And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.
I will give you a mew heart pure filling you with a new spirit I will remove the stone formed stubborn heart placing you with the compassionate and tender responsive heart
26 A anew heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
What does Ezekiel 36:26 mean?
John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put
within you
A “new heart” and a “new spirit” are one and the same; that is, a renewed one; renewed by the Spirit and grace of God; in which a new principle of life is put; new light is infused; a new will, filled with new purposes and resolutions; where new affections are placed, and new desires are formed; and where there are new delights and joys, as well as new sorrows and troubles; the same which in the New Testament is called the “new man”, and the new creature, ( Ephesians 4:24 ) ( 2 Corinthians 5:17 ) . The Targum paraphrases it,
“a heart fearing, and a spirit fearing;”
where the true fear of God is, a truly gracious heart; and which is purely the gift of God, and is the fruit of his rich grace, abundant mercy, and great love: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh;
the Targum is,
“and I will break the heart of the wicked, which is hard as a stone;”
this is a heart hardened by sin, and confirmed in it; destitute of spiritual life and motion; senseless and stupid, stubborn and inflexible; on which no impressions are made; and which remains hard and impenitent: now this is in “the flesh”, in corrupt nature; and this hardness of heart is natural to men; and all who have it are after the flesh, or are carnal; and it requires omnipotence to remove it; it cannot be taken out by men of themselves: nor by ministers of the word; nor by the bare mercies and judgments of God; but by the powerful and efficacious grace of God; giving repentance unto life; working faith in the soul, to look to a crucified Christ; and shedding abroad the love of God in the heart, which softens and melts it; all which is done by the Spirit, and frequently by means of the word. This is interpreted, in the Talmud F14, of the evil imagination, or corruption of nature; and is one of the names of it, a stone; and it refers, it is said F15, to the time or world to come, the days of the Messiah: and I will give you an heart of flesh;
a heart sensible of sin and danger; a penitent one, soft and tender, through the love and fear of God; a spiritual and sanctified heart; submissive to the will of God; flexible and obsequious to the commands of Christ; on which impressions are made by the grace of God; where the laws of God are written, the Gospel of Christ is put; where Christ himself is formed; where are the fear of God, faith, hope, and love, and every other grace.
What Does Ezekiel 12:11 Mean? ►
“Say, ‘I am a sign to you As I have done, so it will be done to them; they will go into exile, into captivity.’
Ezekiel 12:11(NASB)
Picture courtesy of John Heseltine/Pam Masco/FreeBibleimages.org
Verse Thoughts
The sovereign Lord does nothing without first revealing His plan to His servants.. the prophets, and Ezekiel was one such servant through whom the Lord spoke to His people Israel, and disclosed many wonderful, and many terrible things.
Although this man of God warned of the judgement to come, there is much in this book that emphases the sovereign authority of the Lord, which gave encouragement and comfort to his people, Israel.
Although the book of Ezekiel trumpets the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Sanctuary, it also proclaims the great and awesome glory of the Lord, and describes, in detail, the future Millennial Temple, under the administration of God’s anointed King.
One aspect of Ezekiel’s ministry was that some of his prophetic announcements were to be articulated through drama or mime. He would sometimes be instructed, by the Lord, to act out a sequence of events, to explain to his fellow countrymen, what was to happen in the future.
On one occasion he was asked to move all His household goods from one place to another to signify that Israel would one day go into captivity. At another time he had to dig through a wall with his eyes blind-folded, and on yet another occasion, he had to erect a clay tablet, which was to portray the city of Jerusalem under siege, and then lie on his side for a total of 430 days!!
All these activities undertaken by Ezekiel were to act as “signs” to the people of Israel – signs of things to come. Instead of speaking a prophetic utterance into the ears of the Israelites, he was to proclaim through theatrics, various things that were to happen to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
He was instructed by the Lord to say to the people of Israel, I am a sign to you. Ezekiel was to be a signpost to the nation of Israel. He was to live out future history through his play-acting. All the bizarre theatrics in which he engaged, were simply a statement of what was to happen to God’s people, in the future. As I have done, so it will be done to you, he explained.
Israel was to go into exile. They were to go into captivity. The future of Israel was dramatically played-out, through the strange dramatics of Ezekiel the prophet. And so the Lord told Him – Say, ‘I am a sign to you, Israel. I am your sign. The things that I have done, shall be done to you – and you shall be removed from the land and go into captivity.
Source: https://dailyverse.knowing-jesus.com/ezekiel-12-11
Living Water Ministries 