In Ezekiel 36:27 the Lord says, “And I will put my Spirit within you.” For God to put His Spirit within His people is for Him to put Himself into them.
Many Christians do not understand the difference between a new heart, a new spirit, and God’s Spirit. Many years ago I visited a particular city and gave a message on Ezekiel 36:26 and 27. I emphasized the matters of a new heart, a new spirit, and the Spirit of God. A certain sister was bothered by the fact that I made a distinction between the heart and the spirit. She could not understand the difference. According to her concept, the heart and the spirit were the same. I endeavored to explain that we have a heart with which to love the Lord and a spirit with which to contact Him and receive Him. Taking a Bible in my hand, I told her that although she may love the Bible with her heart, she would have to use her hand to receive it. Eventually she understood that although we may love God with our hearts, we need another organ, the spirit, to contact Him and receive Him. A new heart, a new spirit, and the Spirit of God can all be ours because the blood has been shed for the forgiveness of sins.
Jeremiah 31:33 says, “But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Here God promises to put His law into our inward parts and to write it upon our hearts. This word is quoted in Hebrews 8:10. The law inscribed into our inner being is not the outward law, but the inward law of life.
God promised to give the people a new heart, a new spirit, His Spirit, and the inward law of life. These denote God’s nature, God’s life, and God Himself. As believers, we have a new heart, a new spirit, and God Himself as the Spirit. We also have the inward law of life.
Because we have a new heart, a new spirit, the Spirit of God, and the inward law of life, we have the ability of life to know God. Jeremiah 31:34 says, “And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord.” This verse is quoted in Hebrews 8:11. Because we have the inward ability of life to know God, we do not need anyone to teach us.
God Himself has come into us as the Spirit to impart His life and nature to us. God’s life and nature have become the inward law of life, an organic element which spontaneously regulates us. A new heart, a new spirit, the Spirit of God, the inward law of life, the ability of life to know God—these are the better things into which the blood for forgiveness of sin has ushered us.
The promises in Ezekiel 36:26 and 27 and Jeremiah 31:33 and 34 have not yet been fulfilled with the children of Israel. They will be fulfilled in them only after the coming back of the Lord Jesus. The children of Israel are still involved in Judaism, and they have not yet received a new heart, a new spirit, the Spirit of God, and the inward law of life. They do not possess the ability of life to know God. But one day, at the time prophesied in Zechariah 12, they will repent. Then the promise will be fulfilled, for God will regenerate them, put a new heart and spirit into them, place His Spirit within them, and also impart to them the law of life. Hallelujah, as New Testament believers, we have received all these better things already!
Even in Old Testament times, the high priests could enter the Holy of Holies through the redeeming blood shed on the altar. Aaron was the first to enter the Holy of Holies in this way and to behold the shekinah glory of God and to be under God’s infusion.
Leviticus 16:11-16 is an important passage showing that the blood shed on the altar enabled the high priest to enter into the Holy of Holies. Verse 14 says, “And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times.” First the sacrifice was slain at the altar. Then the blood was brought into the Holy of Holies by the high priest. Verse 15 continues, “Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the veil, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat.” This made it possible for the high priest to stay in God’s presence and receive the infusion of His shekinah glory. This is to have the enjoyment of God on the basis of the blood shed at the altar and brought into the Holy of Holies.
The blood not only redeemed God’s people; it also brought them into the enjoyment of God. David speaks of this enjoyment in Psalm 27:4: “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.” How is it possible to enter into the house of God and behold the beauty of the Lord’s countenance? This is possible only because of the redeeming and cleansing blood. Only on the basis of the blood can we behold the beauty of the Lord in His temple. The redeeming blood actually brings sinful, corrupted people into the enjoyment of God.