diff --git a/flax/training/orbax_utils.py b/flax/training/orbax_utils.py
index 19399cd333..be2ccc48da 100644
--- a/flax/training/orbax_utils.py
+++ b/flax/training/orbax_utils.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 
 """Utils for Orbax Checkpointing, available even after Flax Checkpointing is deprecated."""
 
+import inspect
 from typing import Any, Optional
 import warnings
 
@@ -68,19 +69,30 @@ def restore_args_from_target(target: Any, mesh: Optional[Mesh] = None) -> Any:
   """
 
   def find_sharding(x):
-    if is_multi_device_array(x):
+    if isinstance(x, jax.Array):
       return x.sharding
     return None
 
-  # Simpler case: no multihost arrays
+  # Simpler case: no JAX arrays
   if not any(
-      jax.tree_util.tree_flatten(jax.tree_map(is_multi_device_array, target))[0]
+      jax.tree_util.tree_flatten(jax.tree_map(find_sharding, target))[0]
   ):
     return jax.tree_util.tree_map(
         lambda x: ocp.RestoreArgs(restore_type=np.ndarray), target
     )
 
-  # Multihost arrays: find sharding from the given target
+  # JAX arrays: find sharding from the given target and create RestoreArgs
+
+  # TODO(ivyzheng): remove after Orbax new release.
+  ocp_kwargs = {}
+  if (
+      'set_global_shape'
+      in inspect.signature(
+          ocp.checkpoint_utils.construct_restore_args
+      ).parameters
+  ):
+    ocp_kwargs['set_global_shape'] = False
+
   sharding_tree = jax.tree_util.tree_map(find_sharding, target)
   if mesh is not None:
     warnings.warn(
@@ -90,8 +102,11 @@ def find_sharding(x):
         ),
         DeprecationWarning,
     )
-    axes_tree = jax.tree_util.tree_map(lambda s: s.spec, sharding_tree)
-    return ocp.checkpoint_utils.restore_args_from_target(
-        mesh, target, axes_tree
-    )
-  return ocp.checkpoint_utils.construct_restore_args(target, sharding_tree)
+
+    def substitute_embedding(s):
+      return jax.sharding.NamedSharding(mesh, s.spec)
+
+    sharding_tree = jax.tree_util.tree_map(substitute_embedding, sharding_tree)
+  return ocp.checkpoint_utils.construct_restore_args(
+      target, sharding_tree, **ocp_kwargs
+  )