Before we get into Ezekiel, we need to consider the picture revealed in Genesis 1 through 3. In these three chapters, God created man and placed him before the tree of life. The tree of life signifies God Himself as life to us in the form of food. Due to the fall of man, the tree of life was concealed and encompassed by the cherubim. Not only was it encompassed and concealed, but also the flaming sword came to bar the way to the tree of life. But through the redemption of Christ, man gained access to the tree of life again, to take the tree of life as his food. This is why the Lord Jesus told us in John 6 that He came as the bread of life, and that we should take Him as our food. He said, "He who eats Me shall also live because of Me" (John 6:57). We can take Him as our food. Then we will have His life and His nature, and eventually we will bear His image. By having His life, His nature, and His image, we all will be built up together. In John 17:21, the Lord Jesus prayed, "That they all may be one." What did the Lord mean? He simply meant that we all must be built up together. If we go then from John's Gospel to John's Revelation, we can see that all the redeemed ones are built up together into one city. In that city, we are all one, not just in word or in doctrine, but in building. We must be built up with one another in life. Then God will have a city, the New Jerusalem.
The book of Ezekiel unveils to us the very same thing. In the first chapter are the cherubim of flaming fire with God in their midst. Other chapters show us how that God comes to be our life (Ezek. 11, 33, 34, 36, 37, 47). Eventually, chapter forty-eight tells us that we who have His life will all be built up together into the holy city, Jerusalem. Thus, we can see that Ezekiel is a miniature of the whole Bible. The Bible shows us clearly that God's eternal purpose and intention is to dispense Himself into us that we may have Him as our life and that we may have His very nature. By receiving His divine nature, we are enabled to bear His glorious image. Eventually, we will be mingled together with God as one entity with two natures. Then we will be built up together as God's eternal dwelling place. This is God's eternal purpose as clearly revealed in the Scriptures. We must remember that both the Bible and the book of Ezekiel reveal that God's intention is just to dispense Himself into us as our life so that we may have His divine nature and that we may bear His glorious image. Then, by the divine nature with the divine image, we all will be built up together as one eternal dwelling place—the New Jerusalem.
Ezekiel and Revelation have very much in common. In fact, the main points in these two books are nearly the same. Ezekiel and John the Apostle both saw visions, and the two books both begin with the visions which they saw. In both, the visions are related mainly to life. Without these two books, we may realize that the Bible tells us about life, but it would be difficult for us to understand clearly what life is. These two books not only have the term life, but also have visions portraying what life is and how life is working within us and among us. By these visions, we can actually see something of life. The messages in this book are not interpretations of the prophetical aspect of these visions, but applications of their spiritual significance according to life.
Both of these books show us the flow of the river of living water. In Ezekiel 47, the river flows out of the habitation of God. Also, in Revelation 22, a river of living water proceeds out of the throne of God and the Lamb. Thus, in both Ezekiel and Revelation, a river flows out of God with a life supply. Both books also show us a vision of Jerusalem. Ezekiel ends with a vision of Jerusalem and so does Revelation. Furthermore, both of these books tell us how God's intention is to come into us to be our life, that we may have His divine nature and His glorious image. Then, in His divine nature with His glorious image, having Him as our life, we may be built up together as the Holy City to be God's dwelling place for eternity.