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Ezekiel 36:24-28 - A Whole New Reality

Chad Werkhoven

Your heart transplant has made you an entirely different person.


"I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh" - verse 26
"I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh" - verse 26
 

Ezekiel 36:24-28 (NIV)


CONTEXT: God is speaking through the prophet Ezekiel to His people who are exiled in Babylon, promising to restore them.


24 “ ‘For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. 28 Then you will live in the land I gave your fathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God.

 

Canons of Dordt

Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election


6 - God’s Eternal Decision


  • The fact that 

    • some receive from God the gift of faith within time, 

    • and that others do not, 

    • stems from his eternal decree. 

  • In accordance with this decree 

    • God graciously 

      • softens the hearts, however hard, of the elect 

      • and inclines them to believe, 

    • but by a just judgment 

      • God leaves 

        • in their wickedness and hardness of heart 

        • those who have not been chosen. 

    • And in this especially is disclosed to us God’s act

      • —unfathomable, and as merciful as it is just—

      • of distinguishing between people equally lost. 

        • This is the well-known decree of election and reprobation revealed in God’s Word. 

        • The wicked, impure, and unstable 

          • distort this decree 

          • to their own ruin, 

        • but it provides holy and godly souls with comfort beyond words.

 

Summary


Ezekiel prophesied at time when the LORD's people, the Israelites, were exiled in Babylon because of their hard-hearted rebellion against God. But here the LORD speaks good news through His servant Ezekiel, promising to take them out of the nations, and that He will gather them from all the countries and bring them back to their own land.


But God is promising here to do much more than just bring them back; what good would it do to simply return these sin-stained people back to the seat of their rebellion? So God promises to cleanse them with clean water from their impurities and from all their idols.


But this would be so much more than just a surface level, external washing - it would penetrate to their very spirit. Ezekiel is famous for painting vivid word pictures, and this passage is one of his most famous. God would put His Spirit in them, removing their heart of stone and giving them a heart of flesh.


This change of heart would transform the lives of the LORD's people as they returned to their land. Now instead of harboring wickedness and idolatry, they would follow God's decrees and be careful to keep His laws. And best of all, the relationship that the LORD created them for would be restored: They will be His people, and He will be their God.



  Dig Deeper 


It can be hard to properly interpret how the promises God made to His people Israel apply to us as New Testament Christians, and good solid Christians often come to different conclusions as to how to do so. But today's passage helps build a bridge between the two subsets that comprise God's people throughout history.


Ezekiel's prophecy of the Spirit transforming stone cold hearts into soft and lively flesh is famous for good reason, which extends far beyond its literary beauty. Ezekiel here paints one of the Bible's clearest pictures of what we call regeneration, which is the process the Canons describe of God graciously softening the hearts, however hard, of the elect and inclining them to believe.


If you have faith in Christ, then you've experienced this Spiritual regeneration. For many of us, it came at such a young age we have little to no recognition of what life with a stone cold heart was like. But this transformation fundamentally changed who you are as a person. You're no longer at enmity with God; in fact, the LORD has placed His Spirit in you, who moves you to follow God's decrees.


Like the Israelites, God has promised to return you to the land. Only the land God has in mind is so much so than a mere geographical location. We understand the land to represent the new heavens and earth described so beautifully in Revelation (here and here).




  • ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who gathers us His people from out of the nations to bring us back to our own land;

  • ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that your words and actions reflect the new heart you've been given by the Spirit;

  • ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

 

Read the New Testament in a year! Today: Acts 9

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