Ezekiel 11:17-21 - Regenerated Relationship
- Chad Werkhoven
- 22 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Regeneration isn’t just a small repair job; it’s a total heart transplant.
Ezekiel 11:17–21 (NIV)
17 “Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.’
18 “They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. 19 I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. 20 Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. 21 But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols, I will bring down on their own heads what they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord.”
Canons of Dordt
Point 4 - Irresistible Grace
Article 11: The Holy Spirit’s Work in Conversion
Moreover, when God works true conversion in the elect, God not only sees to it
that the gospel is proclaimed to them outwardly,
and enlightens their minds powerfully by the Holy Spirit
so that they may rightly understand and discern the things of the Spirit of God,
but, by the effective operation of the same regenerating Spirit,
God also penetrates into the inmost being,
opens the closed heart,
softens the hard heart,
and circumcises the heart that is uncircumcised.
God infuses new qualities into the will,
making the dead will alive,
the evil one good, the unwilling one willing, and the stubborn one compliant.
God activates and strengthens the will so that,
like a good tree,
it may be enabled to produce the fruits of good deeds.
Summary
Today's Summary and Dig Deeper posts are paraphrased from John Calvin's commentary on this passage.
When Ezekiel prophesied that God’s people would return to Him, he made it clear that they couldn’t do it on their own. Once someone turns away from God, they won’t come back unless God reaches out first.
That’s why God promises to give His people a new heart and a new spirit. Without this, our hearts are like stone—cold, hard, and unable to love or obey God. But God replaces that stony heart with a heart of flesh, meaning a soft heart that listens and responds to Him.
Some might say people still have some power in themselves to choose God, but even our best efforts fall short. We still have a will and the ability to make choices, but since the fall of Adam, our will is broken and naturally chooses what is wrong. Regeneration—being made new—isn’t just a small repair job; it’s a total heart transplant. God doesn’t just make us able to obey; He causes us to actually want to obey.
Dig Deeper
The new heart He gives isn't perfect yet. Believers still struggle with sin and temptation. But what makes this heart “new” is that it truly wants to follow God. It’s not fake or half-hearted—it’s sincere, even if imperfect. God not only gives us the will to do good, but He gives us the strength to carry it out.
This is why we can’t claim any part of our salvation as our own accomplishment. Even our perseverance—sticking with God through life’s trials—is a gift from Him. If all God gave us was the ability to choose Him, we would still fall. Adam had that ability and still fell. What we need is more than ability—we need God to carry us through.
So when God says, they shall walk in my commands, it’s not a vague hope—it’s a promise. His grace not only forgives, it transforms.
And when He says, they will be my people, and I will be their God, He means He’ll both cleanse our past and lead us forward. We belong to Him, not because we found our way back, but because He came to rescue us.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who gathers us from the world and brings us back;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Thank God for giving you a new heart, and pray that you will follow His decrees and be careful to keep His laws;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: 1 Corinthians 15
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