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Advent Devotional for December 9
• Ezekiel 36:24-28
To comprehend the significance of God’s promises to Israel in Ezekiel 36:24-28, we have to understand real disappointment. Disappointment that makes you question everything that you know. Disappointment that is so mind-blowing, unexpected, and world-altering that it makes you feel as if you will never hope again. Disappointment that feels like death. It is to this kind of disappointment, to this feeling of utter darkness and depression, that God speaks.
Israel, at this point, was destroyed. Its places of worship and system of government were no longer, and its people were exiled to a foreign country, living under the thumb of an oppressive regime. Everything that the Israelites had known was gone. To this horror, God promises miraculous transformation. God declares that he will gather and return the Israelites to their homeland; that he will purify them and remodel them from the inside out. God states that he will give the Israelites a new heart and place in them a new spirit (v. 26). The heart in the biblical text was not just the seat of emotions and feelings, but also that of the mind and intellect. Spirit meanwhile frequently referred to that part of a human being which was divine and gave the person life (Num. 27:16; Job 27:3, 33:4).
To a nation that seems dead, God thus promises resurrection and revival. Though it feels and looks dead, though its heart has stopped working and is stone (v. 26), Israel, God declares, will come back to life. Its heart will beat once again and become flesh (v. 26). Indeed, it is only by going through the painful evolution from despondency to hope, from death to life, that Israel will learn to recognize and understand its life-giving and life-affirming God. And when it does, God promises, “you will become my people, and I will become your God.”
Gracious God, it feels at points as if we are in a downward spiral, headed towards death, despondency, and darkness. As you promised in Ezekiel, revive your people. Remind us that you are the God of life, resurrection, and hope. Amen.
Suzie Park
Associate Professor of Old Testament
For the glory of God and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary is a seminary in the Presbyterian-Reformed tradition whose mission is to educate and equip individuals for the ordained Christian ministry and other forms of Christian service and leadership; to employ its resources in the service of the church; to promote and engage in critical theological thought and research; and to be a winsome and exemplary community of God's people.
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