A New Spirit—A New People

MEMORY VERSE: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.” —Ezekiel 36:26

EZEKIEL 36 and 37

THE context of this week’s lesson finds the nation of Israel dwelling in a foreign land, while their own land of promise is a desolate wilderness because of their neglect in obeying the instructions of God. There is, however, a blessed promise in Ezekiel’s words concerning a future recovery from this deplorable condition when God will take away their stony heart and give them a heart of flesh. And, at that time, he will cause his spirit to come unto them and they will learn of his statutes and judgments and will be able to keep them.

This is a wonderful promise from the Word of God concerning his plan for the eventual recovery of the Jewish people, and, on an even grander scale, the recovery of the whole world of mankind from the ravages of sin and death. We may look forward with full assurance of faith that God’s covenant with Israel to take away their sins and to give them new hearts and right dispositions, and to recover them from their blindness will include also the resurrection of their dead, for, as the Apostle Paul expressed it (Rom. 11:26), “all Israel shall be saved”. Likewise, if all Israel is to be brought from the grave and given an opportunity to go up the highway of holiness and attain life under the provisions of the new kingdom arrangements, then too will the whole world of mankind be given an opportunity to be recovered from that which they have lost, even life itself.

A hard or stony heart, from which Israel has been promised to be recovered, and incidentally which may illustrate other nations of the earth which have been affected in a similar way from the fall into sin and death by Adam’s transgression in the Garden of Eden.

Such a stupendous work awaits the completion of the footstep followers of our Lord who have made a covenant with him by sacrifice and will share with him, in due time, as members of his antitypical body. These, the 144,000 who are elect and precious, will have the grand opportunity to share with their Lord in instructing man in the ways of truth and righteousness in that one-thousand-year kingdom.

During that period of time, designated in the Scriptures as “the times of restitution” (Acts 3:21), fleshly Israel, and indeed the whole world of mankind, will be brought back to the original condition of perfect manhood. The work of softening the hardened hearts of man will involve the development of a new will or disposition that is in harmony with the laws laid down by the ruling authority of Christ. This will be the “new spirit” that God will put in their hearts, and at that time, during the future one-thousand-year period of restitution, the divine laws of truth and righteousness will be clearly set forth for all to understand, for then the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, even as the waters that cover the sea.

While chastising and correcting, yet while forgiving and promising to restore the nation of Israel, God is illustrating his great love and mercy toward the whole world whom he so loved as to give his only begotten Son to redeem and, in due time, to bring to a knowledge of the truth and an opportunity under the most favorable conditions possible, to be reinstated to divine favor and blessings and to gain everlasting life. The eventual restoration and blessing of Israel shown in the words of the prophet Ezekiel are only a small indication of the abundant grace that is in store for the world during that future time of restitution.

Ezekiel’s words indicate that God will give a “heart of flesh” to his people that will no longer be callous and indifferent to the requirements of divine justice. When we examine the word “new” as it appears in this prophetic promise we note that it could as well be translated “renewed”, or “repaired”—as the same word is often used in other passages of the Bible—and is suggested by Professor Strong in his Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. This is a reasonable thought concerning this matter, because the heart or disposition of man was not hard or bitter or selfish when it was originally created, but was, on the other hand, proclaimed to be created in the very image of God who was its Creator. With this thought in mind we could not expect that it would be necessary to provide man with something “new” or “different” in the kingdom, but we can see the marvelous promise to “renew” the heart that has become spoiled by disobedience to the divine law, which in turn has resulted in all of the evils associated with the penalty of death, and which has impaired the image of God, and degraded man in every way.

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