As I start to think about preparing a syllabus on Ezekiel for the mission to Nairobi, I am returning to some recent work that I developed into a sermon on Ezekiel 11.14–21.

Click this link to hear it; start at the 1:50 mark.

As I worked through that text, the Spirit brought up connections throughout redemptive history, and my sense of intimidation caused by Ezekiel’s difficult language was swallowed up in thankfulness for the richness of God’s promises to the exiles. Those promises are not ancient history; they are for you and me as we are exiles in Babylon (see 1 Pet 1.1, 17; 2.11; 5.13, etc.).

May God bless the reading and hearing of his word.

Here is the text of Ezekiel 11.14–21 in the CSB (used in the sermon):

¹⁴ The word of the LORD came to me again: ¹⁵ “Son of man, your own relatives, those who have the right to redeem your property, along with the entire house of Israel ​— ​all of them ​— ​are those to whom the residents of Jerusalem have said, ‘You are far from the LORD; this land has been given to us as a possession.’

¹⁶ “Therefore say, ‘This is what the Lord God says: Though I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.’

¹⁷ “Therefore say, ‘This is what the Lord God says: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.’

¹⁸ “When they arrive there, they will remove all its abhorrent acts and detestable practices from it. ¹⁹ I will give them integrity of heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove their heart of stone from their bodies and give them a heart of flesh, ²⁰ so that they will follow my statutes, keep my ordinances, and practice them. They will be my people, and I will be their God. ²¹ But as for those whose hearts pursue their desire for abhorrent acts and detestable practices, I will bring their conduct down on their own heads.” This is the declaration of the Lord God.

Here is my translation (to which I refer occasionally in the sermon):

¹⁴ And the word of YHWH came to me, saying, ¹⁵ “Son of Man, your very own brothers, men of your redemption-rights, and the whole house of Israel, all of it, are those concerning whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem said, ‘They are far away from YHWH. To us it is given, the land, as a possession.’

¹⁶ “In response, say, ‘Thus says Lord YHWH: Although I put them far off among the nations, and although I scattered them among the lands, I became their sanctuary for a little while in the lands into which they have entered.’ ¹⁷ In response, say, ‘Thus says Lord YHWH: I will gather you from the peoples, and I will harvest you from the lands among which you have been scattered, and I will give to you the land of Israel.’

¹⁸ “Then they will enter there, and they will remove all its monsters and all its abominations from it. ¹⁹ And I will give to them a single heart; I will give within them a new spirit; and I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh, and I will give to them a heart of flesh ²⁰ so that they may walk in my statutes, and my customs they will keep, and they will practice them. And they will be my people, and I will be their God. ²¹ And to the heart of their monsters and their abominations their heart will go; I have put their ways upon their heads”—the utterance of Lord YHWH.

If you would like a manuscript of the sermon with a bibliography, contact me through the social media links at the bottom of the page.