Lesson 1 -- THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
Key Verse: “The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you in power, and you will prophesy with them: and you will be changed into a different person...” 1 Samuel 10:6.
Lesson Summary: The Holy Spirit’s business has always been changing people from what they are into what God wants them to be.
Study Text: Ezekiel 36:24-36.
1. Consider the historical and literary setting of Ezekiel’s prophecy. In what way is this a microcosm of the entire Old Testament? What are the similarities between Ezekiel’s time and our own?
Ezekiel was taken into Babylonian captivity with the Southern Kingdom in 597 B.C. Five years into this captivity he was called to be a prophet to bring Judah back to the true God. The first section of the book of Ezekiel (chapters 1-24) describes the coming destruction of Jerusalem, the next section (chapters 25-32) foretells the destruction of Israel’s pagan neighbors, finally in the last 16 (33-48) chapters he promises restoration and blessings for Israel. Ezekiel’s prophecies were filled with apocalyptic visions and occassionaly complex bizarre symbolism - much like portions of Daniel, Isaiah and the New Testament apocalypse, the book of Revelation. Our text in chapter 36 exhibits less of the apocalyptic style than the rest of the book but still contains some figurative speech and hyperbole.
Much of the Old Testament is about a continuing cycle of (1) Covenant between God and his chosen people (2) Broken covenant due to sin, rebellion and idolatry (3) Punishment or threats of punishment from God (4) Repentance (5) Restoration and (6) Reward from a forgiving God. Ezekiel has all these ingredients. Additionally, much of Old Testament history is comprised of captivity (in Egypt, Assyria, now Babylon) and God’s people being tempted to fall for the false Gods of their “host” country. Even the occupation of the promised land, Canaan, held this same set of tempations (see Deut. 7:1-6 for a good summary). One note about these “captivities:”
the Isrealites were allowed varying degrees of freedom of movement, religion, property ownership, etc., especially in this period of captivity in Babylon. The Egyptians were less hospitable.
Ezekiel is dealing with a nation away from God. The people are worshipping false Gods, offering their sons as burnt sacrifices, loving their gold and silver, engaging in immorality and dishonesty. In effect, they have become just like their neighbors! They are “in the world” AND “of the world.” Though some of the specifics differ, much of this mirrors our experience. Just like them we are living in a time of political, economic, and social unrest. Just like them our greatest spiritual problem is idolatry. Just like them the answer is found in returning to God’s will. I have found it fascinating to go back and read the book of Ezekiel noting the many similarities between then and now. Time may prevent you from reading the whole book, but the first 8 or 9 chapters are a good primer.
2. Why did God’s people, exiled in Babylon, need a heart transplant -- from hearts of stone to hearts of flesh? How does God promise to perform this spiritual surgery? In what ways are God’s people today exiled and how will we get back home?
Idolatry, immorality, ceremonialism in worship, etc. were the result of lust of the flesh and the desire of Israel to be like their neighbors. All sinful movements ultimately come back to individuals with sin in their hearts (see Ezek. 18 verses 19ff). These
rebellious Israelites did’t need new laws with a new set of restrictions. There were plenty of laws and they had learned how to break them!
Look at Ezek 36: 25,27 “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities, and from all your idols.” “I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” As he has in the past and continues to do, God takes the first step by forgiving people who actually deserve more punishment. This undeserved forgiveness combined with the personal indwelling of the Spirit of God “moves” (motivates, teaches, leads) us to do the will of God.
Our exile is more subtle (maybe insidious is a better term) than that of Ezekiel’s day. Our idolatry, sacrifice of our children, love of gold and silver, immorality is portrayed as normal and routine under the banner of “capitalism” and “lifestyle.” If we can be honest with ourselves and God in acknowledging our sin, accept his forgiveness, let his Spirit move us we will find our way home. Home rather than a geographical location is a way of life that we live, and a way of life we seek to influence our culture to live. This way of life finds its highest expression in the fruit of the Spirit as defined in Galatians 5.
3.Make a list of what this text says God will do for his people. Will he do the same for us today? If so, how?
1. Take you out of the nations.
2. Bring you back to your own land.
3. Sprinkle you with cleansing water.
4. Replace your heart of stone with a heart of flesh.
5. God will put his Spirit in you.
6. The Spirit will move you to follow God’s laws.
7. Return you to the land of forefathers.
8. Save you from uncleaness.
9. Plenty of grain, no famine.
10. No longer suffer disgrace among the nations.
11. Resettle towns and rebuild ruins.
12. Then, the nations will know that I am the Lord.
Not all of these blessings were given to the Israelites when they returned from the exile under Nehemiah, Ezra and Zerubbabel. Some were more long-range, viz. the gift of the Spirit which was not completed until Pentecost, Acts 2. God’s covenant blessings before and since Ezekiel’s day were conditioned upon Israel’s continued obedience and faithful worship. Not surprisingly, they continued the cycle of breaking covenant with God, repentance and restoration, etc.
Noting that the kingdom of Christ is not a geographical/political entity like Israel --
each of these blessings could have a spiritual parallel to Christians. It should be stimulating for the class to think of specific ways God blesses us in Christ, through the Spirit, especially working on our hearts to add the 9 attributes of the fruit of the Spirit.
4. Compare Ezekiel’s message in our study text to that of his contemporary, Jeremiah, who was in Jerusalem at the same time period (see Jeremiah 31:31-34). Did the Jewish people of Jeremiah’s and Ezekiel’s time understand the new spiritual covenant? Did the Jewish people during the earthly ministry of Jesus and the early church? Do we understand?
Jeremiah’s message seems to be more focused on the distant future, i.e. the new covenant bought with the blood of Christ (see Hebrews 8, especially the quotation of Jeremiah 31 beginning at 8:8). Notice that Jeremiah does not specifically mention the Spirit.
Did they understand? I think the very concept of a new covenant built on the grace of God is beyond understanding for Ezekiel’s and Jeremiah’s people, the original first century audience, and even us. In salvation history, as the revelation from God has gotten more complete we can understand better than those before Christ. But, still we will fully understand such an amazing and supernatural thing as salvation from sin only when we are in the very presence of God.
Thankfully, we do not have to fully understand the new covenant, the power of the blood of Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit, to believe and be blessed by them.
5. At least one Old Testament scholar did not understand that life comes by the Holy Spirit (John 3). Had Nicodemus never heard the message of Ezekiel? If he had, why did he not understand Jesus? Do we have some of the same impediments to understanding?
Nicodemus and the Pharisees did what the people of Ezekiel’s day had done. They had turned “law keeping” into the idol. Doing the right things in religion just to be seen and honored by their fellow Pharisees, self-exaltation, tithing garden spices while neglecting justice, mercy and faithfulness (Matt. 23) - Jesus finally tells them you are tombs full of dead men’s bones (look ahead to Ezek. 37), beautiful to look at but inside full of hypocrisy and wickedness!
Surely Nicodemus had read and studied Ezekiel’s prophecy. Jesus chided him “You are Israel’s teacher, and do you not understand these things?” What Nicodemus and the Pharisees had done is to define their religion in such a way that the message of Ezekiel (and Jeremiah, Hosea, Micah, Amos, etc) did not relate to them! It related to people of another time, to other religions, to other people. The Judaism into which Jesus was born and the early church was established was a religion impressed with its own rightness and righteousness! Their tickets were punched, they alone had salvation and were making it difficult for others to find God. When Jesus explained the role of the Holy Spirit in the “new birth” to Nicodemus it just didn’t fit with his neat system. “This is the verdict, Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:19) Can we teachers and our students honestly admit to the same type of eccelestical slight of hand? Have we said, “other people and other churches need to repent,” or back to Ezekiel, “other poeple need to have their hearts of stone replaced with hearts of flesh and be cleansed from their impurities and idols?”
I suggest that Nicodemus had heard the message of Ezekiel and didn’t understand it for the same reason we have heard it and not understood: sin.
6. How has this glimpse into the Old Testament helped you identify ways the Holy Spirit is at work changing you into a different person?
Hopefully, we are willing to let God work on our hearts and like Saul in 1 Samuel 10:6
“change us into a different person.” Maybe the message of Ezekiel will help dispel the notion that the work of the Holy Spirit is all about speaking in tongues, raising the dead, or predicting the future. His work was to soften hearts and convict people of sin so they would leave behind their idols. The Holy Spirit is at work changing me into a different person by opening my heart to see what my idols are...He is working to convict me of the sin which will be my final undoing...He is pointing to the answer, the forgiveness that is found in the sacrifice of Christ...He will add to my life Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-control.
If I let Him.
Ezekiel 36 concludes with the statement “Then will they know that I am the Lord.” This phrase is found throughout the book of Ezekiel 55-60 times. In chapter 36 it relates to the children of Israel knowing God. In other passages it refers to the nations knowing God (chapter 25 - Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, chapter 29 - Egypt, etc.)
Surely God wants us to become different people, and by becoming different in our conduct before non-believers become exhibit A that causes them to know the Lord.
7. For further study and reflection, read Ezekiel 37, the vision of the dry bones. What was needed for these bones to live? Is the “breath” of verse 5 the same as the “Spirit” of verse 14? What is the significance of this vision for the original audience? What is the significance for us?
This chapter is a fascinating follow-up to our study text. Shifting from the metaphor of a stone heart to a pile of dry bones Ezekiel makes the same point. Only the Spirit will make you alive!
A final note on Biblical interpretation: If you do not understand what you’re reading just read on. The next chapter may very well interpret the portion that got you hung up in the first place. It may also do what chapter 37 does - make it even more memorable and practical. Israel lamented “Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.” Ezekiel’s message from God was “O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the Land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT IN YOU AND YOU WILL LIVE...” (Ezek 37:11-14a).
Study text:
Ezekiel 36:24-26 “’For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God. I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and make it plentiful and will not bring famine upon you. I will increase the fruit of the trees and the crops of the field, so that you will no longer suffer disgrace among the nations because of famine. Then you will remember your evil ways and wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves for your sins and detestable practices. I want you to know that I am not doing this for your sake, declares the Sovereign LORD. Be ashamed and disgraced for your conduct, O house of Israel!
“’This is what the Sovereign LORD says: On the day I cleanse you from all your sins, I will resettle your towns, and the ruins will be rebuilt. The desolate land will be cultivated instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass through it. They will say, “This land that was laid waste has become like the garden of Eden; the cities that were lying in ruins, desolate and destroyed, are now fortified and inhabited.” Then the nations around you that remain will know that I the LORD have rebuilt what was destroyed and have replanted what was desolate. I the LORD have spoken, and I will do it.’
Collateral texts:
Jeremiah 31:31-34 “The time is coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. “ I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
Joel 2:28,29 “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
Psalm 52:11,12 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Psalm 139:7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?