Ezekiel 37:26-28

“Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them. It will be an everlasting covenant with them, and I will give to them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle also will be with them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. And the nations will know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary will be in their midst for evermore.”

The vision of eternity continues. The setting up of the Sanctuary reminds us firstly that the Davidic king Zerubbabel did rebuild and establish the temple as God's sanctuary, as a witness to the nations. But again that was but the earthly prototype of the heavenly reality. For what was to be finally established here is eternal, the sanctuary of God in Heaven (Revelation 8:3; Revelation 11:19; Revelation 14:17; Revelation 15:5; Revelation 15:8; Revelation 16:1). Indeed finally God Himself will be their sanctuary (Revelation 21:22).

The covenant of peace was brought by Jesus the Messiah, the new covenant, and God did indeed ‘give to them' and ‘multiply them' as the Gospel went out to the world and the new Israel grew strong and numerous. He established His sanctuary among them because His people were His sanctuary (Ephesians 2:20). And God was with them and they were His people (2 Corinthians 6:17). The nations also saw and were amazed, and recognised the power of a God that they did not know. And He established an everlasting covenant of peace (Ephesians 2:14; Ephesians 2:17).

The ‘covenant of peace' mentioned here had already been mentioned in Ezekiel 34:25, which emphasises that what we saw there as referring to the eternal future is in fact the correct interpretation. For here the covenant is eternal against an eternal background, eternal peace between God and His own. The result will be that He will reveal Himself as a giving God, will make them abound and will establish His permanent sanctuary with them eternally. Indeed God Himself will dwell (tabernacle) with them and be their God and they will be His people. This is expanded on in Revelation 21:3, which may well be based on this verse, and Revelation 21:22; Revelation 22:3 which reveal the same ideas.

‘And the nations will know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary will be in their midst for evermore.' Many from the nations will recognise in the new Israel the ones who are sanctified by God, and will themselves learn to honour their God, for many of them too, having recognised that the true Israel was set apart by Yahweh for His own, and having been made a part of that Israel by faith, will walk in the light of God in eternity (Revelation 21:24). Thus will Israel's responsibility towards them have been fulfilled through the witness of the Servant, the new Israel (Acts 13:47). There may also be here the further suggestion that even the nations who come under judgment will also be made aware at that judgment of what God has done for His people in giving them everlasting life (Matthew 25:31). Thus the earthly blessing for the people of God continues into the heavenly.