Ezekiel 36:25-27
What is written? (ESV)
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. 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. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
What does it say?
I will sprinkle clean water on you to remove all sin and idols from you. And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit that I will put in you, removing the heart of stone from you and giving you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit inside you to cause you to walk in my statutes and carefully obey my rules.
What is its immediate context?
Ezekiel spoke God’s words during the Babylonian captivity – after the destruction of Jerusalem and Solomon’s temple. Interspersed with his encourage and preaching to God’s people of that day are many references to a time that God promises a true shepherd to care for them (34:13-15), a return of “my servant David” (34:23-24, 37:24), a convenant of peace (34:25), a gathering of a single nation to their land (36:24, 37:14, 22).
How Ezekiel 36:25-27 is applied across Bible answers
Top 5: Images for baptism?
What is the promise of the Holy Spirit?
God promises to provide a "new spirit" that will be His Spirit for those who obey Him.
God states this through Ezekiel during a time when the temple had been destroyed. Unlike the original Tabernacle and the first temple by Solomon, the subsequent temples rebuilt those that returned to the land ("Zerubbabel's temple") and later by Herod would not be filled with God's Spirit.
Where is the Holy Spirit dwelling today?
God, through Ezekiel, promises a time (a "day") when He will put His Spirit "within you."
This theme in many other places in Ezekiel, including 37:14 and 37:26-28, and in the last few chapters of the book. His contemporary Jeremiah also uses very similar language and identical thought (Jeremiah 31:33). Two differnt men...but importantly both prophets of God so the same author (God) and message. While Ezekiel's words are never directly quoted/interpreted by inspired writers in the New Testament, Jeremiah's are interpreted in Hebrews and applied to the 1st-century church.
Why does God give the non-miraculous gift of the Holy Spirit? (Acts 2:38-39)
God through Ezekiel promises a time when He will put His Spirit in His people - specifically, those that "obey My rules."
