This article is based on Pastor Adrian Rogers' message, Rivers of Revival.
There are three categories of people: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who don’t know anything is happening.
Be in that first category. We should be praying for revival and looking for revival in our churches and homes.
There was a feast of the Jews called the Feast of Tabernacles. The climax was that the priest would go down to the Pool of Siloam, fill a golden flask with water, and go back to the temple to pour out the water by the altar—and the people would shout and praise God, and trumpets would sound.
All of the Old Testament symbols are about Christ.
In John 7, Jesus is standing in their midst at this feast. They did not recognize Him. “On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink’” (John 7:37).
Jesus knew that these people, full of exhilaration and fervor, would go back to their same old fears and failures after the enthusiasm of the moment had died. What they needed was not an ankle-deep spiritual experience but a river of living water.
“‘He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ But this He spoke concerning the Spirit” (John 7:38-39a).
The Old Testament illustration Jesus is referring to is a vision the prophet Ezekiel experienced.
Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and there was water, flowing… (Ezekiel 47:1a).
The illustration in Ezekiel 47 is not talking about the literal temple; there is a greater spiritual lesson here. You are a temple of God. (See 1 Corinthians 6:19.) The Old Testament temple was an illustration of the Christian.
A river of revival should be flowing through you.
Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and there was water, flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the front of the temple faced east; the water was flowing from under the right side of the temple, south of the altar (Ezekiel 47:1).
In this vision in Ezekiel 47, this river flows from under the threshold. How high is a threshold? About as low as you can get. This river has a humble source. Revival never begins without God’s people humbling themselves.
Have you honestly been broken and humbled before God? Too often we sit heady, high-minded, and unbroken. “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up” (James 4:10).
The river of living water flows past the altar—the place where blood was shed.
What does bloodshed in the Old Testament speak of? The blood of Jesus Christ. “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7b).
If you want to be a river of Christian revival, you must be humble, holy, and warm. This water of life flows by the south side of the altar: the sunny side. People should say, “That person makes me want the things of God.”
And when the man went out to the east with the line in his hand, he measured one thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the water came up to my ankles. Again he measured one thousand and brought me through the waters; the water came up to my knees. Again he measured one thousand and brought me through; the water came up to my waist. Again he measured one thousand, and it was a river that I could not cross; for the water was too deep, water in which one must swim, a river that could not be crossed (Ezekiel 47:3-5).
This humble, holy flow becomes an ever-deepening river. The Mississippi River is mighty because though it starts with a trickle, many tributaries come into it. But this supernatural river has no tributaries—yet it grows in width and depth.
The water starts at the temple. “Then he said to me: ‘This water flows toward the eastern region, goes down into the valley, and enters the sea. When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed’” (Ezekiel 47:8).
We live in a land of people who don’t know what to do. They have loved ones who are sick. They are out of work. They are dealing with domestic fights and wayward children. These people are confused unsatisfied and fearful.
It will not do any good to say, “Buck up and do better.” There needs to be Christian revival and spiritual awakening flowing out of you into those depressed places.
In the Judean desert, the Arabah, nothing much grows. There is no real fruitfulness there. Many people are not depressed, but they are living parched desert lives. They do not know the joy that you know, Christian. They do not have the answers to life that you have.
“They flow into the sea.” That sea in Ezekiel’s vision is the Dead Sea. The water that flows into it is mostly fresh, but there is constant evaporation in that hot climate; therefore, the salt gets more and more concentrated. They call it Dead because organic life cannot live in it.
There are people around us who are dying and going to Hell. Not just overseas—next door. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
When I returned, there, along the bank of the river, were very many trees on one side and the other (Ezekiel 47:7).
Does that represent literal trees on the side of the river? Of course not. The Bible says a righteous man “shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water” (Psalm 1:3a). Ezekiel is talking about healthy Christians, finding strength and life, and becoming trees that will not wither.
And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters go there; for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes (Ezekiel 47:9).
A transformation takes place. That Dead Sea where no fish could live begins to swarm with fish.
Jesus said we are to be fishers of men. Why do we catch so few fish? Because we are fishing in a stagnant pond. Evangelism is the fruit of revival. Revival is life-giving water; where the river begins to flow, the fish will go.
The unsaved will come when they see the reality of Jesus Christ. Your life itself is a testimony.
Along the bank of the river, on this side and that, will grow all kinds of trees used for food; their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail (Ezekiel 47:12a).
That is the same thing Psalm 1 says. The test of your ministry is this: are you becoming more like Jesus? “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23a). That is a description of the character of Jesus. When a river of life is flowing out of you, those around will be discipled and become fruitful.
Remember what Jesus said: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink” (John 7:37b). It begins with a thirst.
Ezekiel 47; John 7:37-39; 1 Corinthians 6:19; James 4:10; 1 John 1:7; Psalm 1:3; Galatians 5:22-23
Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:9-11).
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come (Matthew 24:14).
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen (Matthew 28:18-20).
