Question:
Please explain to me, Ezek. 36:25?
Answer:
The text is as follows: “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.” The language used is drawn from the ancient manner of purifying, which involves sprinkling the person or thing to be purified with water. See Lev. 14:2-7. The prophet uses it as a symbol of the cleansing power of the grace of Christ through His Word. The priest pronounced clean by his sprinkling ceremony, the man whom God had made clean. Christ cleansed the leper with His word, “Be thou clean.” Matt. 8:3. He said to the sinful disciples, “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” John 15:3. See also Eph. 5:26, “the washing of water by the word.” The power that did the cleansing was the Spirit of Christ, but His words are spirit and life. John 6:63. See Heb. 10:22, where the same term, “sprinkled,” is applied to the cleansing of the heart. Ezek. 36:25 simply means that God would cleanse His people. It has no reference whatsoever to any ordinance practiced by particular churches.
