Pastor Marcus Blair, Grandview Baptist Church
One of the best aspects of being a Christian is there is always something more to learn. Any Christian, no matter how experienced and knowledgeable, who thinks he has explored the depths of God fully is wrong.
God is unfathomable in his ways. We can spend our lifetimes simply trying to comprehend his never-ending love, his care and compassion for his people, and his ultimate mind.
In Ezekiel chapter 47, the prophet had a tremendous vision of the temple of God as it will be in the thousand-year reign of Christ on earth, still to come in our future. An angel gave Ezekiel a tour of every part of the temple, noting its measurements, and then showed him something truly magnificent: a river running from the temple through Jerusalem.
Historically, Jerusalem has never had a river. Residents had to rely on cisterns to hold water, and one king constructed a tunnel to pipe water to the city. What a surprise it must have been to Ezekiel to see an enormous river running from the temple through Jerusalem! The river he saw came from God himself – the flow literally began at the throne of God. It was teeming with life, surrounded by fruitful trees, and basically a transformation of the arid Jerusalem landscape.
This water, living and nourishing, represents more than natural water. Jesus told the woman at the well that he would give her “living water,” which was a way of describing the Holy Spirit. He told her she would never thirst again if she drank this water, and then a spring of it would come from her own heart. This indicated a spiritual truth: when God places his Spirit inside a person, the living water will satisfy our thirst for life and will flow forth to touch others around us. Life in the Spirit even benefits those around you. No wonder the river Ezekiel saw was full of and surrounded by life!
For the complete column, see this week’s edition of the Centralia Fireside Guard
