Waters to Swim In
In the manual: Come, Follow Me lesson 45, “A New Spirit Will I Put within You,” on Gospel Library
Start
Fish cannot live in the Dead Sea. It is so salty that fish carried in by the Jordan River die. In Ezekiel’s vision, that sea came to life (Ezekiel 47:8–9).
Read Together
Near the end of his book, Ezekiel saw a temple in vision. A man with a measuring line led him to its door, where water was flowing out from under the threshold (Ezekiel 47:1–3).
8Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed. 9And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh.
12And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.
What It Teaches
The man measured a thousand cubits at a time, and each time the water was deeper. It reached Ezekiel’s ankles, then his knees, then his waist, until it was “waters to swim in” (Ezekiel 47:3–5). The river grew as it went, and all of it came from the temple.
When the river reached the Dead Sea, the water was healed. “Every thing shall live whither the river cometh” (Ezekiel 47:9). Fishermen would spread their nets from En-gedi, a spring on the shore of what had been a dead sea (Ezekiel 47:10).
Trees along the banks bear new fruit every month, “and the leaf thereof for medicine” (Ezekiel 47:12). John saw a river and a tree like these in his vision of heaven, with leaves “for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:1–2). Jesus Christ is the source of that living water (John 4:14).
Elder Dale G. Renlund drew lessons about the temple from Ezekiel’s river. This was his second. “Second, the river renewed everything that it touched. The blessings of the temple likewise have a stunning capacity to heal. Temple blessings can heal hearts and lives and families.”
Elder Dale G. Renlund, “Family History and Temple Work: Sealing and Healing,” General conference, April 2018
Talk About It
The river got deeper the farther it went from the temple. How can what we feel at the temple, or while getting ready to go, stay with us through the week?
Take to Church
Ezekiel saw a river flow out of the temple and bring a dead sea back to life. The Lord’s house can heal what looks beyond help in us and in our families.