By Dennis Pollock
Most Christians would assume that there are not many Old Testament Bible passages and verses that relate to the born-again experience, and that may be so. But there is one passage from the Book of Ezekiel that gives insights about the new birth in greater details than you will find in most New Testament books. These Ezekiel verses are so powerful and point to the experience of knowing Christ in such a clear manner that most Christians will instantly recognize that they are talking about far more than just the nation of Israel. From my earliest years in Christ, I have always recognized this passage as something very special.
Before we get to the good stuff, we have to understand a little of the context. God starts out by announcing that the new thing He is going to do for Israel is not for their sake, but for His name’s sake. He inspires Ezekiel to write:
Therefore, say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. (Ezekiel 36:22)
When you read the Old Testament stories of the relationship between God and Israel, you discover that, despite some momentary and temporary seasons of righteousness and devotion, for the most part, the history of Israel is one of failure. Despite their occasional pledges to serve YHWH and live according to His laws and commands, the Jews couldn’t seem to find the will to do it. They failed and failed and failed again. God created a word to describe this pattern, and that word was “backsliding.” Israel kept sliding back into their sins, idolatry, and sexual immorality. So here in Ezekiel God announces that He is going to fix this problem, not for Israel’s sake but for His name’s sake. Their wicked behavior was giving God a bad reputation, and He was going to have to do something about it. Ezekiel goes on to say:
And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the LORD,” says the Lord GOD, “when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. (Ezekiel 36:23-24)
A Scattered People
In Ezekiel’s time, the Jews had been scattered all over the Middle East, and many were captives in Babylon and Assyria. The city of Jerusalem and the land of Israel were no longer in the hands of the Israelites. But God is promising that the day will come when He will regather His people from the various places of their dispersion and bring them back to their own land.
But the problem was, if the Jews reverted to their default pattern, they would soon have been sinning again, creating idols and living like their ungodly neighbors. They had proven all through their history that they just couldn’t live faithfully before God for very long. But now God was planning to rectify this situation, and in doing so, He was demonstrating that this issue of consistent unfaithfulness and backsliding was not merely a Jewish problem – it was a human problem. Israel was merely serving as a prototype for the basic problem with all people everywhere, from every race, culture, and color. Men and women, left to their own strength and willpower, will never faithfully, consistently, and completely serve and relate to God. So God announces, through Ezekiel:
Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. (Ezekiel 36:25)
Sounds Familiar
Cleansing is promised, and that sounds pretty familiar to those who know about the New Covenant promised through Christ. In the Book of Revelation, Jesus Christ is described as: “Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood…” (Revelation 1:5). This surely speaks of the experience of being washed from our sins through a faith experience with Jesus. The apostle Paul wrote: “But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:11)
But getting back to Ezekiel, God is not done speaking on this issue. He declares:
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. (Ezekiel 36:26-27)
And this, of course, is the very essence of the new birth. He is telling Israel: “You haven’t been very successful in serving Me up until now. So I’m going to do a new thing. I am going to perform divine surgery on you; in fact, it will be heart surgery. I am going to pull out your rocky, stubborn, spiritually insensitive heart and exchange it with a new, tender, spiritually sensitive heart. And with this new heart, I will cause you to keep My commands and follow My ways. I’ll give you what you never had before: I will give you the “want-to” in regard to following and obeying Me.
To Will and Do
And this perfectly lines up with the New Covenant God makes between Himself, His Son Jesus, and His people, the disciples of Jesus. When we are born again, we receive this spiritual surgery, this new heart and new spirit, and amazingly, and very, very suddenly, we want to serve and obey God. Paul puts it this way: “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13). Not just to do what pleases God, but to want to do what God approves and is pleased by. And the result is precisely what Ezekiel said it would be: “and you will keep my judgments and do them.”
One statement in this passage that stands out to me includes the words: “I will cause you to walk in My statutes…” Israel hadn’t been doing a very good job of causing themselves to obey God, so now God says that He will do the causing; He will give them a new heart and a new spirit that will ensure that they obey Him from the heart. And this is precisely what happens when we are born again through faith in Jesus Christ. We are given a new heart through the Holy Spirit taking residence within us. And suddenly we want to do the right thing. We want to please our Heavenly Father, avoid sin and scandals, go to church, treat people with respect, and to live pure lives. What in the world is happening? It is exactly what Ezekiel promised: we have received divine heart surgery, or to use the words from the Book of Hebrews, God has put his laws in our minds and written them on our hearts.
And this is why the so-called theologians who insist that behavior change is not a part of salvation are wrong – dead wrong. Of course, there will be behavior change; of course, you will stop doing some things and start living a godly life. This is part and parcel of the new birth, of receiving a new heart and a new spirit from God through Christ. A man or woman who claims to be born again, but still freely and flagrantly steals, lies, fornicates, and lives a totally selfish life, is demonstrating that the new birth has not happened for them. To use Ezekiel’s words, God is not “causing them to walk in His statutes.” Or, as the apostle John put it: “He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” (1 John 2:4). Come to Jesus, receive Him by faith as your Lord and Savior, and demonstrate through your life that you have been given a new heart and a new spirit.
