Dr Hill has just finished writing two volumes of commentary on Ezekiel which are published under the title ‘Today with Ezekiel’ and are newly available from Issachar Ministries. What appears in this series is a foretaste of these books.
"I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. Two of the greatest offences in the eyes of God were the shedding of innocent blood and idolatry. These two offences made the people dirty in the eyes of God – they were unclean and they defiled everything they touched."
All are sinners
All human beings are sinners; as Paul says, “all have sinned” (Rom 3:23). But not everyone recognises their sinfulness. In a cry from the heart, King David recognised his own sinfulness and he cried out to God, “Blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from sin” (Ps 51:1-2). He knew that only God could wash away the uncleanness that clung to him like dirt on his body.
He knew that only God could wash away the uncleanness that clung to him like dirt on his body.
In my undergraduate days, as part of my training for ministry, I served two years as the student pastor of a church in a mining village of Nottinghamshire. There were no baths at the local mine, and it was a common sight to see a grimy miner hurrying home to have a bath before being seen in public. I stayed in a miner’s cottage with no bathroom, only a tin bath in front of the living room fire which I was glad to use after spending a morning down the mine crawling along a 300-yard coalface only four feet high!
Cleaning away dirt
None of us likes feeling dirty, and as a nation we spend millions of pounds on disinfectants and household cleaning fluids for our homes, as well as soaps and lotions and cosmetics for our bodies so that we can wash away dirt and appear clean before other people.
This is how we should be dealing with sinful things that cling to us like dirt on our bodies. Only God can cleanse us, as David said in Psalm 51, “Cleanse me with hyssop and I shall be clean… Create in me a pure heart, O God.” This is what God wanted to hear from His people in exile in Babylon who had disgraced him in the eyes of the nations. He said that it was not for their sake that He was going to restore them, but so that His holiness would be seen through them by all the Gentile nations.
He said that it was not for their sake that He was going to restore them, but so that His holiness would be seen through them by all the Gentile nations.
Offering a sacrifice
Ezekiel would have been used to people coming to the temple, offering an animal sacrifice as a guilt offering to cleanse them from sin, but in Babylon this was not possible – so there had to be another way for sin to be washed away – through repentance and prayer. Only God could do this for His people.
Paul recognised this when he asked, “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” The answer was that only Christ the Lord could wash him clean (Rom 7:24-25). Ezekiel did not know Jesus, but he had learned to trust the word of God, and if God said He would do something – it would be done.
A second exodus
It was at this point that Ezekiel heard God promising a great regathering of the scattered people of Israel among the nations – a second exodus and replanting in the land of Israel. Then, even more amazingly, there came the promise, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols” (Ezek 36:25).
Ezekiel did not know Jesus, but he had learned to trust the word of God, and if God said He would do something – it would be done.
Ezekiel had, many times during his training as a priest, watched the washing of animal sacrifices to ensure that they were clean and pure for an offering to God. If this was an important requirement of God, how much more important it must be for human beings to be cleansed from sin in order to be in a right relationship with Him.
God breaks power of sin
It was God’s promise that He himself would do the cleansing and take away the impurities of idolatry. This was a wonderful promise that Ezekiel enjoyed relaying to the elders who came seeking a word from the Lord. They would all be able to go back to tell the people what God was promising. God himself was promising to wash away sin, break down the barriers and renew the covenant.
The promises of God were fulfilled on Good Friday when Jesus died on the cross. He made the once and for all sacrifice through which we are cleansed and we can have intimate fellowship with the holiness of God our loving heavenly Father.
