One-Year Bible Reading Plan  : Seekers & New Believers |  December 24 | Ezekiel Chapter 36: The Mountains of Israel Shall Shoot Forth, A New Heart and A New Spirit, and Cleansing by Pure Water 

🦌 Opening Today’s Reading 

Dear brothers, sisters, and friends, peace be with you in the Lord!

Welcome to Day 98 of our Old Testament journey! On this Christmas Eve, December 24, we step into one of the most radiant chapters of spiritual renewal in all of Holy Scripture—Ezekiel Chapter 36.

If Jeremiah Chapter 31 foretold the New Covenant written on human hearts, Ezekiel Chapter 36 reveals the divine spiritual surgery and cleansing by which that New Covenant is practically accomplished!

Serving as a Old Testament foundational text for spiritual regeneration—echoed by Jesus in John 3 regarding being born of water and the Spirit—this chapter opens with promises of restoration over the desolate mountains of Israel, culminating in the immortal promise: "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh."

Throughout this glorious passage, Ezekiel paints a picture of complete transformation: God sprinkles clean water upon His people to cleanse them from idols, puts His Holy Spirit within them to enable obedience, and transforms desolate ruins into fruitful gardens like Eden.

Let us enter Ezekiel Chapter 36 with joyful, expectant, and worshipful hearts this Christmas Eve!

📖 Context Snapshot : Restoration Over Desolate Mountains, Sanctifying His Great Name, and Divine Heart Surgery 

1. What Happened Before: Jeremiah's New Covenant to Ezekiel's Spiritual Regeneration

Do you remember our reading of Jeremiah Chapter 31, where the Lord promised an everlasting love and a covenant written in the heart? In Ezekiel's day, Jerusalem lay in ashes, and the exiles dwelt by the rivers of Babylon. Following news of Jerusalem's fall in Chapter 33, Ezekiel's prophecies shifted from severe judgment to glorious divine restoration.

2. Today's Thread: Mockery Silenced on the Mountains and The Miracle of a Transformed Heart

By the rivers of Babylon, the exiles endured the bitter mockery of foreign enemies who boasted that Israel's ancient mountains had become an eternal wasteland, claiming that the Lord was powerless to protect His land. God's holy name was profaned among the nations by the exiles' plight.

Yet amidst national humiliation, the prophet Ezekiel was moved by the Holy Spirit to prophesy over the desolate mountains. The Lord declared that He would act with holy zeal: the mountains would shoot forth branches and yield fruit, cities would be rebuilt, and the land cultivated. God promised this restoration not for Israel's righteousness, but to sanctify His great name profaned among the heathen.

Heaven unveiled the core secret of this transformation: human moral failure stems from a cold, numb, and rebellious "stony heart." External laws cannot alter a dead spiritual organ. Therefore, God Himself promises to sprinkle clean water to wash away guilt and idols, perform divine surgery to remove the rigid "stony heart," and replace it with a tender, responsive "heart of flesh."

Furthermore, the Father promises to place His own Holy Spirit within His people, imparting internal power to walk in His statutes. Desolate ruins will be rebuilt to resemble the Garden of Eden, demonstrating to all nations that the Lord builds the ruined places and plants that which was desolate.

Let us open Holy Scripture to read Ezekiel Chapter 36!

💡 Questions to keep in mind while reading today:

• On "For My Holy Name's Sake": Why is God's motivation for redemption rooted in "sanctifying His great name" rather than human merit? How does this grant absolute spiritual security?

• On "A Stony Heart" vs. "A Heart of Flesh": Why is self-will incapable of overcoming sin? What is the contrast between a hard "stony heart" and a tender "heart of flesh"?

• On "I Will Put My Spirit Within You": How does Jesus fulfill Ezekiel 36:25-27 in His teaching on regeneration to Nicodemus in John 3:5 ("born of water and of the Spirit")?

💡 Today’s Scripture Verse - Ezekiel 36  

36 Also, thou son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel, and say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord:

2 Thus saith the Lord God; Because the enemy hath said against you, Aha, even the ancient high places are ours in possession:

3 Therefore prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto the residue of the heathen, and ye are taken up in the lips of talkers, and are an infamy of the people:

4 Therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God; Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes, and to the cities that are forsaken, which became a prey and derision to the residue of the heathen that are round about;

5 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen, and against all Idumea, which have appointed my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey.

6 Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say unto the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because ye have borne the shame of the heathen:

7 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; I have lifted up mine hand, Surely the heathen that are about you, they shall bear their shame.

8 But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come.

9 For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown:

10 And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be builded:

11 And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

12 Yea, I will cause men to walk upon you, even my people Israel; and they shall possess thee, and thou shalt be their inheritance, and thou shalt no more henceforth bereave them of men.

13 Thus saith the Lord God; Because they say unto you, Thou land devourest up men, and hast bereaved thy nations:

14 Therefore thou shalt devour men no more, neither bereave thy nations any more, saith the Lord God.

15 Neither will I cause men to hear in thee the shame of the heathen any more, neither shalt thou bear the reproach of the people any more, neither shalt thou cause thy nations to fall any more, saith the Lord God.

16 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

17 Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings: their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman.

18 Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it:

19 And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them.

20 And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the Lord, and are gone forth out of his land.

21 But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went.

22 Therefore say unto the house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went.

23 And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.

24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.

25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.

26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

29 I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you.

30 And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.

31 Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.

32 Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel.

33 Thus saith the Lord God; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded.

34 And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by.

35 And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited.

36 Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the Lord build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it.

37 Thus saith the Lord God; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock.

38 As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

🌟Daily Heart-Check:  Resting in His Unmerited Grace, Receiving Divine Heart Surgery, and Living as Eden Restored 

Synchronized with the core questions from our reading guide:

• Rest in the Security of God's Unmerited, Covenant Grace:
  Believers often wrestle with inadequacy: "Am I good enough for God to save me?" Ezekiel 36 answers that God acts "for His holy name's sake." Christ's redemption on the Cross guarantees the glory of God's name. Set aside self-righteous striving and rest in His unmerited grace.

• Receive the Cleansing and Heart Surgery of the Holy Spirit:
  Sin's deadliest effect is hardening the human heart into stone, rendering it insensitive to God's love. Self-effort cannot revive dead tissue; only coming to Christ allows the Holy Spirit to sprinkle clean water, purge guilt, and impart a tender heart of flesh.

• Walk in Spirit-Empowered Obedience and Fruitfulness:
  New Covenant faith is not external legal coercion, but internal spiritual transformation. "I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes." Yielding to the indwelling Holy Spirit transforms ruined areas of life into a fruitful Garden of Eden.

🎵 Response Song :  

🙏 Closing Prayer

O Sovereign, Thrice-Holy, Almighty Heavenly Father, Who Sanctifies Your Great Name Through Redemption,

As we read Ezekiel Chapter 36 today on this holy Christmas Eve, standing upon the mountains of restoration, we hear Your immortal declaration: "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh!" We praise You for sprinkling clean water upon us and placing Your Holy Spirit within our hearts. Our souls bow in deep gratitude, reverence, praise, and adoration!

We exalt You, Lord! You are the God of resurrection who transforms desolate ruins into Eden. On this night when we celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ, thank You for providing complete spiritual regeneration for Your holy name's sake.

Lord Jesus, Savior of the World, we bow before You! Forgive us for allowing our hearts to grow cold, stubborn, or insensitive like stone. Wash us in Your precious blood tonight, remove every stony remnant of pride, and grant us tender hearts responsive to Your love.

May Your Holy Spirit fill us today! Indwell our hearts and cause us to walk joyfully in Your statues. Rebuild every broken area of our lives to reflect the beauty of Eden, glorifying Your matchless name forever!

In the exalted name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we pray, Amen!