The River from the Sanctuary

“And behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house.’’ Ezek. xlviiii.

TILE Ezekiel’s magnificent vision of the river from sanctuary will have no doubt a literal fulfilment some future day, yet it is part of that great flood of sacred symbolism which has flowed down through the course of divine revelation from the rivers of Eden to the river of the water of life flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb. The most direct significance of this living stream is ever the Holy Spirit applying to us the blessings of Christ’s redeeming work.

The first thing we notice about Ezekiel’s river is its apparent insignificance. The word translated ^‘issued” literally means ‘’trickled.” Just a few tiny drops were trickling down the little channel and it scarcely could be called a river. The first manifestations of the Holy Spirit are often faint and almost imperceptible; but the touch of God’s little finger always means that God Himself is behind even the slightest manifestations of His presence and His working. Let us cherish the first faint touches of spiritual life and divine grace and soon we ‘’shall know if we follow on to know the Lord,”

The river broadens and deepens as it flows and after the first measurement it has become a considerable stream so that it is described as ‘’waters to the ankles.” The spiritual significance of the figure now becomes apparent and important. “Water to the ankles” suggests walking in the Spirit, practical obedience to the heavenly voice and the inward presence. The first distinct manifestation of the Spirit will usually come in connection with our doing something at God’s command, or yielding something which He has forbidden. The Holy Spirit is “given to them that obey Him.” God comes to us with a touch of blessing, and then He tests our loyalty by requiring some act of surrender or obedience and as we step in obedient faith into the flood we find the waters have reached our ankles and the Holy Spirit has become a practical reality in our life. Perhaps, dear friend, if you have not had a satisfactory experience of the Comforter, it is because He is waiting for you to follow His leading in some first step of obedience that you have not yet taken. If you wait upon Him with an honest purpose He will not fail to show you what is hindering His further blessing.

But the river still moves on and the next measurement finds “Waters to the knees.’’ Surely this is not hard to interpret. We shall not have travelled far with the Comforter before we have begun to learn the holy mystery of prayer, the prayer of the Holy Spirit. This is very dififerent from our own conventional or ordinary prayers. This is ‘‘the burden of the Lord,’’ the voice of One that “maketh intercession within us with groanings that cannot be uttered.” A supernatural pressure, sometimes of deep sadness and keen suifering, will drive us to our knees, and as we pour out our hearts and roll over our burden, there will come to us such a sense of God’s response that we shall know that we are praying in the Holy Ghost and it will be “water to the knees.”

Still the river flows onward and downward, and now it is “water to the loins.” The loins always stand for the seat of life and power. The girded loins mean strength, energy, power. Water to the loins therefore signifies the spirit of power, enduement for service. This is one of the Holy Spirit’s chief ministries. “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto Me.” Beloved, do you know anything of this divine enabling for the winning of souls, for the help of tried ones, for the prayer of faith, for the Spirit of revival and the success and progress of the kingdom of God?

The last measurement of this mighty river brings us to the end of all fathoming and measuring lines. We have got clear beyond our depth. It is ‘’water to swim in, a river that cannot be passed over.’’ Surely this is the fulness of the Holy Ghost, a life so lost in God that we cease to recognize ourselves in the mightier Presence that overshadows us and carries us by a divine impulse in a glorious and spontaneous life. When we reach this stage we think little of our own feelings and experiences and are absorbed in the Lord Jesus and the life divine. Speaking of Himself Paul could say “I knew a man in Christ.” He had ceased to be himself in the old sense and had become “a man in Christ.” “There will the glorious Lord be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams, wherein shall go no galley with oars” for the good reason that the current carries us and we do not need to paddle any more.

Then follow the fruits of the Spirit, the trees upon the banks of this mighty river, with leaves unfading and fruit ripening every month and leaves also “for bruises and for sores,” “and everything shall live whithersoever the river cometh;” while beneath the flood are multitudes of fishes, and on the banks the fishermen spread their nets, — all telling of the precious souls that will rejoice our hearts and fill the heavens with praise when we shall have come into tue fulness of the river from the sanctuary.