17. (a) What encouragement does Jehovah give at Ezekiel 37:27, 28? (b) How do we know that Jehovah’s watch-care is not limited to spiritual Israel?

¹⁷ At Ezekiel 37, verses 27 and 28, we read Jehovah’s concluding words of encouragement to his united flock:

And the nations will have to know that I, Jehovah, am sanctifying Israel when my sanctuary comes to be in the midst of them to time indefinite.”

18. (a) How does Jehovah ‘sanctify Israel’? (b) How does the “great crowd” come also to have a righteous standing before God?

¹⁸ How glad we are, too, that Jehovah dwells in the midst of spiritual Israel, setting up his sanctuary in their midst “to time indefinite”! Just as this center of his worship is holy, so also those who come to worship there must be holy, sanctified, set aside for the service of their God. Anointed Christians are spoken of as “washed clean, . . . sanctified, . . . declared righteous in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:11) And as the above-cited scripture at Revelation 7:9-17 shows, the “great crowd” with earthly hopes have also “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb,” that they may render God “sacred service day and night in his temple.” What a tremendous witness results from that unified global service!