36:34-36
“The desolate land will be cultivated ...” It is not about something that was pretty good, or even just reasonable, being made better. It is about a desolate land being made fruitful, about a ruined life being put back together. Once you were mocked by others for they could see the mess of your life. But those days will come to an end. They will see that your life is becoming something beautiful, something strong. “Then the nations ...” God’s name is glorified in the eyes of the world when they see a ruined life put back together again, a ruined people restored. The Lord is in the business of restoring the desolate.
36:37,38
God has always been into big numbers! Right at the beginning He told Adam and Eve to go forth and multiply. He promised Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky or the grains of sand in the desert, a promise repeated to future generations. In the next chapter of Ezekiel we will read of a vast army. “I will yield to Israel’s plea”. A common feature of the restoration is that God answers prayer, this was also key to Jesus’ teaching. Asking prayer is not inferior to praise or adoration prayer, at least not in God’s mind. But it is a people dedicated to God, a people with hearts committed to Him, that can avail themselves of this promise. For then we will be asking aright. “They will know that I am the Lord.” This is the fundamental truth of the universe.
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