We are so used to the entropy of the universe that we hardly think twice about it. To be honest it would be exhausting if we had to acknowledge it wherever we saw it. We take it as given that new things become old, that young faces become lined, that people become sick, that our sun is fading, that eventually we all die. This is life as we’ve found it. As we face it each day.
But, when the kingdom of God comes this entropy gets reversed. This inexorable collapse we are so familiar with is shaken. God’s Kingdom is not fully here yet, but occasionally we see it breaking through into our lives and it is fantastic!! His Kingdom comes like a river, pouring into the lowest places, filling up the empty places, often flowing from the gathering of God’s people. This passage from Ezekiel hints at what that looks like, and what life is like when God’s kingdom is near…
Then he led me back to the bank of the river. 7 When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. 8 He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah,[b] where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh. 9 Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. 10 Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds—like the fish of the Mediterranean Sea. 11But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. 12 Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.”
