Ezekiel was already in Babylon when he prophesied around the same time as Jeremiah in the early decades of the sixth century BC. We have been looking at just a few of the messages he delivered to bring hope to the Jews in Exile. We thought about the promises in Ezekiel 34 that the Lord will be Israel’s shepherd, replacing Israel’s leaders who were bad shepherds. We looked at the glorious promises of cleansing and a new heart and a new Spirit in Ezekiel 36. Last time we thought about God breathing life into the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37. Chapters 40 to 48 look ahead to the new Temple which will be built when the Exiles will return to rebuild Jerusalem. God’s glory will fill the temple once again, the priesthood will be restored and they will offer sacrifices to God once again. Then in Ezekiel 47 we come to this inspiring prophecy about the river of life flowing out from the new temple.
Especially in hot countries in the Middle East, rivers like the Jordan and the Nile are sources of water which are vital for all forms of life. But it should go without saying that this prophecy is not talking about a literal river of water. As with so many prophecies, the river is symbolic. It represents the abundance of God’s blessings. Throughout the Bible the river is the symbol of God’s grace and provision. It is also a picture of the God’s promised glorious salvation – cleansing, peace, joy and love.
Psalm 46 had pointed forward to this river of blessing.
Psalm 46 4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.
Isaiah had also looked forward to the streams in the desert which God would provide to bless his chosen people.
Isaiah 43 18 ‘Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
20 The wild animals honour me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen,
21 the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.
The prophet Joel had used the same picture of a river flowing out of the temple bringing life everywhere it flowed.
Joel 3 18 “In that day the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills will flow with milk; all the ravines of Judah will run with water. A fountain will flow out of the LORD’s house and will water the valley of acacias.
So now let’s look at Ezekiel’s wonderful prophecy of the river of life
Ezekiel 47:1 The man brought me back to the entrance to the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple towards the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. 2 He then brought me out through the north gate and led me round the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was trickling from the south side.
We begin with the source of the river. It is flowing from the new Temple. Of all the places on earth, the Temple in Jerusalem is where God is most present. The Temple is the place where God lives, where God’s people go to meet with Him and to worship God and to receive His blessings. Water flows from God Himself. Quite rightly, because God is the source of all life and all blessings.
More specifically, the source of the waters is the altar. The altar is where sacrifices are offered for sin. The altar is the source of forgiveness. The waters flow out from the altar and from the Temple into the world. God is the source of the river. But there is something else which is remarkable about it.
Ezekiel 47 3 As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits (that’s about 500 yards) and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. 4 He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep.
Every other river gets stronger as it goes downstream because of feeder streams adding to the body of water. But this river of life is different. It gets deeper and stronger all by itself. All the water flowed directly from the source. This river didn’t need feeder streams to grow deeper and deeper. God’s river of life does not need anything else added to it from the world to make it grow. All by itself the river gets deeper and deeper. And deeper still.
4 He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. 5 He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross. 6 He asked me, ‘Son of man, do you see this?’
The river of God flows out from the Temple getting deeper and deeper as it goes. God’s river brings ever increasing blessings to more and more people and places. And the way the depth of the river is always increasing gives us an invitation to keep on going deeper and deeper with God. There is always more and more of God and of his blessings to discover and experience. God’s desire is that we should be continually moving deeper and deeper with Him. Some Christians are content just to dip their toes into the waters of life. Some Christians like to paddle ankle deep or even go knee-deep but no further. Some Christians like to wade in the river of life but are afraid to go any deeper. Perhaps they are scared that they will end up in over their heads. Perhaps they are afraid that they will drown – but God will never let us drown.
Isaiah 43 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.
Just a few Christians are brave and trusting enough to go swimming in God’s river of life, to be out of their depth where their feet can’t touch the river bed anymore. To just be carried along by the current of God’s love and power to wherever God wants to take them. None of us should want to spend our lives keeping our feet on dry land. We shouldn’t be content just to dip our toes into God. We each have the choice – we can paddle around on the edges, or we can go swimming. We should all be ready to dive in deep into the river of life.
Snoopy was sitting droopy-eyed at the entrance of his kennel. He sighed deeply. “Yesterday I was a dog. Today I’m a dog. Tomorrow I’ll probably still be a dog. There’s such little hope for advancement.” In the Christian life there is always hope for advancement! We can always go deeper with God.
There’s a beautiful song by Doug Horley & Noel Richards.
I WANT TO BE OUT OF MY DEPTH IN YOUR LOVE,
Feeling Your arms so strong around me.
Out of my depth in Your love, Out of my depth in You.
Learning to let You lead, Putting all trust in You;
Deeper into Your arms, Surrounded by You.
Things I have held so tight, Made my security;
Give me the strength I need To simply let go.
Out of my depth in Your love, Out of my depth in You.
The river of life gets deeper and deeper. If nothing else, Ezekiel’s wonderful prophecy of the river is an invitation to each one of us to go deeper and deeper with God. But then we see how the river also brings new life.
Ezekiel 47:6 …. Then he led me back to the bank of the river. 7 When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. 8 He said to me, ‘This water flows towards the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh. 9 Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live.
Wherever the river flows, everything the river touches will live. Because the river consists of flowing water, not still water, but constantly moving, constantly refreshing. It provides an abundance of all kinds of fish for food. And also many kinds of trees.
Ezekiel 47 12 Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.’
The trees supply abundant fruit for food, every month and not just once a year, because they are constantly nourished by the river of life. And the leaves of the trees provide healing.

Isaiah had also foretold trees growing beside flowing streams.
Isaiah 44 3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. 4 They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams.
In Isaiah’s prophecy, the trees beside the river represented the people of God receiving abundant blessings. We find that same picture in Psalm 1.
Psalm 1 1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither – whatever they do prospers.
The trees growing by the river represent the people of God. And did you notice that Isaiah was also explicit that the flowing streams represented God pouring out his Holy Spirit on His people.
Isaiah 44 3 … I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. 4 They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams.
The river of the Holy Spirit brings abundant life to God’s people. In turn the trees bring food and healing to the world.
Ezekiel 47 12 Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.’
I am sure you will have noticed how this prophecy about the river of life is echoed in the book of Revelation. The river gives us a picture of the blessings we look forward to in glory.
Revelation 22:1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
In the celestial city all God’s blessings of the river of the water of life will flow out from the throne of God and of the Lamb. But Jesus has told us we do not need to wait until glory. Believers can experience these waters here and now. Christians receive a foretaste of all the blessings of heaven here and now through the Holy Spirit. Jesus told the woman at the well in Samaria,
John 4 13 … whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’
And Jesus made this promise to his disciples.
John 7 37 … ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’ 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
As believers we can experience the living waters of the Holy Spirit here and now flowing into our lives, fulfilling the promise of Ezekiel 47. But the river does not just flow into us. It also flows out through us and from us out to others. We are the new temple, where God lives by his Holy Spirit, as we learned from 1 Peter 2 and also from Ephesians 2. So as Christians we are not only the first recipients of the blessings of the river of life. As the new Temple we are also the channels of the river of God’s living waters to the needy world. God blesses us so that we take his blessings to others.
There are two seas in Palestine – the Sea of Galilee, fresh and full of life, and the Dead Sea, bitter and lifeless. Water flows into the Sea of Galilee and then out again in the Jordan River. The Dead Sea is also fed by the Jordan river, but it is dead because it has no outlet. This makes it the most salty body of water on earth, containing almost ten times as much salt as sea water. Some Christians are like the Sea of Galilee, fresh and abundantly fruitful. Some other Christians are like the Dead Sea, bitter and barren, because they are always taking in but never giving out.
RIVER, WASH OVER ME, Cleanse me and make me new.
Bathe me, refresh me and fill me anew, River wash over me.
So here is Ezekiel’s glorious prophecy of the river of life. It points us to the blessings we can receive through the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It also challenges us to be channels of those blessing to a needy world. And it invites us to step out in faith and go deeper and deeper with God.
We spent last Sunday in the Swiss city of Basel on the banks of the mighty river Rhine, which is the second largest river in Western and Central Europe. Where we were the river is around two hundred yards wide. It was a baking hot day and the banks of the river were filled with people sunbathing. Lots of them were going out into the water to swim. Many were just floating downstream. Then half a mile or a mile later they would get out of the water, walk back along the bank and then go straight back in to swim again. Are we just dipping our toes into the rivers of the water of life? Or are we prepared to be like those people, ready to dive in and swim out of our depth and let the mighty river of the Holy Spirit carry us wherever he chooses?