We have only two early mornings left, and that means that there is a very great deal in Ezekiel that we shall not be able to consider.
So, this morning, I suggest that we give our attention to Ezekiel 47. As you know, this is the chapter of the river. I think that this chapter is well enough known by you that we shall not have to read it right through.
Of course, we ought to read also the second chapter of the Book of Acts, because I feel that Ezekiel 47 and Acts 2 go together. The second chapter of Acts is the New Testament fulfilment of what we have here in this chapter in Ezekiel.
But there is a passage of Scripture between the two, and that is in the seventh chapter of John’s Gospel. We will read John 7:37.
Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.
He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water.
But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believed on Him were to receive: for the Spirit was not yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Now, strict interpretation demands that we observe one point. That to which the Lord Jesus was referring in John 7 was not strictly what we have in Ezekiel 47.
That last day, the great day of the feast, was related to the Feast of Tabernacles. That takes us a long way back before Ezekiel. It takes us back into the life of Israel in the old days.
You know that the Feast of Tabernacles was the commemoration of their coming out of Egypt and living in tents in the wilderness. We need not go into the details of that, because that is not our subject. It was to that that Jesus was referring here in John 7.
Ezekiel 47 is not a celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles, but there are some features which are in common. Ezekiel 47, John 7, and Acts 2 have some common features.
You know that when Jesus said those words, He was in the temple at Jerusalem. It was in the temple that the Feast of Tabernacles was being celebrated.
And at that time, the priest went down to the pool and brought water back and poured it out over the threshold of the temple. Now Jesus took hold of that and applied it to Himself.
Now, the common feature of these three places—Ezekiel, John, and Acts—is this: the waters are flowing out from the house.
And then there is another common feature. In the house, as we have seen, everything related to the Man glorified on the throne. The Man glorified on the throne governed everything.
Now here in John 7, John makes that comment: “This spake He of the Spirit, which they that believed on Him were to receive: for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
So that pointed on to the future, when Jesus was glorified. Undoubtedly, that was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost. Jesus was glorified, and the waters came out from the house.
So that we do have some common features. Now we can consider some details of Ezekiel 47.
But to begin with, we must note that this whole situation sets forth a condition in this dispensation. As we said earlier, there is a large school that believes that all this belongs to the millennium.
Well, the situation in this chapter is not a millennial situation. Neither does this fully correspond to the end of the Book of Revelation.
It is true that in that book we have the river flowing out from the throne of God, and there are many pictures there like these features in Ezekiel. But this is probably neither the millennium nor the coming age.
It relates to the dispensation in which we are living. It is a scene of death and disease. These waters are to overcome death, and the leaves of these trees are for medicine, to heal disease. It is a scene of great need.
In the millennium, death will be suspended for a time. At the end of the Book of Revelation, death is no more. Here, death has to be met and overcome. Here, an unhealthy condition has to be dealt with.
It is important to realise that this chapter applies to the present dispensation.
Now let us take note of a few other details. I mentioned that you can see the source of the river.
The source of the river is somewhere hidden under the threshold of the house. It says that the waters issue from under the threshold of the house.
Now we have a little difficulty here, because it says that the waters issued from under the threshold and came down by the south side of the house. It seems to be a little contradiction.
I think we should conclude that they came out of the threshold and moved towards the side of the house.
Now we know that the Lord had said about the sanctuary that it was the place of His throne and the place of His glory.
I think we have to conclude that the waters start from there. Of course, this is all type and symbol. We are not told exactly where the waters start, but we are told that they came out under the threshold.
I think that we can conclude that they started in the place of the throne and the glory. That is a hidden place in the presence of God.
You know that God was hidden in the sanctuary. Now the Man in heaven is hidden in the sanctuary. He is the heavenly mystery. He is on the throne. He is glorified.
And then the Spirit comes out from Him as in that position and in that condition.
We remember that Jesus said that afterward He would not manifest Himself to the world. He would manifest Himself to witnesses whom He had chosen.
After His resurrection, He did not show Himself personally to the world. So far as the world is concerned, Jesus has gone right out. The world does not know of His personal existence.
He is a mystery to the world. He is an unreality to the world because He has hidden Himself from the world. He is hidden in heaven.
But there is a manifestation of Him, and that is in the Spirit of life which comes out from the sanctuary.
Christ is not only personally in heaven; He is enshrined within the heavenly Church. To the world in this dispensation, Jesus is still a mystery, and the Church is a mystery. The Church is not understood.
But this is the mystery: Christ in you, the hope of glory.
And perhaps you Bible students know that the literal translation is, “Christ in the midst of you, the hope of glory.” Of course, Christ is in us personally and individually, but there is Christ in the midst of you. The Church is the context of those words.
The mystery which is great among the nations is Christ in the midst of the Church. That is the hope of glory.
So Paul says, “Unto Him be the glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus.”
The world can only know the mystery by the life which flows out from the Church. That is what happened on the Day of Pentecost. By the river which came out from the Church, the world became aware that Jesus is alive.
This is the only way in which the mystery is made known. The waters come out from the sanctuary.
You know that is what it says in Ezekiel 47:12: “Because the waters thereof issue out of the sanctuary.”
You know that there is a difference between the temple and the sanctuary. The whole of this is the house.
But they are still hidden until they issue from the Church. They are a mystery. The mystery is made known when they come out of the house.
I wonder if you are following what I mean. This is also true to the teaching of the New Testament.
That is the first detail. The second is that they go towards the east.
Now, as you see, it is the front that is the east. It says here that the temple faces towards the east.
Now, that is also an interesting point. That did not literally happen on the Day of Pentecost. On the Day of Pentecost, the waters literally went towards the west. They went towards Rome and Europe.
This great river that started on the Day of Pentecost did not go towards the east; it went towards the west. I suppose it has come to the east since then.
Well, there is a point here: we are not to take this literally. Why was the house built with its gate towards the east? Why do these waters move towards the east?
Well, of course, the east is always the symbol for a new day. The sun rises in the east. The world day begins in the east. Therefore, the east is the symbol of a new day.
It is quite clear that this river means a new day for everything and everybody.
It is that new day to which the Lord Jesus refers:
The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth.
When Jesus was speaking about the coming of the Holy Spirit, He said, “In that day.” How often He used those words: “In that day.” That is the day of the Spirit—the new dispensation, the dispensation of the Holy Spirit.
So here we have another proof that it is this dispensation. It is in this dispensation that God is offering a new day to everyone, because it is new in many respects.
All the old things of that past generation are gone. The old things are types and symbols. The old things are forms and ceremonies. Those old things are passed away. All things have become new.
And this is the river that makes all things new. It is the day of the Holy Spirit. So it flows towards the east. The Spirit brings in a new day.
This man measures four times a thousand cubits. He measured a thousand, and the waters were up to the ankles. Another thousand, and they were up to the knees. Another thousand, and they were up to the loins. And he measured another thousand, and they were waters to swim in.
But I think the symbolism is very simple. This is the progressive fullness of the Spirit—the progressive fullness of Christ.
In the beginning, there is immense intrinsic potentiality. It may be small in Jerusalem. It may be small at its beginning, but that is only a comparative matter.
Of course, it was a very great thing that happened on the Day of Pentecost in Jerusalem. But compared with what came afterward, it is small.
The beginning is small in comparison with all Judaea and Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth. But in that small beginning, there are all the potentialities to meet the whole world.
The scope of this river increases, but what is here in the waters is sufficient to meet all the need, however great. Jesus is sufficient for all.
That is what it means. There is sufficiency in Christ, ministered by the Spirit, to meet the greatest need. There is no need, however great, which cannot be met by this river.
It does not matter where the river comes. Wheresoever the river comes, everything lives. If you study this chapter, you will see that there is no situation for which these waters are not equal.
And yet one must make a reservation in that statement. It says later in the chapter that there is something that will not be healed, that will be given over to salt.
There is such a thing as resisting the Holy Spirit. Judas did not come into the good of the day of the Spirit.
And there is in the New Testament this possibility of sinning against the Holy Spirit. Where that is deliberately and persistently done, then there is not life, but death.
But provided there is no deliberate and conscious refusal of the Spirit, the Spirit is equal to every situation.
How great is the Spirit? He is altogether incomprehensible. The prophet says it was a river that could not be passed through.
This is something that is altogether impossible to cope with. The coming of the Spirit is likened to a mighty rushing wind.
Well, you know something about that in this country. When you have that at certain times in the year, it is no use trying to cope with that. You cannot resist that. It will carry your houses away. It will carry everything before it. It is irresistible.
The Spirit came like that on the Day of Pentecost. This thing cannot be managed by man. You cannot bring the Holy Spirit within the compass of your ability.
It is a river that could not be passed over. This is too much for man. Oh, that we knew the Spirit like this.
And here, in principle, this is what the Spirit does. He refuses to be tied up to our human systems and our human measures. He refuses to be limited to our natural man. He refuses to be limited to our traditions and our prejudices.
That is what we find in the Book of Acts. The Holy Spirit is too much for the people in Jerusalem. He is too much for Peter and all Peter’s prejudices. He is too much for Herod the king. He is too much for everything that gets in His way.
He is a river that you cannot control.
Now, for the Spirit to be like that, to be expressing Himself in that way, there will only be this fullness and power of the Spirit if these two things exist.
The first is the absolute authority of the throne. That is the absolute authority of the Man on the throne.
We have said again and again that the Man on the throne governs everything. Everything in the whole book comes under the Man on the throne.
So, in the Book of Acts, we see the Man on the throne governing everything. It is the absolute lordship and headship of Jesus Christ.
Until God gets what He wants—and John has shown quite clearly that what He wants is His Church, or His house—this cannot be realised.
When God gets His house established and constituted according to Christ, then this will happen. When God has that which He wants, we shall have the Spirit.
God will not give His Spirit in fullness and power to something that does not correspond to His mind. So, these two things are essential.
This increasing measure says to us that the Lord never desires to leave His people ankle-deep in the Spirit.
It is not the Lord’s will that we should have the Spirit and life just up to our ankles. Neither is it His design that we shall have it up to our knees, nor up to our loins.
The Lord’s will is waters to swim in—waters that are too much for us.
But this is rather a terrible situation. I think that you might detect in Ezekiel that he was a bit frightened. To him, this was a terrible situation.
And when it is said like this, of course it is terrible. We want to keep our feet on sure ground. We do not want to be swept off our feet. The Church wants to have its feet on this earth.
Well, you know what that means spiritually. And yet the Lord says that we should be swept right off our feet. We should be carried out into depths for which we have no measure.
There are two little words here: “a river that could not be passed through.” There is a great gulf of the Spirit over all human capacity.
Now we go on. The next thing is the banks and the trees. The banks of the river are referred to.
This is a river that is flowing between banks. It is not just a flood, bursting itself all over. This river is running between banks.
You know, the Holy Spirit has a way. He has a way that He will take. He has His own mind as to which way He will take.
He says, “I am going this way.” It is no good our saying, “Well, we are going another way.”
You have a lot of that in the Book of Acts. Paul spoke of seeking to preach the Word in Bithynia and going towards Asia, but he said, “The Spirit of Jesus suffered us not.”
And it turned out that the Spirit was going to Macedonia at that time. Now, if Paul had gone to Bithynia or Asia, he would have gone away from the Spirit.
The Spirit will say, “I am going this way at this time. If you want to be with Me, you must come My way.”
That is what happened to Peter. The Spirit was moving towards the Gentiles, but Peter wanted to go his way.
The Spirit said, in effect, “If you want to go with Me, you must go My way. I am not coming your way. I am not coming the way of your tradition and your prejudice. Today, this is the way that I am taking.”
And when Peter went that way, he found the Spirit in greater fullness than he had ever known before.
I think you see the principle. The banks represent a definite and clearly designed way that the Spirit is taking.
The river may not be just one straight line, but it will always flow between banks. The Spirit always knows exactly what He is doing and what He is after. How important it is for us to be in the banks with the Spirit.
And then the trees on either side of the river. These trees in the New Testament are the living witnesses.
I suppose the passage which best sets that forth is this:
And He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ:
till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.
Here are living witnesses on the banks of the river. God has had His trees all down the centuries. They are the living witnesses, bearing testimony to the fullness of life in Christ and leading on towards the fullness of Christ.
There is a rather interesting thing to note here:
It shall come to pass, that every living creature which swarmeth, in every place whither the rivers come, shall live.
I do not know whether you have got a mark in your Bible against that word “rivers.” In the Hebrew it says, “whither the two rivers come.” First of all, it is in the plural in the Hebrew.
My Bible gives me a reference in the margin which says, “Whither the two rivers come.” That is the Hebrew.
Now, that seems to upset everything, does it not? But I think again, it is a symbol. Perhaps this river did divide into two.
But two in the Bible is the number of adequate testimony. Wherever you find the number two, you find sufficient testimony.
In the mouth of two witnesses everything shall be established. “Whatsoever two of you shall agree.” Two by two: two is the number of sufficient testimony.
What we have here is, by the Spirit, sufficient testimony in the witnesses.
Now we must close. The effect of it all is life.
Because I would like to say a lot about this. The test of everything is life.
The test as to whether Jesus is Lord is found in the life. The test as to whether the house is in order will be in the life. The test whether the Spirit is having His way will be the life.
Life is the testimony. So John says, “The testimony is this, that God gave unto us eternal life.”
And so we close for the time being.
Ezekiel had been told to show all this to the house of Israel. In order to show it all to others, the prophet had to be caused to go that way himself.
“He caused me to go” this way before we can show it to anyone else. This is not just objective teaching.
This is the experience of the servant of the Lord.