Daily Devotional For Sunday, September 6, 2026
I am following the One Year Chronological Bible reading and any Bible verses you see highlighted in bold (ex. John 3:16) means it is a link to that verse. All you have to do is click on the reference and it will take you to the verse online.
Good morning Southside! It’s Sunday and I pray you will be in a worship service to give your praise to the Lord. Our daily devotional for today comes from Ezekiel 47:1-12:
“In my vision, the man brought me back to the entrance of the Temple. There I saw a stream flowing east from beneath the door of the Temple and passing to the right of the altar on its south side. (2) The man brought me outside the wall through the north gateway and led me around to the eastern entrance. There I could see the water flowing out through the south side of the east gateway. (3) Measuring as he went, he took me along the stream for 1,750 feet and then led me across. The water was up to my ankles. (4) He measured off another 1,750 feet and led me across again. This time the water was up to my knees. After another 1,750 feet, it was up to my waist. (5)Then he measured another 1,750 feet, and the river was too deep to walk across. It was deep enough to swim in, but too deep to walk through. (6) He asked me, “Have you been watching, son of man?” Then he led me back along the riverbank. (7) When I returned, I was surprised by the sight of many trees growing on both sides of the river. (8) Then he said to me, “This river flows east through the desert into the valley of the Dead Sea. The waters of this stream will make the salty waters of the Dead Sea fresh and pure. (9) There will be swarms of living things wherever the water of this river flows. Fish will abound in the Dead Sea, for its waters will become fresh. Life will flourish wherever this water flows. (10) Fishermen will stand along the shores of the Dead Sea. All the way from En-gedi to En-eglaim, the shores will be covered with nets drying in the sun. Fish of every kind will fill the Dead Sea, just as they fill the Mediterranean. (11) But the marshes and swamps will not be purified; they will still be salty. (12) Fruit trees of all kinds will grow along both sides of the river. The leaves of these trees will never turn brown and fall, and there will always be fruit on their branches. There will be a new crop every month, for they are watered by the river flowing from the Temple. The fruit will be for food and the leaves for healing” (NLT).
To understand this passage, I must give you some geographical and topographical information about Jerusalem. Jerusalem is located 34 miles inland east of the Mediterranean coast nestled in an outcropping known as the Ophel-Moriah ridge. The elevation of this ridge averages 2,500 feet above sea level, varying from 2,080 feet in the southeast to 2,528 feet at Jaffa Gate. The city is located 24 miles west of the northern end of the Dead Sea, which is the lowest depression on the earth, 1,292 feet below sea level.
The city has no rivers coming into it but it does have between 8-10 small streams. This allowed them to have cisterns, aqueducts and reservoirs to collect and hold water. The city is within walking distance to Mount Zion, Calvary, the Garden of Gethsemane and the Hinnom Valley. The city and surrounding areas have hills one must climb and/or go down.
In our story it seems that God uses an angel to bring a vision to Ezekiel. This angel or guide is a regular character in Ezekiel 40:1-46:24. Ezekiel sees a stream that is flowing through the Temple’s threshold past the sanctuary and eventually out of the Temple area flowing eventually to the Kidron Valley. What is the point in mentioning this? The angel/guide wanted Ezekiel to know and believe that God is the Source of life for a world that thirsts for spiritual truth, including forgiveness of sin and salvation from sin (John 4:14; John 7:37-38; Eph. 5:36; Rev. 7:17; Rev. 21:6; Rev. 22:1; and Rev. 22:17).
The angel led Ezekiel into the stream and he was able to measure its heights by how high it was around his legs as he waded through it. It first started as a trickle in the threshold and eventually became a flood of waters. Before coming to Christ, we lived in the trickle effect of God’s love and after coming to Christ, we are flooded with God’s love. God’s love transforms death into life and produces life in abundance springing up as life-giving water within every person.
This abundant sustenance was made available to all people through Jesus Christ (John 4; John 10:10). The sufficiency of this life-giving water from the throne of God is presented in terms to remind the reader of the Garden of Eden (it had four rivers, Gen. 2:10-14) and Rev. 22:1-4. As the angel led Ezekiel along the banks of this river, he saw life coming where it would have been impossible and the fruit on the trees were safe to eat.
The Dead Sea contains between 24-26% minerals compared to normal sea water, which has found 4-6%. The water flowing from the throne of God in the Temple was transforming everything from death to life. Nothing additional was needed to do this. God’s living water was enough. With the life-giving water from God the barren becomes fruitful, the dry becomes nourished, the empty becomes filled, the bitter becomes sweet, the unhealthy is healed, and the dead is made alive (Ezek. 47:6-8; Luke 7:21-22). It is a picture of how the Living Water turns sinful, spiritually dead people into living examples of God’s love.
The water from the Temple sanctuary started at an altitude of 2,430 feet above sea level all the way down to the Dead Sea, which is 1,292 feet below sea level. That is a drop of 3,700 feet. Everywhere this living water flows from the Temple sanctuary, what was dead comes alive. The leaves on the trees will not wither. The dry desert terrain around the Dead Sea becomes a Fertile Crescent.
Reflection Assignment: God always takes the initiative to come to us first (Rom. 5:8; 1 John 4:19). His love flows down from heaven to us and if we receive Him and His love, we are given an abundant life here and in eternal life in heaven with Him. Left to ourselves, we would have died in our sins. How frequently do you thank the Lord for taking the initiative to come to you first? Take a moment and thank God by giving examples now for how His transforming Living Water (love) has changed you ever since He gave you His life.
Scripture To Meditate On: John 4:13-14, “Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, (14) but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (NLT).Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, thank You for taking the initiative to come to me first. I thank you and praise You for the Living Water of Life You are. You could have left me in my own sinful desert and Dead Sea, but instead, You brought life where there was spiritual death. Thank You and I love You. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly