The Vision of the Holy Waters
J. Bailey, Ph. D. Ezekiel 47:9 And it shall come to pass, that every thing that lives, which moves, wherever the rivers shall come, shall live… Whether we view the temple as the symbol of the Church or of heaven, or of the Divine humanity, it will amount to the same thing. And it is a sublime idea which is attained when we view these as one within or above the other, and all affording a grand channel of descent by which the Divine truth, represented by the sacred water, flows down into the world. First, from the inmost essence of the Lord, its infinite source, thence through His Divine humanity, which the apostle calls "the new and living way," into heaven; from heaven again into the minds of the good on earth. It is the same stream of which John had a spiritual view (Revelation 22:1). The prophet describes himself as being in the way of the gate northward, and being led out of this to an utter gate by the way that looketh eastward. The leader of the prophet represents the Divine providence acting through the ministry of guardian angels. He has given His angels charge over us, to keep us in all our ways. "He brought me out of the way of the gate northward." The quarters, East, West, South, and North, indicate earthly positions, and how we stand in relation to the Sun. They who are nearest to the Sun of heaven, by the purest love to Him, are in the spiritual east, to such the "Sun of Righteousness ariseth with healing in His wings." In the west are they who are in little or no love to Him. The south, where the sun is at mid-day, when he gives his greatest light, represents the state of such as are fully enlightened in spiritual intelligence; while the north, the region of cold and fog, represents the condition of the ignorant. The prophet was in the way of the gate northward, to represent the ignorant state from which we all commence our heavenward journey. Gates represent introductory truths. By these we are admitted to the higher things of the Church, as by means of gates we enter a city. Of the spiritual city, the Church, it is said, "They shall call thy walls salvation, and thy gates praise" (Isaiah 60:18). The Lord Himself says, "I am the door: by Me if any man shall enter in, he shall be saved" (John 10:9). The utter gate by the river, which looketh eastward, means the most general knowledge which leads us towards the Lord, the rising Sun of the soul. This is the knowledge of the Lord as the Saviour. It is said, "He led me about, the way without, unto the utter gate." These words conduct us to most interesting and important considerations. The circumstances of our outward life constitute "the way without." These are all the objects of Divine care, and are made subservient to our spiritual good. Our business pursuits require us often to change from town to town, from kingdom, it may be, to kingdom. Our friends and associates are thus changed. We come into contact with new scenes, new books, new trains of thought. Our position in life is sometimes changed. We suffer afflictions in the loss of property, or in separations from those dear to us. All these changing scenes and circumstances, sometimes chequered with deep and lengthened suffering, are overruled by a merciful Providence to our highest good. Whatever the Lord permits, or whatever He ordains, is from the counsels of His love; and when the end proposed has been effected, we may look back, and see that; all has been for the best. The truths which were before only in the memory, become now lessons on which we ponder, and which give a colour to our lives. Henceforward our lives have a deeper aim, a holier aspect. We have been led about, by the way without, and have come to the utter gate, by the way that looketh eastward. "And, behold, there ran our waters on the right side." The right side or the south side, for the south side would be the right when the front of the temple looked to the east, represents truth flowing from love. The right side is the strongest side, and truth from earnest heartfelt love is always stronger than truth from a mind chiefly actuated by faith. All the truths of heaven flow from love in the Lord. They are waters that come out on the right side. And, when the human soul is awakened to its highest interest and their true saving character, it sees as the prophet saw, "Behold, there ran out waters on the right side." The next stage in the progress marked in our text is, "That when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles." Our guardian angels have the power of measuring our spiritual progress. They perceive our states most correctly. When a person has not only learned and reflected upon the Divine commandments, but loved them and reduced them to practice, he has advanced a thousand. He has performed an act of spiritual multiplication to the third power; and he will find the waters of Divine truth "up to the ankles." It is reported of the renowned Philip Neri, that he said he was saved by the right use of his eyes: in looking above, to God, before, to heaven, and below, to the few feet of earth he should one day occupy, he kept his mind ever directed to things eternal. But the right use of the feet is quite as important as that of the eyes; however steadily a person may look to the golden city in the distance, he will never get there unless he also walks. When, then, the prophet had completed the first stage, his thousand cubits, and was led across the waters, he found them up to his ankles, to intimate that now he could fully understand the letter of the Word, all that related to moral outward life. There are three grand stages in our religious life. In the first, we are governed by obedience, and inquire little further about any religious duty than "Has the Lord said it must be done?" In the second, we begin to see the beauty of truth as a glorious thing in itself, and worthy of all acceptation: it is to us a "pearl of great price." Faith, and the things of faith, are objects of supreme importance, and we follow truth for truth's sake. We do the Lord's commandments in this opening of a second degree of the mind, but we do them not so much from command as from a rational admiration of their rectitude. The third stage of Christian progression is that which we enter upon by being introduced into such a state of supreme love to the Lord, that everything which comes from Him is our delight. We love His law, we love His truth, we love Himself. We have already described the state of obedience which is arrived at when the waters cover the feet. But he with the measuring line went on, measured a thousand, and brought the prophet forward, and then led him across, and the waters were up to the knees. It is a most important advance which is indicated by the rise of waters to the knees. To obey from command is good, but to open the mind to see the propriety and beauty of the command is much better. The Christian now becomes a merchantman seeking for goodly pearls. Each text, when opened, gives him a new delight. For it should ever be remembered, that it is not the knowing of the Word alone which gives light, but the understanding of it. When the mind is opened thus in its second degree by the presence of an interior love of truth, its deeper perceptions are a constant source of delightful and consolatory views when reading the Word. The pages of the Divine book become to him a garden of ever-varying richness and beauty. Here are beds of varied hues of flowers, there are trees of silver leaves and golden fruits. He comes to the Word as to the paradise of his heavenly Father below, and he finds he can meander in its sacred walks, or sit in its blessed bowers, with ever-increasing delight. Sir Isaac Newton compared himself, as a man of science, to a child picking up pebbles on the margin of the ocean of truth. And this was both a mark of the humility of the great philosopher, and of his reverence and value for the truth he found in science. But the true spiritual child of his heavenly Father has the privilege not only of finding pebbles on the margin of the holy waters, but of going through and enjoying the still-deepening stream of the river, which makes glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Nest High. But we are told, "Again he measured a thousand, and the waters were up to the loins" (ver. 4). The loins are the portion of the body where the previously-separated limbs are joined. They correspond spiritually to love united with faith. And, when the mind has been so advanced in the regenerate life, that every truth we come to comprehend is seen also to be full of love, "the water is up to the loins." When this blessed state is reached, fear and doubt are left far away. "Perfect love casteth out fear." That secret union of goodness and truth in the inner man has been attained, which realises in each soul the Divine words (Isaiah 62:4). Thrice happy is he who has attained this heaven within the soul, in which righteousness and peace have kissed each other! Along with this entire union of love and faith within, another discovery is made. The Word is seen to be infinite wisdom, and, therefore, progression in its hallowed truths to be everlasting. Hence the prophet continues (ver. 5). The delight which the blessed have in the fresh and ever brighter unfoldings of Divine truth, is meant by the blessed promise (Revelation 7:17). Fountains! what an idea of its inexhaustible abundance is conveyed by the term. Living water — how the term conveys the idea of a sparkling, glittering, sunny, pearly, living brilliancy — it can never be exhausted, never be passed over. The soul may swim in it forever, but can never get beyond. And what a glorious thought is that to the lover of heavenly wisdom! Its grandeurs will be forever disclosing themselves to him in increasing beauty. From glory to glory, from brightness to brightness, from blessing to blessing: such is the career of the just made perfect. They find the wisdom which they appreciated in some slight degree here, and the truths which they found deepening with their advancing states, have become with the larger powers of their exalted condition, "waters which have risen, a river which no man can pass over." (J. Bailey, Ph. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh. WEB: It shall happen, that every living creature which swarms, in every place where the rivers come, shall live; and there shall be a very great multitude of fish; for these waters are come there, and [the waters of the sea] shall be healed, and everything shall live wherever the river comes.