#1351. EZEKIEL’S PERSONAL SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE (19/9/25)
- Matt Beaney
- Sep 19
- 3 min read
Welcome to this Come to Jesus Daily Devotional (posted every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) as we begin our new vision series, Rivers.
Today, from the life of Ezekiel, we see that if we are to have a vision of, and an experience of living water, we must go to God personally and with great expectation.
You can listen to this devotional below
‘On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.’ (John 7:37-39)
Our vision, based on this text, is:
Bringing people to Jesus: Myself, One Another, Our Community.
This week, we are focussing on the myself aspect — our need to personally come, and keep coming, to Jesus.
‘In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year after the fall of the city—on that very day the hand of the Lord was on me and he took me there. 2 In visions of God he took me to the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain…’ (Ezekiel 40:1–2)
Ezekiel is a complex book, but notice this: his visions and encounters with God come in the context of, like Daniel, a place of trial and in the context of personal devotion. He was a man who made space to be with God, and it was there that God met him and revealed His purposes.
The Lord, like with Ezekiel in his exile, wants to ‘take you to a very high mountain.’ What do I mean by this? Every time we come to pray, we truly meet God — yes, we meet God! In prayer we are lifted into His presence, given fresh perspective, and strengthened with His power.
It is in this place of devotion that Ezekiel is given a vision of the restored temple. In chapter 47, he sees water - symbolising the Spirit - flowing from the temple:
‘Ezekiel saw water flowing from the threshold of the temple toward the east (v.1–2). As the man measured, the stream became ankle-deep, then knee-deep, then waist-deep, until it was a river too deep to cross (v.3–5). Along its banks grew many trees (v.6–7). The river flowed into the Dead Sea, turning the salty water fresh so that living creatures and fish thrived wherever it went, and fishermen spread their nets along the shore (v.8–10). Yet the swamps and marshes were left salty (v.11). On both banks fruit trees grew whose leaves never withered and whose fruit never failed; every month they bore fruit, for the water came from the sanctuary. Their fruit served for food and their leaves for healing (v.12).’
What a powerful vision of what Jesus promises in John 7! But notice the difference: Jesus does not point us to a temple in Jerusalem - He says the rivers of living water will flow from within us. Why? Because the Jerusalem temple was always a foreshadowing of God’s true temple - His people. We, the church, are God’s holy temple, and His Spirit now flows from us into the dry and lifeless places of the world.
Today, I want us simply to see this: Ezekiel’s vision was deeply personal. The hand of the Lord was on me, and He took me… Like Ezekiel, Jesus wants you to meet Him, be lifted up, see great things, and be filled to overflowing with rivers of living water.
Response
Do you and I go to Jesus in prayer with great expectation — realising that prayer is not routine, but meeting with God Himself in the heavenly realms?
Community Group Notes
This week, we don't have our usual Community Groups. Instead, on the 17th (in the building, beginning at 7:00pm with a meal), we have the second of this year's Together evenings. Please make every effort to come along to worship, be inspired and fellowship together.
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