Ezekiel 36:26 - I Will Give You A New Heart And Put A New Spirit In You.
Ezekiel 36:26 (NIV) 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.
Ezekiel 36:26 (NLT) 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.
WORD STUDY
New Heart. When Jesus speaks of the new
heart, He means the mind, the life, the whole
being. To have a change of heart is to withdraw the
affections from the world, and fasten them upon Christ.
To have a new heart is to have a new mind, new
purposes, new motives. What is the sign of a new
heart? - a changed life. SD100
Heart of Flesh. "Flesh" in the OT is often a
symbol for weakness and frailty (Isa 31:3); in the
NT it often stands for the sinful nature as a
God-opposing force (as in Ro 8:5-8). Here it stands (in
opposition to stone) for a pliable, teachable heart.
[NIV SB]
INTRODUCTION
God promised to restore Israel not only
physically, but spiritually. To accomplish this, God
would give them a new heart for following him and
put his Spirit within them (see 11:19, 20; Psalm
51:7-11) to transform them and empower them to do his
will. Again the new covenant was promised
(16:61-63; 34:23-25), ultimately to be fulfilled in
Christ. No matter how impure your life is right now,
God offers you a fresh start. You can have your
sins washed away, receive a new heart for God,
and have his Spirit within you--if you accept
God's promise. Why try to patch up your old life
when you can have a new one? [Life Application
SB]
COMMENTARY PEARL
The first documented successful
open-heart surgery was performed by Dr. Daniel Hale
Williams in 1893. This medical pioneer was one of
only a handful of Black cardiologists in the
United States at the time. Dr. Williams' amazing
feat proved that hearts could be fixed medically,
but how do our stony hearts get fixed - and
replaced - with a new heart?
First, we must withdraw our affection
from the things of this world. We must be willing
to let go of even the "little things" about
which the Holy Spirit keeps prompting us. "All
[our] filthiness" must be cleansed; "all [our]
idols" must be removed.
But we are unable to do the cleansing;
that's why Christ promises, "I will cleanse you.
Our part is to decide that we need a change and
then humbly ask for it. We then need to allow the
Holy Spirit to do His transforming work, having
faith in God's ability to change our minds and
hearts completely. This is rarely a painless
process, but Christ knows how much polishing we can
handle at any given moment. We just need to
cooperate with His work and timing.
This "new heart," the changed life, is
one that we will have to continually ask Christ
to keep soft by removing any selfishness or
pride that creeps in. We need to ask daily, and
even sometimes moment by moment, for the Lord to
keep our heart "a heart of flesh.
Dear Lord, today I ask You for a new
heart of flesh. Please cleanse me from all
filthiness and fill me with Your Spirit. [The Most
Amazing Bible Promises by Amazing Facts]
COMMENTARY
Ezekiel wrote that God will "take out your
stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender,
responsive heart" (Ezekiel 36:26). You received a heart
transplant when you became a believer. You had to,
because you can't live the Christian life in your
own strength. God never expected that. Instead,
he wants to live the Christian life through
you. When you realize that, you begin to catch a
glimpse of the awesome love of a God who wants to
keep your personality, your character traits,
your gifts, your likes and dislikes, and yet make
you holy through his presence in you. [The One
Year Bible for New Believers]
Natural and acquired endowments are all
gifts of God and need to be constantly held under
the control of His Spirit, of His divine,
sanctifying power. You need to feel most deeply your
lack of experience in this work and put forth
earnest endeavor to acquire needed knowledge and
wisdom, that you may use every faculty of body and
mind in such a way as to glorify God.
"A new heart also will I give you."
Christ must dwell in your hearts, as the blood is
in the body, and circulate there as a
vitalizing power. On this subject we cannot be too
urgent. 7T189-190
LINKS FOR FURTHER STUDY
Ezekiel 36:26 - I Will Give You A New Heart
And Put A New Spirit In You.
https://www.abible.com/devotions/2023/20231019-0904.html
https://www.abible.com/devotions/2019/20190613-1103.html
https://www.abible.com/devotions/2017/20170604-1615.html
LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT
https://abible.com/links/