I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you;

I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws (Ezekiel 36:26, 27).  Israel had sinned greatly by not following God's decrees or keeping His laws,  but rather had followed the abominations of the nations,  and God had lead them into captivity in Babylon (6:9; 17:12). The “you” in verse 26 is therefore Israel!  There is a theology in parts of the church that says that the church has replaced Israel as the only means of salvation. But several things, firstly Jesus told us that salvation is of the Jew (John 4:22).  Secondly, again speaking to Israel,  God says He will make with them an everlasting covenant (Isaiah 61:8). Thirdly, Paul asks “Did God reject his people”? He answers “By no means” (Romans 11:1).  

Of course Christ came to His own, and His own did not receive Him (John 1:11). Paul speaks of this as blindness having come upon them, but he warns us not to be wise in our own conceit, because  “blindness in part has happened to Israel (only) until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, and so all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:25). He speaks of the gentiles as having been grafted into the olive tree which is a picture of true Israel. And again it is God's intention to make “one new man.”  God's is creating “in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross” (Ephesians 2:15, 16). It was always God's plan that the world would be saved through Israel, but they fell, and so God in His sovereignty chose to save us gentiles by their fall.

Paul declares “if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness” (Romans 11:12)!  How then are we to respond to Israel? Nobody is saying they are perfect, but we do need to realize that God prophesied that He would regather them from the four corners of the World,  and caused the nation of Israel to be “born in a day” (Ezekiel 20:34; Isaiah 66:8). This happened on May 15, 1948 (Goole it ).   We also need to heed the call to pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6). And He tells us He will bless those who bless Israel (Genesis 12:3).  Of course we also need to pray too for the plight of the Palestinian people who are being used is pawns in a proxy war agains Israel, forces that are commuted to Israel's total destruction. No doubt there are injustices on both sides, but unfortunately this is the nature of war.  

Father, You have told us that those who bless Israel will be blessed, and those who curse Israel will be cursed. So we pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and we declare it, declaring things that are not as though they are (Romans 4:17).  Thank You for Your recent moves along these lines among the nations of the middle east. Thank You Lord for the New Covenant where You put Your Spirit in us moving us to follow Your decrees and Your Laws. And we give You praise and glory in Jesus Name Amen