THE RIVER FLOWING TOWARD THE EAST SEA
According to the map the East Sea is the Salt Sea or the Dead Sea (47:8). By the flowing of the river out of the house, the salt water of the Dead Sea will be healed. This means that death will be swallowed by life. Life will swallow up death. Where there is the rich and deep flow of life in a local church, much death is swallowed up. If there is no flow in a church, that church becomes a dead sea full of salt. By the flow of the river, deadness can be swallowed up by life.
THE RIVER BEING UNABLE TO HEAL THE MARSHES
The Dead Sea and the dry places can be made alive, but the marshes cannot be healed (47:11). A marsh is a place that is neither dry nor flowing with water. It is half mud and half water—neither dry nor wet. A marsh indicates a situation full of compromise. When we are in a compromising situation, we are in a marsh. Never try to help a marshy situation. The Lord Jesus told the church at Laodicea to be either hot or cold. If they remained lukewarm, the Lord would spew them out of His mouth (Rev. 3:15-16). To be lukewarm is to be in a marsh.
If you stand in a denomination, stand absolutely. If you stand as a free group, stand absolutely. If you stand on the ground of the church, stand absolutely. Otherwise, you are in a marsh. If you give up the denominations, yet you are not absolute for the proper ground of the church, you are in a marsh. You may also be in the local church life and not be absolute. That is a marsh. Even the Lord cannot heal a marsh. A marsh is a neutral, halfway place, full of compromise. Some saints are halfway between Babylon and Jerusalem. This means they are a marsh. We need to be absolutely in the flow or stay on the dry ground. If we stay in a marshy situation, the Lord can do nothing. Do not remain in a muddy, marshy situation. To walk or move in a muddy, marshy situation is very difficult. To get into a marsh is very easy, but to get out of a marsh is very difficult. We must be absolute for the church life. The church life must be a place of absoluteness.
The church life must likewise be a place after its kind. Genesis 1:11-12 says that the grass, the trees, and the herbs brought forth each after its kind. An apple tree cannot bring forth an apple-peach. To bring forth an apple-peach is a marsh. That is not after its kind. If you are a man, simply be a man. If you are a woman, simply be a woman. You cannot be a man-woman. If you are in the denominations, be in the denominations. If you are a free group, be a free group after its kind. If you are the church, just be the church after its kind. If you are in the Lord’s recovery, come back all the way to Jerusalem. Do not come halfway. If you come halfway, you become a marsh, and you will have no flow, not even a trickle. You will have just enough water to make you muddy. The marsh cannot be healed. I have never seen a marsh that was healed. In Revelation 22:11 the Lord said, "He who does unrighteousness, let him still do unrighteousness; and he who is filthy, let him still be made filthy; and he who is righteous, let him still do righteousness; and he who is holy, let him still be made holy." The Lord desires and requires absoluteness. Learn to be absolute. By being absolute you will be in the flow, and the flow will not be a trickle, but a river to swim in. Everything shall live where the river flows. Hallelujah! In the local churches the river flows! Hallelujah! The river is here!
(The Visions of Ezekiel, Chapter 23, by Witness Lee)
