23 "The nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile for their iniquity because e they acted treacherously against Me, and I hid My face from them; so I gave them into the hand of their adversaries , and all of them fell by the sword . 24 " According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I dealt with them, and I hid My face from them.""' 25 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 . 26 "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 . 27 "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 . 28 "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 . 29 "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 .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Ezekiel 39:23-29
Commentary on Ezekiel 39:23-29
(Read Ezekiel 39:23-29)
When the Lord shall have mercy on the whole house of Israel, by converting them to Christianity, and when they shall have borne the shame of being cast off for their sins, then the nations shall learn to know, worship, and serve him. Then Israel also shall know the Lord, as revealed in and by Christ. Past events do not answer to these predictions. The pouring out of the Spirit is a pledge that God's favour will continue. He will hide his face no more from those on whom he has poured out his Spirit. When we pray that God would never cast us from his presence, we must as earnestly pray that, in order thereto, he would never take his Holy Spirit from us.