Bible Passage: Ezekiel 47:1-12
Focus Verses: Ezekiel 47:6-7 KJV: “And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the brink of the river. Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other.”
Focus Themes: Spiritual Growth- Kingdom Laws of Process and Impact;
Words on Marble: “If we went all the way with God what will happen?” – Smith Wigglesworth
This passage is that of Ezekiel wading through the water with a man with a line in his hands. Classically, and rightly so, this text has been interpreted as symbolic of higher dimensions in the spirit that is available to each and every believer as we press into God. True, incontrovertibly true!
However, the emphasis here though, is more about what Ezekiel saw on returning to the water bank. “.. caused me to return to the brink of the river. Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other.”(Ezekiel 47:6-7 KJV), This would indicate that at the start of the expedition, there were either not as many trees or even no trees at all at the river bank. Hence, Ezekiel’s wonderment on seeing so many trees on the bank.
It therefore goes that as Ezekiel was wading through the water with the man, correspondingly and faraway on the riverbank, trees were shooting up, unbeknownst to Ezekiel.
Playing out here is the kingdom law of process and impact. As we, day by day, do business with God and we are seeing changes in our personal lives, there are also corresponding changes happening on our ‘riverbanks’, in places we do not see as yet – God is moving the chess pieces someplace somewhere in the near and the far future. The banks of our rivers, our platforms are being populated with ‘trees’. Trees are one of the most significant symbols in the Bible and from Psalm 1 and other places in the scriptures, we know a tree by the riverside is symbolic of a blessed man.
Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 3:18 KJV captured this kingdom dynamics this way, ”but we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” As we behold, we become and as we become, our grades and glow of glories grow.
Fellow pilgrim, keep following ‘the man that is measuring the water’, keep following on as the Spirit guides and grows you in spiritual disciplines; in study and meditation on the Bible, praying, consecration, sanctification, holiness, eschewing worldliness, shunning love of money & mammon worship, embracing heaven mindedness, mortifying the flesh’, engaging in soul winning etc. As you do these, while not totally ignoring, but please do not be over-bothered nor overburdened about what is happening on your ‘river bank’, Especially about the impacts and exploits other Christians might be doing that you may not be able to do now.
I know that isn’t an easy ask in the highly stratified Christian culture of our days, which is largely based on principles and how to-s; ‘how to see angels’, ‘how to walk in the miraculous’, ‘how to do this and that’ and other measurements by which spirituality are stratified. While these ‘how-to-s’ are not necessarily wrong in themselves, but it does sometimes appear that the over-centredness on output and instant success culture prevalent in the secular have also subtly crept its way into the spiritual sphere, but please refuse to bite.
In these our days of quick spiritual ROIs we should not forget the law of process, of seedtime and harvest is as old as time. Jesus in Matthew 6:6b said, “.. thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” Keep doing business with your father in secret; he has, by his word, duty bound himself to reward you openly.
On your return, the trees will be there waiting!
©2025 Ola Bosun Ajidahun . All Rights Reserved.
Amen in Jesus name.🙏
“In the fullness of time….it came to pass”
Yes it always does! Thanks