He measured one more thousand cubits, and at that point, the water became a raging stream that was impossible to cross. This water, which flowed from under the temple’s threshold, did not go toward the north or the west, but instead out to the east from the right side of the temple—the south side of the altar. This clearly indicates that these waters are holy and represent the teachings of our Savior, as it is written: "From Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem" (Isaiah 2:3). Furthermore, it says, "All shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9). The prophet Zechariah also foretold of these waters, declaring, "In that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea and half to the western sea" (Zechariah 14:8). Regarding these waters, Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water" (John 4:10). Again, He stated, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst" (John 4:13). And while in the temple, He proclaimed, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them" (John 7:37-39). These are the waters referenced by the psalmist: "You brought me up from the waters of rest" (Psalm 22:2). Ezekiel also said, "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your impurities" (Ezekiel 36:24-25). For "springs of water have appeared" (Psalms 17:16). The ninety-second psalm proclaims, "O Lord, You have made great rivers; You have raised up rivers with the sound of many waters. Wonderful are the heights of the sea" (Psalm 92:3-4). These are the waters of Siloam, which flow gently, of which Isaiah said, "Draw water from the fountain of the Savior" (Isaiah 12:3). The psalmist adds, "Bless the Lord from the fountain of Israel" (Psalm 67:27). And Isaiah speaks of the Lord, saying, "This one will dwell in the high cave of the rock of strength. Bread will be given to him, and his water will be sure" (Isaiah 33:16). As for the water in the wilderness and the forest in the thirsty land (Isaiah 35:6), it is declared to believers, "Fear not, for I will redeem you; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you" (Isaiah 43:1-2). Again, "All you who are thirsty, come to the waters" (Isaiah 55:1). Through Jeremiah, God laments, "My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and they have hewed out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water" (Jeremiah 2:13). Just as we read about the good waters flowing from the temple, which relate to the teachings of the Church, there are also bitter waters which Jeremiah warns us not to pursue, asking, "What do you have to do with the way of Egypt, to drink from the waters of Geon?" (Jeremiah 2:18), which in Hebrew is termed “sior,” meaning muddy and turbid. In response to this, God, being angry at the heretics, declares, "Behold, I will feed them with bitterness and give them poison to drink" (Jeremiah 9:15), where dwells the dragon of Egypt, who arrogantly claims, "My rivers are my own, and I made them" (Ezekiel 29:3), reigning like a king over those on the waters. Therefore, the one of the Church cries out to the Lord, "Save me, O Lord, for the waters have risen up to my soul. I am sinking in the deep waters, where there is no solid ground, and the tempest will overwhelm me" (Psalm 68:1-3). Again he pleads, "Deliver me from those who hate me, and from the deep waters; let not the tempest engulf me" (Psalm 68:15-16). Another psalm exclaims, "If the Lord had not been with us, let Israel say, if the Lord had not been with us, when men rose up against us, they would have swallowed us alive when their anger flamed against us, the waters would have drowned us" (Psalm 123:1-3). The bride in the Song of Songs declares, "Many waters cannot quench love, nor can floods drown it" (Song of Songs 8:7). This is the water of which Hosea speaks, "I disdain Gilead, the city of vanity, who troubles the waters, and the strength of his husband is a robber" (Hosea 6:7-9). This water is also called “marah,” meaning bitterness, which the tree of the cross enters, turning the bitterness into sweetness. Consider the Law of Moses, how bitter it becomes when perceived through the carnal understanding of the Jews, who misinterpret it as an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth (Exodus 21); they look at the fornication with Tamar (2 Samuel 13), at the relationship of Hosea with the harlot (Hosea 1), at the girdle of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 13), the Ethiopian wife of Moses, and the slaying of the Egyptian (Exodus 2), along with a myriad of other instances that, if understood only as killing letters, without considering the life-giving spirit, will lead to bitterness, causing the reader to be misled rather than uplifted. These waters flow from the temple of the Lord, heading eastward and descending from the right side of the temple, to the south side of the altar, where the groom nourishes his fellow servants, offering rest. The text emphasizes that this means we cannot directly reach the eastern gate without first making a significant detour through the north gate. Unless we confront and overcome the harshest winds with the warmth of faith, and trample upon its territory, fulfilling the words of the Apostle, "But God will soon crush Satan under your feet" (Romans 16:20), we cannot enter the gate through which the waters flow, located on the right side. Furthermore, the waters that flow from the eastern gate are far removed from the left side, thus illustrated as running from the altar's right side to the south. When it states that the man with the measuring cord led me through the north gate and along the eastern path, it emphasizes that he measured out a thousand cubits of this same water and guided me through it at my ankles. Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion have translated this term as "ankles," while the LXX interprets it as "passed through the water of remission," referring to the initial sins of mankind that are forgiven upon entering the waters of the Lord. These waters also signify the redemptive grace of baptism, marking the beginning of great success. Hence, they rise to the feet, where the serpent can inflict bruises, echoing the words from Genesis, "You shall bruise his head and he shall bruise your heel" (Genesis 3:15). The psalmist describes Judas the traitor, stating, "He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me" (Psalm 40:10). After measuring a thousand cubits to the ankles, he measured another thousand in the water and led me to my knees. This signifies that following the forgiveness of sins and the path of progress, we must elevate ourselves gradually from earthly matters to divine things, kneeling before the Lord, as the apostle declares, "Let every knee bow, of those in Heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and let every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:10). On the third occasion, he measured another thousand cubits in the water and brought me, saying, "through the water to my loins." Each of these steps marks an ascent, reaching a height where all unworthy desires may be mortified within us, allowing us to attain a holiness of the body, without which no one can see God. Indeed, this is why Ezekiel saw God in fire, from the feet to the loins. The works of the loins require fire and purification, as expressed by the righteous: "My loins are filled with punishment" (Psalm 37:8), through which the enemy lives in mockery both day and night. From the loins upward, we behold the glow of precious materials, so nothing remains disdained. Therefore, now for the fourth time, it is declared that he measured another thousand—implied to be cubits—to the stream, which I could not cross. This is preferable to the LXX's translation, stating, "he could not pass over," for the prophet reveals that every person beyond their loins cannot navigate the flood of thoughts and vices erupting in the heart. However, undoubtedly, the man clothed in fine linen who led the prophet succeeded in crossing over—he who committed no iniquity, below whom there will be denial (Isaiah 43:9). The prophet elucidates why he could not cross the fourth thousand cubits, clarifying that the deep waters of the stream had risen, making it impossible to cross. How can the prophet then say in praise, "The stream has crossed our souls" (Psalm 123:5)? This misunderstanding can be resolved by noting that in Hebrew it states, "the stream has overtaken our souls." Isaiah also speaks of this flood, saying, "I will pour out upon him like a river of peace, as a flooding stream" (Isaiah 66:12). In the thirty-fifth psalm, it states of the saints, "In the blood of Your wings they put their hope; they shall drink from the fountain of Your house, and from the stream of Your sweetness" (Psalm 35:8-10). In the hundred and twenty-fifth psalm, it is written, "Restore our fortunes, O Lord, as streams renew the south" (Psalm 125:4). Concerning the Savior, it declares, "He shall drink from the stream in the path" (Psalm 109:7). For who among men can claim they have a pure heart (Proverbs 20), or whose heart, through the windows of their eyes, has not succumbed to the death of desire—or more gently put, the foolishness of spirit (Jeremiah 9)? For the world is ensnared in evil (1 John 5:19), and from youth, the heart of man inclines toward wickedness, ensuring that from birth, a person is never without sin (Job 14). Thus, David admits in the psalm, "Indeed, I was born in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me" (Psalm 51:5). Not simply the iniquities of my mother or my own, but those inherent to all of humanity. Therefore, the apostle notes, "Death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of Adam's transgression" (Romans 5:14). This leads us to reflect on the term "elbows," rendered in the masculine form as "cubitus," rather than in the middle form "cubita," as explained previously—not out of ignorance, but for the benefit of all straightforward and uneducated individuals, the majority within the Church assembly.
THEOSIS