This one is safe to read if you are concerned about being propagandized by a misguided liberal...
This morning my family and I were reading in Ezekiel. We get up every morning at six and read a chapter of the Book of Mormon and a chapter of the Bible. We have been doing this for some time now: we're almost done with Ezekiel. Today we read chapter 47.
First of all, in an effort to keep things honest and above board on all of this - when it comes to the Old Testament, I am no great scholar. There is much that I really enjoy about it, but it can be so symbolic at times that it is difficult to stay on top of things. This difficulty is exacerbated when you don't speak English as a first language (as in the case of my wife), you are particularly young (as in the case of my two beautiful and intelligent but normal children), or you are not a geek (like me...). Ammon said - I don't LIKE Ezekiel: He's BORING!
OK. Duly noted.
Doesn't matter, though. We're still going to read it.
Today I had an impression come to me that is in part related to this verse in the Doctrine and Covenants (Section 29):
33 Speaking unto you that you may naturally understand; but unto myself my works have no end, neither beginning; but it is given unto you that ye may understand, because ye have asked it of me and are agreed.
34 Wherefore, verily I say unto you that all things unto me are spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal; neither any man, nor the children of men; neither Adam, your father, whom I created.
35 Behold, I gave unto him that he should be an agent unto himself; and I gave unto him commandment, but no temporal commandment gave I unto him, for my commandments are spiritual; they are not natural nor temporal, neither carnal nor sensual.
From this, I have come to understand that while the Lord often speaks to us of things which are temporal, physical, or otherwise tangible in an effort to help us to understand, we are not given things from the Lord that are without a spiritual side. He says specifically that "all things unto me are spiritual...."
When I read Ezekiel this morning about the healing of the Dead Sea, I began with my previous understanding that this is a prophecy regarding the last days when the Dead Sea would literally be healed and have fish living in it and trees and plants living along the shore... Very interesting in and of itself.
But then I began to understand a deeper meaning. The churches of the world have become a veritable Dead Sea of learning and understanding. They are full of dead works, having no life or light, no authority. It takes the waters which come from the temple (the House of God) to heal the Dead Sea - Christ Himself being the living water, the fountainhead of all righteousness, whose doctrine and light would heal the religions and peoples of the world with His sweetness.
And then I went even further, and I began to realize that we are ALL like a Dead Sea. We have all sinned and come short of the perfection God demands of us. As such, we separate ourselves from Him and die spiritually. This spiritual death is as real as the physical death we will all undergo. And yet the water, coming from the Temple of God, the living water which restores all life, is granted to us if we will allow it. As the water left the threshold of the Temple it was at first only a little water. But Ezekiel and the angel walk further into the water, and it becomes wide - over 1500' wide (a quarter mile!) and at first is only ankle deep, then to his knees, then his waist, then he says it becomes a great river in which people can swim... (Chapter 47 verse 5: "and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over."
Thus is the love of God manifest in our lives. It is a healing, blessing, and living thing. This is the living water of which Christ spoke. No matter how dead we are or may feel, His love is a river that brings life to our lives and spirits. He will bless us immeasurable. Let's swim in His love and light.
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