What is the meaning of Ezekiel 36:26? I will give you a new heart • The heart is the inner control center, shaping desires, choices, and affections. The Lord’s promise is not a minor tune-up but a complete replacement. • “New” means fresh, not recycled; God initiates this gift unilaterally. See Jeremiah 31:33 where He writes His law on the heart, and Psalm 51:10 where David pleads, “Create in me a clean heart, O God.” • In Christ this promise reaches fulfillment: “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). and put a new spirit within you • God doesn’t just remodel emotions; He implants His own life. This “new spirit” points to the indwelling Holy Spirit promised in Ezekiel 11:19. • Jesus confirmed it: “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth” (John 14:16-17). • Paul explains the result: “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him” (Romans 8:9). The Spirit’s entry cleanses and regenerates (Titus 3:5). I will remove your heart of stone • A stone heart is cold, lifeless, and resistant to God. Israel’s history showed this stubbornness (Zechariah 7:12). • The Lord Himself performs the surgery, extracting what we cannot fix. Romans 2:5 speaks of hardness storing up wrath; Mark 3:5 shows Jesus grieving over such hardness in His hearers. and give you a heart of flesh • “Flesh” here means soft, living, responsive. God replaces rigidity with tenderness toward His voice. • Paul celebrates this in believers: “You are a letter from Christ… written not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Corinthians 3:3). • A fleshy heart bears Spirit-grown fruit—love, joy, peace (Galatians 5:22-23)—and draws near “with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith” (Hebrews 10:22). summary God promises and accomplishes an inner transformation: removing the dead, stone-cold core, implanting a living heart and His own Spirit. The result is a people who know Him, love Him, and walk in His ways—evidence that salvation is entirely His gracious work from start to finish. |
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