Eze 20:32-38 | KingComments | STEP | Starting in , the verdict follows. Remembering the continued unfaithfulness of the fathers and their children, Ezekiel has to let his contemporaries hear his warnings ( ). Past generations have forsaken the LORD. The present generation must be warned not to do so. Ezekiel is to call them to account for their behavior, for it is similar to that of their fathers. They are defiling themselves in the same way and like them are playing the harlot by indulging in abominable idolatry. The exiles to whom Ezekiel addresses the word have continued to commit the sins their fathers committed and for which the LORD has punished them. Will He then allow Himself to be inquired of them when they deliver their children to idols and defile themselves in a repulsive manner with all their stink gods ( )? They can absolutely forget about that! Anything that has come to their minds, which they have imagined that it should happen that way, will certainly not come about ( ). God knows their true intentions. He knows that they are bent on being like the nations and like the tribes of the lands and serving wood and stone like them. They have sunk so low that they are giving up all the privileges of Israel to serve the idols of the nations in their place.

‏ Ezekiel 20:32-38

The Verdict

Starting in Eze 20:30, the verdict follows. Remembering the continued unfaithfulness of the fathers and their children, Ezekiel has to let his contemporaries hear his warnings (Eze 20:30). Past generations have forsaken the LORD. The present generation must be warned not to do so. Ezekiel is to call them to account for their behavior, for it is similar to that of their fathers. They are defiling themselves in the same way and like them are playing the harlot by indulging in abominable idolatry.

The exiles to whom Ezekiel addresses the word have continued to commit the sins their fathers committed and for which the LORD has punished them. Will He then allow Himself to be inquired of them when they deliver their children to idols and defile themselves in a repulsive manner with all their stink gods (Eze 20:31)? They can absolutely forget about that!

Anything that has come to their minds, which they have imagined that it should happen that way, will certainly not come about (Eze 20:32). God knows their true intentions. He knows that they are bent on being like the nations and like the tribes of the lands and serving wood and stone like them. They have sunk so low that they are giving up all the privileges of Israel to serve the idols of the nations in their place.

Lawsuit and Restoration in the Future

Because the people are so determined to be like the nations and like the tribes of the lands (Eze 20:32), the LORD must confront them in His government (Eze 20:33). He cannot let such deliberateness go unpunished and will, by His strong hand and outstretched arm, make them experience His wrath. They may think they can forsake Him, but He will not relinquish His claims on His people.

Added to that, He will know how to find them among the nations and in the lands to which they are scattered (Eze 20:34). Even there, in their exile, He maintains His claims on His people. He will lead them out of exile to bring them into the wilderness of the nations. By this is meant His dealings with them in the time when they are delivered to the power of the nations. There He will enter into judgment with them (Eze 20:35).

He will act with them just as He acted with their fathers in Egypt, the land that has been like a wilderness to them, a land of death (Eze 20:36). He will act with them as a shepherd acts who passes his sheep under his rod at night to count them to see if one is missing and if there is not a stranger among them (Eze 20:37). The law prescribes that every tenth sheep that passes under the rod, is for the LORD (Lev 27:32; Jer 33:13). The ‘sheep’ of His people selected in this way the LORD then brings back into the bond of the covenant He has made with them.

He will remove the rebellious and transgressors from His own sheep, bring them out of the land of their exile, and then judge them (Eze 20:38). They will think they are on their way back to the promised land according to the word of the false prophets, but they will not reach that land. They will perish along the way.

The LORD tells the house of Israel to just continue serving their stink gods (Eze 20:39). After all, they have no intention of listening to Him anyway. At the same time, He tells them not to profane His holy Name any more with those stink gods. The same goes for His holy mountain, Mount Zion (Eze 20:40). On that mountain is the temple and there He wants to be served with sacrifices.

It is the high mountain of Israel, where “the whole house of Israel” will serve Him, no one excepted. This is the new Israel of twelve tribes, the remnant, which will be all Israel, for the apostate multitude will have been judged. In the sacrifices then brought to the LORD, He will be pleased. His people there will willingly answer His request to bring Him the very best of all their sanctified gifts.

The people have then returned to God in their entirety, and a soothing aroma goes out from them to Him, in which He delights (Eze 20:41). He has brought them back to Himself. The stench of the stink gods has been driven out. Their forsaking Him is over. They have been gathered by Him from the lands to which He had to scatter them as a result of their sins. The nations will see it and marvel at His ways with His people.

When they are back in the land, they will know that He is the LORD, the faithful God of the covenant, Who carries out His counsel right through all the deliberations of men (Eze 20:42). The territory of Israel is the land about which He swore to their forefathers to give it to them. Then they will realize how much they have forsaken Him and wounded Him by despising what He has sought to give them (Eze 20:43). They will loathe themselves. When we think about the history of Christianity and our personal history, it will also bring about a sense of loathing in us.

His people will be impressed again by Him, that He is the LORD, the God Who keeps and fulfills His promises. It will create in them a new admiration for His faithfulness (Eze 20:44). They will be humbled by it and realize that all the blessings they may enjoy are due only to His faithfulness. For this course of action He has found a reason exclusively in His Name.

The same applies to us who belong to God’s people in this age. With us, too, for the sake of His Name, He has not done according to our evil ways and depraved deeds, as it was with the house of Israel. All the blessing we may enjoy is due only to His faithfulness.