The River

“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb”

‭‭Revelation‬ ‭22:1‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The central feature of the City of God is the river of Life. The entire ecosystem that is the city of God is built around it.

I call it an ecosystem because Ezekiel 47 describes something just like one. Swarms of living creatures living by it. Large numbers of many kinds of fish in it. Fishermen working and spreading their nets beside it. Trees that bear fruit growing alongside it.

There is a quality about the river that enables it to sustain life. It is in fact living water.

The Picture Ezekiel paints is one of a TEMPLE and what begins as a trickle of water from under its door. But the flow gets deeper and stronger the further it goes. So much so that it becomes unfordable and it even begins to support life!

When you read "temple" immediately the mind goes to 1 Corinthians 6:19 right 😁?

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;”

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭6:19‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The question that emerges is, “Could it be that I am designed to carry out an existence where there is a continuous stream of living water flowing out of me? A stream that not only supports but gives life? Even an entire ecosystem of life?”

The conviction in my heart says, “Yes. It could be. In fact it is.“

Perhaps I’m living up to this to a degree but I feel like it is an infinitesimal degree. I can’t help thinking that there is SOOOOOO much more. And I need to know how to come in to the more.

One not so obvious thing I note is that it is only a trickle that comes out of the temple. That encourages me. The raging river began as a trickle. I feel like perhaps I can manage a trickle? What is a little more disconcerting is that I know that the secret of a trickle becoming a river is consistency. That trickle must never stop. Whatever I need to do to get that trickle going, I need to keep doing. What makes me nervous is humans generally don't have a good record with consistency. I am possibly chief amongst them.

The secret of a trickle becoming a river is consistency

Where do we start?

1 Corinthians 6:19 above holds a few clues I think. We are temples but we are not temples to ourselves for our own designs. We are not our own. We are temples of the Holy Spirit. We belong to and are designed to be dedicated to the business and purposes of the Holy Spirit. We are to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Not filled with ourselves.

“Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭5:18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Can I just say that no one should be full of themselves. It leads to unhealthy and unholy excesses. Not only that, self is the enemy of the Spirit.

The tense; in the original Greek; of the word ‘filled’ as used in the above scripture, according to the Amplified Study Bible, “indicates that filling is a moment-by-moment repeatable action.” The implication is that although it is God who does the filling it is I who must desire it and initiate it and maintain it.

Considering all this I reason that it is; in fact; the Holy Spirit that produces the trickle from within my/His temple. And so it appears that I was wrong earlier. Even the trickle I thought I could manage I can not! It is the Holy Spirit in me! When I am filled with the Holy Spirit it produces a flow of living water. But furthermore it seems that the secret to consistency in the flow - which is what I want - is in maintaining a state of being filled with the Holy Spirit.

But How do I do this? How can I be filled continuously with the Holy Spirit? What does that look like?

It is the Holy Spirit that produces the trickle from within my/His temple

“Whoever Believes in Me”

“Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.”

‭‭John‬ ‭7:38-39‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Here is the clearest confirmation we have in scripture that there is to be a flow of living water coming from us. But there are two points I want to make here:

1. The first is: This is for whoever believes in Jesus. You will remember from my previous post that to believe is not simply to mentally accept Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life; but to align our very lives to who Jesus Christ is. It is to deny self and embrace Christ. It is to offer up ourselves as a living sacrifice. Temples and sacrifices - it seems it will always be a thing.

2. Secondly: The Holy Spirit was later poured out on the believers and as Jesus had promised they received power when this happened - life-giving power. The River of living water coming out of us is to be a torrent of power, the power of the Holy Spirit. That trickle is simply the beginning of an outflow of the supernatural power of God.

I believe that if we would abide/remain in a posture of surrendered lives to the Lord, the Spirit would be pleased to be a consistent fullness in us and maintain a flow of life-giving power to us and through us. If we would be patient to wait like the disciples did in the upper room while waiting for the promised Holy Spirit - holding a posture of surrender, in joyful expectation of the Spirit showing up - even through the pains of sacrifice - rivers of living water would begin to flow - perhaps starting as a trickle - and we would discover what Ephesians 1:19 calls “the incomparably great power for us who believe.”

Entered. Filled. Released

I love how scripture itself is so consistent through the old and New Testament. Ezekiel goes to great pains to describe what happened in the temple before the water started flowing from the temple. Read it in Ezekiel 43 but here is a summary:

1. God was given His rightful place in the temple

2. The glory of the Lord came in to the temple

3. The glory of the Lord filled the temple

If I take the glory of the Lord to be a type of allegory for the Holy Spirit, this is exactly the process we are to adopt today. Through our surrender the glory of God through the Holy Spirit enters us, Fills us and is released through us.

The glad City

“There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God..."

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭46:4‬a ‭NIV‬‬

For the purpose of this post I want to focus on this the first part of the verse. Let's take a moment to take in the image. The City of God is a place where gladness is. Gladness, defined as feeling pleasure or happiness. Imagine a whole city where the defining characteristic is feelings of pleasure and happiness. Everywhere you go; smiles and joy and satisfaction. Carried in on the waters of the river that runs through it. But take careful note of the phrasing here. It is not the river but the streams of the river that make the City glad.

Streams generally eventually flow into rivers. Though they may appear in different locations, take varying courses and even combine with other streams, they eventually contribute their waters to the main established river.

There is an eternal river of living water that gives life to all who welcome it. God, in His unfathomable grace and wisdom causes the same living water from the river to spontaneously well up in us who believe. A flow that begins as a trickle but becomes so much more. The delectable fruit of the Holy Spirit birthed in lives submitted to Him, borne on currents of power to make glad. The revelation is clear: WE are the streams that make glad the City of God. From wherever we are positioned and pointed, according to the call of God on our lives, our waters collectively run their courses leaving no facet of the City untouched!

We are the streams that make glad the City of God

If one temple can produce an ecosystem. What would happen if every believer learned to activate their flow? Ezekiel's vision is that of water and animals and fishermen and trees? What does that translate to in colloquial terms? What vision of glory does the power activation of every believer describe for the present day? It is a vision the Lord wants to impress on all of our hearts and provoke us to thirst for it and to come and drink deeply from the river of the only one who can fulfil it.

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in A LOUD VOICE,“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believesin me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

John 7:37 NIV

Is that loud enough for you?

Next up: The Tree