11:14. Again the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying.—Verses 14 to 25 are the message of comfort and hope to those who are now out of harmony with ecclesiasticism.
11:15. Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the Lord: unto us is this land given in possession.—The Jews in captivity were despised by those remaining in the “holy” city, Jerusalem. They type the people of Christendom who honestly own themselves to be of the world and are despised by the “best people,” the educated, religious “holy” Churchianity. “Get you far from the Lord” is the attitude of the tares toward those who do not pretend as much, but who are often much better in God's sight. The “best people” not merely own most of the earth now, but expect to own Heaven too—with the now worldly people forever consigned to a devil-imagined hell of eternal torment.
11:16. Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little Sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.—God especially favors the honest-hearted, humble-minded, however far they may now be from Him in outward appearance. Christ avoided the Scribes and the Pharisees, but freely associated with the publicans and sinners.
11:17. Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.—In the coming Kingdom God will gather first the outcasts from their condition of disfavor, even from the dead, and will give them possession of the earth before the proud-minded ecclesiastics are permitted [pg 427] to return from the dead. This is to have also a literal fulfillment on Fleshly Israel.—Z. '94-76.
11:18. And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.—The common people, free from the perverse influence of priestcraft, in Christ's Millennial Kingdom will abolish all the clergy-fostered ideas and practices now so abominable to God.
11:19. And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh.—They will be single-hearted to serve God and do His will alone. (Jer. 32:39.) From having the spirit or mind of natural men they will be given the Holy Spirit, when God “pours out His Spirit upon all flesh.” (A. 333; Z. '03-171.) From being hard-hearted they will become tender-hearted, forgiving one another even as God, for Christ's sake will forgive them.—Eph. 4:32.
11:20. That they may walk in My statutes, and keep Mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.—They will keep God's Law of Divine love. The “best people,” who now regard themselves as God's people, in the Age to come will learn that God opposes the proud and favors the humble.
11:21. But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord God.—Those who at heart love established ecclesiasticism are counted as having the heart, mind or will of the author of priestcraft, the Devil. “Ye generation of serpents (devils), how scarcely shall ye escape the condemnation of Gehenna (Second Death).”—Matt. 23:33.
11:22, 23. Then did the cherubim lift up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city.—God, and Divine favor, has ceased to be in or with Christendom (D. 527), but is upon and with the true Kingdom (mountain) of God (A. 318), toward the east (Zech. 14:4), the antitypical Mount of Olives.—D. 653.
11:24, 25. Afterwards the spirit took me up, and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me. Then I spake unto them of the captivity all the things that the Lord had shewed me.—These things seen in the Scriptures are now preached and published to the captives in Mystic Babylon.