Ezekiel 36:18, commentary and pictures

God poured out His fury upon Israel because they had shed blood upon the land and polluted it with their idols. It was spoken during Judah's captivity after Jerusalem was destroyed, as part of a prophecy in which God Himself promised to gather scattered Israel and bring great blessing in the salvation of His people and in the glory of the land, the city and the sanctuary. Those promises from Ezekiel 36 onward were conditional, depending on Israel's faith, obedience and wholehearted return to God. Israel failed to meet the conditions, returning half-heartedly without repentance and mingling with the nations, so the promised restoration and temple received only a limited partial fulfillment and were never literally fulfilled. They will never be fulfilled exactly as written literally, for to renew the sacrifices of thousands of sheep and oxen would make Christ's once-for-all offering of no effect, but their greater and full fulfillment belongs to living Israel at Christ's second coming and beyond, in the time described in Revelation 20 and 21.

Context and Meaning

The prophecy was given during Judah's captivity in 587 B.C., one year after Jerusalem was destroyed. It was spoken to Israel in connection with restoration from Babylonian captivity, within a larger promise God would have fulfilled for them if they had yielded to Him, and their failure meant the promised restoration would not unfold in all the details described there.

The poured-out fury came for two stated causes, the blood Israel had shed upon the land and the idols with which they had polluted it, so that bloodshed and idolatry are identified as the reasons for the judgment and as the defilement of the land. The verse belongs to a prophecy concerning the mountains, the land, and the people of Israel. In it God Himself promises great blessings in the salvation of Israel and in the glory of the land, the city, and the sanctuary.

That prophecy has not been fulfilled literally, for no such city or sanctuary stands today. Nor will it be fulfilled literally, for to renew the sacrifices of thousands of sheep and oxen would make Christ's once-for-all offering of no effect, building again what was destroyed and returning from sunlight to shadow, since the former offerings belonged to the time then present and only shadowed forth the one effectual offering of Jesus Christ. Israel in these promises need not mean only the natural descendants of Jacob, but can mean the faithful people of the new covenant who belong to God through faith. The chapter stands among the promises that God Himself will gather Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, not that Israel will gather themselves and rebuild Jerusalem by their own action.

Conditional Prophecy and Fulfillment

The promises from Ezekiel 36 onward were conditional, depending on Israel's faith and obedience and on a wholehearted return in response to God's call and warning to turn to Him. They would have been fulfilled to Israel at the restoration from Babylonian captivity if the people had come to God with all their hearts, yielded to Him, forsaken sin, and repented. If Israel had met those conditions, God would have forgiven their sins, given them new hearts, rebuilt their ruined cities, and restored them to far greater prosperity and power with their enemies subdued before them. He would also have restored the poor captive nation pictured by dry bones, brought up the sleeping dead, gathered the scattered ones back to their own land, divided the land on a different plan, built the new glorious temple with His presence among them, and conquered all the northern nations before them in the detail of Ezekiel 38 and 39, so that the restoration would have included the resurrection of the dead described in Ezekiel 36 and 37.

Israel failed to meet the conditions, coming back half-heartedly, mingling with other nations and doing their deeds, not yielding, not repenting, and not being ashamed of sins. Therefore the promised restoration of the land and rebuilding of the temple were not fulfilled for them as described, but received only a limited and partial fulfillment. Fewer than fifty thousand returned to the land, the rebuilt temple was small compared with what it would have been, the restoration and glory were fulfilled only in small part, and the promised restoration was never literally fulfilled. The prophecy will never be fulfilled exactly as written literally, for no such city or sanctuary stands today. To renew the sacrifices of thousands of sheep and oxen would make Christ's once-for-all offering of no effect, building again what was destroyed and returning from sunlight to shadow, since the former offerings belonged to the time then present and only shadowed forth the one effectual offering of Jesus Christ.

The promises are to be fulfilled to living Israel at the beginning of the day of the Lord before the resurrection of the just, the day of the Lord beginning before the thousand years of judgment and continuing beyond them. Their greater fulfillment is connected with Christ's second coming, without the local conditions of Ezekiel's time. The full restoration of God's people promised there will yet be fulfilled in glorious measure in the time described in Revelation 20 and 21. The chapter together with Ezekiel 38, Joel 3, and Zechariah 12 points to a final attack by the nations on Jerusalem and the surrounding country just before Christ comes.