Audio Download

Ezekiel 11:1-25  The Promise of a New Heart and Spirit

[Study Aired April 1, 2024]

Introduction

What we are going to learn today is about the Lord’s judgment of the Elect in this age and the resulting transformation of the elect as we are promised a new heart and spirit. In this chapter, the Lord showed Ezekiel why He was going to judge the people of Israel for what they had done. As we have learned, the Lord is always seeking an occasion to come and judge our old man so that we can learn righteousness. This is portrayed clearly in the story of Samson as follows:

Jdg 14:1  Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines.
Jdg 14:2  Then he came up and told his father and mother, “I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife.”
Jdg 14:3  But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.”
Jdg 14:4  His father and mother did not know that it was from the LORD, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.

The chapter also makes it clear that without the Lord giving us a new heart and spirit, we cannot please the Lord. By comparing scripture with scripture, we shall see what the Lord means by giving us a new heart and spirit.

The Wicked Counsellors of the City

Eze 11:1  The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the house of the LORD, which faces east. And behold, at the entrance of the gateway there were twenty-five men. And I saw among them Jaazaniah the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.

The Spirit of the Lord lifting Ezekiel up to be shown what was happening signifies that what Ezekiel was going to see can only be understood when he is in the spirit. Being in the spirit means his eyes being opened and his ears given to hear the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven.

Mat 13:16  But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 
Mat 13:17  For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

What happened to Ezekiel in terms of the spirit lifting him up is the same as what happened to the Apostle John when he was given to see the woman who is a harlot and represents Babylon in the Book of Revelation. What this means is that without being in the spirit, there is no way that one can understand the spiritual decadence of the church system of this world. 

Rev 17:3  And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns

In verse 1, the spirit which lifted Ezekiel up brought him to the east gate of the house of God. In a negative context, the east in this case refers to our lives when we are not given to pursue the Lord’s agenda in this life, as shown in the following verses: 

Gen 13:11  So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other.

Gen 25:6  But to the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, and while he was still living he sent them away from his son Isaac, eastward to the east country.

Thus, the twenty-five men that Ezekiel found in the entrance of the eastern gate of the house of the Lord refers to those who have tasted the goodness of the Lord but are not pursuing the Lord’s agenda in this life. They refer to our lives as the Lord’s elect in Babylon. We started with the Lord but were sidetracked by what we heard and believed in Babylon. This is affirmed by the number 25 of those found at the east gate. The number twenty-five in a negative note, refers to those who started the Lord’s work but did not go the long haul. 

2Ki 14:2  He (Joash) was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem. 
2Ki 14:3  And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, yet not like David his father. He did in all things as Joash his father had done. 
2Ki 14:4  But the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places.

2Ki 15:33  He (Jotham) was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok. 
2Ki 15:34  And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that his father Uzziah had done.
2Ki 15:35  Nevertheless, the high places were not removed. The people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. He built the upper gate of the house of the LORD.

Having Jaazaniah and Pelatiah, the princes of the people, among the twenty-five is also significant. Jaazaniah means ‘Jehovah hears’ and that of Pelatiah signifies ‘Jehovah has freed.’ These names show us that the people found in the east side of the house of God have a relationship with Christ in name, but they do their own thing.

Isa 4:1  And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; take away our reproach.” 

The mention of these men and their status as leaders of the people of Israel suggests that it is an established fact that the whole of the leadership of our brethren in Babylon have gone astray and are not pursuing the Lord’s agenda.

Jud 1:10  But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.
Jud 1:11  Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
Jud 1:12  These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
Jud 1:13  Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

Eze 11:2  And he said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity and who give wicked counsel in this city;
Eze 11:3  who say, ‘The time is not near to build houses. This city is the cauldron, and we are the meat.’

As indicated in the previous studies, the city of Jerusalem here is Babylon.  In verses 2 and 3, we are given to know the sins of these twenty-five men. They devise iniquity and give wicked counsel in the city. Devising iniquity and giving wicked counsel means bringing in false doctrines which causes us to walk in iniquity. Verse 3 shows us the essence of the preaching in Babylon, which is that the time is not near to build houses. What this preaching means is that we should not focus on what is permanent but that which is temporal. In other words, the preaching in Babylon causes us to focus on things which are seen. 

2Co 4:18  While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

A cauldron is a large metal pot used for cooking in an open fire. Saying that the city is the cauldron and the people are the meat is the same as saying that man is born to suffer. What this kind of preaching does is that it causes us to be hardened by our suffering such that no matter what we go through, we do not pay attention to what the Lord is trying to say.

Isa 1:4  Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. 
Isa 1:5  Why should ye be stricken anymore? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

Eze 11:4  Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man.
Eze 11:5  And the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and said unto me, Speak; Thus saith the LORD; Thus have ye said, O house of Israel: for I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them.
Eze 11:6  Ye have multiplied your slain in this city, and ye have filled the streets thereof with the slain. 
Eze 11:7  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Your slain whom ye have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city is the caldron: but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it. 
Eze 11:8  Ye have feared the sword; and I will bring a sword upon you, saith the Lord GOD. 

These verses show us the result of the wicked counsel or the false doctrines that we imbibe in Babylon. As we can see in verses 6 and 7, the whole city is filled with the slain. In other words, the whole of Babylon or the church system of this world is filled with spiritually dead people. The sad part of this is that they do not recognize that they are spiritually dead!!  That was what happened to us in our time in Babylon. We were spiritually dead, but we thought that we were spiritually alive in Christ. In verse 7, the Lord is referring to the saying that the city is the caldron to mean that it is in the church (represented here by the city) that we (the flesh) are boiled and therefore killed. In other words, the church system has become a pot for boiling or killing the people.

Luk 13:33  Nevertheless I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.
Luk 13:34  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! 
Luk 13:35  Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. 

As the Lord’s elect, in spite of our spiritual depravity while we were in Babylon, the Lord had promised in verse 7 that He would bring us out of the midst of Babylon.

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Verse 8 tells us that even though we fear the sword, the Lord will bring the sword upon us. The sword is a symbol of the Lord’s judgment, and when we were in Babylon, we were afraid of the Lord’s judgment and did not want to even hear that we shall be judged. However, as the Lord came to us, we were given to know that the Lord’s judgment of our old man in this life is the best thing that can happen to us. The Lord’s assurance that He will bring the sword upon us therefore brings to the fore our position as children of the Lord.

Heb 12:5  And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 
Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
Heb 12:8  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
Heb 12:9  Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
Heb 12:10  For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
Heb 12:11  Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
Heb 12:12  Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;

Eze 11:9  And I will bring you out of the midst thereof, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you.
Eze 11:10  Ye shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 
Eze 11:11  This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall ye be the flesh in the midst thereof; but I will judge you in the border of Israel:

In verse 9, the process of the Lord delivering us out of the midst of Babylon involves the Lord’s judgment of our old man where He uses the sword in verse 10 as His instrument of our judgment. The negative aspect of the sword refers to words that are spoken which destroy us. The sword refers to the lying words and false doctrines of the adversary. One of the key factors which causes our exit from Babylon is our realization of the lying words or false doctrines prevalent in Babylon.

2Ti 2:17  And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; 
2Ti 2:18  Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.

Psa 64:2  Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity: 
Psa 64:3  Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:

These negative words spoken are one of the tools the Lord uses to cause people to speak bitter words to us, His elect. 

Eze 38:21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.

Jdg 7:22 And the three hundred [men with Gideon] blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man’s sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host [of the Midianites]: and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath.

Being judged in the border of Israel signifies that our judgment begins as we start our journey to exit Babylon. In verse 11, we are told that the saying that the city of Jerusalem is a caldron and that we are the flesh in the midst thereof shall not be applicable to us as the Lord facilitates our exit from Babylon. As we have indicated earlier, saying that the city is the caldron and the people are the flesh is the same as saying that man is born to suffer, and therefore, we become accustomed to suffering such that no matter what we go through, we do not pay attention to what the Lord is trying to say.

Isa 1:4  Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.
Isa 1:5  Why should ye be stricken anymore? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

The Lord saying that we shall not be part of the saying that the city of Jerusalem is a caldron and that we are the flesh signifies that the Lord’s judgment of our old man will cause us to learn righteousness.

Isa 26:8  Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Eze 11:12  And ye shall know that I am the LORD: for ye have not walked in my statutes, neither executed my judgments, but have done after the manners of the heathen that are round about you.
Eze 11:13  And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?

Verse 12 shows us why the Lord is judging us. It is because we have done evil as we did not walk in the Lord’s statutes as we lived just like the heathen around us when we were in Babylon. The Lord therefore is justified as He comes with His judgment to put to death our old man or the man of sin in our lives. In verse 13, we are told that when Ezekiel prophesied concerning the judgment of our old man as a result of the sins of the people, Pelatiah, one of the leading members of the twenty-five men that Ezekiel saw, died. The dying of Pelatiah signifies the end result of the fire of the word of the Lord spoken by Ezekiel. This fire of the word of the Lord is the tribulation or persecution which comes as a result of the word of the Lord we have received. That is what destroys our old man.

Mat 13:20  But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
Mat 13:21  Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.

In verse 13, Ezekiel complained to the Lord about the killing of the remnant of Israel. This is because the process of the death of our old man is not an enjoyable experience. When we are being judged, it is as if our lives are coming to an end as we come to our wits’ end. Ezekiel came to his wits’ end when he saw the death of Pelatiah and thought that the end had come for the Lord’s remnant.

Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. 
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end. 
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. 
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven. 
Psa 107:31  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 

The Lord’s Promise of a New Heart and Spirit

Eze 11:14  Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 
Eze 11:15  Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the LORD: unto us is this land given in possession.
Eze 11:16  Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.
Eze 11:17  Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.

The Israelites who remained in Jerusalem after the Babylonian invasion considered themselves as the chosen ones as they proclaimed that the Lord had given them the land for possession. These Israelites thought that those who were exiled were outcasts and that these exiles were far from the Lord. In verse 16 and 17, the Lord is saying that although He had scattered the exiles among the countries, He was with them, and that they were the ones to inherit the land of Israel. This is the mindset of our brothers and sisters in the churches of this world (Babylon). They think that they are the chosen ones and that they will inherit the earth. On the other hand, they see our leaving the city of Jerusalem or Babylon as being the Lord’s outcasts. However, the Lord is assuring us in verse 17 that He will gather and assemble us out of the countries where we are scattered and that we are the ones to inherit the earth.

Rom 4:13  For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law (which is practiced in Babylon) but through the righteousness of faith.
Rom 4:14  For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.
Rom 4:15  For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. 
Rom 4:16  That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,  (ESV)

Eze 11:18  And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.
Eze 11:19  And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: 
Eze 11:20  That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

The Lord is gathering us together as the church of the firstborn or the New Jerusalem as He takes away all the detestable things and abominations in our lives. The taking away of the detestable things and all the abominations in verse 18 symbolize the destroying of the old man with his fleshly deeds in our lives. This old man within us is the beast within us or our flesh. The Lord’s promise of giving us one heart means we shall all be of one mind, speaking the same thing and having the same judgment. 

1Co 1:10  Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 

In verse 19, we are also told that the Lord will give us a new spirit within us as He takes away the stony heart out of our flesh and gives us a heart of flesh. This giving of a new spirit and a new heart represent the birth and growth of the new man within us which is created in righteousness and true holiness. The stony heart in verse 19 refers to our old man who must be put to death to give way to the new man within us. As the old man is dying within us, the new man is gaining ascendancy.

Eph 4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Col 3:10  And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

It is when we are under the control of the new man that we are able to walk in the Lord’s statutes and keep His ordinances. That is when we shall indeed be the Lord’s people and He becomes our God.

Eze 11:21  But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord GOD. 

Here we are being warned that if we continue to be under the control of the flesh, we shall surely face the second death. 

Heb 6:4  For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 
Heb 6:5  And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 
Heb 6:6  If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
Heb 6:7  For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God:
Heb 6:8  But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.
Heb 6:9  But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. 

Eze 11:22  Then did the cherubims lift up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.
Eze 11:23  And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city.

As we have indicated in our previous studies, the cherubims represent the Lord’s elect as they sit in the heavenly places in Christ. The wheels signify our lives here on earth as we have this treasure in earthen vessels. The glory of the God of Israel refers to hearing the words of the Lord in the midst of our fiery trials. The glory of the God of Israel being over the cherubims means that it is only the elect (cherubims) who are given the privilege in this age to hear the words of the Lord in the midst of our fiery trials. This is confirmed in verse 23 where the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and stood over the mountain on the east side of the city.

The city here is Jerusalem which is in bondage with her children. It represents Babylon where they are not given to see the glory of the Lord. That is why the glory of the Lord departed from the city. The mountain where the glory of the Lord stood symbolizes the house of the Lord or the gathering of the Lord’s elect. It is on the mountain of the house of the Lord that we are given to see the Lord’s glory.

Isa 2:2  And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 
Isa 2:3  And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 

Mic 4:1  But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.

Eze 11:24  Afterwards the spirit took me up, and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me.
Eze 11:25  Then I spake unto them of the captivity all the things that the LORD had shewed me.

As we have indicated, those in captivity represent the Lord’s elect. It is in our midst that we speak to each other of all the things that the Lord has shown us for the edification of the body.

Eph 4:11  And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
Eph 4:12  For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Eph 4:13  Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 
Eph 4:14  That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 
Eph 4:15  But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: 
Eph 4:16  From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

May His name be praised forever more. Amen!!