Lent 4 (2024)

Intro

The Text:

[21] “And I will set my glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid on them.

God’s glory will be manifest in his judgement against his own. Its important that we remember that along with displaying his Mercy and Grace God often displays his Judgement.

[22] The house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God, from that day forward.

This display will be and external and and internal witness. God’s own people will live in the awareness of God.

[23] And the nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they dealt so treacherously with me that I hid my face from them and gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they all fell by the sword.

Now the text is introducing an Idea. The face of God on the people and against the people. Poetically the idea of God turning his face away will make a sandwich. So this is the top piece

A restatement of the previous premise, the judgement of God to the nations.

[24] I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their transgressions, and hid my face from them.

Bottom piece.

[25] “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.

Now the section turns from an oracle of judgement to an oracle of Hope. The exile of the Israelite to the return to the land.

[26] 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,

Not only will there be a return to the land, but a transforming event where the people will forget the desire to sin.

[27] 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.

This return to the land like the expulsion from the Land will again be a proclamation of God’s character, in this case his holiness.

[28] 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.

A restatement of the proclaiming work of God.

[29] 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.” (ESV)

The end of the hiding of Gods face to be replaced with the presence of God among them in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Alright some interpretive thoughts. Reading the Old Testament in light of the New Testament requires a few tools in out tool belt. But if you can master a few basic tools, it opens the richness of the Old Testament witness to God’s character and his revelation to us in Christ.

1. Prophecy can have multiple fulfillment's. 2. Jesus is the New representative of Israel, a new Adam, 3. The church will return from exile in a more complete way than Israel at the dawn of the Church. 4. The Spirit will be poured out in a new way previously unknown to the people.

We see that God is promising to pour out his wrath on Israel, and to take them out of the land and inflict violence on them. It happens, the Babylonians violently evict the Israelites from there land and they are carried off.

Jesus as the substitute of Israel, is carried out of the walls of Jerusalem to the cross, an exile that leads to his violent death.

There is the promise of a return from exile… a return leaving none behind…we know that the return of the actual exiles in the OT was a small diaspora, leaving behind Jewish communities throughout the ancient world. God must have been gathering a specific few to repopulate his beloved land. But the work of God at Pentacost hits nations from all over the ancient world, calling together a church, from among the nations. The conversion of the ancient world, the gathering of God’s called out people fulfills this prophecy in a bigger and more satisfying way than the return of the exiles from Babylon.

The Prophecy of no longer hiding his face and the release of the spirit. Again we see the face of God in Jesus Christ and are given the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentacost.

So what is ours to do with this text? It is interesting to do some deep theological gold mining and exploring the OT in light of the NT. Yet as NT people we should be excited about living out the fulfillment of this prophetic word.

My claim is that this text prepares us to see Jesus as bringing a New Israel out of Exile and into the Land, or God provision. The land that God used to feed his people.

Today in John 6 we see that Jesus uses his 12 disciple, a new Israel to provide bread to his people. To feed them, not by the sweat of their brow but by the miraculous work of Christ. And after there are 12 baskets left over, food for all the new tribes of the new Israel.

We the church can take confidence in the caring work of Christ seeing that in his earthly ministry Jesus cared for the New Israel and now in his Heavenly ministry he will continue to do so.

In fact today we will experience a snap shot of the fulfillment of Ez. We who begun in exile, are now in fellowship with God once again bc of Christ on the Cross. And in fellowship with him we now know his provision. God invites us to eat by him and of him. We are a part of that new Jerusalem, fed by the partnership of God with the 12 disciples. This table is our fulfillment of Ezekiel, it is our John Chapter 6.

Our world offers a food that can not give eternal life. It can fill our bellies but it can not fulfill our souls. It can preserve our earthly life, but offers nothing for eternal life. Let us by coming to this table put our whole trust in the saving work Of Jesus Christ who says later in this chapter...John 6:35[35] Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. (ESV)