Sunday, November 16, 2014
In Ezekiel 39, which we read last
week, God says, “Now
I will restore the fortunes of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of
Israel … 28 Then
they shall know that I am the Lord their God
because I sent them into exile among the nations, and then gathered them into
their own land” (from verses 25, 28). They shall know that I am the Lord their
God. The prophet Ezekiel’s entire
program of speaking prophecy to Jews in exile came down to this. Israel and the world would know who the only
God is and would know that God is in control.
Holiness
stands out as a major theme in this profit’s work. The sovereignty, that is the unquestioned authority
and power of God, stands out; Ezekiel’s message is clear. Nothing that happened to Israel diminished
God’s identity. Everything that happened
to the chosen people took place because God is God.
So
where does it lead?
Ezekiel
ends his prophecy in chapters 40-48, showing the eternal vision God has given
for Israel. Ezekiel is shown pictures
that make sense in the 6th century BC. Even though the Babylonians had destroyed the
temple in Jerusalem, the Jews still thought about it. They dreamed of the day they might again live
as God’s people in Jerusalem, the city of David and worship in a newly built
temple.
The
city was the center of religious life.
Everything flowed from there and returned there. So, Ezekiel’s picture of the future of God’s
blessings for God’s people and for the world is Jerusalem-centered and focused
on a new temple, an eternal dwelling of God.
I think the picture in Ezekiel 40-48 is an extended metaphor representing
eternal life in God’s presence. The blemishes
of sin and past mistakes are removed. Ezekiel
tells us God has promised to give His people a new heart. By way of God’s grace given to Israel, the
world can have a right relationship with God.
Ezekiel
tells us the hand of the Lord was on him.
“He
brought me, in visions of God, to the land of Israel, and set me down upon a
very high mountain, on which was a structure like a city to the south. 3 When
he brought me there, a man was there, whose appearance shone like bronze, with
a linen cord and a measuring reed in his hand; and he was standing in the
gateway” (40:2-3). From there, at the
prompting of this man of Heaven, Ezekiel walks through a vision of the end
times.
Within
this vision, one picture stands out to me - chapter 47, the river. Ezekiel’s river shows life – life in the
kingdom of God both in the end times when Heaven and Earth have come together
and the dead in Christ have been raised, and also life we as live it right
now.
The
river flows out from Jerusalem and everywhere it goes, life springs up. Recall Genesis chapter 9. After Noah and his family came off the ark
and the flood waters receded, it was time to get back to the purposes of God. Genesis 9 says, “God blessed Noah and his
sons, and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill this earth’”
(v.1). God gave the same command to Adam
and Eve (Genesis 1:28). “Go out.” Jesus gave the same idea to the disciples. “Go … and make disciples of all nations.”
To
live in the world is to expand under God’s watchful eye with God walking
alongside every step of the way. God
wills us to go and as we do, we bring life.
Ezekiel’s river flowed from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is
so salty, nothing can live in it. But in
God’s Kingdom, the water of life flowing from God’s throne empties into the sea
bringing new life. Ezekiel’s river makes
the water pure, fresh, clean and renewing.
It becomes the Living Sea. The
river’s flow is the flow of God working through God’s people to share the good
news of hope, peace, life and love that we receive from God. In his the death and resurrection, and in the
announcement of his gospel by you and me – his church, Jesus fulfills Ezekiel’s
vision of living water bring new life to where there was no life.
Where
people are defeated in addictions, we flow with grace and love and the hope
that life can begin again. Where people
are broken by loss, divorce, grief, and dreams that have been crushed, we
embrace them, introduce them to God’s love, and help them dream again. Where people are paralyzed in poverty, we
lend a hand as we are blessed by the richness of their spirit. Whether our going out is throughout our
region, the Triangle, or parts of the world far from here, we are that river
flowing from Jerusalem, carrying Jesus’ gospel, carrying the hope of
resurrection to dead places.
As
the prophet describes this river, something beautiful happens. “People stand fishing beside the sea; … it
will be a place for spreading nets” (47:10).
The now fresh Living Sea will draw people to it. And the church – the body of Christ – will
draw the lost and hurting world to him.
We have drunk the living water.
We go out. Those who do not know
God are gathered to the living.
Jesus
said as much in John chapter 7. “Let
anyone who is thirsty come to me, and the let the one who believes in me
drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out
of the believer’s heart shall flow streams of living water’” (v.37-38). Ezekiel’s river, the life of the eternal
Kingdom of God, spreads out and scatters.
It also gathers the world together into the salvation of God. Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel each imagined
the world coming to God by way of God’s holy city.
From
Isaiah 60: “Nations shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of
your dawn. … Foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall
minister to you” (v.3, 10). Ezekiel says
even strangers and aliens who live among the Jews will be as citizens of
Israel, recipients of all the promises of God.
In Romans chapter 9, 10, & 11, we see that in Christ gentiles are as
citizens of Israel. Ezekiel’s river
spreads and gathers. Life in God, is
both going out, and coming together, spreading and gathering.
And
Nourishing.
Ezekiel
saw trees along the river. Chapter 47,
Verse 12 - “On the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all
kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but
they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from
the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing”.
People imagine life in Heaven. From time to time, I hear it. Sometime I entertain myself with such
fantasies. In Heaven, I am going to have a 10-scoop chocolate and caramel Sunday
for every meal and I’ll never gain a pound!
I wonder if ice cream with chocolate and caramel sauce would get old
after 10,000 years. I wonder if the
fruit off those trees along Ezekiel’s river would make me forget any ice cream
I ever had. In Christ, we don’t need to dream
about our meals in Heaven. We know the
promises of God either have come true through all Jesus has done, or are coming
true.
We eagerly anticipate resurrection,
Heaven and Earth coming together, renewed.
We know our eternity has begun – life with each other and with God. The blessings we experience in the life of
the church, in worship, in sharing the gospel of God’s love – these are hints
of what is to come.
When John was shown a vision of
eternity, Heaven and Earth joined, he, like Ezekiel saw the holy city,
Jerusalem. He describes it in Revelation
21-22. In his image, there is one key
difference from Ezekiel’s picture. In
Ezekiel, the living water flows from the temple. In Revelation, we read John’s words. “I saw no temple in the city for its temple
is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb” (21:22). Of course the Lamb is God as we meet God in
Jesus.
Then John writes the following.
22 Then the angel[a] showed me
the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of
God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of
the river is the tree of life[b] with its
twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the
tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 Nothing
accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb
will be in it, and his servants[c] will
worship him; 4 they will see his face, and his name will be on their
foreheads. 5 And there will
be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their
light, and they will reign forever and ever.
6 And he said to
me, “These words are trustworthy and true, for the Lord, the God of the spirits
of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants[d] what must
soon take place.”
7 “See, I am
coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this
book.”
Ezekiel shared
all that he saw, but he did not have the benefit of knowing that after God had
ended the exile, God would take the more radical step of becoming human and
ending death’s power by the sacrificial death of the Messiah. Ezekiel’s vision leads to Jesus and Jesus’
resurrection and invitation to all people leads to the picture in
Revelation. I believe in the eternal
kingdom, in the resurrection, we will continue to spread life as the river
flows. We will continue to gather to
God. Yes, the trees of unending fruit
like we cannot imagine and the river itself are metaphors. But they are metaphors for something that
will be far greater than we have the ability to describe. We can count on that as our eternity.
Until we enter
resurrection, we live in hope and when we meet defeated, hopeless people, we
love them and invite them to share in the hope that we have. That is Gospel work and when we do it, the
river flows on.
AMEN
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