"Living Water" June 17 Readings: Ezekiel 43-48

 

Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2024

This year, instead of reading from Genesis to Revelation, we will read the Bible as the story flows, as it happened and was written. There are several plans out there and I have worked to combine them into a plan that lets the Bible tell its own story "as it happened." Remember, the Bible is inspired, but not in the order the books appear in our Bibles.  The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but we will give more emphasis to the New Testament, spending half the year in the Old Testament and half in the New. 

Bible Readings: Ezekiel 43-48

Background:  

There are many questions about the millennial temple - the biggest of which is why sacrifices are mentioned after the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ. There is not a single, nor perhaps a satisfactory answer for that question, but this passage describes that temple that will exist in the times after the Lord has returned to set up his kingdom on earth.

Daily Devotional: Living Water

Though we have many questions about this idealized and future temple that will never be explained until the end of time, there are some things that we do know - and those are the things that matter most.

First of all, the glory of God returns. In the early chapters of the prophecy, Ezekiel described the presence of God departing from the Temple because of Israel's sin but now we see the Glory restored in the new Temple. God wins; sin never does. Israel may have strayed but God's power is stronger.

We have been reading in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and it is easy to see these books as "downers." They are in one sense. Human sin is a downer. But the prophets always ended with the glory of God restoring Israel. God always wins. The message of the prophets is that yes, God hates sin and will not tolerate it among his people. But the message goes far beyond that. God wins where sin attacks. His grace is always greater than our sin.

And the second truth we must see is also encouraging. We look for life from so many sources that turn out to be dry wells that only disappoint. When the Temple is restored in Israel there will be a River of Life flowing from it. Look at Ezekiel 47:9.

Since the water will become fresh, there will be life everywhere the river goes.

Life does not come from money or pleasure or power or any of the things that people seek. It comes from God and the right worship of him. The glory of God is a life-giving stream that gives abundant life everywhere it goes.

Even today, when our bodies are the temple of God, we must be vessels of his glory and power so that the world may see him through us. Then, the streams of living water will well up inside us and flow to those around us.

Thank you, Lord, for the glory of your presence and the streams of living water that you bring - life-giving, soul-restoring water. 

 

Consider God's Word:

Where do you seek for the water of life? Do you seek it from Christ and his glory or do you seek it from the things of the world?