S42 || For the Glory of His Name: Why God Restores the Undeserving || Ezekiel 36:1-20 || Session 42

A single claim reframes everything: restoration arrives not because the nation of Israel finally deserves it, but because God refuses to let His name be profaned among the other nations. We walk through the first half of Ezekiel chapter 36 step by step—why the prophet speaks to mountains and ravines, how neighboring nations like Edom misread Israel’s desolation as opportunity, and what Israel's exile broadcast to the world about God's strength and character. The result is a rigorous, grounded look at land, judgment, and hope that’s as historically concrete as it is spiritually piercing.

We revisit Israel’s entry into the land, the descent into idolatry and bloodshed, and the measured justice that scattered them among the nations. Then we confront the hard edge of the text: when the exiles arrive in foreign streets, the surrounding world sneers, “These are the Lord’s people, yet they’ve left His land.” That line becomes the turning point. God acts—not to reward improved behavior, but to vindicate His reputation and keep promises spoken long before any revival or reform. It’s a counterintuitive logic of grace that shatters pride and centers divine fidelity over human effort.

Join us for a clear, candid exploration of Ezekiel 36 that steadies faith, sharpens discernment, and widens awe. If this conversation challenges or encourages you, share it with a friend, subscribe for the next installment, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

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May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:16):
Today on reasoning through the Bible, we come to
what I believe is the mostimportant chapter in the entire
book because God is very clearand very lengthy with what He's
going to do.
He's very plain and so clearthat it really takes going to
school a very long time to tryto deny it, but some people do.

(00:38):
So we're going to go through itin detail.
Hi, my name's Glenn.
I'm here with Steve.
We're going to do our regularpractice, which is to read these
sections and then go throughthem in detail and talk about
the implications of them.
And if you have your copy of theWord of God, turn to Ezekiel
chapter 36, which again, I thinkit's the most important chapter

(00:58):
in the entire book.
Simply because if you rememberthe flow of the book, God called
the prophet Ezekiel and he spentthe first 24 chapters condemning
Israel, Jerusalem, and theJewish people thoroughly and
completely.
God then spends several chapterspouring out his wrath and

(01:19):
condemnation on the nationsaround Israel for their
disobedience.
Up to this point, no one in theentire story has done anything
worthy of pleasing God.
Yet here we have a very clearexplanation that God is the one
who is going to bring about arestoration of Israel.

(01:40):
This is quite profound simplybecause of the long, heavy, and
blunt condemnations that havecome prior to this.
God makes it very clear in thispassage that He has plans to
restore Israel to their land.
It's quite amazing.
So let's go ahead and get intoit.
Steve, if you can read the firstseven verses of Ezekiel chapter

(02:03):
36.

SPEAKER_01 (02:04):
And you, Son of Man, prophesy to the mountains of
Israel and say, O mountains ofIsrael, hear the word of the
Lord.
Thus says the Lord God, becausethe enemy has spoken against
you, aha, and the everlastingheights have become our
possession.
Therefore, prophesy and say,Thus says the Lord God, for good

(02:28):
reason they have made youdesolate and crushed you from
every side, that you wouldbecome a possession of the rest
of the nations, and you havebeen taken up in the talk and
the whispering of the people.
Therefore, O mountains ofIsrael, hear the word of the
Lord God.
Thus says the Lord God to themountains and to the hills, to

(02:49):
the ravines and to the valleys,to the desolate wastes and to
the forsaken cities which havebecome a prey and a derision to
the rest of the nations whichare round about.
Therefore, thus says the LordGod, surely in the fire of my
jealousy I have spoken againstthe rest of the nations and
against all Edom, whoappropriated my land for

(03:10):
themselves as a possession withwholehearted joy and with scorn
of soul to drive it out forprey.
Therefore, prophesy concerningthe land of Israel, and say to
the mountains and to the hills,to the ravines and to the
valleys, thus says the Lord God,behold, I have spoken in my

(03:30):
jealousy and in my wrath,because you have endured the
insults of the nations.
Therefore, thus says the LordGod, I have sworn that surely
the nations which are around youwill themselves endure their
insults.

SPEAKER_00 (03:46):
In this section, God is speaking very directly to the
mountains of Israel.
It's speaking to the landitself, giving a message to all
the people about the land.
He spoke to the mountains ofSeir, the last chapter where the
Edomites were.
Now he's speaking to themountains in the land of Israel.

(04:10):
God is to be very clear thathe's speaking of the physical
geography of the land of Israel,not some spiritual or figurative
application.
And we'll draw that point homeas we go through in some detail.
God had judged Israel andremoved them from the lands so
that nations like Edom came inand took it.

(04:32):
We saw that in the last chapter.
God is saying that because theland had become a possession of
the rest of the nations, versethree, then God will speak,
quote, against the rest of thenations in verse five, and
ensure these nations, quote,will themselves endure their
insults in verse 7.

(04:53):
That's the structure of what wejust read.
God has taken Israel out of theland as punishment, but he is
still in control of it, and theland is his.

SPEAKER_01 (19:51):
According to their ways and their deeds, I judge
them.
When they came to the nationswhere they went, they profaned
my holy name, because it wassaid of them, These are the
people of the Lord, yet theyhave come out of his land.

SPEAKER_00 (20:07):
The entire account is bad.
Every bit of it.
He's giving a summary ofIsrael's sin, his own
punishment, and then Israel'sresponse to that punishment.
Verse 17, God starts out whenIsrael was in the land.
So, Steve, when did Israel firstenter the land?

SPEAKER_01 (20:27):
Whenever they came out of Egypt.
Now, before that, they wentthrough a wandering of 40 years
in the wilderness.
But then we pick up in the bookof Joshua when they went into
the land.
That was back in the 1100s or soBC of when they went into the
land the first time.

SPEAKER_00 (20:47):
Exactly.
Uh, God gave Moses the law onMount Sinai.
He then sent Joshua in toconquer the land.
Here in the middle of verse 17,how did Israel react once they
get to the land?

SPEAKER_01 (21:02):
They went off and they worshiped other idols.
That's the main theme that wesaw earlier in this book as the
condemnation of why they'rebeing put out into exile from
Nebuchadnezzar and theBabylonians.
God says there in verse 17, thehouse of Israel was living on

(21:22):
their own land, but they defiledit by their ways and their
deeds.
And before me they were unclean,like the impurity of a woman.
So through their idol worshipand their other things that they
were doing, of not following theordinances' statutes and not
following God, that is the wayGod looked at it.

(21:45):
They were unclean.

SPEAKER_00 (21:46):
The last half of verse 18, he gives two specific

examples of the sin (21:50):
the shedding of blood and the
worshiping of idols.
So he is saying here again, theland that I set out for you, the
land flowing with milk andhoney, I provided it for you.
Once you got in there, youdefiled it.
It was very ugly.
You've were shedding blood,killing people, and worshiping

(22:14):
idols.
The beginning of verse 18, howdid God react to Israel's gross
sin?

SPEAKER_01 (22:20):
He says that he poured out his wrath on them.
We saw that depicted when thenorthern kingdom of Israel was
taken off by Assyria, and nowthe southern kingdom of Judah
and Jerusalem itself.

SPEAKER_00 (22:34):
Exactly.
God poured out his wrath on themat the beginning of verse 18.
Then in verse 19, he scattersthem amongst the nation.
So the scattering was additionalpunishment.
Israel disobeyed, God poured outhis wrath on them and scattered
them amongst the nations.

(22:54):
And look at the end of verse 19.
Quote, according to their waysand their deeds, I judge them,
unquote.
The Lord is a righteous and fairjudge.
He gives out fair punishmentbased on their deeds.
Then look at the middle of verse20.
When Israel went into captivityinto the foreign lands, how did

(23:16):
this event reflect on God andGod's name?

SPEAKER_01 (23:20):
It says that God's name was profaned because all of
the other nations were saying,Why are these people here?
Why aren't they living in theland?
God has put them out.
And so it's a reflection on God.
He wasn't able to protect hispeople or take care of his
people.
That's the way the other nationslooked at it.

(23:41):
Therefore, God's name wasprofane because of the actions
of the people.

SPEAKER_00 (23:46):
The sense here is that everything in the world,
people, objects, and animals areeither holy and set apart to God
for his holiness, or they arecommon and profane.
That's the sense of the wordhere.
So the nation of Israel had beenset apart.
They were set apart for holyuse.

(24:08):
They were set apart forrighteous use.
But here, once they were pulledout of the land, everybody would
say, well, God wasn't able toprotect them.
God was too weak to protectthem.
Therefore, God's name wasprofane.
That was the sense here.
The sense is that thingsdedicated to God, he should have
been powerful enough to haveprotect them and set them apart

(24:30):
as a holy people.
But look at them, they were justas sinful as everyone else.
Now they've been taken off.
So God must not be a very goodGod.
While in exile, the Jewishpeople were no longer being used
by God for his purpose.
So at this point in the account,God has given Israel a land
flowing with milk and honey.
Israel responded with horriblesin.

(24:53):
God punished them by scatteringthem amongst the nations, and
Israel responded by profaningGod's name to the nations.
Has Israel done anything in herethat has deserved a blessing?

SPEAKER_01 (25:06):
No, they haven't.
And as in earlier session, wetalked about whether or not
Israel deserved to be in theland.
The answer was no, they don'tdeserve to be there.
But it's not up to us to decidethat.
That's up for God to decidethat.
And I wanted to point out thatat the very last part of 20, he
says, These are the people ofthe Lord, yet they have come out

(25:28):
of his land.
This is what the other nationswere saying.
God connects that with profaninghis name.
When they're out of the land,God's name is profaned.
It was true then, and it's truenow, and it will be true in the
future.
So the people that we have inour modern day, Glenn, that want

(25:51):
to push Israel back out of theland again to extinguish the
Jewish people from their landonce again, they are going up
directly against God.
This gives us a picture of howGod thinks about the land and
who should be there.
So it's a cautionary tale to thepeople today that want to split

(26:12):
up the land and want to push theJewish people out of the land.
They need to understand thatthey're fooling with God as
well.
Yahweh, it's not just the Jewishpeople themselves.

SPEAKER_00 (26:24):
We've said this before, but just to reiterate
the point because it's it's socritical, there's nothing in
here that made Israel deservingof being in the land.
Matter of fact, everything theydid, they didn't deserve to be
in the land.
There's nothing in here thatmakes Israel worthy in any way,
shape, or form.
All they did was disobey andfall under God's wrath and get

(26:48):
punished for it.
God is the sole reason why hesays he's bringing them back.
And we're gonna see once we getto the last part of this, he's
doing it because of his name,not because of anything that
they've been doing.
That is what's critical here isthe senses that God is going to
bless them because he is goodand not because anything in them

(27:12):
where they are good.
Right here is a critical place.
We've reinforced that God isabout to do something.
So please tune in next time aswe're gonna see what is arguably
the most important part of theentire book of Ezekiel.

SPEAKER_01 (27:29):
Thank you so much for watching and listening.