I Will Put My Spirit Within You
22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. 23 And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. 24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. 29 And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. 30 I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. 31 Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. 32 It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.
33 “Thus says the Lord God: On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt. 34 And the land that was desolate shall be tilled, instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by. 35 And they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ 36 Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the Lord; I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.
37 “Thus says the Lord God: This also I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them: to increase their people like a flock. 38 Like the flock for sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the Lord.” Ezekiel 36: 22-38 ESV
Ezekiel 36: 22-32 I Will Put My Spirit Within You
…4“How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time to be born?” 5Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh is born of flesh, but spirit is born of the Spirit.… John 3: 4-6
Others say, “The water is baptism.” That’s very popular. Commentators go on for pages because you have to since it’s not here, trying to invent it. And they come up with Christian baptism, which didn’t show up until the second chapter of Acts. Nicodemus doesn’t know anything about Christian baptism. He’s giving him a hint.
Go back to Ezekiel 36, Ezekiel 36. Here is a principle bound up in one of the most marvelous passages in the entire Old Testament which describes God’s saving work in application to Israel, of course. But it’s the same saving work in application to Gentiles as well throughout history, as well as Jews who come to faith in Christ. Here’s how salvation works. Ezekiel 36:25, notice the “I wills.” Why? Because this is a work of God. This is that monergestic work of God from heaven, and you will notice five times, “I will.” God speaking: “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new Spirit within you.” There, dear friends, is the water and the Spirit. The water and the Spirit is simply a reference to the creation, the new creation, the regenerating work of God that He does by His own will in the heart of a sinner, and here He’s promising one day to do it not only in individual Jews and Gentiles, but one day for the whole of the nation Israel. I will put a new heart in you, a new Spirit in you, remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I’ll put My Spirit within you. I will cause you to walk in My statutes. I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, and then “you will be careful to observe My ordinances and you will,” verse 28, “be My people and I will be your God.” That’s the water and the Spirit. - J Mac (Old Reliable) from Exposition of John 3: 1-10
It is not for your sake - It was not for anything that Israel had done, not for their righteous deeds, and there is here no meritorious thought at all, for there is no foundation for it. God made a promise to Abraham, but Abraham's children, like all of us, conceived into sin, prove by our practice of and affinity for sin, that we fall short of the glory of God. There is nothing redeemable about us, it is only pride which thinks there is, and this is what makes such mercy unfathomable, alien to us. God has placed value upon us, from that of His own Son, Who lived the life that fulfilled the law, and died the death that fulfilled our debt. God the Father promised God the Son a bride, who is the church, and the Holy Spirit brings the bride whom the Father has called.
9What then? Are we any better? Not at all. For we have already made the charge that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin. 10As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one. 11There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.… Romans 3: 9-11
…37Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never drive away. 38For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but to do the will of Him who sent Me. 39And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I shall lose none of those He has given Me, but raise them up at the last day.…
For it is My Father’s will that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
John 6: 37-40
63The Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. 64However, there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray Him.)… John 6: 63-64
…12I still have much to tell you, but you cannot yet bear to hear it. 13However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come. 14He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you.… John 16: 12-14
When through you I vindicate My holiness before their eyes - They laugh because they say, "look at God's people, they were kicked out of the land, and they don't practice what they preach', or, 'look, we can agitate them in the land, and their God is too weak to do anything about it." In this day, Israel, against all odds, has returned to a portion of the Promised Land, yet so many spin it that she should not be there, Islam would like to see her wiped off the face of the earth, anti Semitism has risen at times and looked to not only unseat the Jews, but to exterminated them. They are still part of God's ultimate plan, and He has very clearly declared that He will bring them back, but not against His holiness, with His holiness. Part of vindicating His name is fulfilling His promise to Israel through the Millennial reign of Christ, the Messiah.
…2In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. 3And many peoples will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4Then He will judge between the nations and arbitrate for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer take up the sword against nation, nor train anymore for war.… Isaiah 2: 2-4
…8The infant will play by the cobra’s den, and the toddler will reach into the viper’s nest. 9They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the sea is full of water. 10On that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples. The nations will seek Him, and His place of rest will be glorious.… Isaiah 11: 8-10
1Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven with the key to the Abyss, holding in his hand a great chain. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3And he threw him into the Abyss, shut it, and sealed it over him, so that he could not deceive the nations until the thousand years were complete. After that, he must be released for a brief period of time.… Revelation 20: 1-3
Take you from...bring you to - This is a work of God, He is keeping His covenant with Abraham, with David and that covenant with His Son, made from eternity pass. He is keeping it for His name's sake, yet look what's next, it will not contradict His holiness. He did not give the law and the prophets just to see what would happen, no, as Jesus said, "I did not come to destroy the law or the prophets, but to fulfill", and so, like Nicodemus, they must be "born again, or born from above."
16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. 17Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. 18For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.… Matthew 5: 16-18
1What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 Certainly not! How can we who died to sin live in it any longer? 3Or aren’t you aware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?… Romans 6: 1-3
I will sprinkle clean water on you - They were sent away because of their filth and God's Holiness, but through Messiah, He has provided a way for them to be clean.
…5But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. 6We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53: 5-6
…5Then the priest shall command that one of the birds be slaughtered over fresh water in a clay pot. 6 And he is to take the live bird together with the cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop, and dip them into the blood of the bird that was slaughtered over the fresh water. 7Seven times he shall sprinkle the one to be cleansed of the skin disease. Then he shall pronounce him clean and release the live bird into the open field.… Leviticus 14: 5-7
He does not state specifically. But in the context God is speaking about Israel and does say Israel will be clean and idol free. The only time that this occurs in Scripture is when the Messiah returns and one-third of Israel is saved by grace through faith (read Zechariah 12:10-14+, Zechariah 13:8,9+). Messiah will return at the end of the Great Tribulation as Israel's Deliverer at which time "all (all that believe - all of the one-third) Israel will be saved." (Ro 11:26+, read Zechariah 14:1-4+) If one does not accept the doctrine of the Millennium, then one would have to say that this "cleansing" (associated in context with receipt of a new heart and the Holy Spirit, i.e., individual spiritual rebirth) occurs in the time of the church age. Is Israel "clean" today from all her moral filthiness? Have you ever visited Israel? I have and was shocked to discover that most of the people I wanted to talk with about the Messiah were not interested in spiritual issues. They were more interested in their idols, money and the good life, not the new life in Christ, the only life that could make them truly clean inside and out. And so if one is Amillennial, they are forced to transfer this promise and all the promises to Israel for that matter to the Church. If one does so, they have broken the basic rule for accurate interpretation -- read the text literally if the context allows and it certainly does in the context of the book of Ezekiel, a book written by a Jewish prophet to Jewish men and women in exile and without hope of ever again having a nation, a holy city and a holy temple. Beloved, you may not agree with the literal approach to the interpretation of Scripture, but it is difficult to dispute the fact that the book of Ezekiel is as "Jewish" and as "Israel-centric" (if you will) as any book in the Bible! - Precept Austin
…29For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified. 31What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?… Romans 8: 29-31
…21and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold resolutely to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.… Hebrews 10: 21-23
…6“Take the Levites from among the Israelites and make them ceremonially clean. 7This is what you must do to cleanse them: Sprinkle them with the water of purification. Have them shave their whole bodies and wash their clothes, and so purify themselves. 8Then have them take a young bull with its grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, and you are to take a second young bull for a sin offering.… Numbers 8: 6-8
…14Just as many were appalled at Him—His appearance was disfigured beyond that of any man, and His form was marred beyond human likeness— 15so He will sprinkle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths because of Him. For they will see what they have not been told, and they will understand what they have not heard. Isaiah 52: 14-15
…6Surely You desire truth in the inmost being; You teach me wisdom in the inmost place. 7Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice.… Psalm 51: 6-8
…5He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. 6This is the Spirit He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that, having been justified by His grace, we would become heirs with the hope of eternal life.… Titus 3: 5-7
I will give you a new heart and a new spirit - No more will it be hardened against the truth, but it will be pliable, with a new spirit inclined to the Word of God, eager to know and please the Creator. It will begin to be at war with sin, ashamed of pride and hating that which God hates. You will see the image of God even in your worst enemy, and humility will bring you to your knees on their behalf. Those that claim ministries that operate in the miraculous, the Fatima apparitions, healing services, self help, prosperity pushers, they know nothing of the greatest of miracles. When a sinner is saved, it is no work of his own, no work of a pastor, "priest" or evangelist. The wind blows where it will, and we have no control over that. We have been given the gospel which is the power of God unto salvation, to everyone that believes, Jew first and then Greek. Men are born dead in their trespasses and sins, that is why Christ uses the analogy of birth with Nicodemus, because you had nothing to do with your birth, you did not call yourself into being. This is the true ministry of the miraculous, the greatest miracle, bearing eternal implications. It is no different then Jesus calling Lazarus from the dead. He says to these dry bones, "get up", this is regeneration, and it is a most gracious act of God.
…5And the LORD your God will bring you into the land your fathers possessed, and you will take possession of it. He will cause you to prosper and multiply more than your fathers. 6The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, and you will love Him with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live. 7Then the LORD your God will put all these curses upon your enemies who hate you and persecute you.… Deuteronomy 30: 5-7
…28A man is not a Jew because he is one outwardly, nor is circumcision only outward and physical. 29No, a man is a Jew because he is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise does not come from men, but from God. Romans 2: 28-29
…9Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. 10Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 11Cast me not away from Your presence; take not Your Holy Spirit from me.… Psalm 51: 9-11
Note: The Psalmist gives good instruction in prayer, as does the thief on the cross. They don't tell God, "I accept you into my heart, yes, I will be on your team," nothing like that. The thief admits he deserves what is happening to him, but that Christ does not deserve what is happening to Him, and then he simply asks, "remember me". David's prayer realizes his own depravity, and ask to be made clean, to be made acceptable to God. I have nothing to bring to the table but my sin which requires payment, and I am looking at the cross and saying, "please, accept me", and then believing that when He says, "it is finished", that it is, and I have done nothing to deserve this grace, and so I stand back to take it all in, I look at the cross, the nails in His hands and feet, the perfect life lived in place of mine and I say, "amen", it is finished.
…38They will be My people, and I will be their God. 39I will give them one heart and one way, so that they will always fear Me for their own good and for the good of their children after them. 40I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put My fear in their hearts, so that they will never turn away from Me.… Jeremiah 32: 38-40
…17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into His image with intensifying glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3: 17-18
…2You yourselves are our letter, inscribed on our hearts, known and read by everyone. 3It is clear that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. 4Such confidence before God is ours through Christ.… 2 Corinthians 3: 2-4
Cooper commenting on Jehovah's similar promise in Ezekiel 11:19 adds that..."A hard heart is stubborn and unresponsive to God (Ex 4:21, etc.). In 2Chr 34:27 the Lord blessed King Josiah because unlike his predecessors, his “heart was ‘soft’ [“responsive”] and [he] humbled [himself] before God.” After his encounter with David, Nabal’s heart is said to have “failed him, and he became like a stone.” Ten days later he died (1Sa 25:37-38). He seems to have been stricken with paralysis, perhaps due to a stroke. H. W. Wolff applies the sense to Ezek 11:19-20; Ezek 36:26-27: “The heart of stone is the dead heart…which is unreceptive and makes all the limbs incapable of action. The heart of flesh is the living heart, full of insight, which is at the same time ready for new action. The new rūah (spirit/Spirit) brings to the perception and will of the heart the new vital power to hold on steadfastly in willing obedience.” (Ibid)
I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes - He promises His Spirit, as Jesus told the disciples that He would send them a comforter, a teacher, Who would lead them in all things. God gives His word and then His Spirit to guide us in it. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
…22“How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple ways? How long will scoffers delight in their scorn and fools hate knowledge? 23If you had repented at my rebuke, then surely I would have poured out my spirit on you; I would have made my words known to you. 24Because you refused my call, and no one took my outstretched hand,… Proverbs 1: 22-24
28And afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. 29Even on My menservants and maidservants, I will pour out My Spirit in those days.… Joel 2: 28-29
10Then I will pour out on the house of David and on the people of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and prayer, and they will look on Me, the One they have pierced. They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son. 11On that day the wailing in Jerusalem will be as great as the wailing of Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.… Zechariah 12: 10-11
…12Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” Luke 11: 12-13
…14For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.… Romans 8: 14-16
…4You who are trying to be justified by the law have been severed from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the hope of righteousness. 6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. All that matters is faith, expressed through love.… Galatians 5: 4-6
12in order that judgment may come upon all who have disbelieved the truth and delighted in wickedness. 13But we should always thank God for you, brothers who are loved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning to be saved by the sanctification of the Spirit and by faith in the truth. 14To this He called you through our gospel, so that you may share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.… 2 Thessalonians 2: 12-14
I will deliver you from all your uncleanness -
…4In every prayer for all of you, I always pray with joy, 5because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.… Philippians 1: 4-6
And you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities - Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. The evangelical church today is an anemic place with a different gospel, that wants no one to anguish over their sin, and will not allow anyone to experience godly sorrow. Quit buying in to the gospel of self esteem.
8Yet I will leave a remnant, for some of you will escape the sword when you are scattered among the nations and throughout the lands. 9Then in the nations to which they have been carried captive, your survivors will remember Me— how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts that turned away from Me, and by their eyes that lusted after idols. So they will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their abominations. 10And they will know that I am the LORD; I did not declare in vain that I would bring this calamity upon them.… Ezekiel 6: 8-10
…6and said: “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, because our iniquities are higher than our heads, and our guilt has reached the heavens. 7From the days of our fathers to this day, our guilt has been great. Because of our iniquities, we and our kings and priests have been delivered into the hands of the kings of the earth and put to the sword and captivity, to pillage and humiliation, as we are this day. 8But now, for a brief moment, grace has come from the LORD our God to preserve for us a remnant and to give us a stake in His holy place. Even in our bondage, our God has given us new life and light to our eyes.… Ezra 9: 6-8
…18I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning: ‘You disciplined me severely, like an untrained calf. Restore me, that I may return, for You are the LORD my God. 19 After I returned, I repented; and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh in grief. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’ 20Is not Ephraim a precious son to Me, a delightful child? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore My heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares the LORD.… Jeremiah 31: 18-20
…16For You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; You take no pleasure in burnt offerings. 17The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. 18In Your good pleasure, cause Zion to prosper; build up the walls of Jerusalem.… Psalm 51: 16-18
Be ashamed and confounded for your ways -
…20For when you were slaves to sin, you were free of obligation to righteousness. 21 What fruit did you reap at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The outcome of those things is death. 22But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the fruit you reap leads to holiness, and the outcome is eternal life.… Romans 6: 20-22
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.