#37 The Flow of Life and the Building of God (4)

Scripture Reading: Ezek. 47:1-12

V. The flow of life comes out from God’s building—Ezek. 47:1-12:

A. We need to experience the flowing of the living water out of the house of God—vv. 1-5:

1. For the increase of the flow of life, we need to be measured by the Lord as the man of bronze—40:3; 47:2-6; Rev. 1:15​; cf. John 7:37​-39.

2. To measure is to examine, test, judge, and possess—Ezek. 42:20.

3. The four measurings of a thousand cubits, which is a complete unit (cf. Psa. 84:10), indicate that as creatures we need to be thoroughly measured by the Lord so that He may take over and thoroughly possess our entire being—Ezek. 47:2-5.

4.The more we allow the Lord to examine, test, and judge us to possess us, the deeper the flow becomes; the depth of the flow depends on how much we have been measured by the Lord.

5. The more we are measured by the Lord, the more we are restricted and limited by the flowing of the grace of life until eventually we are lost in and carried along by the flowing Triune God as a river in which to swim; in one sense, we lose all our freedom, but in another sense, we are really free—vv. 5-6a.

B. “If you are in the Lord’s recovery, be in the recovery absolutely, not half-way…By being absolute we will be in the flow, and the flow will not be a trickle but a river to swim in”—Life-study of Ezekiel, pp. 311-312.