‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh, “For this moreover will I be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them. I will increase them with men like a flock. As the flock of holy things, as the flock of Jerusalem in her appointed feasts, so will the waste cities be filled with flocks of men, and they will know that I am Yahweh.”
This final touch emphasises the closeness of the connection between the promises just given and the people to whom Ezekiel ministered. God was open to their enquiry on these matters so as to do it for them. And His promise was that just like sacrificial sheep and goats (‘the flock of holy things') were brought in large numbers into Jerusalem ready for various sacrificial rituals at the feasts (compare 2 Chronicles 35:7), so would men be gathered together in large flocks in what had been the waste cities of Jerusalem. There is possibly a hint here that His people are to be seen in the restoration as entering in as offerings to Yahweh, a holy people for His own possession.
So Ezekiel's vision of the future can be summarised as follows. (1) The preeminent motive in Israel's redemption is the honour of God's name (Ezekiel 36:22; Ezekiel 36:32). (2) Israel will know ultimately that He is truly Yahweh, the God Who acts (Ezekiel 36:38). (3) There will be an abhorrence of their previous sins (Ezekiel 36:31-32). (4) They will receive full cleansing from their sins through the divine ‘water of separation', which is connected with a sacrificial offering (Ezekiel 36:25). (5) They will be totally transformed spiritually (Ezekiel 36:26-27; compare Ezekiel 11:19; Ezekiel 18:31). (6) The gift of the Holy Spirit will be granted to them (Ezekiel 36:27; compare Ezekiel 37:14). (7) This will result in obedience to God's laws (Ezekiel 36:27; compare Ezekiel 11:20). (8) They will finally enjoy a place of great blessing and fruitfulness.
This sequence could be applied equally to every true conversion, both of post-exilic Israelites becoming true Israelites by response to God, and of Christians today. That it occurred in many exiles at the restoration is surely certain. They returned to great hardship because of their love for Yahweh. That it occurred during the ministry of Jesus and of the Apostles is manifest in the Gospels, Acts and epistles. It continues to happen today. And it may well be that it will also happen during a great turning to Christ among unbelieving Jews in the future (although we must be careful not to enforce our ideas on God). But all are part of the one great fulfilment.