My Reflections on Ezekiel 36:25–27 and Isaiah 42:19–20

Today, these two sets of verses came to my attention, and I thought I’d share my thoughts on them.

Ezekiel 36:25–27 has been encouraging and uplifting. In addition, I’ve come up on some new insights (or interpretation?) of Isaiah 42:19 — 20 that hopefully isn’t eisegetical.

Ezekiel 36:25–27

Here are the verses (from the NIV84):

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.

What I find very cool here is that God is going to help us to be good.

What I find extremely encouraging here is the promise of transformation, of being transformed by God’s power, by God’s Spirit moving us to become better people, ever-transforming into the image of Christ.

It’s wonderful and uplifting to read that the Holy Spirit within us, will “move [us] to follow [God’s] decrees and be careful to keep [God’s] laws”.

This is an inkling, a reflection, of the identical promises scattered across the New Testament, where Christ and his disciples speak of us being transformed by God through the Holy Spirit.

A supernatural transformation (metanoia) that God promises to give us.

One of my favorite verses in the New Testament that captures this promise is 2 Corinthians 3:18 [NASB] (see the interlinear here), which says:

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

This is a deeply exciting and glorious verse. I think it has much to say, and it’s wonderful to reflect on. It’s likely way too much to unpack here. I think it also succinctly and beautifully mirrors the promise that God will transform us, and make us perfect, like Christ.

I especially like the part “from glory to glory” which in the original koine greek is “apo doxēs eis doxan” (or in the greek alphabet: “ἀπὸ δόξης εἰς δόξαν”). There’s a certain rhyme to it that’s nice. (The greek word doxa is used to mean “glory”, or at least was used to translate the OT Hebrew word kavod (כבוד) which means glory.)

On the topic of Glory/Doxa

This is a slight tangent, but that word “glory” — a word used a lot throughout the Bible, is something with a meaning far deeper and more meaningful, than what the common usage/definition of the term would suggest.

I came across a book recently, quite randomly, that discusses the meaning of the glory of God: https://www.amazon.com/Theology-Suffering-World-Glory-Longing-dp-1107153697/dp/1107153697/ (it’s called Theology in a Suffering World: Glory and Longing). I didn’t buy the book, and used the free “Look inside” preview of the book on Amazon is actually pretty good, and I learned some stuff going through the preview. The primary goal of the book (as the summary says) is to show “that ‘glory’ is not necessarily about beauty or radiance, but is better understood as a sign of the unknowable depths of God”. The book has a bunch of chapters where the author focuses on exploring the meaning of God’s glory in different areas, including the scriptures, the Christian walk/journey, the natural world, beauty, art, etc.

Isaiah 42:19–20

Note: I’ve come to interpret these verses differently than how it might be typically/normally interpreted. This is Isaiah 42:19–20 (NIV84):

Who is blind but my servant,
and deaf like the messenger I send?
Who is blind like the one committed to me,
blind like the servant oof the LORD?

You have seen many things but have paid no attention;
your ears are open, but you hear nothing.

I think what this might actually mean is how a servant of God is meant to act when it comes to the evil, the fallenness, and the sin in the world.

We might see sin and evil around us, but we keep our most inward being blind to it. We might hear and gain knowledge of sin happening all around us, but we shield and keep the knowledge and the thoughts of sin from our most inward being. Essentially, we do not let the vision and knowledge of the sin around drag us down, depress us, and corrupt or influence us. I do not mean to turn a blind eye or to be blindly deaf, like two of the three monkeys. But we willfully ignore the sin around us, and we stick to a vision of the eternal life in a sinless, perfect world, that God has promised (that I delve into in a post titled My Hope). Essentially, I think these verses are talking about the non-wavering commitment that servants of the Lord must have. After the exodus, Israel imitated the sins of the nations around them. But the right approach would have been to ignore their sin, and essentially be blind and deaf to it. At least that’s my takeaway from this verse.

My life application NIV study bible has a mini-commentary that interprets this verse in quite the opposite manner, but I don’t agree with that interpretation of it (note: it’s an amazing study bible, regardless). The context of these verses (Isaiah 42:19–20) would suggest the interpretation that the NIV study bible mini-commentary, but I think it is good to look at Isaiah 42:19's cross-referenced verse, Isaiah 43:8, which states: “Lead out those who have eyes but are blind, who have ears but are deaf.” This is stated in the context of Israel’s (future, promised) return from the Babylonian exile. It speaks about God’s people being gathered up from the east, and west, and north, and south, and being brought back to Israel. In the context of these verses, I think this might referencing the servants of God being brought out, or lead out.