Know the Bible in 30 Days by J. Stephen Lang

Author:J. Stephen Lang
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Know the Bible in 30 Days
ISBN: 9781415318010
Publisher: New Holland Publishing South Africa (Pty) Ltd
Published: 2011-11-02T00:00:00+00:00

And now we get to the deepest, richest part of the book: the new covenant. Here God speaks: ‘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’ (11:19). Does this sound like the New Testament phrase ‘born again’? It should, for both are speaking of a spiritual rebirth. ‘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. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws’ (36:26–27).

The phrase ‘they will know that I am the Lord’ occurs more than fifty times in Ezekiel. The only other book where the phrase occurs often is Exodus, where it is referring to the many miracles God performed in liberating the Israelite slaves from Egypt. Ezekiel probably knew this and chose the phrase deliberately to remind people that the age of miracles was not in the distant past. Miracles still occurred, God’s people could still be delivered out of foreign lands. Ezekiel 40–48 is a long description of a restored Jerusalem, which the prophet saw in a vision. He was correct in predicting that the exiles would return there and rebuild the temple, and no doubt his vision gave them hope. But the more important prophecy was the promise of a ‘heart of flesh’ to replace the ‘heart of stone.’ A ‘new heart and new spirit’ seem more miraculous than the rebuilding of a temple.

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