Blessing like water

 

For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my blessing on your descendants.  They shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams.  --Isaiah 44:3-4

Water is essential to life.  Cities are built beside lakes and rivers for a reason.  Wells are dug beside farmhouses for a reason.  Desert caravans follow paths that lead from oasis to oasis for a reason.  What is that reason? Because water is a blessing.

In the book of Ezekiel, the prophet is given a vision of the heavenly temple.  Starting in chapter 40, Ezekiel is led by a tour guide whose identity is kept secret, but who could have been an angel or even the pre-incarnate Christ.  The tour guide gives the dimensions, and paints a beautiful picture of the house of God.  Of particular interest is the eastern gate of the Temple, because in chapter 43 this is where the Lord stands.  "And behold," he says in verse 2, "the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east.  And the sound of His coming was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with His glory."  

Take note here, because he describes the glory of the Lord using multiple senses.  Not only could he see God's glory as light, but he could hear God coming.  What did it sound like?  Like rushing water.

No man could enter the Temple from the east gate, because that was where God was (see chapter 46).  I could go on, but I want to get to my favorite passage, Ezekiel 47:1-12.

The Source of Blessing 

Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east).  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 outside to the outer gate that faces toward the east; and behold the water was trickling out on the south side.  --Ezek 47:1-2

The water began to flow from the east gate of the temple, where we have already seen is the throne of God.  God created all things, including water that in this passage signifies blessings poured out from His holy presence.  Jeremiah 14:22 says, "Are there any among the idols of the nations who give rain? Or can the heavens grant showers? Is it not You, O Lord our God?  Therefore we hope in You, for You are the One who has done all these things." 

The Scope of Blessing

Going on eastward with a measuring line in his hand, the man measured a thousand cubits, and then led me through the water, and it was ankle-deep.  Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was knee-deep.  Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was waist deep.  Again he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the water had risen.  It was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be passed through.  And he said to me, "Son of man, have you seen this?"  Then he led me back to the bank of the river.  --Ezek 47:3-6

Ezekiel's tour guide led him through the water at intervals of about 500 yards, and each time the water was a little deeper.  An obvious parallel is that the further we follow Jesus, the deeper His blessings become.  At the end of the measuring, the water was deep enough to swim in, but flowing so fast it was impassable.  Can you imagine the blessings of God so deep and so wide that it is difficult to take it all in?  It is easy to see with the eyes of faith.  Take a good, long look at your life.  If you have food and clothes and shelter, you are blessed. If you have friends and loved ones, you are blessed.  If you can see and hear and smell and touch, you are blessed.  Not a day goes by that all these blessings come at you, fast and furious.

Do you want to know how I know God is bigger than our problems?  Because He is with us in the big middle of it all. James 5:13-16 says "Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working."

The Sway of Blessing

There is an old hymn that goes like this:

I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold
I'd rather be His than have riches untold
I'd rather have Jesus than houses or land

I'd rather be led by His nail-pierced hand

Than to be the king of a vast domain
And be held in sin's dread sway
I'd rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today

When it uses the word "sway", it is a poetic word meaning "influence", but it is more than that.  One can say in a court of law that a certain witness helped sway the jury.  Let's look at our text and consider how the blessings of God sway us.

As I went, I saw on the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other.  And he said to me, "This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, and enters the sea; when the water flows into the sea, the water will become fresh.  And wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish.  For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes.  Fishermen will stand beside the sea.  From Engedi to Eneglaim it will be a place for the spreading of nets.  Its fish will be of very 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.  And 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." --Ezek 47:7-12

This is the influence of God's blessing: cleansing, food, and healing.  Wherever God's blessing goes, it is made cleaner.  It's easy to imagine the cleaning of the air after a rain.  It's easy to see the cleansing of people or things that are washed with clean water.  It is not easy to imagine fresh water cleaning the salt out of the sea.  How can this be?  It is the same as the heart change of a sinner turned saint.  God's blessings can change people at their very essence.  He can change a heart of stone into a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26).

What about those who reject the blessing of God He so freely offers?  Look back at verse 11: "But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt.  What does that mean?  To be left for salt means being left desolate.  Psalm 107:36-27 says, "He turns rivers into a desert, springs of water into a salty waste, because of the evil of its inhabitants." Jeremiah 17:5-6 says "Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.  He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come.  He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabitable salt land."

Do not dwell in the swamp or the marsh.  Do not think you can live unclean, because the water may not always be there.  In a drought, the swamp becomes desert, and the marsh becomes a salt land.  Without the blessing of God that flows like a river, you will be desolate, alone, withing for death.  Remember the parable Jesus told of the rich man and Lazarus?  Lazarus was blessed, even though he was poor and without possessions or wealth.  When he died, he went to heaven.  The rich man died without the blessing of God.  And what was his desire? "Have mercy on me," he said, "and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame." (Luke 16:24). 

Get up, let God wash you and make you clean.  Take advantage of the blessing of God before it is too late.  Ephesians 5:26-27 says this about the Church: "That He might sanctify her (the Church), having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that He might present the Church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish."