Ezekiel 36

Ezekiel 36:16-38

Lord, this passage is a great, literal promise for Your chosen people, and even now it is happening in the land of Israel. The Jews are returning. Many from Russia especially are returning because of persecution and in fulfillment of prophecy.

"…the sinews and the flesh (are coming) upon the dry bones of Israel the skin is covering them, (Ez. 37:8), but as a nation there is still no BREATH in them. They are still spiritually dead. But the promise here in Ez. 36 and 37 is that You will breathe Your Spirit within them.

Your words here in these few verses are not only for the physical Israel, though. They are for all of the elect of God, the SPIRITUAL ISRAEL, as well.

LORD JESUS, You are the mediator of a better covenant, a new covenant, and You showed through the Apostle Paul a MYSTERY,

"That (we) Gentiles…being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise….should be fellowheirs, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel.."(Eph. 2:12, 3:6)

"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts." (Heb. 8:19-a quote from Jer. 31:33)

The verse above is similar to Ez. 36:26,

"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you…"

Indeed for everyone that is a true Christian, Your promise is being fulfilled in their lives; and this is the special promise:

"And I will give them an HEART to KNOW ME, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God…" Jer. 24:7

My heart was hard and cold before you CAME. Yes, my feeling, emotions, will, and intellect were once spiritually DEAD. (Eph. 25) And like a dead woman on the bottom of the ocean, I could not respond until You CAME and QUICKENED me and gave me the desire for spiritual things. I couldn't even grab hold of a life preserver because I was "dead" and my heart was cold and non-functional for You. But You breathed life into me and drew me out of the "water of sin". You
put within me a brand new heart- one that delights to KNOW YOU and to do Your WILL! Thank-you, Lord!

The sanctifying process has begun, but now the old nature and the new nature are at war! (Rom. 7:22-23) Piper says, "Take heart if your heart feels like a battlefield sometimes…The sign of whether or not you are indwelt by the Spirit is not that you have no bad desires. It's that you HATE them!"

This passage speaks to me, LORD, and next time I shall look closely at each verse and meditate…