Charles Spurgeon's "Morning & Evening" Devotional: July 29th

 Charles Spurgeon's "Morning & Evening" Devotional: July 29th

Morning

“Everything shall live whither the river cometh.”

Ezekiel 47:1-12

We will now read one of Ezekiel’s most interesting and instructive visions.

Ezekiel 47:1 , Ezekiel 47:2

Here we see the river of the water of life, the divine outpouring of the Holy Spirit in gospel days. It rises at the sacrificial altar.

Ezekiel 47:3-5

The power and influence of the life-giving gospel grows each day. The streams of Palestine frequently lessen as they run, but the river of grace becomes deeper and wider. The grain of mustard grows into a tree. The drops which oozed from beneath the altar deepened and widened into an impassable torrent.

Ezekiel 47:6 , Ezekiel 47:7

Fertility is produced by grace, blessings spring up like fruitful trees wherever the gospel comes.

Ezekiel 47:8

Almost within sight of Jerusalem lay the loathsome Dead Sea, which covered the ruins of the doomed cities of the plain, a sad memorial and type of sin. Into this horrid pool the living water flowed and made it so. sweet and clear that it swarmed with fish a beautiful emblem of the way in which the worst parts of the earth are reclaimed by the gospel when it comes in the power of the Spirit of God.

Ezekiel 47:11

To some the gospel is not a savour of life. They reject the truth, and so miss its healing power, their wills are set upon evil, and they are given over to a reprobate mind. These are not always apparently the worst characters, they are not foul deeps like the Dead Sea, but marshy places only; perhaps their sense of fancied excellence prevents their humbly accepting the grace which bringeth salvation.

Ezekiel 47:12

So Ezekiel’s vision melts into that of John in the Revelation, and we are made to rejoice in the ever fresh, varied, satisfying, and soul-delighting blessings of the covenant of grace. Be it ours to drink of this water and never thirst again.

Behold of grace the quickening streams,

Their course with countless blessings teems;

Their founts hard by that altar rise

Where bled th’ atoning sacrifice.

Down to the foul and loathsome sea

Of human guilt and misery,

The deepening floods in mercy roll,

And make the death-struck waters whole.

Evening

“Yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be.”

Daniel 5:1-8 , Daniel 5:13 , Daniel 5:16-28 , Daniel 5:30

To be sung or read

Condemn’d when in the balance weigh’d,

My soul might well be sore afraid;

But to my Substitute I flee,

And Jesus fills the scale for me.

Study FurtherRelated passages, insights, and questions for personal reflection.

Take today’s devotional further. Explore related Scriptures and open any verse in the Study Desk for deeper study.

    John 7:38: "The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'"
    Rivers of living water flow from believers through the Spirit.
    ↳ What would it look like for living water to flow through you today?
    Revelation 22:1: And he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb,
    John's river of life fulfills Ezekiel's healing vision.
    ↳ How does the promised river of life shape your hope right now?
    Zechariah 14:8: And on that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter.
    Living waters flowing from Jerusalem echo gospel outpouring.
    ↳ Where in your life could gospel life flow outward like living water?
    John 4:14: but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never be thirsty; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life."
    Water Christ gives becomes eternal, never-thirsting spring.
    ↳ Are you still seeking satisfaction from wells that leave you thirsty?
    Galatians 6:7: Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a person sows, this he will also reap.
    Belshazzar weighed and found wanting; God unmocked by sinners.
    ↳ What seeds are you sowing that you'll one day reap?

Copyright Statement
This resource was produced before 1923 and therefore is considered in the "Public Domain".