The Prince, The Place, and The Presence Text: Ezekiel 37:24-28
Introduction: The Goal of the Resurrection
We are in the heart of Ezekiel's prophecy. Just before our text, God has performed a resurrection in a graveyard. He has taken a valley of dry, disconnected, and bleached bones, the house of Israel in exile, and He has breathed His Spirit into them, knit them together with sinews, covered them with flesh, and stood them on their feet, a vast army. This is one of the most glorious pictures of regeneration in all of Scripture. But we must not make the mistake of thinking that resurrection is the end of the story. Life is not the point. Life is for a purpose.
Our modern evangelical sensibilities often stop at the personal resurrection. We like the idea of God making us spiritually alive, giving us a new heart, and forgiving our sins. But we get squeamish when that new life is immediately conscripted into a kingdom, placed under a king, given a law to obey, and situated in a specific, tangible place. We want the new life without the new politics. We want the Spirit without the statutes. We want a personal relationship with God that does not involve His public dwelling place. But God does not save us into a spiritual vacuum. He saves us out of the kingdom of darkness and translates us into the kingdom of His beloved Son. He does not just give us a heartbeat; He gives us a homeland, a constitution, and a King.
This passage in Ezekiel 37 is the divine blueprint for what comes after the bones stand up. This is the goal of the resurrection. This is not an appendix to the gospel; it is the very substance of it. God promises His resurrected people a permanent King, a permanent land, a permanent covenant of peace, and a permanent, visible presence among them. This is a comprehensive, world-altering salvation. It is political, it is social, it is architectural, and it is everlasting.
The Text
"And My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd; and they will walk in My judgments and keep My statutes and do them. They will inhabit the land that I gave to Jacob My servant, which your fathers inhabited; and they will inhabit it, they, and their sons and their sons’ sons, forever; and David My servant will be their prince forever. And I will cut a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will give them the land and multiply them and will set My sanctuary in their midst forever. My dwelling place also will be with them; and I will be their God, and they will be My people. And the nations will know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever."
(Ezekiel 37:24-28 LSB)
One King, One Law (v. 24)
The first thing a resurrected people need is a ruler. God provides one.
"And My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd; and they will walk in My judgments and keep My statutes and do them." (Ezekiel 37:24)
The historical David was, at this point, centuries in the grave. This is not a promise to reincarnate him. This is a messianic promise. The one who is coming to rule is the greater David, the Son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ. And notice His title: He is "king." This is not a suggestion. This is not a presidency offered for our approval. The gospel is a royal summons, a declaration that the true King has been enthroned and all men everywhere are commanded to repent and bow the knee. The fundamental political reality of the universe is that Jesus is Lord.
Under this one King, there will be "one shepherd." This speaks of a radical unity. The great schism between Israel and Judah, the two sticks which God had just promised to make one in His hand, is now healed. There is one flock and one shepherd. This is a direct rebuke to all our petty, denominational squabbles and our proud sectarianism. Our unity is not found in our ecumenical dialogues or our cooperative programs. Our unity is found in our common submission to our one Shepherd, Jesus Christ.
And what is the result of this new life under this new King? It is obedience. "They will walk in My judgments and keep My statutes and do them." The grace of regeneration does not lead to lawlessness; it leads to godliness. The Spirit God breathes into the dry bones is the Holy Spirit, and He writes God's law on the heart, creating not a resistance to the law but a delight in it. Grace does not abolish the law as our standard of righteousness; it establishes the law by giving us the power to obey it. The resurrected life is a life of joyful, willing obedience to the King.
A Permanent Place and a Permanent Prince (v. 25)
A kingdom requires not just a king and a people, but also a place. God's salvation is not Gnostic; it is earthy.
"They will inhabit the land that I gave to Jacob My servant, which your fathers inhabited; and they will inhabit it, they, and their sons and their sons’ sons, forever; and David My servant will be their prince forever." (Ezekiel 37:25 LSB)
The promise is about inhabiting a specific, tangible "land." For the exiles, this was a promise of return to Canaan. But the scope here is far grander. The promise is "forever." This points beyond the dirt of historical Palestine to the ultimate inheritance of the saints: a new heaven and a new earth. The meek, Jesus says, will inherit the earth. We are not destined for an ethereal, disembodied existence, floating on clouds. We are destined for a resurrected life in a renewed, material creation, a glorified cosmos over which our Prince, the greater David, will reign forever.
The word "forever" rings like a bell throughout this passage. The land is forever. The prince is forever. This is a promise of absolute security. Earthly kingdoms rise and fall. Political movements have their moment and then fade. But the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ is an everlasting kingdom. His dominion is an everlasting dominion. This is the foundation of our confidence. We are not on the losing side of history. We are citizens of a kingdom that cannot be shaken.
A Covenant of Peace and a Central Sanctuary (v. 26)
The relationship between the King and His people in their land is defined by a covenant.
"And I will cut a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will give them the land and multiply them and will set My sanctuary in their midst forever." (Ezekiel 37:26 LSB)
This is a "covenant of peace," or shalom. This is not merely the cessation of hostilities. Shalom is positive, robust, and all-encompassing. It is wholeness, flourishing, prosperity, and right-relatedness in every direction: with God, with one another, and with the creation itself. This is the peace that Christ purchased with His blood on the cross, reconciling all things to Himself. And like everything else in this passage, this covenant is "everlasting." It is the New Covenant, which cannot be broken because it is secured by the finished work of the Prince of Peace.
Within this covenant, God promises two things: multiplication and presence. "I will... multiply them." God's kingdom is not static; it grows. It is a mustard seed that becomes a great tree. This is the Great Commission in its Old Testament form. The resurrected people of God are a fruitful people, filling the earth with sons and daughters of the kingdom.
And at the center of this flourishing kingdom, God will "set My sanctuary in their midst forever." The sanctuary, the temple, was the heart of Israel's life. It was the place where God's presence dwelt in a special way. The ultimate fulfillment of this is not a building made with hands. The ultimate sanctuary is Immanuel, God with us, Jesus Christ Himself. He is the true temple. And by extension, the Church, His body, is now the temple of the Holy Spirit. God's plan is to place His presence, His Church, right in the middle of the world.
The Covenant Formula and the Missional Goal (v. 27-28)
The final verses bring us to the very summit of God's purpose, the ultimate goal of redemption, and its effect on the world.
"My dwelling place also will be with them; and I will be their God, and they will be My people." (Ezekiel 37:27 LSB)
Here it is. This is the summary of the entire Bible. This is the covenant formula that echoes from Genesis to Revelation. The goal of the King, the land, the peace, and the sanctuary is this: restored fellowship. "My dwelling place," or tabernacle, "will be with them." God pitches His tent among us. He moves into the neighborhood. He is not a distant, absentee landlord. He is our God, and we are His people. This is the relational heart of the gospel. All of theology, all of history, is driving toward this glorious, intimate, and eternal reality.
But this reality is not a secret to be kept. It is a banner to be displayed.
"And the nations will know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever." (Ezekiel 37:28 LSB)
The restoration of God's people is for the sake of the world. It is a missional demonstration. When the watching nations see a people who are united under one King, who live in peace, who walk in joyful obedience to His law, and who have the manifest presence of God dwelling in their midst, they will be forced to a conclusion. They will know that Yahweh, the God of the Bible, is the one true God. They will see that He is the one "who sanctifies Israel," who sets His people apart and makes them holy.
The Church is God's cosmic object lesson. Our life together, our worship, our families, our communities, our faithfulness, this is God's argument to a skeptical world. The primary apologetic is not a clever syllogism, but a holy people. When God's sanctuary, His Church, is in the midst of the world, living out the reality of this everlasting covenant, the nations will see and know that our King reigns.