RIVER OF LIFE
God’s Word warns: “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation” (Hebrews 2:3). There is a great price to pay for ignoring Christ.
Ezekiel 47 speaks of a river of life that flows from God’s throne. This river is made up of holy, healing waters and as it flows through the desert, it brings life to everything it touches. It expands ever wider and deeper, until there is enough water to swim in.
“These waters . . . 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 everything that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live” (Ezekiel 47:8-9).
This river of life represents the preached gospel and it has been flowing since Calvary. Today, millions who hear and receive God’s Word are being healed and the truth of Christ is awakening them to their neglect, sloth and apathy. Now their eyes are wide open, and they delight in Jesus. They seek Him daily, love His Word, share intimacy with Him.
So, what has happened to you? Are you swimming in God’s healing waters? Or do you allow this river to flow right past you? Note what happens to the desert areas where these waters don’t flow: “But the miry places thereof and the marshes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt” (47:11).
Maybe you are guilty of ignoring Jesus. You have been prayerless, disobedient, neglectful of His Word and now your neglect has become a way of life. In truth, you have aborted all the anticipation Jesus once had for you.
What does it mean to be “given to salt,” as Ezekiel states? It means total barrenness . . . fruitlessness, emptiness, dryness, loneliness. Think of the Dead Sea in Israel. It is a body of water totally given over to salt. No fish can survive in it and no plant can grow in it or around it. It is completely barren.
Have you become this kind of miry place—an isolated, dried-up marsh? Is your life barren of fruit for God? Is your daily existence empty, dry, lonely? All around you, others are bearing fruit and growing in Christ. They have been healed by God’s holy waters but you don’t possess any of the resources they have. You have become a Christian in name only.
It’s never too late to start over! Let the Lord make this the first day of a new beginning for you.
Ezekiel 47 speaks of a river of life that flows from God’s throne. This river is made up of holy, healing waters and as it flows through the desert, it brings life to everything it touches. It expands ever wider and deeper, until there is enough water to swim in.
“These waters . . . 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 everything that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live” (Ezekiel 47:8-9).
This river of life represents the preached gospel and it has been flowing since Calvary. Today, millions who hear and receive God’s Word are being healed and the truth of Christ is awakening them to their neglect, sloth and apathy. Now their eyes are wide open, and they delight in Jesus. They seek Him daily, love His Word, share intimacy with Him.
So, what has happened to you? Are you swimming in God’s healing waters? Or do you allow this river to flow right past you? Note what happens to the desert areas where these waters don’t flow: “But the miry places thereof and the marshes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt” (47:11).
Maybe you are guilty of ignoring Jesus. You have been prayerless, disobedient, neglectful of His Word and now your neglect has become a way of life. In truth, you have aborted all the anticipation Jesus once had for you.
What does it mean to be “given to salt,” as Ezekiel states? It means total barrenness . . . fruitlessness, emptiness, dryness, loneliness. Think of the Dead Sea in Israel. It is a body of water totally given over to salt. No fish can survive in it and no plant can grow in it or around it. It is completely barren.
Have you become this kind of miry place—an isolated, dried-up marsh? Is your life barren of fruit for God? Is your daily existence empty, dry, lonely? All around you, others are bearing fruit and growing in Christ. They have been healed by God’s holy waters but you don’t possess any of the resources they have. You have become a Christian in name only.
It’s never too late to start over! Let the Lord make this the first day of a new beginning for you.