River

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God (Psalm 46:4).

Jerusalem has no river.  When you pause to think about it, this is remarkable.  Nearly every great city of the world is built on the banks of a mighty river.  Babylon is on the Euphrates, Nineveh on the Tigris, Rome on the Tiber, Cairo on the Nile, Paris on the Seine, London on the Thames, Washington on the Potomac, etc.

Rivers are indispensable for the life of a great city, right?  The water provides sustenance, defense, and transportation.  Who in their right mind would build a city where there is no river?  

Apparently God would!

In divine wisdom God determined that the City of God would be qualitatively different from the City of Man.  And one of the primary distinctives of Jerusalem is that is has no river.  This means that its citizens must live by faith that their need for water, irrigation, protection, and travel will be met in God’s way and in God’s time.    

And yet, as one examines Scripture more closely, one discovers that Jerusalem does indeed have a river after all!  The psalmist tells us simply that this river is there, even though no one can see it (see Ps. 46:4).  And both Joel and Zechariah speak about this river in their prophecies of the future (see Joel 3:18 and Zech. 14:8). 

In his vision of the New Jerusalem, John describes this river as being “bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city” (Rev. 22:1-2).  And Jesus was certainly thinking of this river when he stood in courts of the Temple in Jerusalem and shouted: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water’” (Jn. 7:37-38).

But it is the prophet Ezekiel who gives us the most detailed description of this amazing river (see Ezek. 47:1-12).  An angel showed him what others were unable to see: a stream of water coming out from under the door of the Temple in Jerusalem.  It began as a trickle, but, amazingly, as it flowed it eastward, it became greater and greater; flowing through the Temple courtyard and out the eastern gate of the city.

Using a measuring line, the angel marked off four intervals of 1,000 cubits each (roughly one-third of a mile) and told Ezekiel to walk into the stream to examine its depth.  At the first measurement, the water was only ankle deep.  A third of a mile further, it was knee deep.  The next measurement was waist deep.  And then, finally, Ezekiel writes that “it was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be passed through” (Ezek. 47:5).

As the river flowed eastward and downhill toward the Arabah desert, Ezekiel noticed how the water caused fruit trees to spring up on both banks of the river.  The leaves of the trees never withered and they bore fresh fruit every month!  “Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing” (Ezek. 47:12).  The prophet must have gasped in wonder as he saw the river flow into the Dead Sea, causing this place of noxious chemicals and death to explode with life.

8 …. when the water flows into the sea, the water will become fresh.  9 And wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes. 10 Fishermen will stand beside the sea. From Engedi to Eneglaim it will be a place for the spreading of nets. Its fish will be of very many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea. (Ezek. 37:8-10). 

We can summarize the qualities of this amazing river by noting: 

• Its source.  This water flows from the Temple!  In other words, its source is not in man or even in nature; but in God.  This is surely the “living water” that Jesus spoke about in his ministry to the woman at the well (see Jn. 4:10-14).  

• Its depth.  Although no tributaries are involved, this river miraculously becomes deeper and broader as it flows.  Rather than diminishing in volume and strength as one would expect, it just keeps growing deeper and wider the further it flows.  The life-giving power of this river is truly inexhaustible!

• Its function.  Not only does this water quench thirst and irrigate the land, but it also has the capacity to make salty water fresh, heal what is diseased, cleanse what is dirty, bring life to what is dead.   “So everything will live where the river goes” (Ezek. 37:9).

Dear friend, if perhaps today your journey is taking you through a barren wasteland of obstacles, dangers, temptations, and pain, let me encourage you with the words, “there is a river whose streams make glad the city of God” (Ps. 46:4).  Not every one can see the river and there may be times when you too doubt that it is even there.  But let the Spirit open your eyes to see the provision God is making available just for you.  

See, the streams of living waters,

Springing from eternal Love,

Well supply thy sons and daughters,

And all fear of want remove.

Who can faint while such a river

Ever will their thirst assuage?

Grace which, like the Lord, the Giver,

Never fails from age to age.  

(John Newton, 1779).

Print Blog