Keep Moving! part 2

Let’s read our Scripture passage for this study, Ezekiel 47:1-9, printed here from the Christian Standard Bible

“Then he brought me back to the entrance of the temple and there was water flowing 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 threshold of the temple, south of the altar. 2 Next he brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate that faced east; there the water was trickling from the south side. 3 As the man went out east with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a third of a mile and led me through the water. It came up to my ankles. 4 Then he measured off a third of a mile and led me through the water. It came up to my knees.  He measured off another third of a mile and led me through the water. It came up to my waist. 5 Again he measured off a third of a mile, and it was a river that I could not cross on foot. For the water had risen; it was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be crossed on foot. 

6 He asked me, “Do you see this, son of man?” Then he led me back to the bank of the river. 7 When I had returned, I saw a very large number of trees along both sides of the riverbank. 8 He said to me, “This water flows out to the eastern region and goes down to the Arabah. When it enters the sea, the sea of foul water, the water of the sea becomes fresh. 9 Every kind of living creature that swarms will live wherever the river flows, and there will be a huge number of fish because this water goes there. Since the water will become fresh, there will be life everywhere the river goes.”

(I admit that there is so much more here than we can possibly unpack in five short segments this week, but I believe that what we will see this week will be a blessing to each of us).

We are looking at a powerful revelation about how the stream became a river not because there was more water emptying in from other streams, or because the force of the water changed from God’s side, but because of Ezekiel’s proximity.
 

The same thing is true for you and me. It is through or by our proximity that God’s presence, power and glory are experienced, increased, and manifested to us, in us, and through us. 
 

Thinking of the Scripture passage we read yesterday, let’s pay special attention to where this river came from. It came out of the temple. Now, the temple represents the place where God lives and it symbolizes His presence. And we need to notice that everything starts at the door. Jesus is the Door into the Father’s house and the Father’s presence. No one can come to the Father, except through Me (Jesus Christ). If you don’t come through the door, Jesus said, you are a thief and a robber.
 

Then, notice that this river flowed out from under the right side of the altar. The altar is the place of surrender and sacrifice. The altar is the place where self is crucified. The altar is where our will, our plans, and our desires must die so that the Christ life can shine through us.

Continued tomorrow