01/10/2025 – Week 11 of 13 – Ezekiel study (Nov 1st thru Jan. 24th) – Chapters 36 – 37 / Post 1 of 2// Nov 1st thru Jan 24th / For introduction – See 10/14/2025 post / Post 2 of 2 by e.o.d. 01/11/25
Four sources for my quoted commentary excerpts, so far in our Ezekiel study, I have added (*D) this week for one commentary in chapter 28:
(*A) – Apologetics Study Bible
(*B) – My personal standby for this study: “Be Reverent – Bowing Before Our Awesome God – OT Commentary Ezekiel” Warren W. Wiersbe / ISBN 978-1-4347-0050-6
(*C) – The Daily Study Guide Series (DSB) – “Ezekiel” by Peter C. Craigie / ISBM 0-664-21807-5
(*D) – The Evidence Study Bible NKJV – Commentary by Ray Comfort
Lesson Summary:
(*B)
” “Our hope is lost!” That’s what the Jewish exiles were saying to one another as they “pined away” in Babylon (37:11; 33:10), and from the human point of view, the statement was true. But if they had listened to their prophets, they would have had hope in the Lord and looked forward with anticipation. Jeremiah had written to them that they would be in Babylon for seventy years, and that God’s thoughts toward them were of peace and not of evil (Jeremiah 29:10). Ezekiel had given them God’s promise that He would gather His people and take them back to their land (Ezekiel 11:17; 20:34, 41-42; 28:25). A Latin proverb says, “Where there is life, there is hope,” but the reverse is also true: Where there is hope, we find reason to live.. Swiss theologian Emil Brunner wrote, “What oxygen is to the lungs, such is hope for the meaning of life.”
In his previous messages, Ezekiel looked back and reproved the people because of their sins. Now he looks ahead and encourages the people by telling them what the Lord will do for Israel in the future. These promises go beyond the ending of the Babylonian captivity and anticipate the end times. The Jewish people will be gathered to their land, the land will be cleansed and restored, and the nation will have a new temple and the presence of the glory of Lord. The future of Israel can be summarized in four words: restoration, regeneration, resurrection and reunion.”
RESTORATION: THE LAND HEALED (36: 1-15)
(*A)
“36: 1-15 This passage was a reversal of the message against the mountains in 6: 1-14. It was a celebration of the repossession of the land by the Judea’s returning from exile. The passage includes additional accusations against Edom….”
(*B)
“God accused the mountains of Israel of depriving the Jews of their children (Ezekiel 36: 12-14, see NIV). This may refer the fact that the pagan shrines were in the high places, and there some of the Jews offered their own children to the heathen gods. But that would end, because the exile in Babylon cured the Jews of their idolatry, and in the future kingdom, only the true and living God would be worshipped. In Ezekiel 40 – 48, Ezekiel will have more to say about the restored land of Israel when Messiah reigned on the throne of David in Jerusalem.
Since the founding of the nation of Israel in 1948, great progress has been made by the Jewish people in reclaiming the land. There has been a great deal of reforestation and irrigation, and the waste places are being transformed. As wonderful as this is, it is nothing compared with what the Lord will do when the people are gathered back to their land from the nations of the world, “Even the wilderness will rejoice in those days. The desert will blossom with flowers. Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers and singing and joy! The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon, as lovely as Mount Carmel’s pastries and the plain of Sharon. There the LORD will display His glory, the splendor of our God”. (Isaiah 35: 1-2 NLT).”
REGENERATION: THE PEOPLE CLEANSED (36: 16 – 38)
(*B)
“The Jewish people forgot that the land belonged to the Lord, for He said, “The land is mine” (Leviticus 25:23). In fact, the whole earth belongs to the Lord (Exodus 19:5; Psalm 24:1)…
Five times in this paragraph we’re told that the Jews profaned the name of God before the pagans before whom they had been sent to be a light (Isaiah 42:6; 49:6). In spite of their disobedience, what an opportunity the Lord gave the Jews to introduce the Gentiles to the true and living God!”
(*A)
“The Lord gave two reason for restoring the “house of Israel,” the religious community of Judah: (1) He restored them for the sake of His Holy name, not because they deserved deliverance (vv. 21-22); (2) the restoration served notice to foreign nations that Yahweh, the God of Israel, was still in control (v. 23).”
(*B)
God’s transformation of His people (vv. 24 – 38).
“In the last days, when God brings His chosen people back to the Promised Land (Ezekiel 36:24), he will change them spiritually; for, after all, only a transformed people can enjoy a transformed land. The spiritual experience described in this section illustrates what happens to every sinner who trusts Jesus Christ.
First, God will cleanse them from their sins, and this is pictured by “sprinkling” (vv. 25, 29; 37:23)…
Second, the Lord will give them a new heart. (Ezekiel 36:26)… Jeremiah spoke about the new covenant God would make with the Jews, a covenant not written on stones but on their hearts and in their minds (31: 31-33; 32:39; see Isaiah 59:21; Hebrews 8: 8-13). A “stony heart” is a hard heart, one that doesn’t receive God’s Word and nurture spiritual growth (Ezekiel 2:4; 3:7)…
Third, the Lord will give the Holy Spirit within (Ezekiel 36:27).. The Holy Spirit is given like refreshing water upon parched ground, and this produces the “fruit of the Spirit” in our lives (Isaiah 44:3; Galatians 5: 22-23). The witness of the Spirit in the heart is proof that the person has been born of God (Romans 8:9, 14-17; Ephesians 1: 13-14)….
Fourth, the Lord will claim them again as His people (Ezekiel 36:28)…
Fifth, the Lord will claim them again as His people (Ezekiel 36:28)…
Sixth, the people will abhor their sins (Ezekiel 36: 31-32)… One of the evidences of the Spirit’s presence within is a growing sensitivity to sin and a strong desire to turn away from it.
A seventh blessing, will be fellowship with the Lord (Ezekiel 36:37). In Ezekiel’s day, the people couldn’t inquire of the Lord or pray and be heard because they had sin in their hearts (14: 1-5; 20: 1-3, 30-31). God even told the prophet Jeremiah not to pray for the people (Jeremiah 7:16; 11:14; 14:11). But under the new covenant, the people will have fellowship with the Lord and be able to pray to Him.
The eighth blessing will be “the multiplication of the population”. (Ezekiel 36: 37-38). As in chapter 34, God pictures His people as a flock of sheep and every shepherd wants to see his flock increase…
Finally, as the result of all these blessings, the Lord will be glorified. Israel didn’t glorify God in their land or the temple, nor did they glorify Him in the countries to which they were scattered. But the day will come when God will be glorified by His people and the glory of the Lord will return to the land.
Every born-again believer sees a parallel here with his or her own experience of faith in Christ. … The Lord has made us a part of His new covenant (Hebrews 8; 10)) so that our union with Him through Christ is eternal and unchanging. Hallelujah, what a Savior!”
RESURRECTION: THE NATION REBORN (37: 1-14)
(*D)
“37: 1-10. While these verses are directed at the “whole house of Israel” (v. 11), it is easy to see their evangelistic application. The world sits in the valley of the shadow of death. Those who do not know the Lord are dead in their trespasses and sins (see Ephesians 2:1), and we have been commanded to preach the Word of the Lord to their dry bones. May God breath His Spirit into them, raising up a great army to reach this lost and dying world.”
(*B)
“The Lord told Ezekiel to walk around among the bones so he could appreciate their vast number and see how dry they were. As a priest, Ezekiel was never to be defiled by the dead, but this was a vision and the bones were not toxic. The prophet must have been wondering why the Lord gave him this vision, but the Lord’s question gave his the answer: “Can these bones live?” From the human point of view, the answer is no, but from the divine point of view, nothing is impossible. it is God who “gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did” (Romans 4:17 NKJV). Ezekiel’s reply didn’t question the power of God; it only expressed the prophet’s conviction that God knew what He was going to do do and was able to do it.”
(*A)
“This passage among the best know of Ezekiel’s writings today, consists of his dramatic vision for the restoration of Israel’s life as a community. The restoration of Israel as a people is a fundamental component of the biblical doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. Christian interpretation views this text as part of the “buildup” to the resurrection of Jesus (the passage is read, for example, in the Easter Vigil service of many churches.). The distinction sometimes drawn between national restoration (as here) and individual resurrection (as in the NT) is a distinction foreign to biblical thought with its understanding of “corporate solidarity.” What happens to the head, or representative, of a community happens to all of its members, so that Jesus’ resurrection is also the resurrection of all who belong to Him (1 Corinthians 15: 22-23), who are the “Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16). While Ezekiel’s primary purpose may not have been to teach a doctrine of the resurrection, he was not alone among OT writers in being given insight into this concept. Some interpreters deny that either Ezekiel or his hearers had any developed concept about the resurrection of human life, but many OT passages suggest that there was some understanding of resurrection before and after the sixth century B.C. (e.g. Genesis 22:5; Job 19: 25-29; Psalm 16: 10-11; 49:15; Isaiah 26:19; Deuteronomy 12: 2-3; Hosea 13:14). Ezekiel’s statement, “I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them (v. 12) is a direct resurrection analogy. If the Judea’s had no idea of the possibility of the resurrection of human life, the analogy would have made no sense.”
REUNION; THE KINGDOMS UNITED (37: 15-28)
(*B)
“In Chapters 40 – 48, Ezekiel will go into detail describing this future temple and its ministries. God called it “my tabernacle” (37: 27) because the Hebrew word means “a dwelling place.” God’s presence with His people will sanctify the land, the temple, and the nation, just as He promised in His covenant (Leviticus 26: 11012), The nations of the earth will come to worship the Lord with His people Israel (Isaiah 2: 1-5) and “the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LorD, as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14).
Whether it’s the chidlrre of Israel or the saints in the church today, the Lord wants His people to be united. “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity” (Psalm 133:1). Paul appealed to the believers in Corinth to cultivate unity in the church (1 Corinthians 1:10), and he exhorted the Ephesian believers to “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3 NIV). Sometimes it takes prayer, sacrifice, and patience to maintain the unity of God’s people, but it’s important that we do so. Jesus prayed this His people might be one and manifest to the lost world the living unity between Christ and His church and among believers and local churches (John 17: 20-23). A divided church is not a strong church or a church bearing witness to the grace and glory of God. God’s people today need the fresh wind of the Spirit to give us new life from God and new love for one another.”
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SolI Deo Gloria!