July 9, 2025 • 21 mins
Dr. Schreck continues looking at the spirit in the Old Testament with the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Although Jeremiah has a negative view of prophecy because of false prophets' claims, he himself prophesies God establishing a "new covenant." Ezekiel speaks frequently and positively about the spirit of God and also prophesies a "new covenant," which includes a "new spirit" that will awaken the hopes and lives of God's people in exile, who are pictured as "dry bones." Ezekiel is given a vision of a river of life-giving water, which in the New Testament is revealed as the Holy Spirit.
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(00:10):
Greetings.
This is Doctor Alan Schreck.
We're in our podcast series in the spiritof the bride on the Holy Spirit,
focusing on the Holy Spiritin the old Testament.
In our just Our last podcast,we looked at the work of the spirit
in the prophet Isaiah,especially the spirit coming upon
the servant of the Lordin these messianic prophecies
(00:30):
that the spirit would rest upon this onechosen by God.
And then we also looked at thethe spirit in the book of Psalms,
and how in the various waysthat the Psalms speak about the spirit.
In today's podcast,we're going to talk about two major
prophets, the prophet Jeremiahand especially the prophet Ezekiel.
(00:53):
And, just to give you the context,first of all, Jeremiah,
Jeremiah was living in a periodabout a century after, the prophet Isaiah.
And at this point, there was a
the people had growninto a complacency and,
you know, sort of a blindnessto the implications of the covenant.
(01:14):
And one of the kingsJehoiakim had even, built
started a spree to build himselfa new house, a lavish house.
And Jeremiah rebukes him in Jeremiah 2213through 18,
criticizing, this, turning awayfrom the will of God to serve oneself.
And unfortunately,there were many people who claimed
(01:38):
to be prophets during this timewho were supporting Jehoiakim and,
and so,claiming to be led by the Holy Spirit.
So Jeremiah,
throughout his book, he seems to be this,
the writings of Jeremiah seemto be very negative about the Holy Spirit,
the Spirit of God, because, of the claim
of these false prophets, for example,
(02:01):
in Jeremiah 23,
verses 25 through 29,Jeremiah says, I've heard the prophets
who prophesy lies in my namesay and say, I had a dream.
I had a dream.How long will this continue?
Is my name in the hearts of the prophetswho prophesy lies
in their own deceitful fantasies?
And he says, let the prophet prophetwho has a dream recount his dream.
(02:23):
Let him who is my wordspeak my word truthfully.
This is Jeremiah speaking for the Lord.
Let him who has my wordspeak my word truthfully.
What is straw to do with wheat?
Says the Lord is not my word like fire,
says the Lord, like a hammershattering rocks.
And so Jeremiah emphasizes,
(02:45):
we have to turn to the word of the Lord,the authentic word of the Lord.
Not with these liesthat are being proposed by the prophets.
So even though Jeremiahhimself is a prophet, it seems like
his his in in the book of Jeremiah,a lot of what is said about
the spirit is negative,because what he discerns is,
most of the propheciesof, of the of those supporting the king.
(03:08):
Jehoiakim, are really false prophecies.
So, but really the emphasis is on him
as being faithful to the Word of God,the Word of God, which is like,
as it says, as he says, like a hammershattering rocks.
Now, this was eventually
this was before the the time of the exile.
(03:28):
But in this in the midst of this,
it seems like ableak picture that Jeremiah is presenting.
And if you know, the story of Jeremiahends up being thrown into a cistern,
and he's he's really persecutedbecause of speaking the truth of God.
And yet, in the midst of this, Jeremiahalso has one of the great prophecies
(03:49):
of God going to establish what he callsa new covenant.
You know, people have been
the people of Israel were unfaithfulto the covenant once again.
And so he says in, Jeremiah 31,
chapter 31, verse 31, and following,
behold, the days are coming,says the Lord, when I will make
a new covenant with the house of Israeland the house of Judah,
(04:12):
not like the covenantwhich I made with their fathers,
when I took them by the handto bring them out of the land of Egypt,
my covenant which they broke,and I showed myself them.
Their master says the Lord.
But this is the covenant which I will makewith the house of Israel.
After those days, says the Lord,I will put my law within them.
(04:33):
I will write it upon their hearts,and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.And it goes on.
And it says, as a result of this,everyone will come to know
the Lord the least, the greatest.
For I will forgive their iniquityand remember their sin no more.
So Jeremiahrealizes the infidelity of the people,
and yet he, as a prophet of God,speaks of, the a new covenant
(04:57):
that God is going to establish, thathe will write his law upon their hearts.
So that's very encouraging.
He doesn't,
say thathe has, the Spirit of God says this.
He doesn't say that,
but he is a prophet speakingunder the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Now, if we move again, fast forwardin history, eventually,
(05:20):
the people of Israelare because of their infidelity
and their unfaithfulness to God.
They're sent into exile in Babylon.
And and yet, during this period,we see one of the next major prophets,
the prophet Ezekiel, who, basically
is giving, to those,people of God in exile in Babylon,
(05:41):
a word of encouragementand a word of hope.
And Ezekiel is a prophet who
who speaks frequently about thethe spirit.
He and he refers to the spiritworking in his life.
He says in, in Ezekieltwo two and three two, the spirit
has set him on his feet and lifting him upand carrying him away in a vision.
(06:05):
He also has a vision of of God.
And he, he's inand in this vision he says,
he said I went off spiritually, stirredin the hand of the Lord, rested
heavily upon me, and in his visionshe sees the spirit working.
And for example, in,
(06:25):
he had a vision of the living creatures
full of movementand power in the first chapter of Ezekiel.
And he says, whereverthe spirit wished to go, there they went.
These are the cherubim.
Wherever the spirit wished to go, therethe wheels went,
the wheels being a symbol of,
God's movement for the spiritof the living creatures was in the wheels.
So it seems unusual imagery,but he has a vision of God
(06:49):
and seeing the spirit working,
even in the prophet Isaiah.
I'm sorry, the prophet Ezekiel here it
he speaks of the spirit very frequently,and he doesn't even use the
some of the previous prophets, like,
Isaiah or Jeremiahto specify the spirit of the Lord.
Ezekiel presumeswhen when he says the spirit.
(07:12):
But at this pointthe people will understand
when he says of the spirit that he isspeaking of the spirit of the Lord.
And so what
does he say about what God is going to do?
What is the word of encouragementEzekiel gives
to these people of God,who are now in captivity?
Well, he two, prophesies a new covenant.
(07:35):
And and yet and in in his prophecyof the New covenant, you're going to see
that, part of this prophecy isthat the Lord will will give his spirit.
Let me read that.
This is from Ezekiel chapter 36,
verses 23 to 31.
Ezekiel writes,I will prove the holiness of.
(07:56):
And of course he's speaking for God here
I will prove the holinessof my great name.
Profound profaned among the nations,in whose midst you have profaned it.
Thus the nations shall know that I amthe Lord, says the Lord God,
when in their sightI prove my holiness through you.
For I will take you away
(08:17):
from the nations,gather you from all the foreign lands,
those lands they were in exile,and bring you back to your own.
I will sprinkle clean water upon you
to cleanse you from all your impurities.
And remember how you know the imageof being cleansed by water
and associated with His Spirit.
And he goes on, so I will cleanse youfrom all your impurities
(08:39):
and from all your idols.I will cleanse you.
I will give you a new heartand place a new spirit within you,
taking from your bodies your stony hearts,and giving you natural hearts.
I will put my spirit within you
and make you live by my statutes, carefulto observe my decrees.
(08:59):
You shall live in the landI gave your fathers.
You shall be my people,and I will be your God.
I will save you from all your impurities.
I will order the grain to be abundant.
I will not send famine against you.
I will increase the fruit of your treesand the crops of your field
in your fields.
Thus you shall no longer bearamong the nations the reproach of famine.
(09:20):
Then you shall remember your evil conduct,and that your deeds were not good.
You shall love yourselves for your sinsand your abominations.
It's very notable here that sometimesyou know, the spirit brings forth
a word of conviction, of sin first,and then gives them a blessing
(09:40):
in this prophecy of Ezekiel,of the New Covenant, it's
more like God is going toto cleanse you, cleanse them from sin.
But place the new spirit within themand give them a new heart.
And after that they'll recognizetheir sin, that God will, in a sense,
bless them.
First with an outpouring of the spiritand giving them a new heart,
(10:01):
and that will actually enable them to, lo,
the sins that they had committed,and to turn back to the Lord.
Another.
So this is a notable thing.
Two prophecies from Jeremiahand Isaiah about a new covenant.
And of course, this could be seenas related to a work of the Messiah.
They don't directly related inthese texts, but in Isaiah we said, it's
(10:25):
the spirit of the Lordwill be upon the servant of God,
and of will see in the new covenant.
It's the the fulfillment of this in Jesuswho is establishing the new covenant.
But that's looking ahead.
Also in the prophet Jeremiah.
I'm sorry, Ezekiel,we have another prophecy
(10:46):
of the work of the spiritin the next chapter, Ezekiel 37.
And this is a very familiarto many people.
It's the prophecy of the dry bones.
And, you know, again,the people of Israel are crushed.
They're they're they're in exile.
They're like,you know, their hope is gone.
And so here's what the Lord says toEzekiel.
(11:08):
Ezekiel 37 verse one.
And following
the hand of the Lord came upon me,and he led me out, the spirit of the Lord.
And set me in the center of the plane,which was now filled with bones.
He made me walk among them inevery direction, so that I saw how many
they were on the surface of the plain,how dry they were.
He asked me,son of man, can these bones come to life?
(11:30):
Lord God, I answered, you alone know that?
Then he said to me,prophesy over these bones,
and say to them, dry bones,hear the word of the Lord.
Thus says the Lord God to these bones,see, I will bring spirit into you,
that you may come to life again.
You know the spirit is life giving.
I will put sinews upon you and make flesh
(11:51):
grow over you, coveryou with skin, and put spirit in you.
So that you may come to lifeand know that I am the Lord.
Jeremiahsays, I prophesied as I had been told,
and even as I was prophesying,I heard a noise.
It was rattle rattling as the bones cametogether, bone joining bone.
I saw the seniors in the flesh comingupon them, and the skin covered them,
(12:11):
but there was no spirit in them.
Then he, God, said to me, prophesy
to the spirit, prophesy,son of man, and say to the spirit,
thus says the Lord Godfrom the four winds, Kamo spirit,
and breathe into these slain,that they may come to life.
I prophesied as he told me,and the spirit and spirit came into them.
They came alive and stood upright,a vast army.
(12:33):
Then he he said to me, son of man,
these bones are the whole house of Israel.
They have been saying,
our bones are dried up,our hope is lost, and we are cut off.
Therefore prophesy and say to them, let,says the Lord God, all my people,
I will open your graves,
and have you rise from themand bring you back to the land of Israel.
Then you shall know that I am the Lord.
(12:55):
When I open your gravesand have you rise from them.
Oh, my people,I will put my spirit in you,
that you may live, and I will settleyou upon your land.
Thus you shall know that I am the Lord.
I have promised,and I will do it, says the Lord.
So what a powerful prophecy!
And of course, at the heart of thisis Jeremiah's calling by God to prophesy
(13:16):
and in his prophecy,the spirit responds by coming into,
in a sense, the, the,the hopeless people who like dry bones.
And now they're given a new hopethat the Lord will restore their land.
What a beautiful prophecy.
I'd like to, aseven though we're going a little longer.
But I wanted to say there's one, further,
(13:39):
passage in,
the prophet Ezekiel in chapter 47.
There is no mention in this, in this wordin Jeremiah.
This in Ezekiel.
Excuse me, but it's, a vision
Ezekiel has of the temple of God.
And in Ezekiel 47 one he says,
(14:00):
then he this Godbrought me back to the door of the temple.
And behold, water was issuing from below
the threshold of the templetoward the east.
And the water was flowing down from below
the right side of the thresholdof the temple south of the altar.
And he brought me out by way of the northgate, and led me round on the outside
to the outer gatethat faces toward the east.
(14:22):
And the water was coming outon the right side,
going eastward with the lot,with with a line in his hand.
The man measured a thousand cubits,and he led me through.
And it goes on.
And, he's measuring this water,which first is ankle deep and a knee deep.
And then and afteranother thousand cubits, it becomes so,
strong that it's a river that he saysI could not pass through.
(14:44):
For the water is risen, had risen.
It was deep enough to swim in a riverthat could not be passed through.
And he said to me, son of man,have you seen this?
And then he led me backalong the bank of the river.
As I went back,I saw up on the bank of the river
very many trees on the one sideand the other.
And he said to me, this water flowstoward the eastern region
(15:05):
and goes down into the, where it entersthe stagnant waters of the sea.
The what?
The when it enters the stagnant watersof the sea, the water will become fresh.
And wherever the river goes, every livingcreature which swarms will live.
And there will be very many fishfor this water goes there.
That water,the waters of the sea, may become fresh,
(15:25):
so everything will livewhere the river goes.
And finally he says,and on its banks, the banks of this river,
on both sides of the river there will growall kinds of trees for food.
Their leaves will not wither, norwill there fruit fail, but they will bear
fresh fruit every month, because the waterfor them flows from the sanctuary.
(15:48):
Their fruit will be for food,and their leaves for healing.
Now, nowhere in
here is the word spirit mentioned.
And yet wewe know that we could look at this passage
in hindsight from the New Testament,where we will see as we look in future
podcasts how, the water becomesone of the primary images of the spirit.
(16:12):
We've already seen that earlierin the Old Testament,
where the spirithas cleansing power as water.
But here the spirit is, is seen as flowingfrom the temple
and watering, becoming a mighty riverthat is life giving.
Now I want to end todayby just reading from the the,
the very last book of the Bible,the New Testament, the Book of Revelation.
(16:36):
And here we see, some referencesthat are very similar
to what we see in Ezekiel, in fact,that it very much seems that
the author of John of Revelationwas thinking of this passage,
in, in,
revelations chapter 21, verse six,
he says to the thirsty, well, for thisit says it is the Lord's speaking.
(17:00):
It is done.
I am the Alpha and the Omega,the beginning and the end.
To the thirstyI will give water without price
from the fountain of the water of life.
We're going to be looking at that more,as we look, and later
in the Gospel of John, this water of lifethat the Lord will give.
But I really wanted to focusto end here, with
(17:24):
the book of revelation, chapter 22,
where we see another imageof the new Jerusalem
that begins actually in revelations 21,where it's
sort of the climax
of the book of revelation, wherethere's a vision of the New Jerusalem,
that the new restoredpeople of God, of the New Covenant
(17:44):
and, and in its astrological fulfillment,
what's going to be happenat the end of time.
And of course, in this there is a temple.
And, I won't go throughthe description of that.
You can read thatin the book of revelation.
But in the center of the templeis the lamb and the throne of God.
And here's what it says in, revelation
(18:05):
22 verses one and following.
Then he, God, showed me the prophetwriting revelation.
Then he showed methe river of the water of life, bright
as crystal, flowing from the throne of Godand of the lamb
through the middleof the street of the city.
Also on either side of the river,the tree of life,
(18:29):
with its 12 kinds of fruityielding its fruit each month.
And the leaves of the treewere for the healing of the nations.
Just compare that with what Zacchaeussays.
And on the banks of this riverthat flows from the temple,
his vision of the temple and on the bankson both sides of the river
(18:50):
there will growall kinds of trees for food.
Their leaves will neithernot wither nor their fruit fail,
but they will bear fruit, fresh,fresh fruit every month.
That'swhat it says in the book of revelation
12 kinds of fruityielding its fruit each month,
and then in back to Ezekiel,
because the water for them flowsfrom the sanctuary.
(19:13):
The fruit will be for food,and their leaves for healing.
And the Book of revelation says,the leaves of
the treewere for the healing of the nations.
So we can see in a sense a prophecy
and a fulfillment, a vision of, Ezekiel,
which, you know,he doesn't mention the word spirit,
(19:34):
but it's very evident herethat, the spirit is symbolized by,
as he has been seen in the Old Testamentas a source of life, life
giving and bearing,enabling, fruit to be born.
And that is, of course, goingto be finally, the prophecy of Ezekiel
47 is going to be fulfilled,with the New Jerusalem.
(19:56):
And so even thoughin the book of revelation,
the spirit is inspiring the author,but in the New Jerusalem
it says it doesn't mention the spiritin the New Jerusalem,
the the completed, but he is there.
He is that river of living water.
So let's call upon the Holy Spiritright now and ask that that spirit
(20:18):
which is prophesiedso powerfully of a new covenant
in Jeremiah and Ezekiel,that that spirit would be poured out
upon us who have, are receivingthe gift of the spirit in the church.
Let us pray.
Come, Holy Spirit,fill the hearts of your faithful in.
Kindle in them the fire of your love.
Send forth your spirit,
(20:39):
and they shall be created,and you shall renew the face of the earth.
Oh God,
who by the light of the Holy Spirit,then instruct the hearts of your faithful.
Grant that by that same Holy Spiritwe may be truly wise
and ever rejoice in his consolationsthrough Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Thankyou for joining us in our next podcast.
We're going to be looking at
(21:00):
sort of the postexhibit prophets, and Nehemiah and Haggai.
And we'll also be introduced to,the work of the spirit
in the later New Old Testament writings.
May the Lord bless you.
Greetings.
This is Doctor Alan Schreck.
We're in our podcast series in the spiritof the bride on the Holy Spirit,
focusing on the Holy Spiritin the old Testament.
In our just Our last podcast,we looked at the work of the spirit
in the prophet Isaiah,especially the spirit coming upon
the servant of the Lordin these messianic prophecies
(00:30):
that the spirit would rest upon this onechosen by God.
And then we also looked at thethe spirit in the book of Psalms,
and how in the various waysthat the Psalms speak about the spirit.
In today's podcast,we're going to talk about two major
prophets, the prophet Jeremiahand especially the prophet Ezekiel.
(00:53):
And, just to give you the context,first of all, Jeremiah,
Jeremiah was living in a periodabout a century after, the prophet Isaiah.
And at this point, there was a
the people had growninto a complacency and,
you know, sort of a blindnessto the implications of the covenant.
(01:14):
And one of the kingsJehoiakim had even, built
started a spree to build himselfa new house, a lavish house.
And Jeremiah rebukes him in Jeremiah 2213through 18,
criticizing, this, turning awayfrom the will of God to serve oneself.
And unfortunately,there were many people who claimed
(01:38):
to be prophets during this timewho were supporting Jehoiakim and,
and so,claiming to be led by the Holy Spirit.
So Jeremiah,
throughout his book, he seems to be this,
the writings of Jeremiah seemto be very negative about the Holy Spirit,
the Spirit of God, because, of the claim
of these false prophets, for example,
(02:01):
in Jeremiah 23,
verses 25 through 29,Jeremiah says, I've heard the prophets
who prophesy lies in my namesay and say, I had a dream.
I had a dream.How long will this continue?
Is my name in the hearts of the prophetswho prophesy lies
in their own deceitful fantasies?
And he says, let the prophet prophetwho has a dream recount his dream.
(02:23):
Let him who is my wordspeak my word truthfully.
This is Jeremiah speaking for the Lord.
Let him who has my wordspeak my word truthfully.
What is straw to do with wheat?
Says the Lord is not my word like fire,
says the Lord, like a hammershattering rocks.
And so Jeremiah emphasizes,
(02:45):
we have to turn to the word of the Lord,the authentic word of the Lord.
Not with these liesthat are being proposed by the prophets.
So even though Jeremiahhimself is a prophet, it seems like
his his in in the book of Jeremiah,a lot of what is said about
the spirit is negative,because what he discerns is,
most of the propheciesof, of the of those supporting the king.
(03:08):
Jehoiakim, are really false prophecies.
So, but really the emphasis is on him
as being faithful to the Word of God,the Word of God, which is like,
as it says, as he says, like a hammershattering rocks.
Now, this was eventually
this was before the the time of the exile.
(03:28):
But in this in the midst of this,
it seems like ableak picture that Jeremiah is presenting.
And if you know, the story of Jeremiahends up being thrown into a cistern,
and he's he's really persecutedbecause of speaking the truth of God.
And yet, in the midst of this, Jeremiahalso has one of the great prophecies
(03:49):
of God going to establish what he callsa new covenant.
You know, people have been
the people of Israel were unfaithfulto the covenant once again.
And so he says in, Jeremiah 31,
chapter 31, verse 31, and following,
behold, the days are coming,says the Lord, when I will make
a new covenant with the house of Israeland the house of Judah,
(04:12):
not like the covenantwhich I made with their fathers,
when I took them by the handto bring them out of the land of Egypt,
my covenant which they broke,and I showed myself them.
Their master says the Lord.
But this is the covenant which I will makewith the house of Israel.
After those days, says the Lord,I will put my law within them.
(04:33):
I will write it upon their hearts,and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.And it goes on.
And it says, as a result of this,everyone will come to know
the Lord the least, the greatest.
For I will forgive their iniquityand remember their sin no more.
So Jeremiahrealizes the infidelity of the people,
and yet he, as a prophet of God,speaks of, the a new covenant
(04:57):
that God is going to establish, thathe will write his law upon their hearts.
So that's very encouraging.
He doesn't,
say thathe has, the Spirit of God says this.
He doesn't say that,
but he is a prophet speakingunder the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Now, if we move again, fast forwardin history, eventually,
(05:20):
the people of Israelare because of their infidelity
and their unfaithfulness to God.
They're sent into exile in Babylon.
And and yet, during this period,we see one of the next major prophets,
the prophet Ezekiel, who, basically
is giving, to those,people of God in exile in Babylon,
(05:41):
a word of encouragementand a word of hope.
And Ezekiel is a prophet who
who speaks frequently about thethe spirit.
He and he refers to the spiritworking in his life.
He says in, in Ezekieltwo two and three two, the spirit
has set him on his feet and lifting him upand carrying him away in a vision.
(06:05):
He also has a vision of of God.
And he, he's inand in this vision he says,
he said I went off spiritually, stirredin the hand of the Lord, rested
heavily upon me, and in his visionshe sees the spirit working.
And for example, in,
(06:25):
he had a vision of the living creatures
full of movementand power in the first chapter of Ezekiel.
And he says, whereverthe spirit wished to go, there they went.
These are the cherubim.
Wherever the spirit wished to go, therethe wheels went,
the wheels being a symbol of,
God's movement for the spiritof the living creatures was in the wheels.
So it seems unusual imagery,but he has a vision of God
(06:49):
and seeing the spirit working,
even in the prophet Isaiah.
I'm sorry, the prophet Ezekiel here it
he speaks of the spirit very frequently,and he doesn't even use the
some of the previous prophets, like,
Isaiah or Jeremiahto specify the spirit of the Lord.
Ezekiel presumeswhen when he says the spirit.
(07:12):
But at this pointthe people will understand
when he says of the spirit that he isspeaking of the spirit of the Lord.
And so what
does he say about what God is going to do?
What is the word of encouragementEzekiel gives
to these people of God,who are now in captivity?
Well, he two, prophesies a new covenant.
(07:35):
And and yet and in in his prophecyof the New covenant, you're going to see
that, part of this prophecy isthat the Lord will will give his spirit.
Let me read that.
This is from Ezekiel chapter 36,
verses 23 to 31.
Ezekiel writes,I will prove the holiness of.
(07:56):
And of course he's speaking for God here
I will prove the holinessof my great name.
Profound profaned among the nations,in whose midst you have profaned it.
Thus the nations shall know that I amthe Lord, says the Lord God,
when in their sightI prove my holiness through you.
For I will take you away
(08:17):
from the nations,gather you from all the foreign lands,
those lands they were in exile,and bring you back to your own.
I will sprinkle clean water upon you
to cleanse you from all your impurities.
And remember how you know the imageof being cleansed by water
and associated with His Spirit.
And he goes on, so I will cleanse youfrom all your impurities
(08:39):
and from all your idols.I will cleanse you.
I will give you a new heartand place a new spirit within you,
taking from your bodies your stony hearts,and giving you natural hearts.
I will put my spirit within you
and make you live by my statutes, carefulto observe my decrees.
(08:59):
You shall live in the landI gave your fathers.
You shall be my people,and I will be your God.
I will save you from all your impurities.
I will order the grain to be abundant.
I will not send famine against you.
I will increase the fruit of your treesand the crops of your field
in your fields.
Thus you shall no longer bearamong the nations the reproach of famine.
(09:20):
Then you shall remember your evil conduct,and that your deeds were not good.
You shall love yourselves for your sinsand your abominations.
It's very notable here that sometimesyou know, the spirit brings forth
a word of conviction, of sin first,and then gives them a blessing
(09:40):
in this prophecy of Ezekiel,of the New Covenant, it's
more like God is going toto cleanse you, cleanse them from sin.
But place the new spirit within themand give them a new heart.
And after that they'll recognizetheir sin, that God will, in a sense,
bless them.
First with an outpouring of the spiritand giving them a new heart,
(10:01):
and that will actually enable them to, lo,
the sins that they had committed,and to turn back to the Lord.
Another.
So this is a notable thing.
Two prophecies from Jeremiahand Isaiah about a new covenant.
And of course, this could be seenas related to a work of the Messiah.
They don't directly related inthese texts, but in Isaiah we said, it's
(10:25):
the spirit of the Lordwill be upon the servant of God,
and of will see in the new covenant.
It's the the fulfillment of this in Jesuswho is establishing the new covenant.
But that's looking ahead.
Also in the prophet Jeremiah.
I'm sorry, Ezekiel,we have another prophecy
(10:46):
of the work of the spiritin the next chapter, Ezekiel 37.
And this is a very familiarto many people.
It's the prophecy of the dry bones.
And, you know, again,the people of Israel are crushed.
They're they're they're in exile.
They're like,you know, their hope is gone.
And so here's what the Lord says toEzekiel.
(11:08):
Ezekiel 37 verse one.
And following
the hand of the Lord came upon me,and he led me out, the spirit of the Lord.
And set me in the center of the plane,which was now filled with bones.
He made me walk among them inevery direction, so that I saw how many
they were on the surface of the plain,how dry they were.
He asked me,son of man, can these bones come to life?
(11:30):
Lord God, I answered, you alone know that?
Then he said to me,prophesy over these bones,
and say to them, dry bones,hear the word of the Lord.
Thus says the Lord God to these bones,see, I will bring spirit into you,
that you may come to life again.
You know the spirit is life giving.
I will put sinews upon you and make flesh
(11:51):
grow over you, coveryou with skin, and put spirit in you.
So that you may come to lifeand know that I am the Lord.
Jeremiahsays, I prophesied as I had been told,
and even as I was prophesying,I heard a noise.
It was rattle rattling as the bones cametogether, bone joining bone.
I saw the seniors in the flesh comingupon them, and the skin covered them,
(12:11):
but there was no spirit in them.
Then he, God, said to me, prophesy
to the spirit, prophesy,son of man, and say to the spirit,
thus says the Lord Godfrom the four winds, Kamo spirit,
and breathe into these slain,that they may come to life.
I prophesied as he told me,and the spirit and spirit came into them.
They came alive and stood upright,a vast army.
(12:33):
Then he he said to me, son of man,
these bones are the whole house of Israel.
They have been saying,
our bones are dried up,our hope is lost, and we are cut off.
Therefore prophesy and say to them, let,says the Lord God, all my people,
I will open your graves,
and have you rise from themand bring you back to the land of Israel.
Then you shall know that I am the Lord.
(12:55):
When I open your gravesand have you rise from them.
Oh, my people,I will put my spirit in you,
that you may live, and I will settleyou upon your land.
Thus you shall know that I am the Lord.
I have promised,and I will do it, says the Lord.
So what a powerful prophecy!
And of course, at the heart of thisis Jeremiah's calling by God to prophesy
(13:16):
and in his prophecy,the spirit responds by coming into,
in a sense, the, the,the hopeless people who like dry bones.
And now they're given a new hopethat the Lord will restore their land.
What a beautiful prophecy.
I'd like to, aseven though we're going a little longer.
But I wanted to say there's one, further,
(13:39):
passage in,
the prophet Ezekiel in chapter 47.
There is no mention in this, in this wordin Jeremiah.
This in Ezekiel.
Excuse me, but it's, a vision
Ezekiel has of the temple of God.
And in Ezekiel 47 one he says,
(14:00):
then he this Godbrought me back to the door of the temple.
And behold, water was issuing from below
the threshold of the templetoward the east.
And the water was flowing down from below
the right side of the thresholdof the temple south of the altar.
And he brought me out by way of the northgate, and led me round on the outside
to the outer gatethat faces toward the east.
(14:22):
And the water was coming outon the right side,
going eastward with the lot,with with a line in his hand.
The man measured a thousand cubits,and he led me through.
And it goes on.
And, he's measuring this water,which first is ankle deep and a knee deep.
And then and afteranother thousand cubits, it becomes so,
strong that it's a river that he saysI could not pass through.
(14:44):
For the water is risen, had risen.
It was deep enough to swim in a riverthat could not be passed through.
And he said to me, son of man,have you seen this?
And then he led me backalong the bank of the river.
As I went back,I saw up on the bank of the river
very many trees on the one sideand the other.
And he said to me, this water flowstoward the eastern region
(15:05):
and goes down into the, where it entersthe stagnant waters of the sea.
The what?
The when it enters the stagnant watersof the sea, the water will become fresh.
And wherever the river goes, every livingcreature which swarms will live.
And there will be very many fishfor this water goes there.
That water,the waters of the sea, may become fresh,
(15:25):
so everything will livewhere the river goes.
And finally he says,and on its banks, the banks of this river,
on both sides of the river there will growall kinds of trees for food.
Their leaves will not wither, norwill there fruit fail, but they will bear
fresh fruit every month, because the waterfor them flows from the sanctuary.
(15:48):
Their fruit will be for food,and their leaves for healing.
Now, nowhere in
here is the word spirit mentioned.
And yet wewe know that we could look at this passage
in hindsight from the New Testament,where we will see as we look in future
podcasts how, the water becomesone of the primary images of the spirit.
(16:12):
We've already seen that earlierin the Old Testament,
where the spirithas cleansing power as water.
But here the spirit is, is seen as flowingfrom the temple
and watering, becoming a mighty riverthat is life giving.
Now I want to end todayby just reading from the the,
the very last book of the Bible,the New Testament, the Book of Revelation.
(16:36):
And here we see, some referencesthat are very similar
to what we see in Ezekiel, in fact,that it very much seems that
the author of John of Revelationwas thinking of this passage,
in, in,
revelations chapter 21, verse six,
he says to the thirsty, well, for thisit says it is the Lord's speaking.
(17:00):
It is done.
I am the Alpha and the Omega,the beginning and the end.
To the thirstyI will give water without price
from the fountain of the water of life.
We're going to be looking at that more,as we look, and later
in the Gospel of John, this water of lifethat the Lord will give.
But I really wanted to focusto end here, with
(17:24):
the book of revelation, chapter 22,
where we see another imageof the new Jerusalem
that begins actually in revelations 21,where it's
sort of the climax
of the book of revelation, wherethere's a vision of the New Jerusalem,
that the new restoredpeople of God, of the New Covenant
(17:44):
and, and in its astrological fulfillment,
what's going to be happenat the end of time.
And of course, in this there is a temple.
And, I won't go throughthe description of that.
You can read thatin the book of revelation.
But in the center of the templeis the lamb and the throne of God.
And here's what it says in, revelation
(18:05):
22 verses one and following.
Then he, God, showed me the prophetwriting revelation.
Then he showed methe river of the water of life, bright
as crystal, flowing from the throne of Godand of the lamb
through the middleof the street of the city.
Also on either side of the river,the tree of life,
(18:29):
with its 12 kinds of fruityielding its fruit each month.
And the leaves of the treewere for the healing of the nations.
Just compare that with what Zacchaeussays.
And on the banks of this riverthat flows from the temple,
his vision of the temple and on the bankson both sides of the river
(18:50):
there will growall kinds of trees for food.
Their leaves will neithernot wither nor their fruit fail,
but they will bear fruit, fresh,fresh fruit every month.
That'swhat it says in the book of revelation
12 kinds of fruityielding its fruit each month,
and then in back to Ezekiel,
because the water for them flowsfrom the sanctuary.
(19:13):
The fruit will be for food,and their leaves for healing.
And the Book of revelation says,the leaves of
the treewere for the healing of the nations.
So we can see in a sense a prophecy
and a fulfillment, a vision of, Ezekiel,
which, you know,he doesn't mention the word spirit,
(19:34):
but it's very evident herethat, the spirit is symbolized by,
as he has been seen in the Old Testamentas a source of life, life
giving and bearing,enabling, fruit to be born.
And that is, of course, goingto be finally, the prophecy of Ezekiel
47 is going to be fulfilled,with the New Jerusalem.
(19:56):
And so even thoughin the book of revelation,
the spirit is inspiring the author,but in the New Jerusalem
it says it doesn't mention the spiritin the New Jerusalem,
the the completed, but he is there.
He is that river of living water.
So let's call upon the Holy Spiritright now and ask that that spirit
(20:18):
which is prophesiedso powerfully of a new covenant
in Jeremiah and Ezekiel,that that spirit would be poured out
upon us who have, are receivingthe gift of the spirit in the church.
Let us pray.
Come, Holy Spirit,fill the hearts of your faithful in.
Kindle in them the fire of your love.
Send forth your spirit,
(20:39):
and they shall be created,and you shall renew the face of the earth.
Oh God,
who by the light of the Holy Spirit,then instruct the hearts of your faithful.
Grant that by that same Holy Spiritwe may be truly wise
and ever rejoice in his consolationsthrough Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Thankyou for joining us in our next podcast.
We're going to be looking at
(21:00):
sort of the postexhibit prophets, and Nehemiah and Haggai.
And we'll also be introduced to,the work of the spirit
in the later New Old Testament writings.
May the Lord bless you.
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