https://odb.org/2025/03/13/a-new-heart-in-christ
Ezekiel 11:16–20 (NIV): 16 “Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.’ 17 “Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.’ 18 “They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. 19 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. 20 Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.
When I read Ezekial 11 above, the first thing that struck me was that although the LORD scattered His people into exile due to their obstinance, He did not forsake them. In verse 16, He said for a little while, He was a sanctuary to them in the countries they had gone to. It is for a little while because He wants to bring them back to Israel at a later stage. But for them to come back, He needs to give them an undivided heart and a new spirit. He needs to give them a heart of flesh and remove their heart of stone. So that they no longer worship the detestable idols. Presumably, idolatry results in them having a heart of stone.
In spiritual terms, a heart of stone speaks of a cold, hardened, unfeeling, and rebellious heart, resistant to God’s grace and incapable of repentance. It is a heart that fights God’s grace instead of receiving it. It is a heart that resists the work of the Holy Spirit. A heart that refuses to see the goodness of God, in fact even denies His very existence. A heart that only sees the natural and relies on the 5 senses and seems to presume that life starts and ends here on earth. One does what one pleases within the norms and laws of society with no regard to the eternal. It is a heart dead to the spiritual.
But a heart of flesh is alive! It is filled with blood from the body, signifying the work of the Holy Spirit that gives us life beyond what’s natural. In Christian speak, it is a born-again heart, revived to sense the spiritual and the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. It is not restricted to the five senses. We trust and place our hope in the unseen. It is a heart that embraces and operates by faith. It is a heart that is appreciative and thankful for the grace of God, for His goodness. It is a heart that believes in life after death, beyond this earth, a life eternal where we will be judged and will need to account for how we had lived our lives here on earth. A heart of flesh beats to rhythm of the Spirit of God! A heart of flesh seeks and longs for our names to be written in the Book of Life, of having a place in the mansion with many rooms and an inheritance in the new heaven and new earth. A heart that seeks to qualify to be rightful citizens in the new Jerusalem, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb!
Thank you, Lord, for giving us a heart of flesh! May our hearts always remain a heart of flesh! Amen!
Ronnie's Thoughts 