When he brought me back to the temple’s entrance, I noticed that water was flowing toward the east from under the temple’s threshold (the temple faced east). The water was going out from under the temple’s facade toward the south, south of the altar. He led me out through the North Gate and around the outside to the outer East Gate, where the water flowed out under the facade on the south side. With the line in his hand, the man went out toward the east. When he measured off fifteen hundred feet, he made me cross the water; it was ankle-deep. He measured off another fifteen hundred feet and made me cross the water; it was knee-deep. He measured off another fifteen hundred feet and made me cross the water, and it was waist-high. When he measured off another fifteen hundred feet, it had become a river that I couldn’t cross. The water was high, deep enough for swimming but too high to cross.
Ezekiel 47:1-5 CEB
Water is consistently used as a metaphor throughout scripture. From Moses and the Red Sea to Jesus and the fountain of living water. No one is quite sure what is meant by Ezekiel's vision of water. There are many interpretations, but I like Adam Clarke's concept as he writes in his commentary:
These waters may be considered as a type of the progress which Christianity shall make in the world. 1. There were only a few poor fishermen. 2. Afterwards many Jews. 3. Then the Gentiles of Asia Minor and Greece. 4. The continent and isles of Europe. And, 5. Now spreading through Africa, Asia, and America, at present these waters are no longer a river, but an immense sea; and the Gospel fishers are daily bringing multitudes of souls to Christ.
The varying waters have also been used as a metaphor to describe our journey of faith. Just as God asked Ezekiel, “Do you see?”
What progress are you in making the waters of faith?
Have you pushed out into the deep?
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