Bible Commentaries

Ezekiel 47:9

We take the holy waters mentioned in the text to be the emblems of that wondrous scheme of mercy, perfected by the atonement of Christ, made vital by the Ever-present Spirit, and adapted to the salvation of the world.

I. Notice the source of the waters. There is said to have been a very copious fountain on the west side of Jerusalem. The prudent Hezekiah, foreseeing that in a time of siege, an enemy might cut off its streams, conducted them by a secret aqueduct into the city. It may be, that there was some subtle connection of thought between this fountain and the vision which floated before the senses of Ezekiel, as there was a stream from this same fountain into the temple, and from the foundations of the holy house the holy waters sprang. Be this as it may, the truth is significantly told, that while through the temple come to us the tidings of our peace, the blessing itself does not originate there, but is conveyed to it from a source invisible and afar.

II. Notice the progress of the waters, thus flowing from the foundations of the temple. In the context the progress of these waters is said to have been gradual and constant. And this is only a description of the progress of the Gospel of Christ. There are two thoughts suggested by this gradual and constant progress of the Gospel. The first encourages our faith; the second reminds us of our responsibility.

III. Notice the efficacy of these waters. The places to which they flowed are striking. They did not wend their course to spots that were only slightly defective and easily healed. They flowed "into the desert and into the sea"—"into the desert" amidst whose endless sands no streams had flowed before; "into the sea," the Dead Sea in whose sad and sluggish waters nothing which had breath could live. Thus their mission was both to supply that which was lacking, and to cleanse that which was impure. And this is true of the Gospel of Christ. There is no desert of worldiness which the Gospel cannot turn into a garden; there is no Dead Sea of error which the Gospel cannot purge of its pollution, and change into a receptacle of life.

W. Morley Punshon, Sermons, 2nd series, p. 155.

Notice:—

I. The spring of this life-giving river. It had its spring out of sight; the fountain head was invisible, but it proceeded out of the sanctuary of God. Its waters flowed by the altar of sacrifice; they touched it; they crossed its shadow; they got permission, as it were, to go on their way from the altar. How pointedly this tells of the Holy Spirit, the river of the water of eternal life, proceeding out of the throne of God! It is God's own essence, communicated to us men over the cross of Jesus, for His name's sake.

II. The size of the river. In its growing tide we have symbolised the gift of the Holy Spirit (1) to the patriarchs; (2) to the pious Israelites, such as Joshua and Caleb and the seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to the image of Baal, and especially to the prophets: (3) during the ministry of Christ; (4) on the Day of Pentecost.

III. The service of the river. "Everything shall live whither the river cometh." It shall come into hearts hard as the nether millstone, and soften them; unto families poor as beggars, and enrich them; unto neighbourhoods that have been desert, and cause them to rejoice and blossom as the rose; unto natures which have been unprofitable, and make them plenteously to bring forth the fruit of good works.

J. Bolton, Family Treasury, Dec. 1863, p. 307.

Consider:—

I. The bearing of the Gospel on men's social condition. (1) It is capable of the clearest proof that Christianity is the only thing that has given purity and loveliness to the household. The Lord Jesus has revolutionised, if not created, family life. (2) The religion of Jesus has promoted kindness between man and man.

II. Consider the influence of the Gospel upon civil liberty. The Bible contains no treatise on civil government, but its principles lay the axe to the root of every form of despotism. Jesus has taught us not only to assert freedom of conscience for ourselves, but to respect and defend its exercise by others.

III. Look at the department of literature, and you will see how, when the river of the Gospel has flowed into a nation, it has quickened that also into richer growth. Avowedly religious writers, of course, have been indebted to it for their all; but even those who have had no directly spiritual aim have been largely beholden to its quickening power.

IV. Look at the influence of Christianity upon science. Physical sciences have made the greatest progress in countries where Protestant Christianity has taken the strongest hold. In standing up for liberty of conscience and of opinion for themselves, the witnesses for religious truth have won also for science the right to hold and teach its own deductions and beliefs. The Gospel teaches men to follow truth at every hazard, and every new triumph of science will in the end give a new impulse to spiritual religion.

V. From the day when Paul was carried in a corn-ship from Malta to Puteoli, commerce and Christianity have been mutual helpers. Sometimes the trader has gone before the missionary, but wherever the missionary has settled and succeeded, he has by his very success given an impulse to commerce.

W. M. Taylor, Christian World Pulpit, vol. x., p. 273.

References: Ezekiel 47:9.—W. Guest. Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiii., p. 184. Ezekiel 47:11.—Spurgeon, My Sermon Notes: Ecclesiastes to Malachi, p. 294. Ezekiel 47:12.—J. G. Rogers, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 120, and vol. xxix., p. 168; J. P. Gledstone, Ibid., vol. xix., p. 327. Ezekiel 48:35.—J. Keble, Sermons for Various Occasions, p. 256.