Full of Surprises: The Bible wothout Blinkers
Flowing water and new life: Ezekiel 47
It is fascinating to notice that Amos, the first of the classical prophets,
has a series of five visions at the end of his book (Amos 7-9) and Ezekiel,
the last of these major prophets, has an unsurpassed cluster of visions
too.
Without doing an exact count, five are highly significant: the two big
ones, God’s departure from the Jerusalem temple (Ezekiel 8-11) and design for
a new temple in Jerusalem and God’s return to it (Ezekiel 40-46); before
this great vision is the vision of the ‘dry bones’ (Ezekiel 37:1-14)
and associated with it is the vision of the great river (Ezekiel 47:1-12) and
the word of the Lord about the new and totally artificial boundaries for the
tribes within Israel (Ezekiel 47:13-48:29). Ezekiel is a visionary and the each
vision contains its message.
The message of the vision of the great river rings loud and clear, then and now:
faith brings life. The river rises in the restored temple, focus of Israel’s
faith. It flows from below the front entrance, flowing south-east. Like any good
river, it gets deeper as it goes on, ankle-deep at the start (v.3) and soon enough
too deep to cross (v.5). Faith is similar; it gets deeper as it goes on.
The river flows through some of the most desolately barren and infertile land
open to regular experience in Israel. It flows south-east from Jerusalem, through
the Arabah, and into the Dead Sea (v.8). Parts of Israel’s Negev have the
utter barrenness we associate with a moonscape; the savagely mountainous territory
between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea is no better. Riven by deep wadis, with mountainsides
that are rocky and frighteningly steep, utterly devoid of vegetation, it is as
it looks: dangerous and dead.
The river brings life that is unbelievably rich. Animal life is there in plenty
and fish abound, a fishing paradise (vv. 9-10). When this river enters the Dead
Sea, the sea’s intensely salt water becomes fresh (v.8). ‘Everything
will live where the river goes’ (v.9). On the banks, on both sides, all
kinds of fruit-bearing trees will grow, providing fresh food every month, ‘because
the water for them flows from the sanctuary’ (v.12).
The average farmer gets a crop once a year. As a rule, fruit-picking happens
once a year. Ezekiel and all Israel knew this; the farmers and fruit-growers
among us know this. Ezekiel’s vision—‘fresh fruit every month’—is
unbelievable. It must have been for him; it certainly is for us. Unbelievable,
except for that phrase at the end: ‘because the water for them flows from
the sanctuary’ (v.12) ‘Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves
for healing. ‘Impossible!’ yes, but true, ‘because the water
from them flows from the sanctuary’.
Food and healing; faith can give both. The French have a saying: when you are
in love, everything changes and nothing changes. When we have faith in God and
God’s love for us, everything changes and nothing changes. Ezekiel and
all Israel, farmers and fruit-growers, know that ‘fresh fruit every month’ had
never happened and never will.
With deep Christian faith, nothing changes—but everything does! When we
are loved, we still get up in morning, eat our meals, do our work, and go to
bed at night. But from isolation and loneliness, everything has changed. When
in faith we believe ourselves loved by God, isolation, loneliness, and everything
has changed. Where faith cramps our living, probably something is wrong with
faith.
Like Ezekiel’s river, our faith should flow and give us life, abundant
life.
