Ezekiel 36:21-23

God Will Restore His Reputation By What He Will Do In Returning the People to the Land and Pouring Out His Spirit on Them (Ezekiel 36:21).

“But I had pity for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they went. Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord Yahweh, I do not act for your sake, O house of Israel, but for my holy name which you have profaned among the nations to which you went. And I will sanctify my great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in the midst of them, and the nations will know that I am Yahweh,” says the Lord Yahweh, “when I am sanctified in you before their eyes.”

A ‘holy name' is a name set apart by its uniqueness, distinctiveness and power, as well as by its righteousness. But none of this was apparent to the nations as a direct result of what had happened to Israel. They saw rather the opposite. So Yahweh was about to act so that the nations would recognise both His uniqueness, distinctiveness and power, and His righteousness. His uniqueness, distinctiveness and power because of the restoration of His people, and His power because of what he would do in them, and His righteousness because they would recognise why Israel had been expelled from the land, and would see the new righteousness resulting from the activity of Yahweh.

This brings out how Israel had failed so badly in their responsibility to be a kingdom of priests to the nations (Exodus 19:6). They had instead profaned His name before the world. But it was important for the world to know the living God, the Creator. So Yahweh Himself would perform the function of revealing Himself to the nations by His activities on Israel. He did not do it for their sakes but for the world's sake, so that the world might know Him as He is.

His name would be set apart as holy and distinctive by two things. By the restoring of His people to their land, a land which He had ensured would still be available to them when they returned, and by indwelling His Spirit within their lives in a total moral transformation. These were two separate activities, and certainly there is no reason to argue that the second would only happen once (and indeed the first has also happened more than once). In a sense it would be a continual process through which He would separate out a people for Himself.

‘I do not act for your sake.' This is a vital lesson to learn. They, and we, deserved nothing. They had failed Him in every direction, and they had failed themselves. But far more important than them, and us, is that God should be known and revealed to the world. Without that there could be no salvation, no deliverance. Without that the saving purposes of God would fail. So by their own folly Israel had ceased to be important except as a means by which the world could see the glory and love of God, for they had forfeited their right to any privilege. That is why the concentration had now to be on redeeming the situation by using them as a means to reveal that love and glory.