Ezekiel 47 is set in the section of this prophecy that describes the great temple which the prophet saw. In this fourth picture of revival, there is a river which flows from the east gate of the temple, rising initially from under the altar. Ezekiel is led by a man, with a line in his hand which measures the depth of the waters. The prophet is gradually brought into the river by the man with the measuring line until eventually he swims in the current. As Ezekiel returns to the shore he notices that the river is teeming with fish and the shores are abundant in trees and vegetation,

The lesson for Israel was apparent. In their captivity they were suffering from a state of spiritual barrenness. God, however, was promising a new beginning for his people. There was a promise of spiritual abundance and spiritual life, waters to swim in, he would make his people fruitful once again.

The vision, preeminently, however, promises revival to the New Testament Church. Water is a common type of the person and work of the Holy Ghost. We have noticed this already in Ezekiel with the picture of “showers of blessing”. There, revival is likened to rainfall; in this instance, however, it is a river, streams in the desert. This is no ordinary river, however, it is a supernatural deluge bringing life to the barren wilderness. Revival, therefore, is God moving, the Spirit descending, bringing new life to a Church and a community and in so doing causes entire nations have come under its power.

THE BEGINNING OF THE WATERS

The Scriptures are quite definite as to where the waters originate:

Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar.

Eze 47:1

Originating from the altar, these waters show us that revival is a blood bought blessing. Christ promised that after His ascension He would send forth the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, to be with His people forever. As the Holy Spirit was sent forth by the ascended Saviour His first great act was on the Day of Pentecost. Pentecost was the first great revival of the New Testament age. Pentecost was also the giving of the Spirit. Christ did not just give His Spirit to regenerate and infill His people, He was also given to revive. Pentecost, therefore, has become the pattern for revivals in every age. The Church cannot live in constant revival but the Christ who redeemed us has also purchased the power of His Spirit by the shedding of His bloodA. We can, therefore, pray for revival claiming the power of the blood, tarrying at Jerusalem that we might be endued with power from on high.

While the Gospel brings many practical blessings to the world, were it not for the message of Christ’s redemptive work – there would be no benefit. Revival must preeminently be a work of Christ preaching, pressing the claims of the crucified Saviour home to troubled hearts. When the Spirit moves Christ is exalted because His work is a blood bought blessing.

The first place impacted by the flow of water from the altar was the temple. Before the community was affected the temple experience the blessing. In this New Testament age, the temple represents the Church of Jesus Christ, consisting of the living stones all set into place by grace alone. Revival must impact the Church first and then it flows out into our community. Unless God works in our hearts he will not work in our community and our nation.

THE BATHING IN THE WATERS

Ezekiel, however, is led by His into the waters gradually until at last he is carried away on the current:

And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins.
Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over.

Ezekiel 47:3-5

It is the plan of God to touch all of our lives with the fullness of His Spirit.

At times He leads us gradually and progressively into blessing.

The waters to the ankles speaks of our practical walk, our lifestyle whether that be work or family.

The waters to to the knees refers to our praying lives. Our prayers need to be taken out of the normal, beyond the repetition of well worn words and phrases into the spiritual, praying in the Holy Ghost.

The waters to the loins is a picture of human strength. Our core strength is in the loins , our power to balance and function now is dependent upon this core strength. Our strength, though, must be affected by the Spirit’s fullness. If we rely upon our strengths and talents the best that we achieve will fail.

Waters to swim in are something quite different. As long as the waters were to the ankles, knees and loins the prophet was in control. But once he was out of his depth the waters carried him, it now more about the flow and the current. Revival is where God takes charge. For the non-swimmer, being out of one’s depth is fearful, it takes daring and confidence to step into the depths and embrace waters to swim in. God wants us to be under the control of the Holy Ghost, to have the daring to allow Him to take possession of us. This is total surrender, the prime characteristic of a people who experience revival.

“1. The waters of the sanctuary are running waters, as those of a river, not standing waters, as those of a pond. The gospel, when it was first preached, was still spreading further. Grace in the soul is still pressing forward; it is an active principle, plus ultra – onward still, till it comes to perfection.
2. They are increasing waters. This river, as it runs constantly, so the further it goes the fuller it grows. The gospel-church was very small in its beginnings, like a little purling brook; but by degrees it came to be to the ankles, to the knees: many were added to it daily, and the grain of mustard seed grew up to be a great tree. The gifts of the Spirit increase by being exercised, and grace, where it is true, is growing, like the light of the morning, which shines more and more to the perfect day.
3. It is good for us to follow these waters, and go along with them. Observe the progress of the gospel in the world; observe the process of the work of grace in the heart; attend the motions of the blessed Spirit, and walk after them, under a divine guidance, as Ezekiel here did.
4. It is good to be often searching into the things of God, and trying the depth of them, not only to look on the surface of those waters, but to go to the bottom of them as far as we can, to be often digging, often diving, into the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, as those who covet to be intimately acquainted with those things.
5. If we search into the things of God, we shall find some things very plain and easy to be understood, as the waters that were but to the ankles, others more difficult, and which require a deeper search, as the water to the knees or the loins, and some quite beyond our reach, which we cannot penetrate into, or account for, but, despairing to find the bottom, must, as St. Paul, sit down at the brink, and adore the depth…”

Matthew Henry

THE BEAUTY FROM THE WATERS

Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other.
Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed.
And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh.
And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from Engedi even unto Eneglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many.
But the miry places thereof and the marishes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt.
And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.

Ezekiel 47:7-12

The flow of these waters are indicative of Gospel blessings, which alone can satisfy the needs of man.

These waters produce life wherever they flow. Where death once reigned there was now life. The rivers teemed with fish and the banks with fruit, with the very leaves of the trees suitable for medicine. The picture is the same image that John saw of the New Jerusalem where he saw the river of life rising from from the the throne of God and of the Lamb. That was a river with abundant life giving powers, the very leaves healed the nations and the fruit was perennial.

When revival comes new life visits society, as the Gospel makes a profound most upon human life.

“Issuing as this stream does from the threshold of the temple, from the very foot of the throne of God (comp. Rev. xxii. 1), it must be, like all the special manifestations of God to his church, itself of a spiritual nature, and only in its effects productive of outward material good. It is just the efflux of that infinite fulness of life and blessing, which is treasured up in his spiritual temple, and continually pours itself forth as the operations of his grace proceed among men. It is emphatically a river of life. Wherever it is experienced, the barren soil of nature fructifies, the dead live again, the soul is replenished with joy and gladness. And instead of spending, like the streams of nature, as it advances through the moral deserts of the world, it still multiplies and grows; for it diffuses itself from heart to heart, from family to family. Every true recipient of grace becomes a channel and instrument of grace to those around him; so that the more who partake of the blessing, the more always does the region expand over which the kingdom developes its resources. And in proportion as these are developed, everything around wears a smiling and joyous aspect; the evils and disorders of nature are rectified; peace and order reign where before were the favourite haunts of wretchedness and crime; the very field of judgment becomes a region of life and blessing; until, at last, corruption itself is changed into incorruption, mortality is swallowed up in life, and the earth which God had cursed for men’s sin, is transformed into the inheritance of the saints in light.”

Ezekiel, Patrick Fairbairn

The history of the United Kingdom is a remarkable illustration of this. The left wing lobby today with their Marxist view of history delights in rubbishing our history and the British Empire especially. John Howard, former Prime Minister of Australia, caused a storm only this week by suggesting that colonialism by the British was the “luckiest thing” that ever happened to Australia; “Not that they were perfect by any means, but they were infinitely more successful and beneficent colonizers than other European countries.” I wouldn’t use the word lucky, but providential, the British Empire was all in the plan of God for the good of the world. What was the underlying ethos which underpinned Britain? – Protestantism. Furthermore; What was the book that Britain had, which spread our faith and also the English languages to billions across the globe? – the King James Version of the Bible. Some of the greatest and most successful nations on earth were former colonies; United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and India. Colonisation across Africa in countries such as Kenya has deeply influenced the democratic structures, legal systems and civil service. There is evidence today which shows that where the Empire went living standards and health outcomes for local people improved significantly. The benign influence of the British Empire was one of its major successes. Even a country like the Republic of Ireland, which delights in talking down its Colonial past owes its constitution to the model laid down during the Williamite Settlement in England. While our friends across the border may claim that the French and American revolutions were greater influences, it was the 1688 Bill of Rights which influenced them. By contrast South America which were colonised by the Portuguese and Spanish have been less successful and more unstable as nations despite their amazing potential for wealth. The Protestant ethos, the power of the Gospel in civic life was the crucial factor which transformed nations under the British.

The Gospel river in our British history began with men like Wycliffe and Tyndale who laboured to put the Bible into the hands of the people. Beginning, as a little trickle amid the barren wilderness of the ignorance of Romanism the stream grew. Cranmer transformed the English Church and Knox converted Scotland into the great bastion of reformed religion. Refusing to acknowledge spiritual dictatorship the river became the mighty torrent that engulfed the nation during the Civil Era era and again during the Glorious Revolution. Ideas such as parliamentary rule, property rights, an impartial judiciary and religious freedom sprang into existence. Wherever the river flowed into the east or across the Atlantic to the west it made a positive influence. The Gospel was spread across the world as missionaries followed the trade routes, establishing churches and leaving a legacy which existed long after the soldiers left.

This, however, is but a snapshot of what God can do through the power of His Spirit flowing through His Church, into society and out into the world. Is the power of the Spirit redundant? Is the Gospel to be a barren bed before Christ returns rather than a productive river? Has God not yet got a greater and a bigger plan for the future of the world.

Are we not well and truly sickened by the secular humanistic and the damage it has inflicted upon our society in terms of abortion and LGBT “rights” particularly? It feels like we are becoming progressively corrupt – abuse, violence, murder, strife are poisoning society. We need the power of the Gospel unleashed in revival power upon our nation once again. Then the world , once again will benefit from the riches of His grace.

In Dr Ian Paisley’s book entitled “The 1859 Revival”, he charts some of the remarkable blessings of the Ulster awakening. These included deep conviction of sin, unique delight in God’s Word, superabounding praise, impassioned prayer, unspeakable joy, scriptural holiness, increased attendances at God’s House, intense love and a zealous passion for souls. One of the most significant outward affects of what became known as the year of grace was the closure of numerous public houses and distilleries.

“All along the roadsides of County Antrim, publicans were about to take down their signboards – some from conscientious feeling, and all agreeing that the business could not pay”

The 1859 Revival, IRK Paisley

In 1859 and 1860 it was recorded in the Court records how few arrests had been made, resulting in very few cases being heard, none in certain instances.

A Ballymena judge, when examining his calendar and observing the lack of criminality in the community compared with other years made this observation:

“I believe I am fully warranted now to say that to nothing else than the moral and religious movement which commenced only last summer can the change be attributed”

The 1859 Revival, IRK Paisley

The Belfast Newsletter carried this report:

“That a genuine revival of religion, in the best sense of the phrase, is afoot, all who have calmly examined for themselves will admit…That the good will abide and increase is to be hoped. We shall know it better by its lasting fruits; but for the present it’s fruits, now continued for several weeks, proclaim a work in which the Spirit of God has been sensibly among us”

The 1859 Revival, IRK Paisley

Let us pray that such a work may be done by the Spirit in our generation.

Mathew Henry saw profound spiritual lessons from the trees which fed from the river and which produced fruit for the surrounding community. Every tree is different; some are fruit bearing while others are known for their medicinal qualities. Likewise as Christians we have a diversity of gifts. Some have the healing words, who can comfort and bring hope to those around. Others are gifted in soul winning and evangelism bringing fruit in the lives of others. Some are old trees still bringing forth mature fruit, satisfying others into advanced age while others are young saplings with so much potential for the future. We are assured of this, however, the child of God who stays close to the Word will be like the trees planted by the rivers of water, yielding the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Oh for a renewed sense of God among us and in us, pouring out His Spirit, making us the trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that His name might be honoured!