Bible Commentaries
Ezekiel 47

Verses 1-23

1. COME ON IN…THE WATERS FINE! (47)
   1. (1-12) Similarities between this event & Rev.22 yet they are distinct.
      1. Rev deals with the eternal state; Ezekiel deals w/the millennium.
   2. Q: Remember learning how to swim? (I was 10, late)
   3. Q: Remember the 1^st time you went in the deep end of the pool? (fear, faith, trust)
   4. This river speaks of the healing & life giving power of the H.S. of God.
      1. Let’s look at its Source, Course, & Force!
   5. [1] SOURCE! – From under the threshold of the Temple. (vs.1a)
   6. Jerusalem had no natural river(like most ancient capitals); but here a supernatural river is seen flowing from the house of God.
      1. Doesn’t the Holy Spirit flow down to us as rivers of living water?
         1. Read Jn.7:37-39 (esp.39)
      2. This river speaks of the healing & life giving power of the H.S. of God.
   7. [2] COURSE! – Toward the East. (vs.1b)
   8. Why eastward? – Toward the east country is the desert & the Dead Sea(explain).
      1. Which needs to be healed (1 from its barrenness & 1 from its bitterness)!
      2. The barren will become fruitful & the bitter to be healed.
      3. Barrenness becomes Loveliness & Sterility becomes Productivity!
      4. What a picture of the Spirit-filled, & Spirit-controlled Christian life!
   9. Illustration: In Blythe it’s mostly farmland. They have many cement water troughs that surround their fields. At each turn they have a “sluice-gate”(flood-gate) that controls the flow.
      1. Jesus opened the Spirit-gate at Pentecost. And as water seeks its own course, He seeks to channel His course through consecrated believers, so as to communicate new life & abundance in the midst of surrounding spiritual death & unfruitfulness!
   10. [3] FORCE! – ankles, knees, waist, swim. (vs.3-5)
   11. 1^st it reaches his ankles, then knees, then waist, then deep enough to swim in.
       1. To the babes in Christ, there are the shallows for wading.
       2. For others, the waters are knee deep, enough for splashing.
       3. Then there are waters up to the waist, for those learning to swim.
       4. And finally, the deep waters for the well-trained swimmers.
   12. God wants us to be swimmers not “puddlers”!
       1. We must grow up to full Christian manhood/womanhood until we can live in the deep waters of the Spirit.
       2. Q: How can you learn to swim if you avoid the water?
   13. No matter how deep you want to go into the things of God the opportunity is there.
       1. It’s tragic that too many linger in the shallows when they could be enjoying the depths.
   14. Some young believers are swimming in the deep end right away! And unfortunately some older Christians are only up to their ankles!
       1. The fullness is for you just down stream a little bit!
       2. Another words, the deeper the channel through our hearts & lives, the more deeply the Holy Spirit will flow through us.
       3. It’s not claiming it, it is yielding to it.
       4. You can’t commandeer these waters, so stop asking, claiming, praying, begging, & start yielding. Let them start having there ways in us. There is no restraint on the part of the Holy Spirit.
   15. The fresh-flowing, ever-deepening, heart-gladdening, life- transforming river is there for us! Oh that we might find those waters to swim in.
   16. (13-23) Borders – The divisions & geographical changes in the land.
       1. Israel was promised the land under the Abrahamic Covenant.
       2. It was unconditional – its fulfillment was based on God’s promise alone. (reiterated in Deut.30:1-10)
       3. It is divided equally between the 12 tribes, with Joseph receiving a double portion through his sons (Ephraim & Manasseh)