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A Spirit-Filled Life:
message was not his message, but it came directly from “the Lord God.”
God always acts for the sake of his own name and glory. He acts in justice and love for oth- ers, but this is in service of his own honor and character. The text ends as it begins. The word “name” does not occur in verses 31 and 32, but the con- cept is there and represented by the phrase, “I am not doing this for your sake.”
Ezekiel declared that the Sovereign Lord (Adonai Yah- weh) said, “It is not for your sake...thatIamgoingtodo these things.” God will act for and from the uniqueness of his own name (personhood or character). This will allow God to “clear his name” among the nations. People in the ancient world took their view of gods from how the people who wor- shiped those gods acted. Since Israel had been conquered and deported, the conclusion was that their God must not be very powerful.
But it was the people of Judah who profaned (polluted, defiled, wounded, or violated the honor of) God’s name. The word “profaned” appears three times in our text. That is what God’s people did with God’s name. But God would act in ho-
liness (separateness, otherli- ness, uniqueness), which also appears three times in the text. This would cause the nations to gain an accurate view of God, and it would cause God’s peo- ple to experience a real wake- up call. They would remember their evil ways, loathe their sins, and be ashamed and dis- graced.
Land Ezekiel 36:24, 28-30
The land of Israel had always been part of God’s promise to his people. But the land (earth or ground) was compromised due to the people’s sins (see Romans 8:18-22). Another way God would clear his name among the nations would be to restore the land to his people and bring the exiles back home. God always seems to be bring- ing his people out of exile.
God made several promises to his people. First, he would make good on his promise to Israel’s ancestors (Ezekiel 36:28). Second, Israel would be saved from any uncleanness (29a). Third, the land would experience a bumper crop of productivity. God would call forth the grain, and fruit trees and crops would increase. In other words, famine would dis- appear (something mentioned twice). The purpose of such
productivity would be to re- move their disgrace among the
nations.
Newness Ezekiel 36:25-27
This section is the heart (and main point) of the passage. God did not come to make Israel better. He redeemed them to make them new. This newness would be the sign of a new way of relating to him (i.e. covenant). God would cleanse them. The word means “to pu- rify.” Ezekiel used temple im- agery to capture this idea. God would sprinkle clean water on them. This is what the priests would do to themselves in preparation for serving in the temple (Numbers 8:5-7). The same imagery is used of Christians (Hebrews 10:22).
This cleansing opened up the way for a new heart—not made of stone but tender and made of flesh. God’s actual Spirit would come to inhabit them so that the people would be enabled to follow (i.e. cause them to walk) God’s decrees and laws (judgments). It would be some time before people could experience this (John 7:37-39), but a new way was coming (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 8:8-12). It was the way of a new heart (2 Corinthians 3:3).
A Newness Of Heart Ezekiel 36:22-32
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).
This week’s lesson looks for- ward to a future time when God will restore the nation of Israel (see Ezekiel 36:8-11, 24), and cleanse them from their sins. Jeremiah identified this future restoration with the new covenant (see Jeremiah 31:31-33), and the sign of the covenant will be a new heart and a new spirit in the people (see Ezekiel 36:26). A human heart transplant re- minds us of the spiritual heart transplant that God performs. In this lesson, our focus is on the new heart God will give to Israel in the future as well as the new heart He has already
given to believers. Prophesying to the exiles of
Israel who had been deported to Babylon, the prophet Ezekiel said the day would come when God would bring the exiles home. When God redeemed them out of their exile he would give them a Spirit-filled heart, the sign of a new covenant. The structure of the text goes like this: Name (22, 23); Land (24); Newness (25-27); Land (28-30); Name (31, 32). The point is “newness of heart.” Name
Ezekiel 36:22, 23, 31, 32
After declaring that He would have pity on His name because it had been profaned in Gentile lands where Israel had been scattered, God commanded Ezekiel to “say unto the house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God.” The captives were to understand that Ezekiel’s
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