16 The word of the Lord came to me: 17 “Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their ways before me were like the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual impurity. 18 So I poured out my wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed in the land, for the idols with which they had defiled it. 19 I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. In accordance with their ways and their deeds I judged them. 20 But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go out of his land.’ 21 But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came.
22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. 23 And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. 24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.1 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. 29 And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. 30 I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. 31 Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. 32 It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.
33 “Thus says the Lord God: On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt. 34 And the land that was desolate shall be tilled, instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by. 35 And they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ 36 Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the Lord; I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.
37 “Thus says the Lord God: This also I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them: to increase their people like a flock. 38 Like the flock for sacrifices,2 like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
Section Overview
After the focus in chapter 34 on renewed leadership and in 35:1–36:15 on renewed land, Ezekiel turns his attention to a transformation in the people’s status before God. This has already been hinted at with the declaration that the Lord will return to dwell once again in the land of Israel (35:10) and that its inhabitants will again be his people (34:30; 36:8, 12). This will require nothing less than a “new” covenant (as Jeremiah calls it; Jer. 31:31), or a “covenant of peace” (Ezek. 34:25; cf. Isa. 54:10). This “covenant of peace” means a new relationship in which Israel’s continual propensity to break the Sinai covenant—and therefore to receive its curses—will be done away with and a new relationship will be established that somehow results in lasting peace and fellowship between Israel and her God. This transformation will clearly have to be a sovereign work of the Lord from start to finish, given Israel’s history, but he has committed himself to performing this amazing act of salvation for the glory of his holy name. Indeed, God’s own honor depends on his fulfilling his ancient promises to his people in this way.
Section Outline
IV. Oracles of Good News (33:1–48:35) . . .
B. Oracles of Restoration (34:1–37:28) . . .
3. A Renewed Covenant (36:16–36:38)
Response
We live in a culture that is terrified of shame and tries to avoid it at all costs, associating it closely with psychological dysfunction. However, there is nothing psychologically healthy about the absence of shame in fallen sinners; rather, there ought to be a proper sadness and embarrassment that attaches to our knowledge of all the wrong words and actions we have committed and that distinguishes those words and deeds from the times we have done what is right. What prevents this shame from becoming a crushing and destructive weight upon our souls is the recognition that our salvation is dependent upon the Lord’s free grace to us, for the glory of his name, and is not dependent on any good that was or is within us. Meditating on that gospel reality frees us to acknowledge the depth of our guilt and shame and, at the very same time, the deep security and comfort of our salvation in Christ.
Our contemporary culture also has an impoverished vocabulary of sin. We often think of sin merely in terms of the destructive impact it has on other people, or on ourselves, but rarely of sin as defilement: a stain that makes us permanently unfit to appear in the presence of a holy God. Yet this was precisely the category of reality of which exilic and postexilic Israel was so painfully aware. The people knew they had defiled the land and themselves with their sin, which meant that even the regular sacrificial system could no longer work properly. Ezekiel puts it in terms of the Lord’s departure from his temple and land; Haggai describes it in terms of the people’s hands being defiled, imparting uncleanness to all their sacrificial offerings (Hag. 2:11–14). The result of this deep-seated defilement is that Israel experiences covenant curse rather than blessing (Hag. 2:15–17)—and there is nothing she can do to save herself. A radical work of God will be required if his people are to be saved and receive the blessings for which God originally chosen their nation (Hag. 2:18–19).
So too Paul analyzes the fundamental human condition as being “dead in [your] trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). Like Lazarus in the tomb, we need something more than a little good advice if we are to live; we need a new heart and a new spirit—nothing less than a new creation—if we are to be restored to fellowship with God. Fortunately, that is precisely what God gives us in Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). Salvation is nothing short of a “second birth” by water and the Spirit, as Jesus tells Nicodemus in John 3:7.
At first sight it may seem discouraging that God’s motivation for this work is to be found not in us but in himself. God does not save us because of how loveable we are, or because he foresaw that we would exercise faith and do wonderful good deeds for him; rather, he saved us simply for the glory of his own name. But, paradoxically, this is actually good news, for, as with ancient Israel, there is nothing in us to draw God to us. We are defiled and dirty, rotten to the core with sin. Some of us may be more aware of that reality than others, but it is the truth about all of us, as Paul makes clear in Romans 1–3. And it was the truth about ancient Israel, as the OT makes abundantly clear with example after example, generation after generation, who fail to follow the Lord and walk in his ways, instead giving themselves over to idolatry.
But God must fulfill his promises to Abraham that he will be the father of a mighty nation, for whom the Lord will be their God. That goal will not be reached through more iterations of Israel according to the flesh (cf. Rom. 4:1). Rather, it will come through Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, who comes as the true and final Israel, offering a life that is without stain or blemish and then dying on the cross as the ultimate purification offering, with whose blood he cleanses the heavenly tabernacle (Heb. 9:23–24). As a result, all who are in him are the true heirs of Abraham and may anticipate the fulfilled promise of a heavenly land, the same heavenly land toward which Abraham journeyed by faith (Heb. 11:16). As we journey toward that home, we have access in Christ to the Father through the Spirit, knowing that our prayers will be heard and answered for his sake (Rom. 8:26–27). We also know that he will complete the good work he has begun in us (Phil. 1:6) for the sake of his name’s glory, not ours. As a result, we can eagerly cry out to him to finish that good work soon and bring us safely to our heavenly home (cf. Ps. 79:9).Ezekiel 36:16–36:38
Ezekiel 37:1–14