Ezekiel 11:18-25 - I told the exiles everything the Lord had shown me

11:18-21

The return would not just be a matter of going back to things the way they were. What would be the point of that? Instead they will remove all the “vile images and detestable idols”. Then we get the first of the new heart promises in Ezekiel. “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh”. Coming to Jesus is not just a matter of being forgiven, it is about being transformed, being born again, becoming a new creation. And that new creation is a person who becomes ever more Christlike.

“Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws”. Questions like “can we do what we like and be forgiven”  (one like this being dealt with in Romans 6) demonstrate that the questioner really has not got a clue what the gospel is about. Following God’s ways is the best thing we can do, it is the only way to be truly alive. “Then they will be my people and I will be their God”. This is the goal of the whole of the Bible. But there is also a severe warning. Those whose hearts remain devoted to idols will “bring down on their own heads what they have done”.

11:22-25

Having given Ezekiel this message the glory of the Lord departs the temple, and the Spirit takes Ezekiel back to Babylon. The vision then leaves Ezekiel, and he tells the exiles all that the Lord had shown him. The exiles needed to understand what was going on and what te lord’s heart and plans were.