“I will also save you from all your uncleannesses.” (Ezekiel 36:29)

Who is “you?” We know from verse 22 that the Lord is promising deliverance to the nation of Israel. But deliverance from what? What made Israel unclean? God promised to transform opinions of His “great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them” (v. 23). Apparently, Israel had dragged God’s name through moral mud, likely in both behavior and word, breaking the third commandment: “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain” (Exodus 20:7).

What’s the big deal about God’s “great name?” It represents who He is! Lips reveal the uncleanness of the heart when they misuse the Lord’s name and treat it and Him without reverence. “And though they say, The LORD liveth, surely they swear falsely” when they behave as though the Lord is dead (Jeremiah 5:2).

However, His great name “was profaned among the heathen” as well (Ezekiel 36:23). So, not just Israel disdained their Maker’s name. All nations needed and still need to be saved, or they will be judged. How will the Lord keep His promise of salvation given in today’s verse?

Jesus is “the way” (John 14:6). Only His blood can cover “all your uncleannesses.” “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14). When will Israel be sanctified? Only the Lord knows. But we do know that “it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel . . . shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth” (Isaiah 10:20). What about the salvation of other nations? Whoever will “believe on him” (John 6:29) who “rose from the dead” (1 Corinthians 15:12) will be saved. BDT