Page:Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah (Baron, David).djvu/521



THE GLORIOUS CONSUMMATION 505

that no one will deny to be in themselves blessed. But they are symbols also, living symbols, speaking of higher blessings ; for they indicate the peace and harmony and love that shall pervade all hearts and all peoples whom the power of Zion shall effectually reach. And if God has appointed that the spiritual influence of which I have spoken above should go forth from His forgiven and privileged nation in Jerusalem, we might expect to find some outward symbol of this, its relation. And, accord ingly, a symbol is given in the perennial flow of those streams which, going forth from the sanctuary in Jerusalem, shall heal waters, which, like the Dead Sea, have been accursed, and spread life and refreshment in the midst of desolation." l

As the symbol of the greater spiritual reality, let us pause and contemplate for a moment this " river of God." Its source is God Himself. " There" exclaims the prophet Isaiah that is, in renewed and glorified Jerusalem " The glorious Jehovah " (or, "Jehovah in His Majesty ") " will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams" 2 Or, in the language of the beloved John in the Apocalypse, " He showed me a river of zvater of life bright as crystal proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb 3 Yes, " and of the Lamb" for though God is the Source, the Eternal Fountain of this pure Water of Life, the Lamb slain is the channel through which it flows.

Another glorious fact emphasised in the Scriptures in connection with these living waters is their fulness indica tive of the abundance of God s grace and salvation, which shall go forth during the period of Messiah s reign, from Jerusalem as its centre, into all parts of the world. The " River of God," we read, " is full of water" 4 and Ezekiel beholds it in vision " as a river which he could not pass through, for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed through 6

And as they are abundant in quantity, so also is the

1 B. W. Newton. 2 Isa. xxxiii. 21. s Rev. xxii. I.

4 Ps. Ixv. 9. 6 Ezek. xlvii. 1-12.