How to Start New
Scripture Reading: Psalm 136; Ezekiel 35-36; 2 Peter 3
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
Ezekiel 36:25-27
For someone who has or is feeling the burdensome weight of their sin and its attendant guilt, Ezekiel 36:25-27 sounds like a dream come true. Cleansing, the old hard heart removed, a new spirit takes its place, God’s Spirit indwelling and empowering to do the right thing...All the things we hoped for but have been able to achieve are promised here.
The promises of Ezekiel 36 were not lost on Jesus and the Apostles. While not directly quoting from the text, the alluded to it constantly. Jesus’ weaves the ideas of Ezekiel into his conversation with Nicodemus in a way that Nicodemus, an Old Testament scholar, couldn’t help but notice. Later, in John 7 he proclaimed that the Spirit would be given to believers – a fulfillment of what Ezekiel promises here.
Paul employs the language of Ezekiel in Titus 3:5 in talking about washing and renewal and uses the concept of Spirit-empowered obedience in Romans 8. He expounds on the theological idea of a new heart by the Spirit in 2 Corinthian 3. And the writer of Hebrews alludes to this text when he makes the parallel between the new heart and Spirit-obedience in chapters 8 and 10.
The point is, the gospel that is revealed in the New Testament is the fulfillment of the promises of Ezekiel 36. To experience what Ezekiel prophetically predicted would come to pass, one must believe the gospel and trust in Jesus Christ.
Then, the heart is transformed and the Spirit indwells and the way of life is different.
Notice how the Lord speaks this through Ezekiel. There is a repetitiveness to it with the words “I will.” God says, “I will” six times in the three verses I quoted and many other times in the verses before and after in Ezekiel 36. Why not just say it once? Why not just say, “I will,” followed by the list of things He would do?
Because God was driving the point home. We don’t and can’t clean ourselves up from our uncleanness. We can’t and don’t make our own heart new. We can’t and don’t cause God’s Spirit to dwell in us. We can’t and don’t set our life in a new direction.
These are all things that only God can do.
And this is the great good news. God does this for those who believe the gospel.
