DIVINE RESOURCE
[p. 293] DIVINE RESOURCE
Ezekiel 47:1-14; Ezekiel 47:22,23
What is in mind, dear brethren, this evening is divine resource, flowing out and becoming available to us. The section of this book, in which I have read, beginning with chapter 40 to the end of the book, is unique in Scripture. It is marked by measurement, not generally of what should exist and does not, but of what actually exists — specially the house of God. Most of the section is taken up with this structure and its approaches, and accompanying and accessory buildings, but all viewed as existent. This chapter contemplates the sanctuary as existing, divinely measured, that we might have the concrete thing before us. It is to exist in actuality in the future and in every way according to God.
This chapter represents the resources flowing out thence, so that God’s people should be provisioned, furnished with what is requisite, that our outward circumstances might be in keeping with what is within, that there should be no discrepancy, and hence this figurative river, one of many spoken of in Scripture. The subject indeed is one of the most interesting and ancient, beginning in Eden and extending on to the millennium, which, indeed, this chapter has in mind, linked on not only verbally but spiritually with the last chapter of the Bible. The apostle John, undoubtedly conversant with the prophet Ezekiel, is led in his ministry to present to us the thought of river, not in that case flowing out of the house so called, but out of the city (Revelation 22). John has in mind the Holy Spirit as moving administratively; Ezekiel sees a dwelling — a house. The city indeed is in view in Ezekiel, for we are told in chapter 40 that he is brought in the visions of God into the land of Israel, and he sees “the building of a city, on the south”; on arriving there, however, he [p. 294] finds a man with a measuring reed and flax cord, but there is no reference to the city. What is presented to him immediately is the house or its approaches, and what I have to say now refers to the building of God in which we have part in our own times — in fact we are it. In christianity the divine dwelling is a heavenly construction, effected in the power of the Spirit, as is indicated in the book of Acts. We are told that Peter saw a sheet knit at the four corners and containing all kinds of creatures, let down from heaven. Peter says, “it came even to me” Acts 11: 5. A privileged man indeed, and yet not specially so, in a way, for the Spirit of God would bring it even to each one of us; in fact, that is what He is doing, bringing the idea of the divine dwelling near to us. I am not saying the sheet is exactly that, but it is the suggestion of what is heavenly, come down to earth in testimony and then returning. It is essentially heavenly. This chapter in Ezekiel has in mind that we should be furnished in regard of it, that the outgoings of the house, involving the saints, might be according to what is inside.
As I have been saying, the subject that is before us is extensive, beginning in Eden and extending to the end of the millennium. We have in Psalm 65, alongside the reference to the river of God, a beautiful expression; it is said there, that it is full of water. Over against the river of God there is man’s river. The Nile is a type of this, seen in this book of Ezekiel. A river is symbolical of resource, and the Nile is this in a worldly sense. Heaven affords but little rain to Egypt. It is dependent upon its river, and Pharaoh, leaving God out of the matter, says, “My river is mine own, and I made it for myself”, Ezekiel 29: 3. He represents the world leaving God out, and using what God supplies, without God — a most sorrowful situation — strikingly illustrated every day in every restaurant in London and elsewhere. How few bow their heads to thank God for their food, for His bounty in His creation! That is Pharaoh. His [p. 295] river is his own, he says. God is left out and Pharaoh exploits it for his own glory and satisfaction, but God has His river, the river of God. That is what is in mind, and it is seen here in Ezekiel 47.
Having in our own minds the picture of these wonderful suggestions, these things measured, we shall understand more clearly how the river flows, by placing ourselves where the prophet was, at the door of the house in the inner court. It is the inner court, the altar is there, and the waters flowed out of the house on the right side, on the south side of the altar; for the house, as always, looks toward the east. That is, the prospect of the house of God is glorious, the rising sun is typical of the rising glory of the coming Saviour. We are looking for Him. This river issues forth, the prophet tells us, on the south side of the altar in the inner court, for that is where the altar is. There was an outer court. The prophet is led by his guide and his instructor out of the north gate — the gate of discipline, as I may say. That is one of the accompanying features of the house of God — discipline. Peter says, “The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God”, and then he adds, “if it first begin at us” — for it begins at us — “what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” 1 Peter 4: 17. The prophet is led through the north gate, and finds the waters still flowing; they come out at the right side of the east gate.
Then we come to the man with the measuring line. He is there so as to bring the believer experimentally into what this means. There are four measurings, all alike, one thousand cubits each time; each leading to deeper waters, all referring to our experience. The depth of the river is not given by the man with the measuring line: it is given by the person who enters in; its depth is according to experience; how far can we enter into these things? We can test ourselves by the Scripture and determine how far we have gone in this wonderful experience of grace. Am I an ‘ankle’ [p. 296] man, a man who has never ventured into deep waters, content just to be in things, in the waters from the ankle down? It is clear that such experience is small, but nevertheless it is important, for it is a beginning. God has gone to great pains to provide what is needed for us in His dwelling, but why do I not avail myself of the provision? Then you get the waters up to the knees; then the loins, and then finally you have the term “river”. It is an experimental matter. Ezekiel says, I could not pass over it; but then you might say, His energy was perhaps defective; but he goes on to say, It could not be passed over, meaning that these experimental features have to be pursued, and the further we pursue them the more we realise that we have part in what is infinite — it cannot be passed over. Let no one think he can compass it, for it involves the power and grace of the Spirit of God. Many assume that they can. The more we trust to our own minds, the more likely we are to think that we can compass everything, but we cannot, for we are creatures. In having to do with the activity of the Spirit of God we are dealing with what is infinite. But the wonderful favour vouchsafed is that believers have part in it. Here Ezekiel participates to the ankles, to the knees, to the loins, and then after that, swimming, but no assumption to passing over. It is divine. It has come down to us in Jesus, a Man indeed, but not compassable. “No one knows the Son but the Father” Matthew 11: 27. And so in regard of all the divine Persons; They are inscrutable, but yet come within our reach.
What is in mind now is the teaching relative to what God is graciously vouchsafing by the Spirit. The word in John 6: 45 is, “they shall be all taught of God”. Let each of us inquire as to whether the teaching we are imbibing is of God. Even if it be orthodox and intelligible to us, is the teaching really divine? There is no effective teaching if not divine. The more we proceed in what is presented, the more we shall discover [p. 297] that it is infinite. It cannot be passed over. The word ‘river’ is used twice in the verse; the name ‘river’ is not given to it as first seen, nor in all the measurements until we come to the fourth; then it is a river, the river of God supremely so, more so than that in Eden.
Now this is a wholesome matter to face, as to what kind of teaching we are receiving. Is it divine or is it just like the schools? Persons attempting to teach, undertaking to be ministers of God, generally think it necessary to undergo a university course, or such like, but that is all according to man. I am not here to speak against ordinary education; far otherwise, I am only emphasising divine teaching as over against what man provides. They shall be all taught of God. Where is my claim to christianity, where is my claim to serve God, unless I am divinely taught — taught of God Himself, by the Spirit? No one can serve effectively save as he pursues the course indicated here, and acquires experience with what God provides, with what issues out of His house. The seats of learning in the world, I do not hesitate to say, are poisoning humanity at the present time; modernism, and all that it means, has its home in them. A river represents the idea, the influence of learning; a river generally is influence. The influence of those seats of learning is poisoning christianity. Alas! the public body has been poisoned, and it is becoming more and more apostate. Over against that, we have the teaching that is from God; it comes out of the house: the river flows thence. It is the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of truth, but it is the Spirit of God; it is the same at the beginning as at the end. The measurements to the ankles, to the knees, and the loins, all refer to my experience, and finally I get room for swimming; waters to swim in, a river that cannot be passed over.
That is what I call deliverance from the educational point of view. I am come into infinitude. What is man in the presence of what is of God in the way of teaching?
The apostle John says, “ye have the unction from the holy one, and ye know all things”. He teaches you all things. I come to see that from a spiritual point of view, man, as such, is shut out; as John says again, “ye have not need that any one should teach you”, 1 John 2: 27. It is not only wrong, but it is unnecessary to have human teaching in divine things. The Unction teaches. I am not speaking of ordinary education, you will understand; it is the moral side of the matter, the spiritual side. Man is shut out and I have come to infinitude. It is a river that cannot be passed over, there is inward power in the believer to swim in it; he is delivered. The allusion in 2 Kings 6 to swimming, helps here. The iron swam. It is in the power of God that I am at liberty to swim in the divine provision. This is deliverance. John’s gospel is intended specially to effect deliverance in our souls from this point of view.
The next thing is movement in this river. It goes eastward, indicating clearly that it is a millennial picture; other parts of Scripture speak of the waters going eastward and westward. I suppose the latter refers to ourselves. In this river moving eastward the Dead Sea is in mind. The Dead Sea in which nothing could live — this terrible influence found in the east. I have no doubt as I said, it refers typically to the influences in the east, the terrible deadening influences brought in by apostate teaching that exists there. This river is intended to overcome that. The river of God is potential, and powerful enough to overcome the very worst evils and the consequences of the most deadly teaching. So we are told that waters issue out towards the east country, “and go down into the plain, and go into the sea; when they are brought forth into the sea, the waters thereof shall be healed” Ezekiel 47: 8.
We are then told of the fishermen and the fish. Let us dwell on it and cause the truth to reflect backwards upon us, even as the truth of the heavenly city reflects backwards affording administrative light. Let us ponder [p. 299] the power of God in the provision of His grace. Even the Dead Sea becomes living. What is in mind here is spiritual. The Dead Sea would suggest the effect of the devil’s working, his influence in the east since the time of Babel, carrying down the evil to our day. God will deal with it and finally remove it, not judge it only; that will come to pass indeed in another day, but here the point is He will bring in life.
In relation to this, I want to note, for our practical help, what is said in verse 6: “And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this? And he led me, and brought me back to the bank of the river. When I returned, behold, on the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other” Ezekiel 47: 6. The prophet says that the man brought him back to the bank of the river, and when he returned he saw trees. Why did he not see these before? Does it not suggest to us the necessity for patience in regard of the things of God? Why did he not see these trees before? They were there, undoubtedly, and is it not so, that we find it thus in dealing with divine things? I have to ask, Why did I not see that before? It has been there for centuries, but I did not see it. The guide of Ezekiel brought him back. Let us go back after we have considered a scriptural subject. Do not allow yourself to think you have finished, when you have gone over it once or even twice, however carefully. The Spirit of God would bring us back constantly to the same thing. You may say, You said differently before. Well, suppose I did, this proves that I did not see the thing clearly then. The Spirit of God brings us back. Ezekiel is brought back to the river and now he sees these trees. He says, “When I returned, behold, on the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other”.
I am speaking now of the great importance of patience, and at the same time of attention, vigilance as to what the Spirit of God is presenting to us. The Lord says,
“[p. 300] Have ye understood all these things? They say to him, Yea, Lord. And he said to them, For this reason every scribe discipled to the kingdom of the heavens is like a man that is a householder”, Matthew 13: 51,52. Why does he use the word scribe? Well, one of the features of a scribe is accuracy: there is need for accuracy in dealing with divine things. The scribe, He says, “brings out of his treasure things new and old”. He is a careful man, valuing what he has.
These trees are to be considered; there are many of them, they do not fade, and they are serviceable. The Spirit of God in speaking of these, shows us that the trees are not merely ornamental; they are ornamental, but as you will observe they are for support — for food. “And by the river, upon its bank, on the one side and on the other, shall grow all trees for food, whose leaf shall nor fade, nor their fruit fail: it shall bring forth new fruit every month, for its waters issue out of the sanctuary; and the fruit thereof shall be for food, and the leaf thereof for medicine” Ezekiel 47: 12. We come thus to a further view. It is further instruction to show us that this provision is not only for shelter or ornament, but for food; and do we not need food? We do. The Lord’s supper is the great centre of the idea in christianity. The passover used to be, now it is the Lord’s supper, and the Lord is seeking to bring us to it and to cause us to look round and see everything attaching to it. It is not only a memorial. It is also food — meat and drink. We may have the light of the memorial, intelligence as to the Lord’s supper in this aspect, but then what about the food? What about the leaf that never fades? How fresh the Lord’s supper is as rightly apprehended! it never fades. When the Lord instituted it, those who partook of it sang: “And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives” Matthew 26: 30. We are not told that they sang at the passover. They sang as the full thought of the Lord’s supper, especially the cup, was brought home to them by the teaching of [p. 301] the Lord. It is fresh; its leaf never fades; its fruit comes every month — for us every week.
Then as to the fishing (verse 9). “And it shall come to pass that every living thing which moveth, whithersoever the double river shall come, shall live” Ezekiel 47: 9. The double river — the plural idea, meaning, I believe, that the thing is accentuated. The river is becoming greater and greater; is it not so, that this marks divine things? They never diminish. To the exercised believer they become greater and greater. It is the “double river” now. “And there shall be a very great multitude of fish; for these waters shall come thither, and the waters of the sea shall be healed” Ezekiel 47: 9. The meaning is that the river has come to the Dead Sea and those waters are healed. We are to be impressed here, in this instruction, with the increase in the idea of divine resource — it is a double river, not only a river that cannot be passed over, but there is a plural thought attached to it. It is a testimony to us, to this idea of increase; and added to it there are the fishermen, the names of the places, and the kind of fish. There is a link again with John’s gospel; the fish are not ordinary or inland lake fish. They are “as the fish of the great sea” Ezekiel 47: 10. What God is doing transcends all that is ever conceived, and we are brought into it, through this experience of the divine resources. We are to be enlarged inwardly by the provision made, by the resources supplied.
Finally, there is the inheritance, for as we appropriate the provision God makes for our deliverance severally, the thought of the inheritance comes before us. It is introduced here in a very touching way, and it seems to me in accord with the instruction of the chapter. Verse 13 says, “Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: This shall be the border whereby ye shall allot the land as inheritance according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph shall have two portions. And ye shall inherit it, one as well as another, the land concerning which I lifted up my hand to give it unto your fathers; and this land shall fall to you for inheritance” Ezekiel 47: 13,14. It is God coming in, not simply in grace and government, for our deliverance and education — precious as that is — but coming in in relation to promise, not promise in the sense of support here, but as to what His counsels involve. He has lifted up His hand about this matter. We read of the promise, and of the oath, in Hebrews. He is telling us that He has never forgotten us in regard of His counsels. He has been on the look-out for us. He had the land in mind; it was a question of promise and He says, ‘I lifted up my hand, and it is to be yours according to My purpose’; and then, so as to balance us in all this, He intimates that Christ must be pre-eminent among us. Joseph is to have two portions. That taxes us, taxes love among us, but every true heart will gladly yield the supreme place to Christ.
Jacob says to Joseph, “I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren” Genesis 48: 22. The Lord Jesus is anointed above His brethren, above His companions. There is always something in our greatest privilege, our most intimate relationship, to balance us as regards the dignity and the rights of the Person of Christ. He must ever be supreme, and that is the beautiful setting of the truth here. The tribes’ names are not mentioned in this chapter, for the point is to show that we are brethren, that we belong to Christ, and that provision is made for us according to divine counsel, and we are to enjoy the land of promise; but Joseph is to have two portions.
In the end of the chapter we are taught that the greatest magnanimity is to mark us in the enjoyment of divine things. We are not to be selfish or hard or unnecessarily exclusive, as set together. The introduction of “the stranger” here gives it an evangelical touch, and so we read in verse 22, “And it shall come to pass that ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you, and to the strangers that sojourn among you, who shall beget children among you; and they shall be unto you as the home-born among the children of [p. 303] Israel: with you shall they draw by lot inheritance among the tribes of Israel” Ezekiel 47: 22. It is the Spirit of Christ developed in such circumstances. Why can I not be liberal? Why can I not be spiritually magnanimous? Why can I not love others? Why should I look down upon anybody? Why should I not esteem others better than myself even though they are strangers? Let us learn, dear brethren, to make room for those who have external disadvantages amongst us. The Spirit of Christ is to be developed in such circumstances as are seen here. If it be a slave who believes in the Lord Jesus, as Onesimus, he is to be regarded as “a brother beloved” Philemon 16. He had fled from his master, but he was converted in Rome, and not only was he converted, but he became a brother beloved. Philemon was to look upon him as one born in the family, as a “home-born among the children of Israel” — a brother beloved in the house. The whole letter of the apostle Paul was written to correct any tendency to allow social feeling in a human way to deprive a brother of his dignity among the people of God, that we might regard each other according to the dignity conferred upon us, though humanly under disabilities. We are to recognise each other according to the manner of the love the Father has given to us that we should be called the children of God (1 John 3: 1). As of the same calling and birth, we belong to the family of God.
There is another thought in the last verse: “And it shall come to pass that in the tribe in which the stranger sojourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith the Lord Jehovah” Ezekiel 47: 23. That is the local setting; again exemplified in Onesimus. He was now to be viewed as home-born in the house of Philemon, and hence to be a brother beloved there. He had to go to Rome to be converted, but he has come back as one of the heavenly family. If Philemon believed what Paul wrote and acted upon it, his regard for Onesimus would be equal to his estimate of the saints generally in the [p. 304] town, even of his own sons, if he had any. In these matters we are to be governed by divine magnanimity — to receive one another according as the Christ also has received us to the glory of God (Romans 15: 7). It is done in the intelligence of love, and adds to our own tribe, so to speak; a local company is enhanced by a brother beloved; whatever his outward circumstances, he is a brother. You can talk to him, keep company with him, have communion with him in holy liberty as sharing together the heavenly calling. May God help us in these things.