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. – Ezekiel 36:26
In December 1967, a large medical team at a hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, performed the first human-to-human heart transplant. According to Statista, in 2022, there were approximately 4,111 heart transplants in the United States alone, which represented an increase from prior years. That year, the United Nations also reported 31,238 heart transplants over the decade ending in December 2021. It is estimated that, about every eight minutes, another person is added to the organ transplant waiting list—awaiting hearts, kidneys, lungs, and other vital organs—organs made available because of donors.
From the time of Adam’s sin in the Garden, people have inherited a heart with problems. In today’s verse, God has promised a spiritual transplant, essentially a surgical regeneration by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. Theologian, pastor, and professor H. W. Wolff writes, “The heart of stone is the dead heart… which is unreceptive and makes all the limbs incapable of action. The heart of flesh is the living heart, full of insight, which is at the same time ready for new action. The new rūach (spirit/Spirit) brings to the perception and will of the heart the new vital power to hold on steadfastly in willing obedience.” The people of Israel in Ezekiel’s time awaited the fulfillment of God’s promise through the coming Messiah. For the believer in Christ Jesus, this promise is fulfilled in the work of the Holy Spirit within.
The miracle of human heart transplants is dependent on the skill of the surgeons and also on the body of the recipient to receive the transplanted organ. In God’s transplants, 100 percent of the power is His; the beneficiary simply receives the new heart and becomes obedient to walk in His ways. A pure synergism exists as God’s enabling power is combined with human response. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Have you received a heart transplant from the Master Surgeon? Are you walking in His ways? Pray for America’s medical professionals who do transplant work. Pray also for the families of organ donors as they consider difficult decisions.
Today’s Verse: Ezekiel 36:26
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.
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Recommended for further reading: Ezekiel 36:22-32
22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. 23 And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. 24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 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. 26 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. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. 29 And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. 30 I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. 31 Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. 32 It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
