Ezekiel 36

Ezekiel 36:1

D. The Restoration of the Land and the People (Chap. 36)Chapter 36 has been called “the Gospel according to Ezekiel,” largely because of verses 25-30. 36:1-7 The nations that seized the land of Israel and scorned God’s people, especially the nation of Edom, would be punished by Jehovah. 36:8-15 Israel’s cities and country places would be inhabited, the land would be more fertile and prosperous than ever, and the other nations would no longer taunt Israel. 36:16-21 Not only would the land be restored, but the people would be restored to the land. The reasons for their exile were bloodshed and idolatry; they caused the name of God to be profaned among the nations wherever they went. 36:22, 23 Paul quotes verse 22 in Rom_2:24 in his indictment of Jewish inconsistencies in relation to the Gentiles and the law. In order to vindicate His own name, and not for Israel’s sake, God would restore the people to their homeland. 36:24-29a Verses 24-29 describe Israel’s spiritual regeneration. God would cleanse them, give them a new heart and a new spirit (the new birth), and save them from . . . uncleanness. Keil comments on this important passage: Cleansing from sins, which corresponds to justification, and is not to be confounded with sanctification . . . , is followed by renewal with the Holy Spirit, which takes away the old heart of stone and puts within a new heart of flesh, so that the man can fulfil the commandments of God, and walk in newness of life. When our Lord marveled at Nicodemus’s ignorance of the new birth, this passage in Ezekiel is surely one of the main texts that He expected him, as a teacher in Israel, to know (Joh_3:10). 36:29b, 30 Crops of grain and fruit would be increased, and they would never suffer famine again. All this the Lord would do, not because they deserved it, but for the honor of His Name. 36:31-38 The surrounding nations will know that God has repopulated and replanted the land. Men will then be as plentiful as the flocks of animals in Jerusalem on its feast days. These prophecies had a partial fulfillment when the Jews returned to the land from Babylon, but the complete fulfillment awaits the future reign of Christ. Modern Israel achieved statehood in 1948. Jews are even now trickling back to the land in unbelief. It must soon be time for the Lord to come.