Ezekiel’s Prophetic Heart
When you watch a film or a TV program that has a sad scene in it, are you one of those people who can’t hold back the tears and the empathy, or are you one of those people who plays it cool and pretends it doesn’t affect you at all, or perhaps it has no effect on you? I am definitely one of those people who will start crying as soon as something sad happens, or as soon as I see someone else crying – even if I don’t know them! We sometimes make a joke of it and describe those that don’t get affected by these sad scenes to be cold-hearted, “you’ve got a heart made of stone”. The heart made of stone that is described in this prophecy from Ezekiel goes deeper than that and we’ll take a look at that a little later on. 
Let’s go to the beginning of this passage in verse 24. When Ezekiel first gave this prophecy, Israel was practically desolate, and her people were exiled. God promised to not only bring back His people from the Babylonian captivity, but He promised a greater and more complete gathering to come. 
For us right now, it can almost feel like we’re in a sort of exile. Scattered, but still among this city and further afield, but spending time apart from each other, only in our homes and workplaces (and the supermarkets of course!). For us, having the end in sight is what is keeping us going! 
Perhaps God has a greater and more complete gathering planned for us as we return out of lockdown. We might be a little cautious to begin with but the joy of seeing each other, being able to spend time with friends and families inside again, that joy will be far greater than any anxieties we hold onto. Has anyone ever had that “the night before going back to work or school after some time off feeling”? You’re looking forward to seeing your colleagues and friends again but perhaps there’s a little bit of anxiety because of the uncertainty that comes with. Coming out of lockdown might feel like that but we can be certain of this: we know a God who is a Protector and Comforter and His promises are true. He promised Israel to bring them back from among the nations and bring them into their own land for a greater and more complete gathering. God didn’t give them the land because of their righteousness and He won’t restore the land because of anything good they have done. God in His grace gives us what we don’t deserve. 
Then we go to verse 25 where in this vision God promises to cleanse a filthy Israel. I’m sure we’ve all in our lifetime had a piece of clothing, a toy or some fabric that has become filthy over time, but we refuse to wash it because we use it so often and can’t go a day or two without it whilst we wait for it to wash and dry. One of those things for me is my dressing gown. I love it. If I could get away with wearing it out the house, I would. When I’m cold – I pop it on, when I’m feeling rubbish – I pop it on and particularly in this last year, when all I’ve wanted is a hug – I pop it on. A good thing about this year is that it has become acceptable to go to work in your PJ’s – that’s if you’re working from home and have no video meetings of course! We do allow things to get dirty though and we put off cleaning them - I know I put off cleaning! You see, our priorities are different. Some people keep everything as clean as they can and some people leave it until the very last opportunity to clean. Where do you sit on that scale? Is it a priority for you to keep things clean or are there other things you prioritise? 
God promises a spiritual cleansing of His people. We’re not talking about a dirty land or dirty material things here, we’re talking about the people. Not how clean they are on the outside but how clean they are on the inside. He says “I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols”. He’s talking about their sin and corruption. This is what would be cleansed by God’s work. Now, Ezekiel is someone who speaks tough. “You know why God will bring a transformation of your life? Don’t think it’s for your sake. It’s for God’s own sake. God’s own name is discredited by the mess you’re in as a result of your sin. So God is going to sort the mess out for his own sake.” It puts us in our place and shows that we humans and our needs, aren’t the centre of the universe. 
One effect of our wrongdoing is to make it possible for us to come into God’s presence. We’d spoil it. But God wants us in his presence. So he doesn’t just urge Israel to clean itself up before approaching him. He’ll take action to clean them up. He’ll pour water over them (he won’t just sprinkle them – he’ll douse them). He’ll do this for you too. He wants you in His presence with Him. No matter what your circumstances are, no matter what your past looks like. He wants you right here, right now in His presence. 
God will cleanse Israel and then He promises to spiritually renew Israel too. “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.” This is the spiritual transformation. Instead of the law working from the outside in, God promised a new heart to work from the inside out. John Taylor puts it like this: “The terms heart and spirit also need careful understanding. They are not so much parts of man’s make-up as aspects of his total personality. The heart includes the mind and the will, as well as the emotions; it is in face the seat of the personality, the inmost nature of man. The spirit is the impulse which drives the man and regulates his desires, his thoughts and his conduct. Both of these will be replaced and renewed: the heart that is stubborn, rebellious and insensitive (a heart of stone) by one that is soft impressionable and responsive (a heart of flesh) and the spirit of disobedience by the Spirit of God. The result of this psychological transplant will be that Israel will experience a real ‘change of heart’ and will become, by God’s gracious initiative, the kind of people that they have in the past so signally failed to be. The implementing of God’s Spirit within them will transform their motives and empower them to live according to God’s statutes and judgments.” 
If our heart is not in the right place, how can we expect our mind to be? How can we expect our actions and words to be? If there’s a desire within our heart to honour and live a life pleasing to God, then all that we say and do will flow from there and that desire. The Holy Spirit changes the heart to cause the individual to "follow" the Lord. The Spirit enables and creates the desire in the heart of the person to do what is humanly impossible. The only way to live a life pleasing to the Lord is by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. 
I just want to take a moment to go back to thinking about that dirty laundry or dirty item I asked you about earlier. Those things become dirty because we don’t look after them well enough or perhaps we use them too much. That’s quite like our hearts as well. If we don’t look after our hearts well, they too can become unclean, unhealthy and damaged. Physically we have to keep fit and healthy to make sure our hearts are strong and are able to do all they are supposed to do. What I’m talking about now though is the attitude of your heart. Is the attitude of your heart a healthy attitude? Are you feeding into your heart well? We can easily be influenced by the things we watch and the stuff that we read but is that having a good influence on the attitude of your heart, is that keeping your heart healthy? 
I think for all of us we can experience qualities of both the heart of stone and heart of flesh but God is saying that He wants to renew you from the inside out. Perhaps these last few months you’ve seen a change in your heart attitude. Maybe you’ve become more resistant and had to harden your heart due to certain circumstances or perhaps you’ve discovered a heart of flesh as you’ve started to see the world through God’s eyes. Perhaps your relationship with God isn’t in a great place right now but the good news is that if we are open to this spiritual cleansing and renewing, the relationship between you and God can be restored. 
I want you to do something. Right now. During this next worship song. Grab a piece of paper and draw what your heart feels like. Is it heavy? Is it light? Is it hard? Is it soft? Then I want you to write on top of it, what’s on your heart. Maybe you’ve been thinking about different situations, different people, something that’s come up in the news. Then I want you to write what you’re going to do with that thing or couple of things. For us to have a heart of flesh we need to regularly take stock of the attitude of our heart. If your attitude is recognising that there’s stuff on your heart but not doing anything about it, that’s when our hearts can become like stone. If we have a heart of flesh, a heart to see the world as God intended it to be we must be active in taking steps to see change for what God places on our hearts. Just like how God will take action because He wants us in His presence. So we need to assess how our hearts feel, what is on our heart and then do something about it.
CarysEgner@ChesterRoadBaptist.org.uk