New World Comin'

A river runs through it – from start to finish, from the Garden of Eden to the last chapter of Revelation, the story of God and Earth is told as a river-story.

At one of the lowest points of the story, in exile far from their homeland, the prophet Ezekiel (Ch. 47) imagines a trickle of water bubbling out of the dry ground in Jerusalem. It flows from the temple of God across the desert hills to the Jordan valley and into the Dead Sea.

The further it flows, the deeper and wider the current grows and, astonishingly, the more lush the barren landscape becomes. Everything is refreshed and renewed. Fishing and agriculture burst into life. Trees flourish along the banks of the river. The Dead Sea becomes a fresh-water lake.

The terrain around the Dead Sea is so bleak and desolate - the Dead Sea is well-named - this picture of environmental remediation is a stunning vision. Imagine Ezekiel telling this vision to his fellow-exiles. Did they hear it as a parable of their Babylonian desert days morphing into the joy of going home?

Indeed, Israel did come home against all odds, but the Dead Sea remained salty and the religious life of Israel, though purged of fertility gods, became as sterile as before, with even more exacting gods of religious purity and pride.

But Ezekiel’s river had a much bigger story to tell - a story that included a Messiah who came to live in the barren house of Israel. Out of his life streamed grace and joy; from his death and resurrection, a surprising river of vitality and hope. God specializes in forgiveness, refreshing and renewing barren lives.

This river illustrates the spiritual energy and potential of a God-filled life. Wherever that river flows through people and communities, life flourishes. God’s Spirit enables the followers of Jesus to be a foretaste of the new world that is on its way!

‘Creation longs for what’s in store’ (Starfield), and no sector of life is written off. Ezekiel shows us that God’s make-over of creation includes the physical environment - especially water resources - industry, agriculture, social development, medicine, law and faith. As Abraham Kuyper said, “there is not a square inch of the entire creation over which Jesus Christ does not cry ‘Mine’.”

This is what makes the life-changing leadership of Jesus so generative, so life-affirming and enlarging. This is where I want to live out my days; this is a vision that guides me homeward.

I'm wondering . . .
How does this vision of Ezekiel’s river inspire you?
Have you ever experienced a transformation like his river?

Photo Credits:
Dead Sea Wasteland - WysInfo DocuWebs
Jesus - ubiquitous on the Web