Charles Ellicott Commentary Ezekiel 36:25

"And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you." — Ezekiel 36:25 (ASV)

Sprinkle clean water.— Compare to Hebrews 9:13; Hebrews 10:22. Ezekiel, the priest, here refers to those various purifications of the Law (e.g.,Numbers 8:7; Numbers 19:9; Numbers 19:17; Leviticus 14:5–7; Leviticus 14:9, and so on) which were performed using water; yet he refers to these as a whole, in their symbolic significance, rather than to any one of them in particular. He speaks primarily of the cleansing from idolatry and such gross outward sins, and he treats of the people collectively; yet this purification, as the following verses show, must necessarily extend much farther, and be applied to them individually.

It was the same symbolism which led in later ages to the use of baptism in the admission of proselytes to the Jewish Church, a practice adopted by the forerunner of our Lord in the preparation of the people for His coming. Baptism is also alluded to by our Lord Himself in His conversation with Nicodemus (John 3:5) and afterwards established by Him as the initiatory sacrament of the Christian Church. (Titus 3:5; Hebrews 10:22).