Ezekiel 47:3
And 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. And 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.
The verse pictures the first measuring of a river flowing eastward from the sanctuary, from under the threshold at the south side of the altar, where after a thousand cubits the waters reach only to the ankles as the first stage of a river that grows deeper as it goes. The ankle-deep water means the work begins as a very small stream, a small, very small rivulet, that starts in a small way by many workers and then grows into a large work reaching many souls, extending east and west to the islands of the sea and to all parts of the world with great interests to be managed. The increase comes not through display or human devising but through the working of the Holy Spirit on the hearts of human agencies, under whose overruling guidance the stream is given in its purity. This is the way Christ worked, and when His followers make His methods their methods in a simple but effective way, His blessing attends their labors to carry the message in many places, as seen in the work at Madison. Because the work is the Lord's, it is not to be centered in any one place or brought under one management, but each institution is to remain independent working out God's plan under His direction, since burden-bearing gives strength and development and keeps workers from having their characters left undeveloped and their powers repressed.
As a river and not a stagnant pool, the stream of living water constantly deepens and widens in its course until its life-giving waters are spread over all the earth, advancing onward and still onward until the whole earth has been warned and then the end comes. The deepening means the growing experience given to those who with contrition of heart walk humbly with God and walk in the footsteps of Christ, united with the Holy Spirit in sanctification, comfort, and victory over the world. Wherever the gospel is received its grace heals the maladies that sin has produced, bringing light, strength, and refreshing from the Lord with the Sun of righteousness arising with healing, proved by the good fruit borne as witness to a work of righteousness.
God's people must prepare the way of the Lord and proclaim the truth in clear, unmistakable language with power so the message will be heard and understood and men will know what is truth. Men in all fields nigh and afar off are to be called from the plow and from common commercial vocations to be educated in connection with men of experience who understand the truth, to learn to labor effectively as those who have experienced the virtue of truth as it is in Jesus. Through wonderful workings of divine providence mountains of difficulty will be removed and cast into the sea.