea. Nothing lives there except the smallest kinds of amoeba. They have taken fish from other streams and have put them in the Dead Sea and the longest any of them ever live is about five minutes.

 

Yet, God says that one of these days there is going to be this miracle river that is going to flow down to the Dead Sea and it is going to be life-giving. The waters of the Dead Sea are going to be "healed." They are going to become fresh. It says they are going to have all kinds of fish in there.

 

 

You fisherman will love this. I had a man in our church some years ago. He said, "Preacher, did you know that the world was 2/3 water. I said I didn't know that. He said, "Do you know what that means?" I said no I don't. He said, "That means a man ought to spend at least 2/3 of his time fishing." I've never been much of a fisherman. There is a conspiracy among the fish that anytime I go fishing, they refuse to bite.

 

But down in verse 10 there are going to be fishermen all along that Dead Sea. There are going to be fish of all kinds in that sea. There are going to be MANY of them. This flow of the river will bring life to the Dead Sea.

 

On each side there are going to be trees. Down in verse 12 it talks about these trees and the fruit thereof will not be consumed and it will bring forth new fruit according to his months. Here is the fruit of the Holy Spirit in your life. The fruit of the Spirit, bearing forth in your life as a believer.

 

Notice that there are leaves on this tree. These leaves he says in verse 12 are for medicine or healing. Of course, we know that all of this anticipates heaven. Actually God is going to give just a little warm up for heaven in the millennium. These same beautiful pictures and these same symbolic indications are in the book of the Revelation 22. It is a reminder to us that God can heal the hurts of the human heart.

 

When people come to know Christ as their Savior, their sins are forgiven. But when you come into the

Christian life you bring all of the hurts of your heart into the Christian experience.

It takes this ever-increasing flow of the Spirit; it takes this supernatural stream of God flowing into your heart and life to begin to minister and to heal those hurts. There is damage there. There are scars there. Some of you bring the baggage of all kinds of emotional difficulties and you need the healing power of God in your heart. God can minister to your life in special ways right now and begin to heal the broken hearted.

 

One of these days, when you get to heaven, there will be a tree of life and the leaves are for the healing of the nations. The leaves are for medicine. That says that all of the hurts of your heart, one day, will be perfectly and completely and totally and eternally healed.

 

The healing stream.

 

Now go back to chapter 47 again.

 

Beginning in verse 13 and going all the way through

chapter 48, it talks about

 

II. The HOLY SITE.

 

It predicts here that the tribes of Israel, during the millennium, are gong to go back to their holy site.

Each tribe is given an allotment. If you diagram this off, you will see that there are strips right across the land of Israel. On the north and on the south are the allotments for the tribes.

 

Right in the middle there are allotments for the prince. We talked about that prince, that administrator in the millennium.

 

There is going to be the city in the middle. There is going to be the temple right there in the middle. All of that is given. The meaning of that is that during these days there will be equality, during these days there will be safety, during these days there will be sanctity. It will be a holy site.

 

There is a healing stream during the millennium that flows from the temple. There is a holy site where this millennial temple will be constructed.

 

Then go all the way to the end of the book of Ezekiel, verse 35. Here's the way Ezekiel closes out his prophecy. He closes it out with what I call

 

 

"It was round about eighteen thousand measures: and the name of the city from that day shall be, The Lord is there. In the Hebrew, it's this way. Yahweh

Shammah. We use the word Jehovah. Yahweh is a better pronunciation, but we normally use Jehovah.

 

The Hebrew of Ezekiel closes Jehovah Shammah. That means, "The Lord is there." It is one of the compound names for God in the Old Testament. There are seven compound names for God revealed in the Old Testament. Let me quickly go through them.

 

There is Jehovah Jireh which means the Lord will provide. He is named Jehovah Rapha which means the Lord Yahweh who heals. He is Jehovah Shalom which means the Lord our peace. He is Jehovah Tsidkenu which means the Lord our righteousness. He is Yahweh Jehovah Nissi which means the Lord our banner.

He is Jehovah Ra'ah which means the Lord our shepherd. He is Jehovah Shammah which means the Lord is there. The presence of the Lord!

 

God is saying to Ezekiel "The time will come that I will be there. I will never leave you. I'll never forsake you. I'll be there."

 

One of the names of our Lord is Emanuel which means God with us. That means that when the Lord comes into your life has made the personal promise to you. He has given you an honored status. He is saying “I will never leave you, I will never

forsake you, I am Jehovah Shammah. I am there forever.

 

Let me close it out with a little poem I ran across

that wraps up Jehovah Shammah for us.

 

"Jehovah-Shammah" The Lord is There.

One of the names of the Lord our God,

Which speaks of His love and His care.

Is called in the Hebrew "Jehovah-Shammah"

And it means that "The Lord is there."

 

In your hours of sorrow and your times of grief,

When your soul seems so filled with despair,

Reflect on the words of "Jehovah Shammah"

And know in your heart "He is there."

 

When you're flat on your back or you're suffering pain

And you're feeling that life is not fair,

Start counting your blessings from "Jehovah-Shammah";

Just think on His love "He is there."

When your plans go awry or your dreams fall apart,

When your burdens are heavy to bear,

Lean hard on the promise of "Jehovah-Shammah";

You are never alone "He is there."

 

When the devil's temptations press hard on your soul,

And he deviously seeks to ensnare,

Run quickly to Jesus, your "Jehovah-Shammah";

Then your battle is won "He is there."

 

When your heart overflows with thanksgiving and

praise,

And you pour our your love in your prayer,

There's rejoicing in heaven by "Jehovah-Shammah";

For He hears and we know ”He is there."

--Margaret Elaine Harlan

 

Can you say He is my Jehovah-Shammah, The Lord is  there?

 

Let's bow our heads in prayer.