Israel's New Heart and Spirit

                                                                      Ezekiel 11:14-25

 

November 11, 2023

 

Israel's New Heart and Spirit

And the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, your brothers, even your brothers, your kinsmen, the whole house of Israel, all of them, are those of whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘Go far from the Lord; to us, this land is given for a possession.’  Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: Though I removed them far off among the nations, and though I scattered them among the countries, yet I have been a sanctuary to them for a while in the countries where they have gone.’  Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.’  And when they come there, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations.  And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.  But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their deeds upon their own heads, declares the Lord God.”

Then the cherubim lifted up their wings, with the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them.  And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and stood on the mountain that is on the east side of the city.  And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me in the vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to the exiles. Then the vision that I had seen went up from me.  And I told the exiles all the things that the Lord had shown me.

Clarke had this insight on the people of Jerusalem; “These are the words of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, against those of Israel who had been carried away to Babylon with Jeconiah.“  They did not believe they would return, and they felt superior to them, that they were more special to God. We find the following in Jeremiah 24:1-7, “After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken into exile from Jerusalem Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, together with the officials of Judah, the craftsmen, and the metal workers, and had brought them to Babylon, the Lord showed me this vision: behold, two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the Lord.  One basket had very good figs, like first-ripe figs, but the other basket had very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten.  And the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I said, “Figs, the good figs very good, and the bad figs very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.”

Then the word of the Lord came to me:  “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans.  I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up, and not tear them down; I will plant them, and not pluck them up.  I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.

 

Jan and I attended a funeral service at a church bldg. and I saw these signs in the prime parking area, Reserved for Senior Pastor, and next to it was a Sign Reserved for the Senior Pastor Wife.  I took a picture and told my pastor I had not seen his and his wife's sign.  It was meant to be a joke, but his reply was; that Servant does not have special parking.

 

We in the Church are not that different than the people of Ezekiel's time, we call some folks saints for a special deed they did, yet Scripture makes clear that God calls all who are in Christ saints.  Maybe we need to look at what Jesus said about the Window that gave the two mites.

 

And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. So, He said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.”  

 

We like the people of Jerusalem in Ezekiel time do not see things as Jesus does.  I believe you will find the ground level at the Cross.  We are all called, we are all special, and only God is to be exalted.

 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice