October 20, 2025 • 28 mins
A single line in Ezekiel chapter 36 flips the script on everything we think we know about divine favor: “Not for your sake... but for my holy name.” We pick up at verse 21 and walk through the chapter’s turning point, where God promises to gather Israel, cleanse idolatry, give a new heart, and put His Spirit within them—then backs it with tangible proof the nations can see: rebuilt cities, fruitful fields, and people filling the land like festival flocks. The claim is bold and public: Yahweh will vindicate His name in history.
Together we trace the storyline from Abraham’s first land promise to Ezekiel’s restoration language, connect it with Jeremiah’s new covenant and Zechariah’s vision of national repentance, and note how Acts 1:6 preserves the disciples’ expectation of a restored kingdom. Along the way, we address a common interpretive tangle: those salvation-sounding phrases—cleansing, new heart, Spirit—do not cancel the plain meaning of land, grain, and fortified cities. Instead, Ezekiel holds physical restoration and spiritual renewal together without blurring them into allegory. God grants the church real spiritual blessings now while pledging Israel a future, corporate restoration that displays His holiness before a watching world.
At the heart of it all is national regeneration. “I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes.” Obedience is not self-generated; it’s Spirit-ignited. That truth humbles pride and fuels hope—then and now.
If this chapter reshaped how you see God’s promises, share it with a friend, subscribe for the next deep dive, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway so we can keep this study growing.
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May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:17):
If you were with us last time, we started Ezekiel
chapter thirty-six, and that waswhere God had turned the corner
and starts to restore the nationIsrael back to the land.
And as we saw last time, therewere several passages where God
says that I will do this.
(00:37):
And there's nothing in thereabout Israel's worthiness for
any of this.
We also saw last time that whathe's going to do will be
permanent.
He said that several times.
Today we're going to start inEzekiel chapter 36, verse 21,
and we're going to find out whatGod's going to do and why he's
(00:58):
going to do it.
He's going to be quite clear.
And what is amazing with this,again, we have to keep reminding
ourselves is the many, manychapters of God's judgment and
wrath, and how blunt and severehe was with all of his wrath and
punishment on the Jewish people.
Here we see almost right out ofthe blue, he brings blessing.
(01:21):
And it's because what he isgoing to determine.
So pick up with me in Ezekiel36, 21, says this.
This is God speaking.
But I had concern for my holyname, which the house of Israel
had profaned amongst the nationswhere they went.
Therefore, say to the house ofIsrael, Thus says the Lord God,
(01:42):
it is not for your sake, O houseof Israel, that I am about to
act, but for my holy name, whichyou have profaned amongst the
nations where you went.
I will vindicate the holiness ofmy great name, which has been
profaned among the nations,which you have profaned in their
midst.
Then the nations will know thatI am the Lord, declares the Lord
(02:05):
God, when I prove myself holyamong you in their sight.
So, Steve, why does God say Heis about to act in this section?
SPEAKER_00 (02:15):
He says he's doing it for his name.
The nation of Israel hasprofaned his name because
they're outside of the land.
Therefore, God is taking thingsinto his own hands and he's
doing it, bring them back forhis name's sake.
SPEAKER_01 (02:35):
He said that quite clearly, verse 21, quote, I had
concern for my holy name.
The end of verse 22, but for myholy name.
Verse 23, quote, I willvindicate the holiness of my
great name.
And if you look at the middle ofverse 22, is God acting because
(02:56):
of Israel's obedience?
SPEAKER_00 (02:58):
No, he tells him, he says, I'm not doing this for
your sake, the house of Israel.
I'm doing it because of my holyname.
SPEAKER_01 (03:07):
God says unilaterally that he's promising
to bring Israel back to theland, and he says he's doing it
because of my name.
Verse 23, I will vindicate theholiness of my great name.
Steve, if we go back tooriginally when God gave the
promise to Israel for the land,where was that first given?
SPEAKER_00 (03:30):
It was first given with Abraham.
There were three things that hepromised to Abraham.
If Abraham would believe in himand follow him, he said, I'm
going to make you a greatnation.
He said, I am going to give youthis land from wherever you can
see and everywhere you walk.
And there's going to be a seedcome to you that's going to be a
(03:51):
blessing to all the othernations.
So it was originally given toAbraham.
SPEAKER_01 (03:56):
Was originally given to Abraham.
And if you were with us when wewent through Genesis, he was
quite clear, repeated it severaltimes.
The first one was in Genesis 13,15.
God gave the land to Abraham.
And back in that originalsituation, was there anything
that Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob,who is Israel, did they do
(04:18):
anything to deserve the land inthe first place?
SPEAKER_00 (04:21):
No, these were all situations where God selected
them.
And with the case of Abraham, hepicked them out of the land of
the Chaldeans and he said, Comefollow me and I'll give you a
land.
And then he took and chose Isaacover Ishmael.
Then he chose Jacob over Esau,and he reiterated the promises
(04:45):
to both Isaac and Jacob.
But no, there wasn't anythingdeserving on their part.
It was done by God himself.
SPEAKER_01 (04:54):
Originally, the land was a gift from God.
There's nothing that Abraham,Isaac, or Jacob did that was
worthy of it.
So it was a gift from Godbecause God wanted to give it to
them.
During the years that theyoccupied it, they were never
strong enough militarily tocontrol it.
They were constantly fightingover it.
(05:14):
Here, God has taken them out ofthe land and he is promising to
bring them back in again.
Therefore, God is in control ofwhen Israel is in the land and
when they are outside of theland.
When Israel was destroyed,especially Jerusalem and its
temple, the other nations wouldhave viewed this as a weakness
(05:34):
and a defeat of the God that wasthe nation of Israel's God.
Therefore, God is saying he willbring Israel back to the land
and have them prosper as avindication of his name.
God says, My name will beglorified.
God is powerful, he's incontrol, and he will convince
(05:57):
the nations of this.
The reason why we're emphasizingthis so strongly is because
there's Bible teachers runningaround the countryside that says
that because of Israel'sdisobedience, then therefore
they've lost the land andthey're never going to come back
again.
The problem with that teachingis that they didn't get the land
(06:18):
in the first place because theydeserved it.
They didn't get the land becauseof belief and obedience.
They couldn't keep it during theyears they were there because of
obedience and belief.
Remember what God said, if youwill but trust me, I will run
out the enemies from your land.
They never did trust him.
They were in constant disbelief.
(06:39):
And so they were in constantfighting over the land.
They weren't strong enough tokeep it by their faith or
military power during all theyears of the kings.
And once God took them out ofthe land, they never repented.
There was no repentance here inEzekiel 36.
God says, I'm bringing you backbecause of my name.
So beginning and middle and end,throughout the entire process,
(07:04):
there's nothing here that wouldlead us to believe that Israel
was in the land or out of theland because of their belief.
It's because of God's gift.
All they did was disobey.
And God says, I'm bringing themback and I'm blessing them
because of my name.
That's what he says here.
(07:25):
And he makes it quite clear.
God is powerful, he's incontrol, and he will convince
the nations of the worthiness ofhis name.
That's what this passage issaying.
We're going to go on in thisnext passage.
The most amazing part is he'sgoing to say specifically how
he's going to glorify his name.
So, Steve, can you start inverse 24 and read down to verse
(07:48):
38?
SPEAKER_00 (07:49):
For I will take you from the nations, gather you
from all the lands, and bringyou into your own land.
Then I will sprinkle clean wateron you, and you will be clean.
I will cleanse you from all yourfilthiness and from all your
idols.
Moreover, I will give you a newheart and put a new spirit
(08:10):
within you, and I will removethe heart of stone from your
flesh, and give you a heart offlesh.
I will put my spirit within you,and cause you to walk in my
statutes, and you will becareful to observe my
ordinances.
You will live in the land that Igave to your forefathers, so you
(08:30):
will be my people, and I will beyour God.
Moreover, I will save you fromall your uncleanliness, and I
will call for the grain andmultiply it, and I will not
bring a famine on you.
I will multiply the fruit of thetree and the produce of the
field, so that you will notreceive again the disgrace of
(08:52):
famine among the nations.
Then you will remember your evilways and your deeds that were
not good, and you will loatheyourselves in your own sight for
your iniquities and yourabominations.
I am not doing this for yoursake, declares the Lord God.
Let it be known to you.
Be ashamed and confounded foryour ways, O house of Israel.
(09:15):
Thus says the Lord God, On theday that I cleanse you from all
your iniquities, I will causethe cities to be inhabited and
the waste places to be rebuilt.
The desolate land will becultivated instead of being a
desolation in the sight ofeveryone who passes by.
They will say, This desolateland has become like the Garden
(09:37):
of Eden, and the waste, desolateand ruined cities are fortified
and inhabited.
Then the nations that are leftround about you will know that
I, the Lord, have rebuilt theruined places and planted that
which was desolate.
I, the Lord, have spoken andwill do it.
Thus says the Lord God, thisalso I will let the house of
(10:01):
Israel ask me to do for them.
I will increase their men like aflock, like the flock for their
sacrifices, like the flock ofJerusalem during her appointed
feasts, so will the waste citiesbe filled with flocks of men.
Then they will know that I amthe Lord.
SPEAKER_01 (10:21):
As we've seen many of these passages in Ezekiel,
God says, Then they will knowthat I am the Lord.
In our translations, we misssome of the emphasis of that.
What he's actually saying is,then they will know that I am
Yahweh.
They will know my name.
In our translation, the capitalL-O-R-D is always his name,
(10:45):
Yahweh.
What he's saying here is, myname was profaned.
And when I do this, bring Israelback, then they will know my
name.
They will know that I am the onethat is in control here.
His name will be glorified.
So this is an amazing section.
What we want to do is get alittle bit specific here simply
because so many people takethese passages and they broad
(11:09):
brush them and they don't gothrough them in detail.
And that's where they end up insome degree of error.
For example, if you're justbroad brushing this, you can see
that there's several passagesthat make the Christian
automatically think ofsalvation.
Verse 25, cleanse you from yourfilthiness.
That's a phrase that makes usthink of New Testament cleansing
(11:32):
from our sins.
Verse 26, give you a new heartand put a new spirit within you.
The Christian automaticallythinks of salvation.
Verse 27, put my spirit withinyou.
The Christian is full of God'sHoly Spirit.
However, several passages inthis section make it crystal
clear.
This is not talking about thechurch nor personal salvation.
(11:56):
Verse 24, bring you to your ownland.
Verse 28, quote, you will livein the land that I gave to your
forefathers.
Steve, which land was he goingto give them?
SPEAKER_00 (12:10):
The same land that the forefathers had.
That's the land of Israel.
SPEAKER_01 (12:14):
And so it's quite clear it's the land given to the
forefathers.
Verse 29, quote, I will call forthe grain and multiply it.
Grain is a physical food.
Verse 30, quote, I will multiplythe fruit of the tree and the
produce of the field.
Verse 33, on that day I willcause the cities to be
(12:35):
inhabited.
Verse 34, the desolate land willbe cultivated.
Verse 35, the cities arefortified and inhabited.
Verse 38, the waste cities willbe filled with flocks of men.
Therefore, these passages aretoo many references to specific
geographic features for it to besome sort of allegory or
(12:58):
parable.
To make this say that it'sreally applying to personal
salvation or the church todaymeans you would have to take
vast sections, two, three dozenchapters that have been prior to
this, and say that means onething, but suddenly we've
switched topics to somethingelse entirely, because we can't
(13:22):
take this passage with thecleansing of the heart and make
it talk about personalsalvation.
As we've seen, he said thingslike it's going to be the former
ways, as we saw in recentverses.
Well, the church isn't going tobe taken back to our former
ways.
That's back into lostness.
Therefore, God gives the churchspiritual blessings now while
(13:45):
promising Israel physicalblessings later.
That's what he's doing here.
This passage is clearly sayingthat God is going to gather
Israel from the nations thatthey've been scattered in and
his judgment that he talkedabout for multiple passages.
He's going to gather them backto the land that he gave to
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
(14:06):
God will wash away their sins.
God is going to change theirhearts.
He will give them a new spirit.
He will cause them to obey hislaws.
That's what it said in there.
I will cause you to obey, isexactly what it said.
The nations around Israel willknow that it's God that has
blessed them.
(14:27):
God's name will no longer beridiculed to the nations, and
it's going to be permanentbecause of all the times he
talked about it being permanentin the first part of the
chapter.
Now, Steve, I ask you, was thatever fulfilled in the past?
SPEAKER_00 (14:41):
No, it hasn't been fulfilled at all.
All of this description here isgiving a description of really a
land that is at peace from allthe other nations.
And God says, I'm going torebuild the things that were
desolate, of the produce andalso the cities and everything
else.
So it's really talking about arestored land.
(15:05):
And what we refer to it is alsoas the restored kingdom of
Israel.
Think back of Acts chapter one,verse six.
Jesus has resurrected from thedead.
(15:27):
So this was something that wason their mind.
This very thing in Ezekiel wasone of the areas that was talked
about of restoring Israelitself.
This is a source of thatquestion that was asked by that
disciple in Acts.
This isn't the only place.
This is about the third orfourth time that God has given
(15:50):
some inclination that there'sgoing to be a restored kingdom,
but it's very direct here andvery plain and really very
forceful in the most detail thatis given that he is going to
restore this kingdom to them.
It's a physical land withphysical places and cities.
It was the land that theirforefathers had.
SPEAKER_01 (16:50):
So that's taking an Old Testament idea and applying
it in a New Testament concept.
That's fine.
That's what the New Testamentwriters do.
What is illicit is to take a NewTestament idea, then go back to
the Old Testament and change theoriginal meaning of the passage
of in the Old Testament to meana New Testament idea.
(17:13):
That's illicit.
It would be illicit to take aNew Testament idea of the church
being living stones and thenread that back into an Old
Testament and say there neverwas a real physical temple.
Well, no, the Old Testamentpassage meant what it meant to
the original writers.
And so we can't take a NewTestament idea of salvation and
(17:33):
then take that to reinterpret anOld Testament passage.
That's what's illicit.
So back to what it's sayinghere.
God is promising Israel ablessing.
What's profound is that he'sdoing it after all of Israel's
idol worship, all of theirabominations, all of their
bloodshed, all of their sexworship, child sacrifice.
(17:57):
And he's bringing in thisblessing, bringing them back to
the land and making the landfruitful, full of food again.
He's not doing this based ontheir belief or obedience prior
to bringing them back.
There would be no theologicalreason God would abandon his
national promise based onrejection of Christ.
(18:20):
I know that's gonna shake a lotof people, but think of what
he's saying here.
There's places in the OldTestament, such as the golden
calf, that was an equalrejection to denying Christ.
I mean, the golden calf was atotal rejection of God in the
first place.
Read the first half of Ezekielover and over and over again.
They were totally ignoring God'sprophets, they were not
(18:41):
believing Yahweh, they wereignoring his laws, they were
sacrificing their own childrenon the idol Molech, and God
judged them for it.
They never repented.
Yet here, God says, not becauseof you, but because of my name,
I'm bringing you back.
So because of that, we can thentake and say, these things never
(19:03):
were fulfilled in the past anylonger, it says that they're not
going to have derision from theother nations.
So they are yet to be fulfilled.
Therefore, God will returnIsrael to the land and cause
them to believe in Jesus as anation in the future.
There's only one way ofsalvation through Jesus, but
(19:25):
what God can do is also work tosave national Israel too.
We're not talking here aboutpersonal salvation.
We're talking about a nationcoming together as a country.
And God can raise up countriesand tear them down again.
And it has really separate andapart from personal salvation.
(19:45):
He's not saying that they'reright with him in the sense of
salvation here.
Look at verse 25.
God cleansing Israel with water.
Remember earlier in the chapter,God compared Israel's sin to a
woman's menstrual period, whichmade them ritually unclean.
(20:07):
In the Old Testament law, aftermenstruation, a woman had to be
cleansed with water.
Leviticus 15, verses 21 and 22.
Thus, God is following throughwith the illustration that
Israel's sin was ugly, unclean,and they had to be cleansed
before they could come back intofellowship.
Verse 27 quote, I will put myspirit within you and cause you
(20:33):
to walk in my statutes.
What is the only way that we orIsrael can have the ability to
walk in God's commands?
SPEAKER_00 (20:44):
It's through the new heart that we have that He gives
us whenever we become a believerin Jesus Christ.
I think some of the confusioncomes in, Glenn, of mixing this
up.
The new covenant is spoken of inJeremiah 31, verses 31 through
34.
But in Ezekiel, this is thefourth time that he has
(21:05):
mentioned this new covenant andmade a parallel of it.
Here he doesn't use the wordcovenant.
Previously he has.
And in chapter 37, he willspecifically mention the word
covenant.
But in verse 26, he says, I'llgive you a new heart and a new
spirit within you.
That's a parallel to the newcovenant that's spoken of in
(21:28):
Jeremiah.
And then we have Jesus says atthe Lord's Supper before his
crucifixion, This is the bloodof the new covenant.
Do this in remembrance of me.
So people have joined thosetogether, and they say, Oh, the
church is part of the newcovenant, therefore, Jeremiah's
(21:49):
covenant and the covenants thatare mentioned here in Ezekiel
and the promises given to thenation itself, that's the
church.
But these covenants and promisesthat are mentioned in the Old
Testament, even the one inJeremiah, it's specifically to
the nation of Israel.
(22:09):
We as Gentiles as part of thechurch are participants in that
covenant, and we get thebenefits of the covenant.
As Paul puts it, we are wildolive branches that have been
grafted into the normal olivetree, but we're not the olive
tree itself.
So the church is not the same aswhat God is promising here in
(22:36):
these verses in the OldTestament.
And you have just very clearlymentioned all of the reasons why
that is the case.
But I think that's where theconflation comes in between the
two.
And God is very specific.
Now, earlier, you mentioned thatsaid that God is going to cause
(22:58):
them to become believers inthem.
What does scripture say howthat's going to happen?
Go over to Zechariah.
And we also have already gonethrough a study in Zechariah.
Listen to our study throughthat.
What is going to happen is thatJesus is going to come back when
all the nations are comingagainst Israel.
(23:19):
During that time frame, they'reall going to look on him and the
one that they've pierced, andthey will come to understand
that Jesus is the Messiah.
And they're going to mourn andthey're going to mourn in such a
way that this soul-wrenching,and then they will believe in
their hearts and confess withtheir mouths that Jesus Christ
(23:42):
is Lord.
And at that time they will havesalvation, in which they will be
filled with the Holy Spirit.
It all fits together, the OldTestament and the New Testament.
This is how God places a newspirit in them.
Just like how God placed a newspirit in you and me, Glenn,
(24:03):
whenever we believed on the LordJesus Christ, we were given a
new heart.
We were given the Holy Spirit toindwell us.
And we also became a newcreation.
That's the same thing that'sgoing to happen at that time
whenever Jesus comes back andfights for them against all the
nations in Jerusalem, and theyfinally recognize who He is, and
(24:28):
they come to that saving,salvific faith in Jesus Christ.
So when you say that God causesthem to become believers in
them, this is the method inwhich he causes that to happen.
Then all of these mentions ofcovenant in Ezekiel and in
Jeremiah and all the otherplaces come together into a
(24:53):
good, clean fashion and fittogether like perfect puzzle
pieces on a puzzle.
And we see that they're all fittogether just by going through
and reading the plain meaning ofthe text.
And so I think we should keepthat in mind that God is doing
more than just redeeming mankindin general.
(25:16):
As we've mentioned before, he'salso redeeming the nations, and
he's also specifically hereredeeming the nation of Israel
itself.
SPEAKER_01 (25:24):
God says, You were scattered because of your
disobedience, but because of myname, not because of you,
because of my name, I'm going tobring you back in Ezekiel 36,
27, quote, I will put my spiritwithin you and cause you to walk
in my statutes, close quote.
(25:44):
So the only way that Israelcould ever obey God is when he
puts his spirit within them andcauses them to obey the
statutes.
And guess what?
It's the only way we can obeyGod is when he puts his spirit
within us and causes us to do sosimply because we would not have
(26:05):
the desire to obey God if we'renot regenerated.
Israel didn't have the desire toobey God because they were not
regenerated.
The change that we have when Godtakes out our old heart of stone
and gives us a new heart, that'swhen we have the desire to obey
(26:26):
God.
With a new heart, we're going tohave new desires.
We can only be obedient to Godthrough the power of the Holy
Spirit that indwells thebeliever in Jesus Christ.
There's never been any other wayto be right with God except
through faith in the Lord JesusChrist.
Old Testament knew, future ofthe past, it's through faith in
(26:47):
the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
And that's what he's sayinghere.
He's saying, all you didthroughout the book was disobey,
and I judged you by scatteringyou.
But because of my name, I'mgoing to bring you back.
I'm going to take out your heartof stone, put in a heart of
flesh, put my spirit within you,and then you will obey.
(27:08):
That's what he's saying.
Now we can apply that to theChristian life, but what it's
saying here in the context ofEzekiel is that this is Israel.
With that, we'll stop for today.
That is a tremendous passage.
That chapter, Ezekiel 36, isarguably the most important
chapter because it teaches somuch and so clearly about the
(27:29):
restoration of Israel.
The next chapter, 37, isprobably the most well-known
chapter in Ezekiel.
If anybody thinks of Ezekiel,they always think of the dry
bones.
It's a wonderful literarydescription.
So be back here next time andwe'll learn about the Valley of
the Dry Bones.
Thank you so much for watchingand listening.
If you were with us last time, we started Ezekiel
chapter thirty-six, and that waswhere God had turned the corner
and starts to restore the nationIsrael back to the land.
And as we saw last time, therewere several passages where God
says that I will do this.
(00:37):
And there's nothing in thereabout Israel's worthiness for
any of this.
We also saw last time that whathe's going to do will be
permanent.
He said that several times.
Today we're going to start inEzekiel chapter 36, verse 21,
and we're going to find out whatGod's going to do and why he's
(00:58):
going to do it.
He's going to be quite clear.
And what is amazing with this,again, we have to keep reminding
ourselves is the many, manychapters of God's judgment and
wrath, and how blunt and severehe was with all of his wrath and
punishment on the Jewish people.
Here we see almost right out ofthe blue, he brings blessing.
(01:21):
And it's because what he isgoing to determine.
So pick up with me in Ezekiel36, 21, says this.
This is God speaking.
But I had concern for my holyname, which the house of Israel
had profaned amongst the nationswhere they went.
Therefore, say to the house ofIsrael, Thus says the Lord God,
(01:42):
it is not for your sake, O houseof Israel, that I am about to
act, but for my holy name, whichyou have profaned amongst the
nations where you went.
I will vindicate the holiness ofmy great name, which has been
profaned among the nations,which you have profaned in their
midst.
Then the nations will know thatI am the Lord, declares the Lord
(02:05):
God, when I prove myself holyamong you in their sight.
So, Steve, why does God say Heis about to act in this section?
SPEAKER_00 (02:15):
He says he's doing it for his name.
The nation of Israel hasprofaned his name because
they're outside of the land.
Therefore, God is taking thingsinto his own hands and he's
doing it, bring them back forhis name's sake.
SPEAKER_01 (02:35):
He said that quite clearly, verse 21, quote, I had
concern for my holy name.
The end of verse 22, but for myholy name.
Verse 23, quote, I willvindicate the holiness of my
great name.
And if you look at the middle ofverse 22, is God acting because
(02:56):
of Israel's obedience?
SPEAKER_00 (02:58):
No, he tells him, he says, I'm not doing this for
your sake, the house of Israel.
I'm doing it because of my holyname.
SPEAKER_01 (03:07):
God says unilaterally that he's promising
to bring Israel back to theland, and he says he's doing it
because of my name.
Verse 23, I will vindicate theholiness of my great name.
Steve, if we go back tooriginally when God gave the
promise to Israel for the land,where was that first given?
SPEAKER_00 (03:30):
It was first given with Abraham.
There were three things that hepromised to Abraham.
If Abraham would believe in himand follow him, he said, I'm
going to make you a greatnation.
He said, I am going to give youthis land from wherever you can
see and everywhere you walk.
And there's going to be a seedcome to you that's going to be a
(03:51):
blessing to all the othernations.
So it was originally given toAbraham.
SPEAKER_01 (03:56):
Was originally given to Abraham.
And if you were with us when wewent through Genesis, he was
quite clear, repeated it severaltimes.
The first one was in Genesis 13,15.
God gave the land to Abraham.
And back in that originalsituation, was there anything
that Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob,who is Israel, did they do
(04:18):
anything to deserve the land inthe first place?
SPEAKER_00 (04:21):
No, these were all situations where God selected
them.
And with the case of Abraham, hepicked them out of the land of
the Chaldeans and he said, Comefollow me and I'll give you a
land.
And then he took and chose Isaacover Ishmael.
Then he chose Jacob over Esau,and he reiterated the promises
(04:45):
to both Isaac and Jacob.
But no, there wasn't anythingdeserving on their part.
It was done by God himself.
SPEAKER_01 (04:54):
Originally, the land was a gift from God.
There's nothing that Abraham,Isaac, or Jacob did that was
worthy of it.
So it was a gift from Godbecause God wanted to give it to
them.
During the years that theyoccupied it, they were never
strong enough militarily tocontrol it.
They were constantly fightingover it.
(05:14):
Here, God has taken them out ofthe land and he is promising to
bring them back in again.
Therefore, God is in control ofwhen Israel is in the land and
when they are outside of theland.
When Israel was destroyed,especially Jerusalem and its
temple, the other nations wouldhave viewed this as a weakness
(05:34):
and a defeat of the God that wasthe nation of Israel's God.
Therefore, God is saying he willbring Israel back to the land
and have them prosper as avindication of his name.
God says, My name will beglorified.
God is powerful, he's incontrol, and he will convince
(05:57):
the nations of this.
The reason why we're emphasizingthis so strongly is because
there's Bible teachers runningaround the countryside that says
that because of Israel'sdisobedience, then therefore
they've lost the land andthey're never going to come back
again.
The problem with that teachingis that they didn't get the land
(06:18):
in the first place because theydeserved it.
They didn't get the land becauseof belief and obedience.
They couldn't keep it during theyears they were there because of
obedience and belief.
Remember what God said, if youwill but trust me, I will run
out the enemies from your land.
They never did trust him.
They were in constant disbelief.
(06:39):
And so they were in constantfighting over the land.
They weren't strong enough tokeep it by their faith or
military power during all theyears of the kings.
And once God took them out ofthe land, they never repented.
There was no repentance here inEzekiel 36.
God says, I'm bringing you backbecause of my name.
So beginning and middle and end,throughout the entire process,
(07:04):
there's nothing here that wouldlead us to believe that Israel
was in the land or out of theland because of their belief.
It's because of God's gift.
All they did was disobey.
And God says, I'm bringing themback and I'm blessing them
because of my name.
That's what he says here.
(07:25):
And he makes it quite clear.
God is powerful, he's incontrol, and he will convince
the nations of the worthiness ofhis name.
That's what this passage issaying.
We're going to go on in thisnext passage.
The most amazing part is he'sgoing to say specifically how
he's going to glorify his name.
So, Steve, can you start inverse 24 and read down to verse
(07:48):
38?
SPEAKER_00 (07:49):
For I will take you from the nations, gather you
from all the lands, and bringyou into your own land.
Then I will sprinkle clean wateron you, and you will be clean.
I will cleanse you from all yourfilthiness and from all your
idols.
Moreover, I will give you a newheart and put a new spirit
(08:10):
within you, and I will removethe heart of stone from your
flesh, and give you a heart offlesh.
I will put my spirit within you,and cause you to walk in my
statutes, and you will becareful to observe my
ordinances.
You will live in the land that Igave to your forefathers, so you
(08:30):
will be my people, and I will beyour God.
Moreover, I will save you fromall your uncleanliness, and I
will call for the grain andmultiply it, and I will not
bring a famine on you.
I will multiply the fruit of thetree and the produce of the
field, so that you will notreceive again the disgrace of
(08:52):
famine among the nations.
Then you will remember your evilways and your deeds that were
not good, and you will loatheyourselves in your own sight for
your iniquities and yourabominations.
I am not doing this for yoursake, declares the Lord God.
Let it be known to you.
Be ashamed and confounded foryour ways, O house of Israel.
(09:15):
Thus says the Lord God, On theday that I cleanse you from all
your iniquities, I will causethe cities to be inhabited and
the waste places to be rebuilt.
The desolate land will becultivated instead of being a
desolation in the sight ofeveryone who passes by.
They will say, This desolateland has become like the Garden
(09:37):
of Eden, and the waste, desolateand ruined cities are fortified
and inhabited.
Then the nations that are leftround about you will know that
I, the Lord, have rebuilt theruined places and planted that
which was desolate.
I, the Lord, have spoken andwill do it.
Thus says the Lord God, thisalso I will let the house of
(10:01):
Israel ask me to do for them.
I will increase their men like aflock, like the flock for their
sacrifices, like the flock ofJerusalem during her appointed
feasts, so will the waste citiesbe filled with flocks of men.
Then they will know that I amthe Lord.
SPEAKER_01 (10:21):
As we've seen many of these passages in Ezekiel,
God says, Then they will knowthat I am the Lord.
In our translations, we misssome of the emphasis of that.
What he's actually saying is,then they will know that I am
Yahweh.
They will know my name.
In our translation, the capitalL-O-R-D is always his name,
(10:45):
Yahweh.
What he's saying here is, myname was profaned.
And when I do this, bring Israelback, then they will know my
name.
They will know that I am the onethat is in control here.
His name will be glorified.
So this is an amazing section.
What we want to do is get alittle bit specific here simply
because so many people takethese passages and they broad
(11:09):
brush them and they don't gothrough them in detail.
And that's where they end up insome degree of error.
For example, if you're justbroad brushing this, you can see
that there's several passagesthat make the Christian
automatically think ofsalvation.
Verse 25, cleanse you from yourfilthiness.
That's a phrase that makes usthink of New Testament cleansing
(11:32):
from our sins.
Verse 26, give you a new heartand put a new spirit within you.
The Christian automaticallythinks of salvation.
Verse 27, put my spirit withinyou.
The Christian is full of God'sHoly Spirit.
However, several passages inthis section make it crystal
clear.
This is not talking about thechurch nor personal salvation.
(11:56):
Verse 24, bring you to your ownland.
Verse 28, quote, you will livein the land that I gave to your
forefathers.
Steve, which land was he goingto give them?
SPEAKER_00 (12:10):
The same land that the forefathers had.
That's the land of Israel.
SPEAKER_01 (12:14):
And so it's quite clear it's the land given to the
forefathers.
Verse 29, quote, I will call forthe grain and multiply it.
Grain is a physical food.
Verse 30, quote, I will multiplythe fruit of the tree and the
produce of the field.
Verse 33, on that day I willcause the cities to be
(12:35):
inhabited.
Verse 34, the desolate land willbe cultivated.
Verse 35, the cities arefortified and inhabited.
Verse 38, the waste cities willbe filled with flocks of men.
Therefore, these passages aretoo many references to specific
geographic features for it to besome sort of allegory or
(12:58):
parable.
To make this say that it'sreally applying to personal
salvation or the church todaymeans you would have to take
vast sections, two, three dozenchapters that have been prior to
this, and say that means onething, but suddenly we've
switched topics to somethingelse entirely, because we can't
(13:22):
take this passage with thecleansing of the heart and make
it talk about personalsalvation.
As we've seen, he said thingslike it's going to be the former
ways, as we saw in recentverses.
Well, the church isn't going tobe taken back to our former
ways.
That's back into lostness.
Therefore, God gives the churchspiritual blessings now while
(13:45):
promising Israel physicalblessings later.
That's what he's doing here.
This passage is clearly sayingthat God is going to gather
Israel from the nations thatthey've been scattered in and
his judgment that he talkedabout for multiple passages.
He's going to gather them backto the land that he gave to
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
(14:06):
God will wash away their sins.
God is going to change theirhearts.
He will give them a new spirit.
He will cause them to obey hislaws.
That's what it said in there.
I will cause you to obey, isexactly what it said.
The nations around Israel willknow that it's God that has
blessed them.
(14:27):
God's name will no longer beridiculed to the nations, and
it's going to be permanentbecause of all the times he
talked about it being permanentin the first part of the
chapter.
Now, Steve, I ask you, was thatever fulfilled in the past?
SPEAKER_00 (14:41):
No, it hasn't been fulfilled at all.
All of this description here isgiving a description of really a
land that is at peace from allthe other nations.
And God says, I'm going torebuild the things that were
desolate, of the produce andalso the cities and everything
else.
So it's really talking about arestored land.
(15:05):
And what we refer to it is alsoas the restored kingdom of
Israel.
Think back of Acts chapter one,verse six.
Jesus has resurrected from thedead.
(15:27):
So this was something that wason their mind.
This very thing in Ezekiel wasone of the areas that was talked
about of restoring Israelitself.
This is a source of thatquestion that was asked by that
disciple in Acts.
This isn't the only place.
This is about the third orfourth time that God has given
(15:50):
some inclination that there'sgoing to be a restored kingdom,
but it's very direct here andvery plain and really very
forceful in the most detail thatis given that he is going to
restore this kingdom to them.
It's a physical land withphysical places and cities.
It was the land that theirforefathers had.
SPEAKER_01 (16:50):
So that's taking an Old Testament idea and applying
it in a New Testament concept.
That's fine.
That's what the New Testamentwriters do.
What is illicit is to take a NewTestament idea, then go back to
the Old Testament and change theoriginal meaning of the passage
of in the Old Testament to meana New Testament idea.
(17:13):
That's illicit.
It would be illicit to take aNew Testament idea of the church
being living stones and thenread that back into an Old
Testament and say there neverwas a real physical temple.
Well, no, the Old Testamentpassage meant what it meant to
the original writers.
And so we can't take a NewTestament idea of salvation and
(17:33):
then take that to reinterpret anOld Testament passage.
That's what's illicit.
So back to what it's sayinghere.
God is promising Israel ablessing.
What's profound is that he'sdoing it after all of Israel's
idol worship, all of theirabominations, all of their
bloodshed, all of their sexworship, child sacrifice.
(17:57):
And he's bringing in thisblessing, bringing them back to
the land and making the landfruitful, full of food again.
He's not doing this based ontheir belief or obedience prior
to bringing them back.
There would be no theologicalreason God would abandon his
national promise based onrejection of Christ.
(18:20):
I know that's gonna shake a lotof people, but think of what
he's saying here.
There's places in the OldTestament, such as the golden
calf, that was an equalrejection to denying Christ.
I mean, the golden calf was atotal rejection of God in the
first place.
Read the first half of Ezekielover and over and over again.
They were totally ignoring God'sprophets, they were not
(18:41):
believing Yahweh, they wereignoring his laws, they were
sacrificing their own childrenon the idol Molech, and God
judged them for it.
They never repented.
Yet here, God says, not becauseof you, but because of my name,
I'm bringing you back.
So because of that, we can thentake and say, these things never
(19:03):
were fulfilled in the past anylonger, it says that they're not
going to have derision from theother nations.
So they are yet to be fulfilled.
Therefore, God will returnIsrael to the land and cause
them to believe in Jesus as anation in the future.
There's only one way ofsalvation through Jesus, but
(19:25):
what God can do is also work tosave national Israel too.
We're not talking here aboutpersonal salvation.
We're talking about a nationcoming together as a country.
And God can raise up countriesand tear them down again.
And it has really separate andapart from personal salvation.
(19:45):
He's not saying that they'reright with him in the sense of
salvation here.
Look at verse 25.
God cleansing Israel with water.
Remember earlier in the chapter,God compared Israel's sin to a
woman's menstrual period, whichmade them ritually unclean.
(20:07):
In the Old Testament law, aftermenstruation, a woman had to be
cleansed with water.
Leviticus 15, verses 21 and 22.
Thus, God is following throughwith the illustration that
Israel's sin was ugly, unclean,and they had to be cleansed
before they could come back intofellowship.
Verse 27 quote, I will put myspirit within you and cause you
(20:33):
to walk in my statutes.
What is the only way that we orIsrael can have the ability to
walk in God's commands?
SPEAKER_00 (20:44):
It's through the new heart that we have that He gives
us whenever we become a believerin Jesus Christ.
I think some of the confusioncomes in, Glenn, of mixing this
up.
The new covenant is spoken of inJeremiah 31, verses 31 through
34.
But in Ezekiel, this is thefourth time that he has
(21:05):
mentioned this new covenant andmade a parallel of it.
Here he doesn't use the wordcovenant.
Previously he has.
And in chapter 37, he willspecifically mention the word
covenant.
But in verse 26, he says, I'llgive you a new heart and a new
spirit within you.
That's a parallel to the newcovenant that's spoken of in
(21:28):
Jeremiah.
And then we have Jesus says atthe Lord's Supper before his
crucifixion, This is the bloodof the new covenant.
Do this in remembrance of me.
So people have joined thosetogether, and they say, Oh, the
church is part of the newcovenant, therefore, Jeremiah's
(21:49):
covenant and the covenants thatare mentioned here in Ezekiel
and the promises given to thenation itself, that's the
church.
But these covenants and promisesthat are mentioned in the Old
Testament, even the one inJeremiah, it's specifically to
the nation of Israel.
(22:09):
We as Gentiles as part of thechurch are participants in that
covenant, and we get thebenefits of the covenant.
As Paul puts it, we are wildolive branches that have been
grafted into the normal olivetree, but we're not the olive
tree itself.
So the church is not the same aswhat God is promising here in
(22:36):
these verses in the OldTestament.
And you have just very clearlymentioned all of the reasons why
that is the case.
But I think that's where theconflation comes in between the
two.
And God is very specific.
Now, earlier, you mentioned thatsaid that God is going to cause
(22:58):
them to become believers inthem.
What does scripture say howthat's going to happen?
Go over to Zechariah.
And we also have already gonethrough a study in Zechariah.
Listen to our study throughthat.
What is going to happen is thatJesus is going to come back when
all the nations are comingagainst Israel.
(23:19):
During that time frame, they'reall going to look on him and the
one that they've pierced, andthey will come to understand
that Jesus is the Messiah.
And they're going to mourn andthey're going to mourn in such a
way that this soul-wrenching,and then they will believe in
their hearts and confess withtheir mouths that Jesus Christ
(23:42):
is Lord.
And at that time they will havesalvation, in which they will be
filled with the Holy Spirit.
It all fits together, the OldTestament and the New Testament.
This is how God places a newspirit in them.
Just like how God placed a newspirit in you and me, Glenn,
(24:03):
whenever we believed on the LordJesus Christ, we were given a
new heart.
We were given the Holy Spirit toindwell us.
And we also became a newcreation.
That's the same thing that'sgoing to happen at that time
whenever Jesus comes back andfights for them against all the
nations in Jerusalem, and theyfinally recognize who He is, and
(24:28):
they come to that saving,salvific faith in Jesus Christ.
So when you say that God causesthem to become believers in
them, this is the method inwhich he causes that to happen.
Then all of these mentions ofcovenant in Ezekiel and in
Jeremiah and all the otherplaces come together into a
(24:53):
good, clean fashion and fittogether like perfect puzzle
pieces on a puzzle.
And we see that they're all fittogether just by going through
and reading the plain meaning ofthe text.
And so I think we should keepthat in mind that God is doing
more than just redeeming mankindin general.
(25:16):
As we've mentioned before, he'salso redeeming the nations, and
he's also specifically hereredeeming the nation of Israel
itself.
SPEAKER_01 (25:24):
God says, You were scattered because of your
disobedience, but because of myname, not because of you,
because of my name, I'm going tobring you back in Ezekiel 36,
27, quote, I will put my spiritwithin you and cause you to walk
in my statutes, close quote.
(25:44):
So the only way that Israelcould ever obey God is when he
puts his spirit within them andcauses them to obey the
statutes.
And guess what?
It's the only way we can obeyGod is when he puts his spirit
within us and causes us to do sosimply because we would not have
(26:05):
the desire to obey God if we'renot regenerated.
Israel didn't have the desire toobey God because they were not
regenerated.
The change that we have when Godtakes out our old heart of stone
and gives us a new heart, that'swhen we have the desire to obey
(26:26):
God.
With a new heart, we're going tohave new desires.
We can only be obedient to Godthrough the power of the Holy
Spirit that indwells thebeliever in Jesus Christ.
There's never been any other wayto be right with God except
through faith in the Lord JesusChrist.
Old Testament knew, future ofthe past, it's through faith in
(26:47):
the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
And that's what he's sayinghere.
He's saying, all you didthroughout the book was disobey,
and I judged you by scatteringyou.
But because of my name, I'mgoing to bring you back.
I'm going to take out your heartof stone, put in a heart of
flesh, put my spirit within you,and then you will obey.
(27:08):
That's what he's saying.
Now we can apply that to theChristian life, but what it's
saying here in the context ofEzekiel is that this is Israel.
With that, we'll stop for today.
That is a tremendous passage.
That chapter, Ezekiel 36, isarguably the most important
chapter because it teaches somuch and so clearly about the
(27:29):
restoration of Israel.
The next chapter, 37, isprobably the most well-known
chapter in Ezekiel.
If anybody thinks of Ezekiel,they always think of the dry
bones.
It's a wonderful literarydescription.
So be back here next time andwe'll learn about the Valley of
the Dry Bones.
Thank you so much for watchingand listening.
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