Ezekiel 36:1 – 47:12

Overview

We finish reading the book of Ezekiel today with a promise from God that he will restore and rebuild Israel as one nation after the exile.  He isn’t doing it for the sake of the people, rather for the sake of His Holy name so the nations will know that He is Lord.   God will restore the fortunes of Jacob and they will forget their shame for being unfaithful to the Lord.    He will gather His people from the different nations and will not hide His face from them.  He will pour out His Spirit on the people.  After providing details of how the land will be divided when they return, God concludes by saying that the name of the city of Jerusalem will be “THE LORD IS THERE”.

 

Scripture Ezekiel 33:10-11

10 “Son of man, say to the Israelites, ‘This is what you are saying: “Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of

[b] them. How then can we live?”’ 11 Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’

ezekiel-scrollObservation

Jerusalem is falling and the lives of the people are being shattered.  The people know that God’s judgment is upon them and their sin is greater than any that can be forgiven.  The people don’t seem to understand that it isn’t just their sin, but their lack of willingness to do anything about it.  They simply continue to sin against God.  All God is asking them to do is to turn away from their evil practices and run back to Him.  He does not enjoy releasing His wrath and judgment upon the people but he must because He is a just and righteous God.

Application

God does not take any joy seeing anyone lose their life or being separated from His presence.  Every day, lives are shattered because we do not live in a perfect world.  The Garden of Eden was our perfect world.  What was once paradise has been lost because of our sinful desires to disobey our creator.  When we allow God to be in control of our lives and submit to Him, our relationship is restored.  Just like the Israelites, God warns us to repent and trust Him with our lives.  Jesus says in Mark 3:28-29 ” Most certainly I tell you, all sins of the descendants of man will be forgiven, including their blasphemies with which they may blaspheme; but whoever may blaspheme against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”.  “Blaspheme” means to speak irreverently against something and in this case it is the Holy Spirit.  When we are against the Holy Spirit, we are against God.  If we are against God, we do not have forgiveness of sins and we are guilty of an eternal sin.  For those who have not accepted Christ as our solution for the forgiveness of sin (God in the flesh), we are guilty BUT God will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9) if we call out and ask Christ our Lord to save us from out sin.  When we do that, the Holy Spirit dwells within us and we can say “THE LORD IS HERE”.

Prayer

God, thank you for your scriptures.  Thank you for the unconditional  forgiveness you provide through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  Thank you that your Holy Spirit lives within me.