Ezekiel 39:25-29 meaning

Ezekiel 39:25-29 concludes  the Gog oracle and the restoration sequence of Ezekiel 36-39 with a declaration of restoration: the LORD will have mercy on the whole house of Israel, gather them from their enemies' lands, sanctify His name through them before the nations, and pour out His Spirit so that He hides His face from them no more. These verses return to the ground Ezekiel 36-37 covered, bracketing the Gog oracle with restoration promises on both sides. The Lord speaks: Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, "Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name (v 25).

The opening therefore draws directly on what the defeat of Gog has displayed. Because the LORD has been vindicated before the nations and His holy name made known, He now moves forward in mercy: I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel (v 25).

The phrase restore the fortunes of Jacob is an expression for the reversal of exile and loss. A similar expression is used in Jeremiah 30:18 and Amos 9:14 for the same coming restoration. I will be jealous for My holy name (v 25) is similar to Ezekiel 39:7's statement about the profaning of the name. The zeal for God's reputation, His name, that drove the judgment of Gog now drives the restoration of Jacob. God's people will return to Him, and no longer break their covenant vows: They will forget their disgrace and all their treachery which they perpetrated against Me, when they live securely on their own land with no one to make them afraid (v 26).

The forgetting of disgrace is attended with dwelling in security in the Promised Land. Live securely on their own land with no one to make them afraid (v 26) was the condition Ezekiel 38:8 described as already present when Gog planned his attack. They were not as secure as they thought.

But now their security is permanent, being guaranteed by the LORD. By the time Ezekiel 39:26 is spoken, Israel’s security becomes the context in which the shame of the exile and dispersion recedes. The treachery against the LORD that caused the exile is past; what remains is the inhabited land and the absence of fear.

The promise continues: When I bring them back from the peoples and gather them from the lands of their enemies, then I shall be sanctified through them in the sight of the many nations (v 27). The gathering of the people of Israel from the lands of their enemies is the ingathering Ezekiel 37:21-22 announced: the LORD bringing the sons of Israel from all the nations where they had been scattered and making them one nation again. The sanctification of the LORD through them in the sight of the many nations (v 27) ties this to the recognition theme that runs through both chapters: as the nations saw the LORD's holiness through the defeat of Gog, they will also see His faithfulness through the restoration of His people.

Israel's own knowledge is confirmed: Then they will know that I am the LORD their God because I made them go into exile among the nations, and then gathered them again to their own land; and I will leave none of them there any longer (v 28). Israel will know that I am the LORD their God (v 28) by reading the whole story—exile for their iniquity, and return by His mercy. The completeness of the restoration is underlined: I will leave none of them there any longer (v 28). Every last person of the house of Israel comes back. The gathering is total.

The oracle ends with the LORD's own commitment: I will not hide My face from them any longer, for I will have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel," declares the Lord GOD (v 29). The hiding of God's face spoken of in Ezekiel 39:23-24 as the cause of the exile ends. The opposite now takes place, as God pours out His Spirit upon them: for I will have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel (v 29).

This is the same Spirit-outpouring Ezekiel 37:14 announced, "I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life," and that Joel 2:28-29 promised for the last days when the LORD would pour out His Spirit on all flesh. Peter quoted Joel 2:28-29 during the events of Acts 2:17-18 in order to explain the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on those gathered in the upper room in Jerusalem. Israel's leadership of that generation refused to believe, and did not receive this outpouring of God's Spirit.

But Zechariah 12:10 indicates that in the last days the LORD will pour out His Spirit on those who mourn for Him because they see Him pierced. This indicates that what Israel's leaders refused in Acts will be restored in these last days (Romans 11:26).

The pouring out of the Spirit is the seal that the exiles' estrangement is finished.

Whether the Ezekiel assault and the Revelation 20 assault are the same event or two events with the same shape, the text leaves open. The prophecy leaves the timing unspecified. What it settles is the question of outcome: the LORD destroys the assault, makes His name known among all nations, restores Israel's fortunes, and pours out His Spirit so that He hides His face from His people no more.