Today we are reading from Ezekiel 39:25-29. Last time we met we learned about God’s Holiness made Manifest. You can read more in my Ezekiel Studies here and here.
We saw how the Lord’s holiness was made apparent to all…from Israel to the nations surrounding her.
Now we find God making a promise to his people. He will
- restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel
- I will be jealous for my holy name.
The end result of that should be this:
26 They shall forget their shame and all the treachery they have practiced against me,
So here’s the scene. God gave his people a safe to live, they turned around and did their own thing. Ignoring him, communing with false gods/idols and just generally making his name a mockery. God corrected them for their action.
He has now gathered them together out of enemy names, thereby vindicating his holiness. The surrounding nations have seen this great thing the Lord has done.
And so : they shall know that I am the Lord
their God, because I sent them into exile among the nations and then
assembled them into their own land. I will leave none of them remaining
among the nations anymore. 29 And I will not hide my face anymore from them, when I pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, declares the Lord God.”
We have gone from God hiding his face from his people. No longer leaving his people scattered, to a God who has brought his people together again. A God who is saying to his people and to the nations surrounding them I AM THE LORD GOD.
I almost missed this part ” I will not hide my face anymore from them, when I pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel”. God is going to pour out his Spirit on his people.
You know what happens when God pours his Spirit out on his people? Do you really know what happens?
Lives are changed!
Consider what has happened when God has moved in the past? Jerusalem was rebuilt, pentecost, A spiritual revival happened in New England, an underground church developed in China, and more. When God pours out his spirit lives are changed abundantly.
Something I’ve learned is revivals also happen in small ways… like when God changed the Life of Francis Lyte (a pastoral hymn writer you’ll learn about later). A dying man’s words changed his faith, and so his church grew! Or when a faithful family prays and their neighbourhood is changed, or when a parent prays over a unrepentant child and sees their child come to faith. Lives changed.
I read these words I will not hide my face anymore from them, when I pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel and I don’t want to be a person God hides his face from. I want to be the one that God pours his Spirit out on them abundantly. So let me live my life this way. Aware of God’s abundant favour upon my life. Let me always remember that the God is serve and follow and cling to is the LORD GOD. Yes?
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