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Healing Waters



Ezekiel 47:8

Then the man said to me, “This water flows through the land to the east, down into the Jordan Valley, and into the Dead Sea. When the water flows into the Dead Sea, it will replace the salt water there with fresh water.

 

Thought for the day – Healing waters

Remember how I said when we started Ezekiel, that one of the best commentaries on the book of Revelation is the Old Testament and specifically Ezekiel. Today’s chapter is another example of John using Ezekiel as a source to describe his visions. You see the readers of the Revelation would have known about Ezekiel’s visions and they would have understood the meaning in the light of the OT readings. And while the readings are similar there are significant differences and they are as loaded as the similarities and there are 3:

 

Firstly, the source: Ezekiel's river comes from under the temple threshold — water seeping out from the presence of God still housed in a building. In Revelation there's no temple at all ("its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb"), so the river now flows straight from the throne. The whole city has become the holy of holies. John hasn’t  changed the picture — it's John confirming that the picture Ezekiel drew has now finally happened.

 

Secondly, the scope of healing. Ezekiel's water heals geography — it reverses the Dead Sea, the most literally death-named place in Israel's landscape, into something teeming with life. Revelation's leaves heal nations — the vision changes from land to people, from Israel's map to all the earth.

 

Thirdly, access. Ezekiel's vision is a partial homecoming — restored land, restored temple, restored river — but still bounded by tribal allotments and a rebuilt sanctuary. Revelation closes the loop explicitly: "no longer will there be any curse," and the tree and water are simply free for the taking, "without cost," to anyone who thirsts.

 

So we have two visions: One of a completely new nation, the other of a completely new world. Jesus takes our narrow vision and makes it bigger. A reminder that the paradise that was lost in Eden has been restored for us. Paradise regained for the healing of the nations. Not just Israel.

 

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