"Risen Lamb Writings"
"The Eastern Flow of
Intercession" (Part Five)
The vision depicted in Ezekiel 47
culminates at a distance of 4,000 cubits from the temple where, as the Prophet
Ezekiel states, "There was now a river through which I could not wade; for
the water had risen so high that it had become a river that could not be
crossed except by swimming" (Ezek. 47:5). The river is a "river for
universal renewal". Here the angel of God has Ezekiel sit at the bank of
the river. The angel proceeds to tell Ezekiel that the water flows out into the
desert and into the Dead Sea, "The salt waters, which it makes fresh" (Ezek.
47:8). One is struck by the sheer volume and transforming power of the water.
At a mystical level this vision depicts a paschal outpouring of the Holy Spirit
from the pierced heart of Jesus that transforms the "desert of the world" into
a restored paradise. As the prophet states, " Along the bank of the river I saw
very many trees on both sides" (Ezek. 47:7). The scene is one of
freshness, life, abundance, nourishment, and healing--A new creation that seems
paradisal.
The cross of Jesus Christ is the tree of life:
Upon it, "death [has been] swallowed up in victory" (1 Cr. 15:54B). At a
mystical level the scene on the bank of the river can depict an image of
"communal", contemplative, intercessory prayer (many trees of life, each
bearing fruit in maturity). Intercessors are called to live fully as "holy
temples" of the living God in union with the Lamb and, hence, the sacred flow from the "Altar" of his
pierced heart, offering fruitfully as "Eucharistic trees of life" for a
spiritually starving and hurting world: "Their fruit shall serve for food,
and their leaves for medicine" (Ezek. 47:12C). We must be brought to a full empowerment of
the Spirit--a full maturity in the Spirit--fully immersed in the depth of God's
Love:A communion come to full flowering.
Only the cross of Jesus Christ has the
power to transform death into life. In this vision of Ezekiel, what flows from
the altar--the living water of the Holy Spirit--is greater and far more
powerful than the impotent water contained in the Dead Sea: "The one who is
in you is greater than the one who is in the world" (1 John 4:4). This is a
truth that intercessors must stand upon at all times; for, we are very much
living in "Dead Sea days". Our world seems to be becoming more a "sea of dead
souls"--of countless people who are spiritually famished for the word of God
and dangerously, spiritually dehydrated for the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately
today, many people are "marinating" in postmortem cultures of death--we might
even speak of "Dead Sea cities and societies", as well as the "Dead Seas"
of personal discouragement, dejection,
depression and spiritual death.
In Rev. 8:10-11 we read of a star
called "wormwood". "It fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of
water...and a third of all the water turned to wormwood. Many people died
from this water, because it was made bitter" (Rev. 8:10,11). Today
many people are "drinking" the "bitter waters" of sin and worldliness and
succumbing to spiritual death. In Ex. 15:23-25 we read that the chosen people
of God, newly delivered through the Red Sea, traveled for three days through
the desert without finding water:
"They
arrived at Marah, where they could not drink the water, because it was too
bitter. [Moses] appealed to the LORD who pointed out to him a certain
piece of wood. When he threw this into the water, the water became fresh"
(Ex. 15: 23,25).
In the new
testament, the cross of Jesus Christ is this "certain piece of wood"
that has transformed the bitterness of sin and death into the "sweetness of
eternal life". There is an urgent need today for intercessors to be intimately
united with this "certain piece of wood"--to be brought into a profound
immersion in God--to be brought to a most powerful spiritual and prayerful
depth of relationship which is a deep union with the indwelling presence of
God.
Today, the dragon continues to spew "a
torrent of water out of his mouth after the woman to sweep her away with
the current" (Rev. 12:15). The flood that the dragon spews daily out of its
mouth--a torrent of worldly, toxic
temptations--will always be of spiritually tainted, contaminated "waters" of
false mysticism, deceptive New Age spirituality, occultism, etc. Unfortunately,
many spiritually dehydrated souls "drink in" all too eagerly these polluted,
spiritual waters everyday without proper discernment, and they are consequently swept away with the
"current". Hence, there is a critical need for a "divine invasion" of intense
intercession at the level of redemptive suffering, united with the unique
mediation of the Lamb of God. Only this type of total offering has a power to
transform cultures of death into cultures of life.
Questions:
1) What
lifestyle choices am I making to combat "wormwood" in my life?
2) Are there
any "Dead Sea" situations that I am interceding for presently?
Scriptures:
Any scripture from the text; John 7: 38-39A; Rev. 2:7; Rev.
22:1-2, 14.
