08/15/2026 – “And I will give you an heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26 // “If to the right or left I stray, That moment, Lord reprove; And let me weep my life away, For having grieved thy love.” See expanded verses along with Matthew Henry commentary below!
“A heart of flesh is known by its tenderness concerning sin. To have indulged a foul imagination, or to have allowed a wild desire to tarry even for a moment, is quite enough to make a heart of flesh grieve before the Lord. The heart of stone calls a great iniquity nothing, but not so the heart of flesh.
“If to the right or left I stray,
That moment, Lord, reprove;
And let me weep my life away,
For having grieved thy love”
The heart of flesh is tender of God’s will. My Lord Will-be-will is a great blusterer, and it is hard to subject him to God’s will; but when the heart of flesh is given, the will quivers like an aspen leaf in every breath of heaven, and bows like an osier in every breeze of God’s Spirit. The natural will is cold, hard iron, which is not to be hammered into form, but the renewed will, like molten metal, is soon moulded by the hand of grace. In the fleshy heart there is a tenderness of the affections. The hard heart does not love the Redeemer, but the renewed heart burns with affection towards him. The hard heart is selfish and coldly demands, “Why should I weep for sin? Why should I love the Lord?” But the heart of flesh says; “Lord, thou knowest that I love thee; help me to love thee more!” Many are the privileges of this renewed heart; “‘Tis here the Spirit dwells, ’tis here that Jesus rests.” It is fitted to receive every spiritual blessing, and every blessing comes to it. It is prepared to yield every heavenly fruit to the honour and praise of God, and therefore the Lord delights in it. A tender heart is the best defence against sin, and the best preparation for heaven. A renewed heart stands on its watchtower looking for the coming of the Lord Jesus. Have you this heart of flesh?”
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Soli Deo Gloria!
Let’s expand to include verse 37: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will place My Spirit within you and cause you to follow My statutes and carefully observe My ordinances.” Ezekiel 36; 26-27
Now, with an assist from Matthew Henry commentary (Verses 25-38 except), let’s raise the curtain to His unfathomable love and grace even further!:
“God here promises that he will work a good work in them, v. 25-27. 1. That God would cleanse them from the pollutions of sin (v. 25): I will sprinkle clean water upon you, which signifies both the blood of Christ sprinkled upon the conscience to purify that and to take away the sense of guilt, and the grace of the Spirit sprinkled on the whole soul to purify it from all corrupt inclinations, as Naaman was cleansed from his leprosy by dipping in Jordan. And (v. 29). I will save you from all your uncleannesses. That God would give them a new heart, a disposition of mind vastly different from what it was before. 3. That, instead of a heart of stone, insensible and unapt to receive divine impressions and to return devout affections, God would give a heart of flesh, a soft and tender heart, that has spiritual senses exercised, complying in everything with the will of God. 4. That since, besides our inclination to sin, we complain of an inability to do our duty, God cause them to walk in his statues and thoroughly furnish them with wisdom and will, and active powers, for every good work. II. God here promises that he will take them into covenant with himself. The sum of the covenant of grace we have, v. 28.”
So, it is by God’s grace alone that we receive this “heart of flesh”. The Lord keeps all His promises. We have His promise that He answers all prayers through multiple Bible verses. So if this “heart of flesh” is in your future, pray for it and immerse yourself in His Word, and you will most certainly receive it!
We are “in the world but not of this world.” But we have a mission while we are here, as was noted recently in this blog, Ezekiel Chapter 33. Here is a key excerpt to our mission, failure is not an option, so more prayer and it will happen! Here is the excerpt:
“As for you, son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. When you hear a word from My mouth, give them a warning from Me. If I say to the wicked: Wicked one, you will surely die, but you do not speak out to warn him about his way, that wicked person will die for his iniquity, yet I will hold you responsible for his blood. But if you warn a wicked person to turn from his way and he doesn’t turn from it, he will die for iniquity, but you will have saved your life.” Ezekiel 33: 7-9
If you disagree that the “Watchman” passage applies to us “current christians”, I get it. But I would ask: Do you then submit that Jesus’ was not serious about His command to us, “The Great Commission” ? Check out these “30 Powerful Verses About the Great Commission.” (Link below). Do we really believe what we say we believe is really true? (His Word is infallible!)
Thoughts? / Reflections!
Your brother in Christ,
Jimmy
Note – I am having trouble with this link, there must be some “cut and paste” blocks. No worries, just put “30 powerful Verses About the Great Commission” in your search window.
https://biblestudyforyou.com/bible-verses-about-the-great-commission/