Ezekiel’s Temple and the Water of Life Ezekiel 47:1-12
What does water mean for you? I guess it depends on how much water there is. A small amount is good to quench thirst; a larger amount could be good for swimming or fishing but also able to drown in. But, wherever there is water, there is life. Ezekiel was receiving this vision in Babylon about Jerusalem and the water that will flow into the Dead Sea. The temple to the Dead Sea is an arid land. This is obviously still in the future from where we stand.
For the previous seven chapters, Ezekiel described a new temple. A temple that has yet to be built. This temple and the surrounding area are much larger than the present area of the temple mount, where there is the gold-topped Al-Aqsa Mosque. This temple, however, has several supernatural elements associated with it. One of them is the water that will flow out of the temple’s east side. The water will start with a trickle, then turn into a stream, then into a river which will flow into the Dead Sea, causing the Dead Sea to become fresh. It will then support all manner of fish life. In verse 9, it says, “wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish”. Fishermen will one day stand by the shore and cast their nets.
On both sides of this river, there will be trees that bear fruit every month. The fruit will be for food, and the leaves, it says in verse 12, will be for healing. What was Ezekiel describing here? It can only be the millennial temple. The temple will be built when Jesus comes back to rule and reign on the earth. These trees, which are mentioned, have similar properties to those mentioned at the beginning and the end of the Bible. In Genesis chapter 3, we read the description of the tree of life. By eating the fruit of that tree, one has eternal life, but we know that after the falling sin, Adam and Eve were blocked, as were subsequent generations before the flood. They are never going near that tree by a high-order Angel called the cherubim; it says who has a flaming sword.
In Revelation 22, we read that in the new earth; John said, “then the Angel showed me the river of the water of life brightest crystal flowing from the throne of God and of the lamb through the middle of the street of the city also on either side of the river the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit yielding its fruit each month the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations”.
In John chapter 7, Jesus stands on the temple mount during the feast of booths which celebrates the fact that this life and the Israelites live in a temporary setting. But eventually, there will be an eternal setting in the very place where he was speaking on the temple mount; he shouted out and said, On the last day of the feast, the great day, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'" John 7:37, 38. Jesus is the one who allows that life to well up within us.
In John chapter 4, the woman at the well asked about water. Jesus said, “anyone who comes to this well will thirst again, but anyone who comes to me will never thirst again.” What initially stopped this woman from receiving the water of life? We know she would receive it eventually, but Jesus had to deal with her sin. He spoke about asking her to go and get her husband; of course, the man she was living with was not her husband. She eventually accepted Jesus as a Savior.
In the same way, Adam and Eve were locked away from the tree of life because of sin. Israel would only receive this river and these trees of life if they maintained holiness. This was the whole reason they were in Babylon because they had rejected the Lord in this temple. It’s the only place where holiness dwells. In the same way, the eternal temple, this tree of life, and the river of life can only be experienced where there is freedom from sin. Revelation 22 again says, “Blessed are those who wash their robes so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates outside of the dogs, the sorcerers, sexually immoral, the murderers, idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.” Those who are outside are obviously at an eternal destination that is not part of the new earth. This is where there will be judgment and eternal separation from Jesus and the place we know as hell.
Water brings life. Clear water may not be enough. On our recent trip to Bali, we only drank bottled water. We knew that it came from a trusted source; it was filtered. In this world, we all have different sources of refreshment. But some of that refreshment comes from polluted wells,…wells of immorality, rebellion, and godlessness. These wells have their source in the flesh. They ultimately will dry up or leave you with a thirst that is never quenched (e.g., the woman at the well in John 4). The original source of these wells was polluted.
As Christians, James, the brother of the Lord, reminded us that we should show a water source of purity reflecting Jesus, our River of Life. James said, “From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.” (James 3:10-12) When we shout in anger, lie, blaspheme, and speak against brothers and sisters in the Lord, it's as if salt water and, at times, freshwater flows from the 1 spring. But we are called to have living waters flow up from within us and so have one source of purity rather than having a combined source, one in the spirit and one in the flesh.
I asked what water means for you, but as Jesus is a source from the river of life, a better question is, who is Jesus to you? Ezekiel was asked to go on a journey into the river. We are called to go on that same journey; for some of us as Christians, your day has just started, and the water is only ankle-deep for you; for some of us, it's up to our knees; we’ve experienced something of the blessing of Christ, for some of us it's up to our waste. We’ve been immersed in the water of life for some time. But some of us, perhaps not as many as there should be, have the freedom of swimming and the vast sea that is the blessing of the water of life of Jesus, where there is no end to the depth, the breadth, the width, the height, the blessings that flow from the throne of Jesus.
But perhaps some of us this morning are observing from the shore; we have not tasted the water of life, would not be near the water of life, we haven't even got our toes wet. Perhaps because we know, like the woman at the well who Jesus spoke to, that we need to confess. Things aren't right and stop us from stepping into the stream of Christ. Our sin stops us from drinking deeply. But Jesus still says to us today, “if anyone thirsts, come to me and drink.” (John 8:37) Do you thirst for pure water? Are you done with the worldly well? Some of us don't mind the world of hypocrisy, like the lukewarm Laodicean church. The water is warm, but it's still water. It has some effect. Even though it's lukewarm and sickening, it still provides some nutrients. But ultimately, it isn't refreshing, and it doesn't sustain. A river of life that will flow into eternity. Where is your security this morning? Might it only be found only in Christ!
Receiving water from Christ’s well comes only through the cross. He suffered and died for you. Come to the cross this morning.