Scripture Daily

Context No. 923 of 4322 · Ezekiel

Context · Reflection

Ezekiel 39:25-29: in context

25“Therefore the Lord GOD says: ‘Now I will reverse the captivity of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel. I will be jealous for my holy name. 26They will forget their shame and all their trespasses by which they have trespassed against me, when they dwell securely in their land. No one will make them afraid 27when I have brought them back from the peoples, gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am shown holy among them in the sight of many nations. 28They will know that I am the LORD their God, in that I caused them to go into captivity among the nations, and have gathered them to their own land. Then I will leave none of them captive any more. 29I won’t hide my face from them any more, for I have poured out my Spirit on the house of Israel,’ says the Lord GOD.”

After long chapters of judgment, Ezekiel arrives at pure promise. God says he will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel, jealous for his holy name. He will bring them back from the nations, gather them from their enemies' lands, and they will dwell securely with no one to make them afraid. They will know he is the LORD their God. And the passage ends with the deepest promise of all: I will not hide my face from them anymore, for I will have poured out my Spirit on the house of Israel.

The turning point in this restoration is the phrase for the sake of my holy name. God is not restoring Israel because they finally earned it, they have just spent thirty-nine chapters proving they did not, but because he has bound his own name and reputation to them and will be faithful to himself. That is oddly steadying: the guarantee of the promise is not the strength of our faithfulness but the jealousy of God for his own name. And the summit of the restoration is not the land or the safety but the poured-out Spirit and the unhidden face. What the exile felt like was God hiding his face; what redemption means is that face turned back toward them, permanently, and his Spirit poured out within. This looks ahead to Pentecost and beyond, to the promise that God will not merely forgive his people from a distance but pour himself into them and never look away again.

When I feel God has hidden his face, can I rest not on my own record but on his commitment to his own name, and on the Spirit he has promised to pour out?

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