One of the rich blessings and promises of being in Christ is being made new. As we enter into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, we identify in a very real sense with His death and resurrection. Our old-self dies, and we are made new due to the finished work of Christ on the cross as well as the power of our resurrected Lord reigning in us.
The newness we experience in Christ is positionally immediate. We move from those not in Christ (in Adam) to those in Christ. However, practically the old-self is still in play this side of paradise, so to be radically made new in a day-to-day living sense we must partner with God, allowing His Spirit to do the work of making us more and more like Christ.
In the book of Ezekiel we find a prophet, Ezekiel, in approximately 571 BC announcing God’s judgment upon Judah, to allow them one last chance to repent. God provides this opportunity knowing the people will refuse to do so. The result of Judah’s disobedience is catastrophe and exile. However, in God’s great mercy He preserves a remnant that will be delivered and eventually returned to the promise land.
In this book ripe with doom and gloom we come upon this promise:
“And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God” (Ezekiel 11:19-20).
This promise is quite wonderful. God redefines His relationship with the remnant declaring that what they are really searching for is God Himself. This new relationship is marked by a “new spirit” and a “heart of flesh,” provided by the Lord, which enables faithful living previously impossible with a “heart of stone.”
There is a theological tension in Ezekiel between divine provision (11:19-20) and human endeavor (“make yourself a new heart and a new spirit,” 18:31). In the later they are challenged to repent and take responsibility for their own moral lives, thus the appeal to “make yourself a new heart and a new spirit.” The verse we have been examining (11:19-20) speaks of the Lord giving “a new heart” and “a new spirit” to the remnant. What we discover is a principle that is just as true for believers to today as it was to those in days of old. God calls us to partner with Him in this amazing work of making us new.
When we come to Christ, we are truly made new in our position or standing before God. We are His, and we share in the very righteousness of Christ (2 Cor 5:21). It is this new position that allows us to identify with the salvific work of Christ and partner with God’s Spirit to practically become and live out of our new position (Rom 12:1-2). This journey of newness is not a burden for the believer, but a blessing. God in Christ has already accepted us; therefore our journey of newness is one where we joyfully get to honor God while being blessed and being used by Him to bless others. Remember this encouraging promise given to us by Christ, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36), while “putting on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator” (Col 3:10).
Let us rejoice with one another that we have been made new in Christ while encouraging each of us to continue to partner with God in the richness of that renewal. This promise and partnership are at the heart of being Christ’s disciple who is actively making disciples. What a privilege it is to fellowship and be on mission with each of you.