The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Ezekiel 47:1,
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
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"The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar."
Here is an amazing feature of this temple of Ezekiel's vision. Here is a river, which has as its headwaters a source that emanates from under the threshold of the temple that flows east toward the Dead Sea! The description is careful to point out that the source of the water comes from the threshold of the temple and as it flows toward the east it grows deeper and deeper to support "a great number of trees on each side of the river." The water turns the salt water of the Dead Sea to fresh and sustains "swarms of living creatures". Large numbers of fish and everything in this river's path will live. The fruit trees that adorn the banks of the river will be fruitful and their leaves will not wither. "Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing."
This, of course, brings to mind the vision given John in Revelation 22:1-2, "Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations."
And also Jesus Christ's words to the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:13-14, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
This speaks to me of the tremendous and boundless flow of grace that emanates from the throne of God. God's mercy, forgiveness, love and kindness flow from him providing and sustaining life - abundant life. Providing healing for each of us and sustenance to carry us into and through eternity is an ongoing act of God that will ever flow. Never a dry spell, it runs deeper and deeper as we wade into it, as we plumb the depths of it, as Ezekiel did with the measuring line.
What a God!
Here is an amazing feature of this temple of Ezekiel's vision. Here is a river, which has as its headwaters a source that emanates from under the threshold of the temple that flows east toward the Dead Sea! The description is careful to point out that the source of the water comes from the threshold of the temple and as it flows toward the east it grows deeper and deeper to support "a great number of trees on each side of the river." The water turns the salt water of the Dead Sea to fresh and sustains "swarms of living creatures". Large numbers of fish and everything in this river's path will live. The fruit trees that adorn the banks of the river will be fruitful and their leaves will not wither. "Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing."
This, of course, brings to mind the vision given John in Revelation 22:1-2, "Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations."
And also Jesus Christ's words to the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:13-14, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
This speaks to me of the tremendous and boundless flow of grace that emanates from the throne of God. God's mercy, forgiveness, love and kindness flow from him providing and sustaining life - abundant life. Providing healing for each of us and sustenance to carry us into and through eternity is an ongoing act of God that will ever flow. Never a dry spell, it runs deeper and deeper as we wade into it, as we plumb the depths of it, as Ezekiel did with the measuring line.
What a God!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
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