Ezekiel Archives - Page 2 of 2

Introduction

Water brings life, and living water more so. We have spoken before on the importance of “assuming the center,” and one of the central ways to do this is to create a place where living water can flow. Water is a gathering force.

The Text

“Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward . . . Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other . . . And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine” (Ezek. 47:1-12).

Summary of the Text

In Ezekiel’s vision, when the hand of the Lord was upon him (Ezek. 40:1-2), among other things, he saw this: Water flowed out of the house of God, over the threshold (Ezek. 47:1). Water ran out of the Temple on the right side also (v. 2). A man with Ezekiel was measuring, and thousand cubits out, the water was ankle deep (v. 3). Another thousand and it came to the knees (v. 4). Yet another thousand and the water was waist deep (v. 4). When he went another thousand, the water was too deep to pass over (v. 5). The man asked Ezekiel if he saw that, and then brought him back to the river bank (v. 6). When he got there, he saw that there were many trees, on both sides of the river (v. 7). The water will flow east, down to the sea, and heal the waters there (v. 8).

Everything will live, wherever that water flows (v. 9). There will be a multitude of fish, and the apostle Peter with the others will become fishers of men (v. 10; Mark 1:17). Even in that glorious day, there will remain some salt marshes (v. 11). Not everyone will be converted, though most will. The trees on both sides of the river will produce abundant fruit, according to month, and watered by the river from the sanctuary, the leaves will be for healing (v. 12).

Now remember from last week that the New Jerusalem is the Christian church. We can also see, by comparing text with text, that Ezekiel’s Temple is also the Christian church, out of which the living water flows. As we seek to understand this passage, we should begin with this as the key. The key for Christians is always to let the New Testament interpret Old Testament passages, particularly when they are difficult for us. In the book of Revelation, we are plainly told the meaning of this vision.

“And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Rev. 22:1-2).

In both cases, we have living water, a flowing river, trees on both sides of the river, monthly fruit, and leaves for healing. So the New Jerusalem is the same thing as Ezekiel’s Temple, and both of them are the Christian church. We have a similar picture in microcosm when it comes to the righteous man (Ps. 1:3; Jer. 17:8).

Living Water

The church is the place from which this living water flows. Recalling what we established last week, this living water flows out of people. Jesus promises living water to the Samaritan woman at the well, and He was talking about Himself (John 4:11). Whoever drinks of the water that Jesus gives will find that he has become a well of that living water (John 4:14). He drinks and then God makes him a source of living water for others, which is what happens in this instance (John 4:29-30). A few chapters later, Jesus shows how all His people become this source of living water. We come to Him and drink because of our thirst (John 7:37), and then living water flows out of us for others (John 7:38). John also tells us in this place what the water is exactly. The water of life is the Holy Spirit (John 7:39).

Jesus said this on the last day of the Feast of Booths, when the Jews had a ceremony of pouring water out at the altar.

“For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes” (Rev. 7:17).

While Remembering the Point

Now all this is glorious, but what does it have to do with our pump hou . . . our new church building? The church is not supposed to function as a rain barrel, or a collection tank. The church is a place from which the water is supposed to flow everywhere else. The way that the earth will come to be as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea is because it will flow out of the church (Is. 11:9; Hab. 2:14). Do this, and people will gather to water.

Having said that, we do not reject intelligent craftsmanship that comes with building particular institutions. So long as we remember the central point, there is no problem with building irrigation ditches, or pumps, hoses, water trucks, channels, canals, or helicopters with buckets below them. Indeed, whenever there are large amounts of water (which we pray for), such things become an absolute necessity. The danger, of course, is to forget what these projects are all for, and then you start to complain about the water—it keeps getting your precious equipment all wet.

Another danger, a great one, is expecting any one building to accomplish what we need to accomplish in our community. But that is like building a rain barrel, and then you are done. No, think of it more like tide pools filling up—first here, then here, then over there.

Assuming the Center

But when the people of God remember who they are, this mistake is not made. The water flows out of human hearts. The Spirit comes from people, and not from this wooden pulpit, or from that table, or from the bread and wine, or from the baptismal font . . . or from the building which contains all these God-given activities.
We assume the center when we are filled with the Spirit, and when He flows out of us. The Spirit is the center. This happens using physical things. Spiritual does not just mean like a spirit. Spiritual also means obedient. When we offer our bodies rightly, it is our spiritual worship (Rom. 12:1-2). The devil is a spirit who is unspiritual in this sense, and you have ten toes, which can be spiritual—if they are shod with the gospel of peace.

This is because the living church is always waterfront property. Many trees grow there, and their leaves have healing properties. The trees grow on both sides of the river, and the river is full of life and brings life. All it has to do is be what it is, and flow. Each one of you is a spigot—and what I want to press upon you is this. Each one of you should walk away from here knowing that you have a critical role in how God is going to cause this water to flow.

Introduction
This Lord’s Day is Ascension Sunday, the day we commemorate the exaltation of Jesus Christ at the right hand of the Ancient of Days, the day upon which He was given universal and complete authority over all nations, kings, rule and authority. Our Lord’s name is the name which is above every name, and His is the name when spoken that causes every knee to bow, and every tongue to confess, that He is Lord of heaven and earth. And, as we cannot emphasize too much, this is not an invisible spiritual truth. It is simply, undividedly, true.

The Text
“It came to pass also in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her, and the daughters of the famous nations, unto the nether parts of the earth, with them that go down into the pit. Whom dost thou pass in beauty? go down, and be thou laid with the uncircumcised. They shall fall in the midst of them that are slain by the sword: she is delivered to the sword: draw her and all her multitudes. The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of hell with them that help him: they are gone down, they lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword” (Eze 32:17-21).

Summary of the Text
One of the visions that Ezekiel was given was that of a parliament of kings, assmbled in the nether regions of Sheol. The prophet was speaking of nations which had had their time of glory under the sun, but which, inevitably, descended to the empty governance of shades and shadows. In Augustine’s trenchant phrase, among the nations of men, the dead are replaced by the dying, and however splendid an empire might be for the moment, there is no future for any nation outside of Christ. Below the earth is nothing but wisps of lost glory, and above ground archeologists might be able to find the remnants of Ozymandian ruin.

Contrast this with what we celebrate on this day of Ascension. The Lord Jesus has been given all authority in heaven and on earth, and He must reign until He has made His enemies a footstool. Of the increase of His government there will be no end. Unbelieving kings descend to nothing. The faithful king has ascended, and He shall reign for ever and ever.

Statement of the Evil
When President Obama was first elected to the presidency, I decided that at some point something was going to have to be said, and the only question was when and how. The clearest and most obvious time for this, it seems, is in the time before our new president’s first nomination to the Supreme Court. That time is now, and Ascension Sunday is an appropriate time to set the law of God and the laws of men side by side in order to have a look at them.

The claims of Jesus Christ are inescapably political, and nothing whatever can be done to alter or change that. It is unfaithfulness even to think about trying to alter that. But Jesus Christ must not be invoked in a partisan way, which is quite different. These are words that are being declared by a Christian minister, and not by a Republican operative. In the first place, I am not a Republican, and, secondly, if I were, it would remain my duty as a minister to point out that Justice Souter, who is being replaced, was a Republican appointment to the High Court. We need to remember that many of the justices whose robes are soaked with the blood of the innocents were Republican appointees.

Recognition of an Oddity
Now it may seem odd to preach to someone who is not present. But there are three reasons for preaching such a message anyway. First, this is a message that all Americans need to hear because we elected you as our president. You are a representative civil head, and there is no way to address you without addressing the nation. All of us need to hear this. Second, we need to return to the time when kings were aware of the pulpit. Mary of Scots did not attend church services where Knox preached, but they were the kind of sermons she would hear about. The Church is not called to be a lobbying agency, so if we have something lawful and necessary to say to you as the magistrate, it should be said here. And the third point is related. Ecclesiastes tells us that even a little bird can get a message to a king (Ecc. 10:20). True, that is in the context of urging us to watch carefully what we say, and so every word of this message is both measured and weighed. And while a righteousness king might find out what ungodly say about him, it is also true that an unrighteous ruler might in this way be confronted with the plain teaching of the Word of God.

The Requirement of Heaven
Mr. President, your past record, your campaign promises, your political affiliations, your supporters, your political philosophy, and your record since the election, all consistently indicate that your appointment to the Supreme Court will be a pro-abortion nominee, one who favors the continued recognition of a ghoulish “right” to slaughter the unborn. Your rhetoric, as displayed recently at Notre Dame, hypocritically aspires to transcend this debate, but your record and actions indicate otherwise. You are radically down to earth in your support of unrestricted abortion rights. This means that you will, or you have, nominated a pro-abortion judge to this vacancy. And so we come to the central point of this message, declared by a minister of Jesus Christ, speaking in His name and on His behalf. You may not do this. And if by the time this message is preached, you have already placed such a name in nomination, you are commanded by the Lord Jesus to repent and withdraw that name. The one to whom you answer forbids what you are doing.

You said in the campaign that you did not have “a litmus test” for your nominees, but it is important for you to know and recognize that the Lord Jesus does have a litmus test for judges. He requires them to hate injustice and to judge righteously (Dt. 1:16), to defend the fatherless (Is. 1:23; Jer. 5:28), and to keep the land from being soaked with the blood of innocents (Hos. 6:6-8; Ps. 10:18).

Only Sheep and Goats
The kings in our text discovered what it was to sink away from the presence of the Lord. Faithful kings bring their honor and glory into the New Jerusalem, but those who descend into the pit are tumbling from a great height, a height which they refused to understand. Josef Stalin once dismissively asked how many divisions the pope had, but this betrays a radical confusion about the nature of Christ’s rule. It is kings who hide in the rocks of the mountains (Rev. 6:15). God is the one who sent an angel to summon the birds of the air so that they might gorge themselves on the flesh of kings (Rev. 19:18). When you finally come to stand before Him, the one who is a true King, there will be no presidents or parliaments, no Congresses and no courts. There will only be sheep and goats.

Working on a Building III