“Thus says the Lord GOD, ‘When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and will manifest My holiness in them in the sight of the nations, then they will live in their land which I gave to My servant Jacob. They will live in it securely; and they will build houses, plant vineyards and live securely when I execute judgments upon all who scorn them round about them. Then they will know that I am the LORD their God’” (Ezek 28:25–26).
At the conclusion of Ezekiel 28, the passage unexpectedly shifts from oracles of judgment on Tyre (Ezek 28:1–19) and Sidon (Ezek 28:20–24) to a promise of Israel’s regathering to the Promised Land. A close look at the unique wording reveals Ezekiel’s written source for this extraordinary promise. It comes from Deuteronomy 30, especially verses 3–5. In fact, Ezekiel loves this promise so much that he refers to it five times in the first major section of his book (see Ezek 11:17; 20:34, 41; 28:25; 29:13).
Ezekiel teaches us the secret of clinging to God’s promises and repeating them to ourselves and to those around us, especially when we are tempted to believe the lie that all hope is gone.
But why does Ezekiel repeat this specific promise again and again? I think it’s because Ezekiel would have been consumed by darkness if he hadn’t. He lived during a horrible time in history and witnessed the devastating force of Babylon’s armies unleashed upon Jerusalem and all of Israel’s neighbors. The only thing “on the news” at that time was doom and gloom, and any normal person would have concluded that Israel’s history had reached its tragic end and that all hope was gone.
When everything Ezekiel cherished was taken from him and his world was on fire, there was one place he could go to find safety, security, stability, and certainty—and that place was God’s Word. Ezekiel teaches us the secret of clinging to God’s promises and repeating them to ourselves and to those around us, especially when we are tempted to believe the lie that all hope is gone.
So let us also light a candle in our current darkness by reminding ourselves and others that all will turn out well, because the God who cannot lie has given His people many promises in His Word.
