"The Vindication of Holiness" Ezekiel 36:23

Introduction:

This verse of Scripture from the book of Ezekiel is contextualizing God’s future plans of establishing a new covenant with the house of Israel.

This is because even though the people agreed to be obedient to the terms of the Mosaic law code they fell way short and they actually made a mockery of the terms of the covenant before other nations.

This made it necessary for God to initiate vindication as described in the first half of verse 23 where the Lord says:

I. The Necessity of Vindication (23a): And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them.

A. God initiates His New Covenant work due to His concern for His holy name.

This is interesting because we often think that God was ultimately motivated by His divine love for fallen people and that is why He established the terms of the New Covenant. But we are told here by the Lord that He initiated the terms of the New Covenant for the sake of His holy name.

God desired that the fame of His holy name be vindicated first and foremost. But why was there a need for vindication?

There was a need because of the disobedience of the house of Israel. The terms of the Old Covenant required their obedience and they failed miserably at keeping it. And God would judge them again and again for their disobedience.

And the other nations would watch this happen. And the people of the nations would see the people of Israel living in consistent disobedience and making a mockery out of God and His covenant. And God would be defamed of the glory of His holiness among the nations.

Ezekiel 36:22 makes this point clear: 22 “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.

Vindication was necessary because God is Holy and His name is Holy and He is jealous for the fame of His holiness. It was not ultimately for the sake of His people that He initiated vindication. This is why love is not the chief motive driving God to initiate a New Covenant. It is instead His divine glory of His holiness before all the nation of the world.

Love is what drives Him to incorporate a covenant people into the glory of His holiness for His ultimate glory. Holiness is primary and love is secondary in the New Covenant.

If you get that wrong you will tend to elevate God’s love for man in salvation to the ultimate place of His purpose and plan. This detracts and replaces God’s chief end of glorifying Himself as supreme and distinct from His creation in His holiness with the idea of the salvation of mankind.

The plan of redemption in the New Covenant is one of the ways that God manifest the glory of His holiness. And we know this because of what this vindication reveals. Look back at the second half of verse 23 at what I am calling the Revelation of Vindication:

II. The Revelation of Vindication (23b): And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.

A. The Nations will know that I am the Lord. Doesn’t say anything about their salvation just that they will know that He is the Lord. How will the nations know this? They will know when the Lord vindicates His holiness before their eyes. And He will do this through fulfilling the terms of the New Covenant in His people.

All you need to do is to go on reading through to the end of Ezekiel 37. What you will see is a depiction of the spiritual prosperity and the physical prosperity to come in a new heavens and a new earth. But the pentacle of all of it is God putting His Spirit inside of His covenant people as an indication of their spiritual vitality and the eternal hope of dwelling with God forever.

Christian this is why good Friday is so good for us as believers. God initiated the terms of the New Covenant to fulfill the Old Covenant on our behalf and to enable us to follow Him by dealing with our sin through Jesus Christ. He redeemed us to holiness so that we could be with Him.

Christ hung on the Cross for us, in our place to vindicate the holiness of God on our behalf. Christ is the revelation of the vindication of the holiness of God that is being displayed in our lives.

My Dad was on the 1959 Sacramento High School Basketball team. The Sacrament Blue Jays went to the State Tournament in 1959. First time in the history of the school.

When I was in School there was a trophy case in the lobby outside of the gymnaiusum with the regional trophy setting front and center. Every time I walked by it I would think about my Dad’s contribution to winning that trophy. My Dad held a record when he played. He fouled out in 2 minutes and 53 seconds.

It is still there to this day and the team was inducted into the Mclean County Hall of fame just a few years before my Dad died. Around Sacramento people still talk about the team of ‘59.

You see Christian Jesus Christ fought our battle and He has triumphed through the Cross and we are the trophies of grace that the Father sees that testify to the greatness and glory of the eternal Son of God and the vindication of the Holiness of God. Our redemption is a testimony to the glory of God in Christ. And our relationship to God will be enshrined for all eternity.

B. Christ died to vindicate the holiness of God and thereby we are reconciled to God and He calls to us this evening to come to dine with Him, not as enemies but as sons and daughters to come to the table of our heavenly Father to eat from what He has provided to us.

Conclusion:

Unbeliever come to Christ:

Believer, you who are trophies of His grace who have been won through the finished work of Christ come to Him, confess your sin and rest in His provision to you in Christ.

Let’s Pray!