"Hope Floats"

November 30, 2025

Background: Ezekiel 47:1-12; Print: Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12;

Key Verse: Ezekiel 47:12; Devotional: Revelation 7:9-17

Ezekiel 4:1-9 (ESV)
¹  “And you, son of man, take a brick and lay it before you, and engrave on it a city, even Jerusalem.
²  And put siegeworks against it, and build a siege wall against it, and cast up a mound against it. Set camps also against it, and plant battering rams against it all around.
³  And you, take an iron griddle, and place it as an iron wall between you and the city; and set your face toward it, and let it be in a state of siege, and press the siege against it. This is a sign for the house of Israel.
⁴  “Then lie on your left side, and place the punishment of the house of Israel upon it. For the number of the days that you lie on it, you shall bear their punishment.
⁵  For I assign to you a number of days, 390 days, equal to the number of the years of their punishment. So long shall you bear the punishment of the house of Israel.
⁶  And when you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the punishment of the house of Judah. Forty days I assign you, a day for each year.
⁷  And you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with your arm bared, and you shall prophesy against the city.
⁸  And behold, I will place cords upon you, so that you cannot turn from one side to the other, till you have completed the days of your siege.
⁹  “And you, take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and emmer, and put them into a single vessel and make your bread from them. During the number of days that you lie on your side, 390 days, you shall eat it.

Ezekiel 4:12 (ESV)
¹²  And you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it in their sight on human dung.”
 

Ezekiel Chapter 47 (Commentary)

47:1-12 This vision of water flowing east from the threshold of the temple (47:1) began with a trickle and increased dramatically in depth every third of a mile (47:3, 4-5). This river will flow all the way to the Dead Sea, miraculously giving it life. Its water will become fresh, and there will be life everywhere the river goes, even along its banks (47:9, 12).

In Scripture, water is often tied to life and to the work of the Holy Spirit (see John 7:37-39), so the river that will flow from the millennial temple is further evidence that the Spirit of God has returned to his house. It’s another way of testifying to God’s people that he is in the place and that his blessing is flowing from him to the entire land. There’s a kingdom lesson here for us today because the church is supposed to model the kingdom of God. We are supposed to be a living illustration of the flowing, deepening, and growing life that happens when the Holy Spirit manifests his growing presence in a community of believers (see Eph 2:19-22).

The book of Ezekiel is about a nation that was not just in religious decline, but also in governmental and family decline because none of the designated spheres of authority in God’s kingdom program—the temple (think the church in our day), the government, and the family unit—were following God’s statutes and commands. There was plenty of blame to share, but God started in Ezekiel’s day where he always starts when his people descend into chaos. He started with judgment at his house, not at the courthouse downtown or at the White House, so to speak. Until we as God’s people get our kingdom agenda priorities in order, he will not skip our failings to fix what’s wrong with our culture either. “The time has come for judgment to begin with God’s household, and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God?” (1 Pet 4:17).

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