23 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. 24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. 29 And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. 30 I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. 31 Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. 32 It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.
33 “Thus says the Lord God: On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt. 34 And the land that was desolate shall be tilled, instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by. 35 And they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’36 Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the Lord; I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.
37 “Thus says the Lord God: This also I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them: to increase their people like a flock. 38 Like the flock for sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
The nature of the divine vindication of the people of Israel is indicated in 23ff. The words in 23b are most impressive: '... the heathen shall know that I am the Lord ... when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes'. This is an unchanging principle, true in every age. The transforming work of the Spirit in God's people is ever the most potent evangelistic appeal in the world. In the early church, men's lives were set ablaze with the gospel, and 'great grace was upon them all', and this is unquestionably what drew multitudes into the kingdom of God. The existence of transformed lives always makes an impact on society. In 24-26 we have a threefold promise given to the people: first of all, their regathering to the land (24), then cleansing from all sin (25), and finally regeneration by the Spirit (26). Such are the terms of the new covenant. It is true that the word 'covenant' is not in fact mentioned here, but it is presupposed, and it is explicitly stated, in similar language, in Jeremiah 31:31ff. It is a wonderful passage, moving the heart to tears with the very glory and sweetness of the prospect it holds out, and it must have been particularly sweet to the exiles by the river Chebar to hear such an utterance, in the desolation of spirit that had come to them in the news of the destruction of their beloved Jerusalem. Much earlier, the prophet Hosea had promised that 'the valley of Achor (weeping)' would become 'a door of hope' for God's people. Surely that prophecy finds its fulfilment in Ezekiel's words.