Ezk 47:22 You shall allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the sojourners who reside among you and have had children among you. They shall be to you as native- born children of Israel. With you they shall be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. (ESV)
This chapter has two main sections. The first 12 verses talk about a river flowing from the temple of God, and its influence on everything around it. The last 11 verses talk about the land and inheritance. Reading through this chapter three things caught my eye. First is the river. Second are the trees growing along the river. Third is the fact that non-Jewish "sojourners" are given a part of the land inheritance.
The river reminds me of Jesus words to the woman at the well. "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water" and "whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (Jn 4:10, 14 ESV)
Rivers grow as they flow. Springs and tributaries feed into them and they grow larger until they dump into the ocean. In this case the river grows from a trickle to a river that cannot be forded within the distance of about a mile with no mention of springs or tributaries. Where the river flows it brings life. The river originates at the temple of God and brings life to a dead sea. That is the impact of the gospel growing and bringing life wherever it goes. That is the Spirit guiding, energizing and producing in believers the fruit of the Spirit.
That is the miracle of Jesus life. He takes dry, dead people and infuses them with his life and they bring life wherever they go. Which brings us to the trees along the river. These are not normal trees. They too produce life. They bring forth fruit every month and their leaves are for healing. There is no life too broken that it is beyond the healing grace of the gospel.
Finally we come to the inheritance of the land. This is the fulfillment of a promise God mad to Israel. Yet, "sojourners" are given a part in the inheritance. Early in the church there was a question about whether a gentile could truly be saved unless he became Jewish. God's answer was clearly a "Yes." Jewish ritual was not required for salvation. Here we have another indication that God's grace is not limited to a particulate people group. There are huge lessons here, but perhaps first is the lesson that people don't need to be like us in order to be saved.
That was hard for the early Jewish believers to accept. If we are honest, it is hard for us as well. But that is the nature of the gospel. Salvation is not about what we do. It is about the miraculous grace of God that flows from the throne of God and brings life wherever it goes to whomever will believe. God is no respecter of persons. Neither, then, should I be.
Father, thank you for including me in your grace family. May every life I touch sense the grace of your gospel in my life.
By His grace,
Rick Weinert
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