One of the primary reasons in Scripture that God pours out His wrath—and accomplishes salvation for us—is to show us and the world who He is.  Observing His judgment and mercy should leave us in awe of His nature and of the Gospel, keep us humble in remembering our sin, and be forever grateful that He has elected us to be His people rather than His enemies.  So let us stand in awe of God’s nature as displayed by His mercy and judgment and take comfort in His sovereignty, knowing that while He is satisfied in His justice, He truly delights in His mercy.

“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 36:22-23, ESV

Why does God do what He does?  In one sense, this is a dangerous question.  God’s ways and thoughts are as high above us as the heavens are above the earth (Isaiah 55:8-9).  But while the secret things belong to God alone, what He has revealed in His Word belongs to us (Deuteronomy 29:29)—and He has actually revealed much about why He acts as He does.  One reason appears 72 times in Ezekiel: that both God’s people and enemies would know that He is God.  Many of these are in the context of judgment on the Jews and their neighbors, but some are in the context of blessing as well.

The Theme of Ezekiel

Many parts of the Old Testament are challenging for various reasons, but when it comes to comprehension, the prophets have an unparalleled level of difficulty.  This is especially true of Ezekiel, who prophesied during the Babylonian exile.  The exile happened over many years before coming to its climax with the destruction of Jerusalem.  Thus, many who were left doubted that God would actually cause the city to be destroyed, so it is to them that God speaks through Ezekiel.  The book begins with a startling vision of God’s glory that has puzzled commentators for centuries.  In this vision, he is called by God to go and prophesy to His stubborn and rebellions people (Ezekiel 2:3).  Then God gives a string of prophecies against the Jews, calling out their sins and warning of the coming siege and ultimate destruction of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 4-7) before showing Ezekiel a vision of Jerusalem and its sin culminating with the departure of God’s glorious presence from the Temple—first out of the Holy of Holies then out of the Temple complex and finally from Jerusalem entirely via the Mount of Olives (Ezekiel 8-11 cf. Zechariah 14:4).  The prophecies then focus on the sins of the people and their leaders as well as the coming destruction of Jerusalem and complete exile of the people (Ezekiel 12-23).  When the siege of Jerusalem begins, Ezekiel’s wife dies (Ezekiel 24) and the focus of prophecy shifts to judgment against Israel’s neighbors: Amon, Moab, Edom, and Philistia (Ezekiel 25) then Tyre and Sidon (Ezekiel 26-28) and Egypt (Ezekiel 29-32).  God then returns to judgment against Israel when Jerusalem falls (Ezekiel 33-34) before condemning Edom again (Ezekiel 35).  The focus of the prophecy then shifts to the restoration of God’s people with the promise of their return from exile and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (Ezekiel 36) that would be a mass spiritual resurrection in which God would dwell with and unify His people (Ezekiel 37).  God then decrees destruction against Gog (Ezekiel 38-39), ending with the last “they shall know” of the book:

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and I will be jealous for my holy name. They shall forget their shame and all the treachery they have practiced against me, when they dwell securely in their land with none to make them afraid, when I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from their enemies’ lands, and through them have vindicated my holiness in the sight of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the LORD their God, because I sent them into exile among the nations and then assembled them into their own land. I will leave none of them remaining among the nations anymore. And I will not hide my face anymore from them, when I pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, declares the Lord GOD.

-Ezekiel 39:25-29, ESV

The book ends with God showing Ezekiel a detailed vision of a new Temple (Ezekiel 40-42) with the glory of God returning in a mirror of its earlier departure (Ezekiel 43).  The vision then details a restored priesthood and a righteous Prince (Ezekiel 44).  This Prince would rule a restored Holy Land centered on the Temple, complete with a river flowing from the Temple and trees bearing fruit year-round with leaves healing the nations (Ezekiel 45-48 cf. Revelation 22).  It is within this context that God repeatedly declares that He will both judge Israel and their neighbors and restore Israel so that everyone will know that He is the LORD.

The Sin of Israel…and Us

Before we look at the ways that people will know that the LORD is God, we need to pause to consider the sins of Judah that bring God’s condemnation throughout Ezekiel.  We have previously seen how Judah sinned by choosing to obey some of God’s commands while disobeying others.  Judah would ultimately commit the same sins as Israel, listed in Ezekiel 22.  They shed much innocent blood, treated parents with contempt, extorted foreigners, wronged widows and orphans, despised the Sabbath, slandered others, and worshipped idols.  They were sexually promiscuous, took bribes, extorted others, and ultimately forgot God.  This brought about God’s wrath through the Babylonians who ultimately destroyed Jerusalem, killing most of the Jews and carrying the rest into captivity.  Four centuries later, they would add to this sin by murdering Jesus Christ and then persecuting His Church.  God promised to destroy anyone who destroys His Church (1 Corinthians 3:17), so Jesus decreed that God’s wrath for every drop of innocent blood spilt in the Old Testament would fall on the Jews (Matthew 23:35) who had forgotten how God had restored them from the Babylonian exile and instead made themselves enemies of God and His true People.

Now, before I am accused of antisemitism, I must make one thing very clear: I am not talking about the Jews of today.  The Jews of the First Century murdered Jesus and persecuted His Church, thereby putting themselves under the curse of God’s wrath.  Throughout Scripture, we see that God shows extraordinary patience in delaying His wrath, but also that it will come.  God’s wrath builds to a climax, after which point it is complete.  So God tells Ezekiel that He will spend (Ezekiel 13:15, 20:8) and satisfy (Ezekiel 16:38) His wrath.  The First Century Jews were destroyed when God poured out His wrath on them with the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD.  Just as the Jews of today have no special blessing since they have been replaced by the Church as the visible representation of God’s people, they also have no special curse.

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