That River Flows

“Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden…now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is Pishon; it flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. The gold of that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon; it flows around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Tigris; it flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates” (Genesis 2:9-14; the four place names give us the same sense as our phrase, “the four corners of the earth”).

“By the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing” (Ezekiel 47:12).

“Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations [τῶν ἐθνῶν]” (Revelation 22:1,2).

There’s a River Flood Warning for a town about ten miles north of where I live. I don’t know whether it’s that or the fact that I’ve been thinking about the Holy Spirit a lot lately, but I woke up with this biblical river on my mind.

I have lived in the desert; I know that sometimes fruit-bearing takes time, and that you celebrate the harvest no matter what.

Still, I long for the harvest from the shores of this biblical river. I desire “they will bear every month” and “yielding its fruit every month.” I pray for “the healing of the nations” – and not the counterfeit that comes through the intentions, devices, and efforts of humanity.

I earnestly hope to see “the healing of the nations.” I wish our English translations would render τῶν ἐθνῶν as “peoples.”

The lower levels of the auditorium in my congregation’s building are below ground level. When it rains like this we are concerned with flooding. I’ve been told that the creek which runs by the front of the building used to run through the auditorium. The man who built it moved the creek to its present location, but it used to run right through where the stage is now. God put it where it was originally, and it ran there for millennia. I guess it still hasn’t fully accepted the new arrangement.

I have a vision for a river, not in our auditorium (please, Lord!), but for this biblical river that heals the souls of all sorts of peoples from all sorts of backgrounds, ethnicities, and cultures.

Ezekiel said the fruit of those trees was continual and healing “because their water flows from the sanctuary” (it comes after the sacrifice of the Prince in Ezekiel 46, but that’s a different post!). The “sanctuary” that provides this river isn’t an earthly building. I know this because Jesus gives us the understanding of Ezekiel’s “visions of God” (40:2).

Jesus, at that well in Samaria so long ago, told the outcast woman, “whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:14). It wasn’t about an earthly sanctuary (“Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father,” 4:21). It was about a gift from Jesus that turns the recipient into a sanctuary.

Jesus says the same later in Jerusalem: “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, “From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.”’ But this He spoke of the Spirit, Whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:37-39). What we receive from Jesus causes us to be the sanctuary (compare with Isaiah 8:11-14; Ezekiel 11:16) from which flows the river that gives life, that is instrumental in continual, healing fruit. I want this. Not just for me, but for Jesus’ disciples. I want us to be the means by which the Spirit brings eternal healing to all sorts of people.

It will come when we become a people (by His grace) who are passionate about His Word more than worldliness (Psalm 1:1-3). It will flow when we, by the power and authority of that indwelling Spirit, call on the world to “come, and drink” (Revelation 22:17).

Beloved Church, bear this desire with me. Let us desperately beg the Father to do this, through His Son, by His Spirit, drowning our self-centeredness, fear, pride, worldliness, and neglect of His Word in continual, healing, eternal life for many, many peoples.