Page 215 - NOTES ON EZEKIEL

CHAPTER XXXIX. 209
But there is a bright future in prospect for Israel: I
do not speak of the gospel or the church, where there is
neither Jew nor Greek, but of the kingdom on earth
when Israel shall be restored to their land, and have the
first place among the nations in favour, peace, right­
eousness, and the manifested power and glory of Je­
hovah. “ Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Now
will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have
mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be
jealous for my holy name; after that they have borne
their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have
trespassed against me, 'when they dwelt safely in their
land, and none made them afraid. When I have brought
them again from the people, and gathered them out of
their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the
sight of many nations; then shall they know that lam
Jehovah their God, which caused them to be led into
captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them
unto their own land, and have left none of them any
more there. Neither will I hide my face any more
from them: for I have poured out my Spirit upon the
house of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah.” (Verses 25
—29.)
It may be observed here as a practical remark of
much moment for souls that, if the New Testament is
to be believed, God never hides His face from the
Christian; and this because the believer possessing
eternal life in Christ is now brought into the full effi­
cacy of His sacrifice, and has the Holy Ghost dwelling
in him as its continual witness. We accordingly anti­
cipate in this what will be true of Israel by-and-by, in­
stead of standing on the probationary ground of Israel’s