If you have your Bible, please turn to Ezekiel 18.

The promise of God to every believer is to include them in His heavenly kingdom at the very apex of creation. No other race of creatures will ever suffer the ravages of sin; and no other race will be redeemed by the Son of God to become the children of God. Therefore, no other race of creatures will be members of God’s royal family forever. No other race will know the living God as their Heavenly Father. Nor will they know God the Son as their Heavenly husband forever after the wedding supper of the Lamb. Nor will they know God the Holy Spirit indwelling them, interweaving their spirits with His own, so that God is living through them as they are living inside God’s infinite Spirit.

The indwelling presence of God in us and having our life spiritually intertwined with God is the most intimate possible relationship that any creature can possibly have with their Creator.

I’m continuing a series on the Spirt of the LORD, the Holy Spirit, revealed in the Bible. In the last two months we looked at the role of the Spirit in the initial visions of Ezekiel between chapters 1 and 11 that initiated his call to be a prophet of God. He saw mighty cherubim beneath the throne of God, indicating the swift and certain judgment of God upon the holy city for its rampant idolatry. His visions signified the departure of God’s glory, His manifest presence, and portending destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC.

Yet at the end of his second vision, God gave Ezekiel an extraordinary promise to bring hope to the remnant of Israel. It looked forward to the New Covenant initiated by Messiah’s death and resurrection, when the Holy Spirit was released upon God’s people at Pentecost. That marvelous promise is found in chapter 11:19-20: “And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, ²⁰ that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God.” As I concluded last month, ‘even as the glory of God departed Jerusalem, God promised a change of heart that pointed to our salvation in Christ. God promised to “put a new spirit within them” that would transform a stony heart, hardened by iniquity, into a softened heart that would move people to obey God’s statutes. This change would make them God’s people, and He their true God.’

The book of Ezekiel can be divided into two halves. Chapters 1-24 are prophecies of Jerusalem’s ruin, as God brought the awful truth of his judgment upon the holy city, the temple and the temporal end of the Davidic kingdom until Messiah the King came to reign. The last 24 chapters begin with eleven chapters of judgments upon the surrounding nations by the power of Babylon, and a curse upon false spiritual shepherds who feed themselves rather than tending the sheep. Chapter 33 is a prophetic warning to godly leaders who are called to be Watchmen in calling Israel to repentance. At the end of chapter 33 came the news of Jerusalem’s destruction in the twelfth year of King Jehoiakim’s exile.

The rest of Ezekiel, from chapters 36 to 48 focuses on Israel’s and Jerusalem’s restoration. They look forward to an everlasting kingdom, with the construction of a new temple in Jerusalem with Messiah the Prince at her center. It is either a prophecy of the Millennial kingdom described in Revelation 20, or allegorically of the New Jerusalem in heaven.

The course of Ezekiel’s prophecies is like a grand allegory of the lives of so many Christians. We begin our journey toward salvation as hopelessly lost sinners who are content to indulge our sinful pleasures. We give no heed to God or the peril to our souls as unbelievers. Our sins bring painful consequences for putting our selfish pleasure ahead of love for God. Our personal failure brings remorse born of true guilt. 2 Corinthians 7:10 says, “For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.”

Once our brokenness and surrender to God is complete, God begins the work of restoration that points to the kingdom of heaven that Jesus inaugurated. He rebuilds a temple for His Spirit in our hearts, and a symbolic New Jerusalem of our life in Christ. Today we’ll see how the work of the Spirit tied in with the prophetic promise of Ezekiel in the lives of God’s people.

In chapter 18, v.3 God explained to Ezekiel how He views sin and its effects on the wicked: “The soul that sins will die.” To the ancient Jews, this simply meant that calamity in this life would overtake them leading to an early death and the ignominy of being shunned by God. Although there were premonitions of hell in the Old Testament, hell wasn’t clearly understood in Ezekiel’s time.

Then God contrasts the wicked with a righteous man, and what would cause the soul of a Jewish man to live under the Mosaic covenant. God was primarily concerned with how Jews treated their neighbors in the covenant community. Those who shunned idolatry, adultery and injustice towards their neighbor would live before God. But a righteous man’s rebellious son would not be protected by his father’s righteousness. Nor would a righteous grandson bear the punishments of his father’s wickedness.

If a sinner turned to the LORD from his wicked ways, God would pardon him; just as God would judge a man who turned from his righteousness back to sin. The obvious point is that God cares deeply how we conduct ourselves in the present moment, and will hold each of us accountable for our conduct every day. At the end of this discourse in chapter 18, God spoke through Ezekiel in vv. 31-32:

“Cast away from you all your transgressions which you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! For why will you die, O house of Israel? ³² For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,” declares the Lord God. “Therefore, repent and live.”

The LORD exhorted the Jews to make for themselves a new heart and spirit by repentance from their transgressions so that they might live. Let’s look briefly at that phrase, “a new heart and a new spirit.” What was the difference between heart and spirit in this context? To the ancient Jews, the “heart” was found in the kidneys or the gut. They thought these organs controlled the thoughts of a man. The spirit, or ruach, is what caused a man to live and breathe, that is, his attitudes or motives.

In the New Testament, we might describe this as the difference between soul and spirit, as in Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword; and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

So God wanted the Israelites to reshape both their outer behaviors and their attitudes and motivations for doing so. They were to make for themselves a new heart and a new spirit. But there was an unspoken problem. How could anyone habituated to sin find the power to make within themselves a new heart and spirit? Anyone who has struggled with addictions knows how that addiction takes over your motives and life. God stated that all a Jew needed to do was turn away from idolatry, adultery and mistreating others to find life. But the average Jew was unable to practice consistent repentance.

God’s challenge to the exiled Israelites to make for themselves a new heart and spirit really created a social dilemma that gave birth to Pharisaism. If the Israelites truly could make a new heart and spirit within themselves by their turning away from sin, then they might have something to boast about for their righteousness.

Jesus quickly disabused the ordinary first century Jews who followed Him of their ability to make for themselves a new heart and spirit. In His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, Jesus stated bluntly: “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. ¹⁸ For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. ¹⁹ Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰ For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Jesus’ listeners must have felt humbled and chastened by His strong words, since none of them were able to exceed the Pharisees’ zeal in obeying the Torah, the Law of Moses. Jesus raised the bar of tension on the old covenant to the breaking point. He effectively declared that none of His listeners would be able to attain the kingdom of heaven through their efforts. Thus, the only avenue for their escape from the curse of the Law would have to be a work of divine grace. Jesus, of course, would give them that grace through His atonement. But that was hidden from all of them until after the first Easter Sunday, or Feast of First Fruits, when Jesus became the first fruits of the dead.

Still, there was divine grace that enabled the exiles to spurn the idolatry of Babylon and practice a communal repentance in their status of captive exiles. Somewhat like prison, their confinement and lack of political power as exiles spared them from many of the temptations that had beset the ruling class before Judah’s downfall.

When the Jews finally did return to their homeland, they were sufficiently chastened for their idolatry. The social and religious leadership of their community lay squarely with the zealous Pharisees and priests who permanently suppressed idolatry in their communities. The Jewish people never returned to religious idolatry.

But the dilemma remained: How can a sinful people truly make for themselves a new heart and spirit? Serendipitously, the answer to that question in chapter 18 came 18 chapters later. In chapter 36, God prophetically declared the restoration of his holy people. He gave the same promise as in chapter 11, but this time God expanded on that promise by investing Himself in it.

Chapter 36 launched the final part of Ezekiel, where God promised the restoration of Israel. It begins with a prophecy to the mountains of Israel. Mountains speak of the majesty and strength of the Most High God. God spoke frequently of Jerusalem as being His “holy mountain.” Jerusalem on Mount Zion sits atop a ridgeline at about 2,750 feet elevation. God declared the insults that the mountains of Israel had endured from being a conquered kingdom would cease. Instead God promised to bring His people back to their land and once against to multiply and prosper as they had before.

Starting in v. 22, God declared that He would restore the house of Israel to vindicate His holy and great name, that is God’s reputation, among the nations. “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. ²³ I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord,” declares the Lord God, “when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight. ²⁴ For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. ²⁵ Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. ²⁶ Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. ²⁸ You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God.

Here in vv. 26-27, God answered the dilemma raised in chapter 18, where He exhorted the people to make for themselves a new heart and spirit. God Himself would give them a new heart and put a new spirit within them. This is the way of grace, not works-based righteousness. Only God can fashion a heart that is willing to submit itself to God in obedience.

Sin invariably makes a heart of stone in us by deadening our zeal for God’s righteousness and elevating the selfish pursuit of pleasure or profit above love and justice. Legalism, or work-based righteousness, also creates a stony heart, by the subtler temptation to pride. Legalism boasts in being more righteous than others and for achieving this by one’s efforts at fulfilling God’s law. The temptation to revert back to old sins falls on the heads of unbelievers and complacent Christians; but the more insidious temptation of legalism falls on those who respect the God’s holiness and moral law. Instead of seeing their sinfulness, they are more prone to judge others for their sinfulness. Their pride causes God to resist them and they cut themselves off of divine grace. Self-righteousness is the subtlest and deadliest of sins.

But when God removes the heart of stone from within us, he gives us a softer, humbler heart that is responsive to God’s leading and compassionate toward others. Last Sunday, my pastor said he didn’t care to give “tough love”. What he wants is to “love tough” – to be resiliently, unceasingly loving toward others, even when love isn’t reciprocated. Love never fails; love never stops loving. That’s what it means to love tough; and only someone with a new heart of flesh, and a new spirit, can fulfill the intent of God’s commands. Those who love tough are tough-minded, thick-skinned and tender-hearted. That’s who Jesus was and is, the author and Master of loving tough.

V. 27 says: “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” It is only God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit, Who enables God’s people to obey His statutes. Jesus said God’s great commands are to love God with all your heart, mind and soul and to love your neighbor as yourself. All the other commands in scripture, He said, stem from these two.

Paul put it this way in Romans 13:10: “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.” Only having the Spirit of God within you, which is the nature of Jesus Christ, can fit you to be a genuine man of God. Ezekiel 36:28 concludes, “So you will be My people, and I will be your God.”

Giving God’s Spirit to all the people of God was a truly extraordinary promise. Nothing like it had ever happened before. The nearest thing to this amazing gift in Israel’s history occurred just a few months after the Exodus. The Spirit of God came upon seventy elders among the people briefly, who prophesied as a witness to their anointing for leadership. But now God was promising that all of His elect would have God’s Spirit placed within them permanently! This is a clear prophecy of the giving of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. He is “the Promise of the Father,” Whom Jesus foretold His disciples before His Ascension.

Whenever someone turns to the Lord for salvation, God regenerates their inner spirit, their immortal soul, by the indwelling work of the Holy Spirit. He comes within each believer’s heart, and renews the spirit to have the nature of Christ. Paul calls this the seal of the Holy Spirit, Who both closes the heart to penetration by evil spirit, but also marks the soul of the believer as belonging to Christ forever.

The process of regeneration is also called being “born again” or “born anew” or “born from above”. The same biblical Greek word, anaginesthai, contains all three meanings. With the inner regeneration comes the righteousness of Jesus Christ. This infusion or imputation of righteousness means that we have the innate ability to imitate Christ in His virtues – the fruit of the Spirit – which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. “Against such things,” says Galatians 5:24, “there is no law.” Those who have Christ’s imputed righteousness are liberated from guilt and shame, because God declares they are holy and blameless before Him.

Even when we sin, Christ’s satisfaction of God’s judgments against sin, His propitiation of God’s wrath, completely removes the deadly wages of sin we deserve. This is the wondrous benefit of having God’s Spirit put within us. Only when we’re liberated from sin’s persistent drag on our morale and will to obey God can we begin to observe God’s ordinances. Micah 6:8 tells us what this meant, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” God’s ordinances are to love others as Christ loved us.

After this amazing promise in chapter 36, Ezekiel 37 introduced a new vision God that gave to Ezekiel. It created a vivid picture of what God intended to do for His people in the future.

The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. ² He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry. ³ He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, You know.” ⁴ Again He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’ ⁵ Thus says the Lord God to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. ⁶ I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the Lord.’”

⁷ So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. ⁸ And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. ⁹ Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life.”’” ¹⁰ So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

¹¹ Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are completely cut off.’ ¹² Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. ¹³ Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people. ¹⁴ I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and done it,” declares the Lord.’”

God created a graphic image of people coming to a renewed life like dead men’s bones suddenly coming together and growing ligaments and muscle to become fully human again. This vision is truly symbolic of the New Covenant outpouring of God’s Spirit on all flesh, which began at Pentecost. But it’s hidden in the revival of the people of Israel in their own land, which is undoubtedly how most Jews of that time viewed that prophecy. For them, being able to resettle their ancient homeland and restoring temple worship was tantamount to rising from the grave and coming back to life as a nation.

I don’t see a contradiction between the ancient Jewish understanding and the New Covenant understanding of this vision. Both applications are valid historically, where the former is a type of the latter. But the latter is much greater in significance than the former. For in a New Covenant understanding of this vision, people literally will come out of their graves to come into the new Zion of heaven and eternal life. The resurrection of the dead, which was also promised by Jewish prophets like David, Isaiah and Daniel, is the cornerstone of Christian hope. This Blessed Hope exceeds all others, because it’s the hope that helps God’s children overcome the world and death.

We can also see the typology of restored Israel being fulfilled in God’s greater people, the Church universal, in Ezekiel 39:29. It comes at the end of a two-chapter description of a great war against Israel by a vast horde from surrounding nations in both the Middle East, Africa, and even Russia. Many interpreters of prophecy take this to be a literal war against Israel that will occur shortly before Christ returns; and this would be a portent of the Battle of Armageddon that comes right before Christ returns. I am inclined to believe that Ezekiel 38 and 39 will have a literal fulfillment, even in our times. That Russia has now established permanent bases in Syria suggests that they could be sucked into a great confrontation with Israel that might include modern Iran, Turkey, Iraq, the Sudan, and other Muslim countries as well.

Yet we can also interpret these chapters as an allegory of the great struggle that God’s people will always have with the world and sinful culture that surrounds them. And to this Ezekiel 39:29 promises: “I will not hide My face from them any longer, for I will have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,” declares the Lord God.”” In other words, God will reveal Himself profoundly to the Jews, as He has to the gentile Christian Church, when they are delivered from certain destruction by God’s intervention.

The lesson here for us is that, as glorious as mending dry bones into living beings is, seen in Ezekiel 37; as glorious as God putting His Spirit within us and raising us to new life in Christ may be; we’re still in a battle against the devil, the world and our own sinful nature. We need God’s Spirit to battle for us against the power of sin, not just regenerate us once and leave the rest in our hands. We see the face of God when we trust in His grace to overcome the power of sin and find ourselves able to resist it.

Ezekiel 40-48 is the culminating work of God’s Spirit that closes this amazing prophecy. I won’t go into depth on this but to describe that Ezekiel comes full circle by revealing in a vision the reconstruction of the holy city and temple, and a nation of Israel in divine order. Such a fulfillment has not been achieved; and so many believe this is a vision of Christ’s millennial kingdom. Or it could be a symbolic description of the New Jerusalem in heaven, which Revelation 21 and 22 completed.

But Ezekiel 47 is a beautiful vision of a supernatural river pouring out of Mt. Zion toward the Dead Sea, bringing the sea back to life. It is the same river, metaphorically, that Jesus promised through the Holy Spirit in John 7:37-39:

Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. ³⁸ He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” ³⁹ But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

This is God’s promise to each one of you who have committed your soul to Jesus Christ for salvation. You are the living temple of God; and just as the river flowed out of the revived Jerusalem, the river of life will flow out of you when you yield yourself to God’s Spirit. Your life will touch others with divine grace and hope that they too can find new life in Christ.

Let us pray.