For They Shall Be Healed

I listened to a podcast yesterday by Mike Day and Bryce Dunford, and they gave an interesting interpretation of the vision of Ezekiel in which that prophet saw the waters coming out of the temple. This is one of my favorite passages in the Old Testament because of its profound imagery: “Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar…. Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed. And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh” (Ezekiel 47:1,8-9). Ezekiel saw waters coming out from under the door of the temple in Jerusalem and traveling eastward towards the Dead Sea. The waters gave life to everything it touched and the salty lake was healed. It became a freshwater place where life could be sustained. I have always loved the symbolism in this passage because it shows how the temple can heal us: through its ordinances and covenants our lives our blessed and repaired and healed. What happens in the temple, binding individuals to God and families to each other, is like life-sustaining water that that brings relief, restoration, and renewal.

               The idea that caught my attention from their podcast was their suggestion that we can think of the Dead Sea as a symbol of the Spirit World. Those who have died without the ordinances of the gospel await in the Spirit World in a type of prison, and they will only go free with the blessings of the temple that we on earth can provide for them. They are literally “dead” there and can have no deliverance until the ordinances performed inside the temple are brought forth unto them, just as the water in Ezekiel’s dream came out of the temple and gave life to the Dead Sea. That water brought life to the salty sea just as spiritual life is given to those who have died without the ordinances of the gospel through the “the great work to be done in the temples of the Lord in the dispensation of the fulness of times, for the redemption of the dead” (Doctrine and Covenants 138:48). The fact that a salty lake is connected with this ancient vision of the temple makes the name of the Church’s most iconic temple all the more meaningful: the Salt Lake Temple. It is named of course for a salty lake thousands of miles away from the Dead Sea, but it is certainly a powerful connection between ancient and modern times that Ezekiel saw the temple in Jerusalem linked with that dead body of water. Perhaps in some millennial day as well we will see the healing of the Great Salt Lake coming forth from our temple here.

One of the facts that are often on food products are a label that they contain “sea salt.” I guess that is supposed to suggest a superior quality of salt and better food because of it. I saw one of those labels today after thinking about these temple symbols, and the thought struck me that perhaps these secular labels marking food quality should be a reminder to us that the highest level of spiritual life and sustenance is found in the temples, one of which is called by almost the same name. As we participate in that “great work” in temples we too can find the healing power that Ezekiel saw in vision and turn out the bitterness from our lives.