Ezekiel 47:8, commentary and pictures

The waters begin as a small stream flowing eastward from under the threshold of the sanctuary at Jerusalem by the south side of the altar, and run down toward the east country into the desert and into the sea, where the sea waters are healed. Wherever those rivers come everything that lives shall live, and on both banks grow all trees for food whose leaf never fades and whose fruit ripens every month because their waters issued from the sanctuary, with the fruit for meat and the leaf for medicine. The waters are the gospel of Christ in its purity proclaimed with the power of the Holy Spirit, beginning in a small way as a living river that constantly grows deeper and wider until it extends to the east and west and north, to the islands of the sea and to all parts of the world. Wherever the gospel is received its grace heals the maladies that sin has produced, bringing light and strength and refreshing and sanctification and victory, as a tide of spiritual life flows from everyone in whom Christ abides to glorify God. God designs sanitariums and physicians to be such rivers of life, bringing spiritual and physical healing through outdoor life in nature and pleasant surroundings, which is infinitely better than drug medication, yet each soul must plunge in and drink for himself for no one can obtain it for another.

Healing Waters Described

The waters begin as a very small rivulet issuing from under the threshold of the house eastward at the south side of the altar, flowing out from the sanctuary at Jerusalem. From that small beginning the work they picture grows larger as it goes, a great work rising from small beginnings. The eastward flow shows the truth for this time spreading outward rather than remaining centered in one place.

They issue out toward the east country and go down into the desert and go into the sea, and where they are brought forth into the sea the waters of the sea are healed. It is a life-giving river flowing from the sanctuary through the desert into the sea, bringing life wherever it flows. Its healing reaches many souls in many places.

Wherever the rivers come, everything that lives and moves shall live. On both banks of the river grow all trees for food, whose leaf does not fade and whose fruit is not consumed but brings forth new fruit every month, even new fruit according to his months, because their waters issued out of the sanctuary. The fruit is for meat and the leaf for medicine.

The river flows from the fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness. Its sparkling, clear waters carry medicinal properties and life-giving power with mighty healing efficacy for body and soul, curing all manner of diseases and infirmity, both physical and spiritual. Drinking them restores health and vigor and makes the countenance fair and natural, fed as the stream is by a secret spring in the bottom of the river.

Gospel Spreads Worldwide

The waters are the gospel of Christ in its purity, proclaimed in clear unmistakable language to prepare the way of the Lord and to reveal God as master of the situation. Accompanied by the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit, they cause the Word to yield great results and to bring life as the gospel goes forth from Jerusalem and spreads to all countries. The people of God are not a stagnant pool but a living river constantly flowing and growing deeper and wider as it advances, until its life-giving waters are spread over all the earth. In this way the truth for this time begins in a small way and grows into a large work reaching many souls.

The eastward flow into the desert and the sea means the work extends to the east and to the west and to the north, to the islands of the sea and to all countries and to all parts of the world, to fields nigh and afar off. The stream is to deepen and widen in its course, advancing onward and still onward until the whole earth shall have been warned and then the end shall come. That expansion is not to be centered in any one place or centralized under the management of a few men, but every part is to remain independent working out God's plan under His direction and blending with every other part in unity amid diversity. Strength and development come through burden-bearing, for great interests must be managed in many places. Laborers are to be called from the plow and from common commercial vocations and educated in connection with men of experience to labor effectively and proclaim the truth with power, and through wonderful workings of divine providence mountains of difficulty will be removed and cast into the sea so that the message will be heard and understood and men will know what is truth.

The healing is accomplished not through display or human devising and planning but through the Holy Spirit working on human hearts in the way Christ Himself worked. When His methods become the methods of His followers His blessing attends their labors, as shown in the work at Madison as an illustration of how the message should be carried in many places and reach many souls. Wherever the gospel is received its grace heals the maladies that sin has produced. That healing comes from the Lord as the Sun of Righteousness arising with healing in His beams, bringing light and strength and refreshing, with sanctification and comfort and victory over the world, and the good fruit borne bears witness to a work of righteousness.

The river pictures God bringing blessing to the world through His people to glorify His name. From the beginning He has worked in this way, making Joseph a fountain of life to preserve Egypt and using Daniel to save the wise men of Babylon, and those deliverances illustrate the spiritual blessings offered to the world through connection with God. Everyone in whom Christ abides and who shows His love becomes a worker together with God for the blessing of humanity, receiving grace from the Saviour to give to others so that a tide of spiritual life flows out from the whole being.

Healing Ministry Applied

The healing stream that runs from the sanctuary toward the east country and down into the desert and into the sea, healing the sea wherever it enters, is the pattern for sanitariums to be rivers of life and healing to sin-sick suffering humanity. It flows from the fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness, and its waters carry medicinal properties with mighty healing power efficacious for both physical and spiritual infirmity, for body and soul. Wherever the rivers come everything that lives shall live, and on both banks grow all trees for food whose leaf does not fade and whose fruit is not consumed but brings new fruit every month because their waters issued out of the sanctuary, the fruit for meat and the leaf for medicine. This is accomplished through divine power working through workers in whose heart Christ abides, who impart the grace they receive from the Saviour so that a tide of spiritual life flows from their whole being.

Physicians are to be wise to learn this lesson about healing from the vision of the mighty river where everything that lives and moves wherever the rivers come shall live. Outdoor life in nature is a health-restoring, life-giving blessing that uplifts the soul and brings relief to body and mind. They are to prescribe open-air exercise, time outdoors tending flowers and doing light pleasant work, and cheerful surroundings with flowers growing and birds singing, as a beneficial necessity that calls the mind from self, makes patients hopeful, and requires less care. This return to God's original design is infinitely better than drug medication and calls for sanitariums to be established in the most pleasant surroundings outside the city where patients' thoughts can be bound up with the mind of God.

The stream holds a secret spring in its depths whose sparkling, clear water cures all manner of diseases. Drinking it restores health and vigor and makes the countenance fair and natural. All who would obtain it must plunge at a venture into the water for themselves, for no one can obtain it for another.