|
Covenant Promises of Ezekiel 36:22-38
by Bobby Bruno "So tell the people of Israel, 'This is what the Almighty LORD says: I am about to do something, people of Israel. I will not do this for your sake but for the sake of my holy name, which you have dishonored among the nations wherever you have gone. 23 I will reveal the holiness of my great name, which has been dishonored by the nations, {the name} that you have dishonored among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, because I will reveal my holiness among you as they watch, declares the Almighty LORD. 24 "'I will take you from the nations and gather you from every country. I will bring you back to your own land. 5 I will sprinkle clean water on you and make you clean instead of unclean. Then I will cleanse you from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove your stubborn hearts and give you obedient hearts. 27 I will put my Spirit in you. I will enable you to live by my laws, and you will obey my rules. 28 Then you will live in the land that I gave your ancestors. You will be my people, and I will be your God. 29 I will rescue you from all your uncleanness. I will make the grain grow so that you will never again have famines. 30 I will make fruit grow on the trees and crops grow in the fields so that you will no longer suffer disgrace among the nations because of famines. 31 Then you will remember your evil ways and the bad things that you did, and you will hate yourselves for all these wicked and disgusting things. 32 I want you to know that I'm not doing this for your sake, declares the Almighty LORD. Be ashamed and disgraced because of your ways, people of Israel. 33 "'This is what the Almighty LORD says: On the day that I cleanse you from all your wickedness, I will cause your cities to be lived in again, and your ruins will be rebuilt. 34 The wasteland will be plowed. It will no longer remain empty for everyone passing by to see. 35 People will say, "This wasteland has become like the garden of Eden. The cities were destroyed. They were empty and ruined, but now they are fortified and have people living in them." 36 The surrounding nations that are left will know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted crops in the land that was empty. I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do it.' 37 "This is what the Almighty LORD says: I will also let the people of Israel ask me to make them as numerous as sheep. 38 They will be like the sheep for sacrifices, like the sheep in Jerusalem during the appointed festivals. Their ruined cities will be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the LORD." Ezekiel 36:22-38 Ezekiel 36:22-38 speaks of the old covenant when God took His people out of Babylonian captivity and sent then back to their own land. He promised them, once again, that if they would keep Him as their God, He would take care of all of their needs by restoring them back to their own nation (vs. 24). He would put a new Spirit in them that would remind them of all of His laws (vs. 26, 27). The Spirit would also make them remember their sin for the purpose of seeing how bad they were, which should disgust them to not want to repeat them again (vs. 31). He would forgive them and remember their sins no more. He will make them prosper. These verses also speak of a future time, a new covenant that God has promised to His people at a future date. This covenant is not only for the Jews during the new earth and heavens to come, but is also for those who have been grafted onto the tree of life; those who have given their lives up to Christ. This covenant is one of the greater promises of God to His people for in it He promises to restore in us and for us everything that sin has broken or destroyed. Throughout these verses we see promises for our physical health and well-being (vs. 30), and our spiritual well-being (vs. 26, 27). God will provide us everything we need to live. But, especially for His people the Jews, He will populate them as much as there were sheep sacrificed down through the ages until Jesus died and the veil was torn (vs. 37, 38). God will restore everything and I ways we cannot yet imagine. Like the Jews, we must hold onto these promises if we are to be at peace with God and the world around us. If we lose our peace with God then, as the Israelites did from time to time, we will lose our focus on Him and fall to the temptations of the culture around us. Even still, God will restore us, give us new, cleaner hearts, and become our God for all eternity. Reference Scripture is taken from GOD'S WORD, 1995 God's Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group. Comment: "Do you think the tourism culture that has developed in Israel is a blessing or an attempt to lead Israel astray?" Author Response: I think that tourism is a good thing if tourists are just there to see the history and sights, and to spend their money. I think that Christians who go to Israel to see where Jesus walked and talked is also good for Israel in a way that I hope they see these thousands of Christians who come to their country and begin to question why we feel that the life of Jesus is important to us. What do they think when we say that Jesus IS the Messiah? Will they refuse our beliefs and then refuse to take our money because of it? Probably not. If you are talking about other countries that tour Israel, all I can say is I believe that Israel has followed other cultures so much that they are leery of listening to other culture's beliefs. I believe, now that they have their nation returned to them, they would be very leery of following anyone but God. The fact, I believe, that they are fighting for their freedom alone tells me that they don't want other cultures to overtake them anymore. They want to remain a free and separate nation from the others around them. With the end times coming soon (if we are not already in them), I believe that Israel won't give in so easily to other cultures ever again. There is too much at stake. I hope this answers your question. Comment: "Still on the basis of the covenant, therefore, would God intervene on their behalf in history to bring Israel back to the land of Promise - and still the moral responsibility rested on the nation to secure their continued possession." Author Response: As Christians, we know that Israel's answer to all of their problems is Jesus Christ. How is it that we see the answer, but they don't? How many people have to die in the war for their freedom before they get the picture that their answer had already come? They were given the prophecies about the coming Messiah; they should have known that Jesus was the one they were looking for. But, as we know, they were looking for a warrior Messiah, and got a sheep instead of a wolf, in their eyes. Yes, God will redeem His people, but does that include the ones who don't put their belief in Jesus as the prophesied Messiah? I'm still a Little confused on that one issue. If we don't accept Christ as the Lord before we die, we don't get into heaven. What about the Jews who don't accept Him either. Will the punishment for them be worse than ours would be if we had not accepted Christ as Lord, because they should have know Him since He walked among them? Again, the redemption of the Jews, God's Chosen People, is a confusing issue for me. Comment: "I consider it a reaffirmation of Gods covenant every time the Spirit comes over a person." Author Response: I watched a program on TV last night that was from a Messianic Jewish Rabbi who talked about Hanukkah and its significance to born again believers. He talked about how we were grafted into the vine, and because of our joining with God's chosen people, we should also celebrate every festival and such that the Jewish people do throughout the year because they all point to Jesus in some way. Also because of the grafting in, we are also obligated to keep the covenant that God set forth for His people because through Christ, we have been joined with the Israelites. Yes, we may still be Gentiles, but our acceptance of Jesus changed things and we now are part of the chosen nation. I'm okay with this. What do you think about these ideas? Bobby Bruno was saved 15 years ago in a way that left him no doubt that Jesus wanted him to reach others with His great and abounding love. He started writing at the age of 12 and hasn't stopped since. He achieved Associates Degree in Biblical Studies from Ohio Christian University in early 2014. Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |