Heart of Flesh (Ezekiel 36:26)

"I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean. From all your defilement and from all your idols I will cleanse you. I will give you a new heart; I will implant a new spirit within you. I will remove the stone heart from your body; I will give you a heart of flesh. I will implant my Spirit within you. I will cause you to walk in my decrees, so you will diligently observe my laws. ... You will be my people, And I will bet your God" (Ezekiel 36:25-28).

What will God do for his people?

1. Cleanse (Eze 36:25). God will purify Israel of its defilement ('to be clean" repeated 3x). This cleansing mixes the metaphors of priestly cleansing rituals and blood sprinkling ceremonies. It is God's direct cathartic actions, removing the defilement caused by the people's idolatry and other violations of God's covenant. In this context it is not simply an external ceremonial cleansing accompanying the internal renewal (26-27) but a wholesale cleansing from sin performed by God, a necessary precondition to normalizing the spiritual relationship between God and his people.
2. Replace (Eze 36:26). God will remove Israel's fossilized heart and replace it with a sensitive fleshly organ (Eze 11:19). Heart (leb) and spirit (ruah) represent the person's internal locus of emotion, will and thought. Like Jesus (Mt 15:17-20), Ezekiel recognized the problem of rebellion and sin against God to be more deeply ingrained than mere external acts. Ezekiel describes the heart as stone, which speaks of coldness, insensitivity, incorrigibility, and even lifelessness (Nabal in 1 Sam 25:37). Ezekiel knew this well having had to deal with the obduracy of his people from the time of his call (2:4-11; 3:4-11).  But God has been struggling with this problem for centuries. The present solution is more radical than the circumcision of the heart (Dt 30:6-8). The only answer is the removal of the petrified organ and its replacement with a warm, sensitive and responsive heart off flesh.
3. Implant (Eze 36:26a, 27a). Concomitant with the heart transplant, God will infuse his people with a new spirit, his Spirit. Seemingly the juxtaposing of ruah and leb suggests that they are synonymous. However the synonymity is seldom exact in Hebrew parallelism. Here the new heart is given to the Israelites, but the spirit is placed within them. The provision of the new heart involves the removal of the hard heart and its replacement with a heart of flesh, the source of which is unspecified. But the new spirit placed within is identified as God's ruah (27), which animates and vilifies the recipients. The subject, not developed here is afforded full blown exposition later (37:1-14). 
4. Walk and act (Eze 36:27b). God will cause his people to be obedient to himself. "I will make that you walk in my statutes and observe my covenant standards and act [accordingly]." God will no longer gamble with Israel as he did in old times, and Israel rebelled against him; in the future--no more experiments! God will put his spirit into them, he will alter their hearts (and minds) and make it impossible for them to be anything but obedient to his rules and his commandments. The declaration abandons all hope that Israel, in her present condition, can achieve the ideals of covenant relationship originally intended by God. The status quo can be altered only by direct divine intervention.
5. Renew (Eze 36:28). God will renew his covenant with his people. Ezekiel climaxes God's restorative with the announcement of the fulfillment of God's ancient ideal: a transformed people living in their homeland, covenantally related to their divine Lord. Jeremiah and Ezekiel obviously have the same covenant renewal in mind (Jer 31:33). But what Jeremiah attributes to the divine Torah, Ezekiel ascribes to the infusion of the divine ruah. With the restoration of these relationships, not only have ancient Near Eastern perceptions of normal relations among deity, people, and land been satisfied; but God's name has also been sanctified and his own ancient ideal for the nation is finally achieved.

The only solution for the fallen human race is a fundamental cleansing, a heart transplant, an infusion of the divine Spirit. It is tempting to imagine that social ills can be healed by economic, social, educational and political programs or regime change. But Ezekiel's radical theocentricity finds the answer in God alone. Yes, efforts to advance and improve social conditions must be lauded. But to propose these as the answer for a person's needs without reference to the fundamental problem--the depravity of the human soul--is to continue the idolatry of the Israelites. What is needed in our day is a dramatic reversal and return to the biblical heart imagery, and to a recognition that the required transformation can be achieved only by the gracious act of God. Only God can remove our hearts of stone and give us hearts of flesh; new life comes only by the infusion of his Spirit.

The future of Israel rests in the eternal immutable promises of God. In 586 BC the nation saw all their hopes and aspirations dashed. To the exiles all God's promises regarding their status as his covenant people, their title to their ancestral homeland, the right of the Davidic dynasty to rule, and the residence of God in Zion seemed in vain. But Ezekiel reassures his people that God has not forgotten his covenant; the ancient promises still stand. Therefore, the population must be regathered, their hearts transformed, and their community returned to the homeland, there to enjoy the blessings of God. After all, his honor is at stake.