From Stone To Flesh

📖 Ezekiel 36:26 📖
“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.” 🕊️ 💧 🔥 This verse is nested in one of the most powerful and encouraging chapters of the Old Testament. The prophets often spoke of the times when God would draw the Israelites back to himself for a season of prosperity and devotion, usually under a faithful leader, only to have them rebel and worship idols again. But this verse in Ezekiel—the whole chapter, really—speaks to something more permanent, lasting, and even somewhat one-sided, like a gift exchange where one party gives and the other receives.

God promises to move in his people, cleansing them from sin and moving them to follow him in ways that the church in the Old Testament seemed unable to do. This could only be accomplished in the life and death of his only Son, Jesus Christ. When one turns to God in Christ and receives forgiveness for sins, one is also filled with the Holy Spirit, with the law of Love written on his or her heart, and the ability to follow him for eternity.