March 16th 2016
25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
– Ezekiel 36:25-27
Did you ever find Jesus in a place you did not expect him to be? The first year we were doing “the read through the Bible in a year”, I found Jesus in the Old Testament in Ezekiel 36:25-27. I was not expecting to find him there. I do not remember what I was thinking while reading, but it was probably similar to reading history in high school. I have this reading assignment and I’m not sure how this applies to me. And the “finding Jesus” I am referring to is not accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior. It was more that something is missing and there was a joy robber in my walk with Jesus.
I have only fasted a few times in my life, but it is an example of what I am saying. When I fasted, it did not bring me closer to God. I found myself looking at magazine ads or TV commercials about food and being tempted to quit fasting and eat something. In the same way in my walk with Jesus, I have questioned why I can’t be more like Christ. These 3 verses from Ezekiel have changed my perspective from what I can do to what Jesus will do.
The love Jesus showed in his statements of “I will” restored my joy. In all 3 verses can you hear him saying “I will” to you? In verse 25, we have a great high priest that will sprinkle clean water on me and I will be clean not because of my being able to be more like Jesus or anything I do, but because Jesus is worthy and wants to make me clean. The second half of 25 tells me more about the heart of Jesus in that he will cleanse me from “all” of my impurities and from “all” of my idols.
After Jesus has cleansed me, he gives me a new heart and a new spirit. I am pretty sure I know in whose image this new heart and new spirit will be like in verse 26. Jesus did not say to let him know when we have changed our heart and spirit but that he will give them to us. Verse 27 gave me so much joy. Remember when Jesus said it is good that I go away so I can send you the Comforter? It is not dependent on my ability to keep God’s laws or even to have the will to follow his decrees. God the Holy Spirit will move me. To me these verses tell of the love of God and how much he cares to save us.
– Bob Burns