Growing with the Lord

9/20/26 Ezekiel 47,48; Luke 2 These texts present complementary visions of God’s presence—one architectural and future-oriented, the other historical and immediately inaugurated—yet both announce the same theological reality: God dwelling among His people. Ezekiel envisions a life-giving river flowing from the temple’s threshold eastward, transforming dead water into fresh water and bringing abundance of living creatures wherever it flows ( Ezek 47:1–48:29 ). The restored city bears the name “Yahweh Is There,” ( Ezek 48:35 ) signifying that God’s presence permeates the entire landscape. This is visionary and eschatological—a future reality awaiting fulfillment, with precise measurements and ordered restoration. Luke 2 narrates the concrete historical moment when this promise begins its fulfillment. Simeon, righteous and devout, had been revealed by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before seeing the Lord’s Messiah. When he encounters the infant Jesus in the temple, he recogn...