The Isaiah 52 Blog

Over the last two weeks I have been reading and meditating daily on Ezekiel 36, a major messianic passage and one of my favorite chapters in the OT. I have come to a number of conclusions as a result of this time and will be highlighting some of the main thrusts of the passage over the next few weeks here at the Isaiah 52 blog. I pray that it would be an encouragement to you and hope that you will leave your thoughts for me to ponder. “As iron sharpens iron…”

“The word of the Lord came to me: Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their ways before me were like the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual impurity. So I poured out my wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed in the land, for the idols with which they had defiled it. I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. In accordance with their ways and their deeds I judged them. But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, These are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go out of his land. But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came. Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. ” – Ezekiel 36:16-23 (ESV)

I think the first point to be made is rather obvious but commonly brushed off – especially in reformed circles. “The word of the Lord came to me” Our God is a speaking God. He who needed us not created us in His own image and chose to speak to us in clear ways. We have the scriptures and the prophets of old, but do not think for a second that the Lord in this time and place has stopped speaking. Indeed everything in this world is being held together by the Lord’s speaking voice, and He still speaks today to His people in a variety of ways. “He [Christ] is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.”(Heb 1:3) God’s speaking voice is powerful and kind, working all things for the sake of His holy name and the good of those who are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28). For more on God’s speaking voice, I would highly encourage you to read AW Tozer’s The Pursuit of God (Full chapter on the speaking voice can be found here.)

The other main thrust of this passage I believe is that we are sinful. This may be an intellectual fact for you, but do you understand the gravity of the situation? It says in Psalm 53 that “They have all fallen away; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.” And again in Romans 3:23 that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”. You and I are both sinners by nature and choice, and therefore deserve no favor from the Lord whatsoever, but as it says in James chapter 4, “He gives us more grace.” He lovingly bestows grace unto all men and women of the earth, giving them good and holy gifts like life, food, family, and love. To His elect, those who have turned from their Sin to embrace His love, He gives special graces – gifts of the Spirit, the Church, communion in prayer, fellowship, and others. To His covenant people (in the Old Testament, the Jews, in the New Testament, the body of believers) He has shown love in a special way, but we are still sinful and “defile it by [our] ways and [our] deeds.” The vision given of the people of Israel in this passage is an exact allegory for those who are within the covenant community (the church), but not living in and for Christ. We live sinfully, and defile the promises and grace of the Father by our deeds of lawlessness. But once again, He gives us more grace. This grace however is not for our sakes – as we deserve none of it. From the fall in Genesis 3 we deserved nothing that the Lord gives to us, but “God shows His love to us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8). He has brought the people of Israel back to the promised land, and brought your sinful heart back into His presence by the blood of Jesus Christ not because you deserve it, but for His own name’s sake. 

So what does this mean? The implications are twofold. First – you can’t live a life that is worthy of His love, so stop pretending that you can. His nature is sinless, your nature is sinful, and there is no way to reconcile these two natures apart from the propitiation found in Christ. What would it look like if you stopped counting your steps, and start dancing in light of the favor you have found in the eyes of the Father? How would your life be if you stopped wondering if you are good enough, and starting believing truly that Christ died that you may be justified freely. You must know that the grace of the Father is free, but do not think for one second that it is cheap – it indeed cost everything. 

The second implication is like the first – I would urge you to find all of your strength in the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Father sent the Son as a propitiation for our sins, and we are to trust fully in Him and Him alone that one day when we stand before the Father and he asks us upon what grounds we are to be judged righteous, we may say ‘None, my Lord. I have no righteousness of my own, but only that which is imputed to me through Christ. He is my sacrificial lamb, and I place all of my hope in Him.’

Some people would urge you to live today in the light of tomorrow. Some would tell you to live today in light of the next five years, or ten. What I am saying to you today is revolutionary – live today in light of eternity, for that is where you will find both your strength today and your hope for tomorrow. 

-MD Letteney