The message of Ezekiel echoes through the centuries and finds a welcome home in the heart of this woman whose chief desires in life are to obey God and to proclaim the Word of God. We have found that Ezekiel and I have much in common.

God asked Ezekiel to do some pretty crazy things! Ezekiel positioned himself on his side for 390 days and during that time ate only one meal a day that was cooked over manure!
You’ve got to be kidding me, God! This prophet by the name of Ezekiel shaved his head and his beard in a prophetic demonstration and also refused to prolong his grief over the death of his beloved wife.
Ezekiel heard intimately and in detail the instructions of the Lord and then faithfully obeyed.

We can do no less.
We are committed, like Ezekiel, to fearlessly preach the Word of God and to obey God, whatever He asks of us.

When God asks me to share my faith with the agnostic sitting next to us on the plane … I will willingly do it.

EZEKIEL’S VISION
He Saw A River – this river is type of the Holy Spirit, John 14:16-18. There are three ways in which this river represents the Spirit and His work in the life of the believer.

1. In Its Source – The throne of God. The Holy Spirit, like this river, came directly from the Father’s throne.
2. In Its Course – From the altar. Notice that this river came from the altar, or the place where sacrifice was made. The Water of Life, the precious Holy Spirit comes directly from the altar of Christ’s sacrifice, the cross – Matt. 20:28. The Holy Spirit came only after the death of Christ on the cross, John 16:7.
3. In Its Force – Notice four great things about this river that made it very special. These four things make the Holy Spirit special as well.

A. It had no Feeder Streams – There was no need for any thing to flow into this river to give it force, size and power. When at left the throne, it possessed all that it needed.

(The Mississippi in the United States is less that 3 feet wide where it begins, but after all the feed streams flow into it, it becomes a mighty river. God’s river needs no feeder streams).

(What is this, God doesn’t need the world, anything that is in it, and He certainly doesn’t need me and you to get His work done here in this world. God supercedes us! He supercedes this world and He will get the job done in spite of you and me. His Mighty River needs no feeder streams!)

THE RIGHTEOUS BRANCH OF DAVID
There were two facets of the doctrine of the Messiah in the Old Testament and rabbinical writings. Both of these ideas are found in verses five and six. We see the Messiah as a person in verse five, and the teaching concerning the Messianic Age in verse six. These facets are also found in Isaiah
(11:1-5, 6-16; 9:5-6; 11:1-9; Micah 5:1-5; Amos 9:11; Hosea 3:5, etc.).
These and other verses describe the coming New Age when the Messiah would restore David’s dynasty.

God promised Jeremiah that He would raise up from David’s line a righteous Branch (23:5). The shepherds of Israel have corrupted God’s flock. Yahweh will restore the nation from exile and will provide true “shepherds” who will care for His flock. In this passage the LORD promises the coming of the ideal king, “a righteous Branch” in the line of David.

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch;
And He will reign as king and act wisely
And do justice and righteousness in the land.”

This passage in Jeremiah is clearly messianic and was one of many such utterances by the Hebrew prophets that contributed to the developing messianic belief in ancient Israel. Verses five and six are full of messianic thinking as well as 33:15-16. The English word “Messiah” is derived from the Hebrew word Mashach meaning, “to anoint.” The term Messiah in the sense of the ideal king is not used in the Old Testament even though the idea is clearly present.

It is only through the ideal king Messiah David whose just and victorious rule the hopes of Judah will ever be realized. No other dynasty will have everlasting rule. The Royal Psalms give emphasis to this same idealism (Psalm 2, 4, 72, 89-110).

The “Branch” is a “growth,” or literally “sprout” and is used in the ancient Near East to describe the rightful heir to the throne (33:15; Isaiah 4:2; Zechariah 3:8; 6:12). Isaiah uses a different word in 11:1 but with the same idea. This heir will be an ideal king. He will act wisely and do what is just and right. During His reign “Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which he will be called, ‘the LORD our righteousness'” (vv. 5-6; cf. 3:17; 33:16; Ezekiel 48:35; 1 Corinthians 1:30).

No matter how gloomy and desperate the present situation was in Judah, Yahweh promised to raise up to David a righteous branch.

✍️☀️Mrs. Kalaiselvi Balakrishnan in Jesus Christ ☀️✍️

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Ezekiel 47:1b “And the water was flowing down from under, from the right side of the house, from the south of the altar.”

This is the vision of the prophet Ezekiel. He saw a river emerging from the Temple, flowing eastward beginning as a trickle and becoming a deep river.

Trees will grow along the banks.
As the river flows into the Dead Sea, this water turns it into clean water for the life of fishes.

Through the above vision of Ezekiel we see the origin of worship, the place of worship, the form of worship and the final result of worship.

Where to worship?
We can see the answer to this in the conversation of Jesus with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:16-26. We can worship our Lord in all places when we worship Him in truth and spirit.

2. Why do we worship?
   …………. To glorify God.
   He is our creator and we are His creations. In the book of Isaiah chapter 6: verses 1-8 we can see the vision of Isaiah about worship. Isaiah was seeing the glory of God in worship. In worship we should glorify God and see the glory of God.

……………. Worship helps to have self examination and self evaluation.
Worship helps to find out the unclean nature and the emptiness of our life.
……….. The gossiping lips, the slandering lips and the self boasting lips.
The true worship helps us for a self examination of our life.

…………… Worship helps to find out the real source of our life.
Worship is true communication of the creations to the creator that recognizes Him as the Messiah.
Through worship we realize the real source and the meaning of eternal life.

…………… Worship should reveal our calling.
In worship we should submit ourselves to hear the calling of the Lord.
Worship is the glorification of God and the celebration of our faith.

“The greatest waste in all the earth, which can’t be recycled or reclaimed, is our waste of the time God has given us each day”.

Jooley Mathew Z
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Simple thoughts for💫
deeper meditation:

Ezekiel 47:5

“Afterward he measured a
thousand, and it was a river
that could not pass over, for
the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over”

It is important that the
prophet had to wade through the river to experience- first hand the river. Let us recognize that
unless we experience the
life giving river of God in our
lives we shall not be able to
share it with others.

⚡ As he moves on, the
river becomes deeper and
deeper. How may the river
of life in our lives become
deeper and deeper that we
may experience God’s
abundance in ever growing
measure and share it with
others in a deeper measure?
It teaches us that the spiritual life requires not
superficial but deeper
experiences.

The prophet is not only
made to wade through the
river of life but also see its
life giving power on the banks. The trees on both
sides are life giving.

⚡ Apostle John had a
vision like this in Revelation:
22: 1-2. In both visions the
river that flows from the
presence of God is life
giving. It is not only the banks of the river which are a place for life giving and
healing trees but the water
of the river makes the salty
water fresh wherever it flows.

⚡ The fresh water is life
giving to many fish and also
to the fishermen. Two points
to note: one, how may we
experience the life giving
power of the river of life:
two, how may our lives flow
for the others around us
to experience the freshness
of this life giving river of
life?

Dr. Thomas David.🎯