June 15, 2021 – Ezekiel 40-48

Just off the prophecy concerning Gog, in which God is shown to be sovereign over all the nations, our attention is now turned back toward Israel. Chapters 40-48 comprise the final vision of the prophet in which he sees the return to the temple of God’s glory; he had seen God depart from the temple in chapters 8-11: “And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east. And the sound of his coming was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with his glory. And the vision I saw was just like the vision that I had seen when he came to destroy the city, and just like the vision that I had seen by the Chebar canal. And I fell on my face” (43:2,3).

Lots of detail, here, as Ezekiel is shown how the people must approach God and worship him and how they must live in the renewed, post-exilic community. In 47:1-10, Ezekiel is shown a life-giving river that flows from the temple “so everything will live where the river goes” (47:9). Oh, my!

There is a river

And it flows from deep within

There is a fountain

That frees the soul from sin

Come to this water

There is a vast supply

There is a river

That never shall run dry. – Max and David Sapp