Ezekiel 11:19

In a day of sin and ruin it is always like this. Those who boast that age, order, succession and rule belong to them alone, by descent, are only ripening for divine judgment. The most looked-down-on and despised are the ones who hold the truth and the blessing, in circumstances of humiliation and weakness. This is what Jehovah promised here: to be a little sanctuary to the scattered Jews in the countries they had come to. He promised to gather them from the peoples and give them the land, and this with one heart and a new spirit. The heart of stone would be replaced by one of flesh, leading to obedient ways and to true recognition of God and His recognition of them. Meanwhile the stubborn idolaters would meet the due reward of their deeds.

Here, it is plain, we go far beyond the mere return of a remnant out of Babylon under the Persian kings... This could not be the end of the promise. It is the free and unchangeable promise of God, and it never can be taken away from the people to whom He made it. The words of Jehovah here look on to an end that has not come even yet, and through all the time that has passed He has never forgotten it.

If you insist that this chapter applies to the restoration from Babylon, I would quote Nehemiah 9:36-37: "Behold, we are servants this day … and we are in great distress." That shows how little the return from Babylon fulfilled all these promises we have been reading.

There was something very fitting in God writing the law on tablets of stone. You can smash tablets of stone, but you cannot stretch them or twist them as though they were rubber. The law was as inflexible as the material it was written on. Sadly, Israel proved to have a heart of stone. There was no material there for anything to be written on. So in this book of Ezekiel the Lord as it were says, "I am going to recreate Israel. I am going to work by My Spirit so that they will be able to receive what I am going to write in a coming day."

In Ezekiel 36, the first step is the removal of the stony heart, which is replaced by a heart of flesh. It is that which is impressionable and on which the Spirit of God writes.

Responsible man may have reached the end of his history, and it closes in judgment. But God has not come to the end of His resources... To bless them, God must bring them to Himself in a completely new condition. He will give them a share in the blessing of the new birth, as it is written: "I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh."

You find expressions such as "fruit of trees" and "increase of the field" — details of earthly things, which are the earthly blessings promised to Israel. At the same time the need of a new heart is tied to them, so that those to whom these promises belong may be able to enjoy them. Israel must be renewed in heart to receive the promises of Canaan.

Ezekiel 11:19 refers to Israel, in the future. 2 Corinthians 5:17 refers to the Christian now. It is important to distinguish between things heavenly and earthly.