The Portable Sanctuary and the Divine Heart Transplant Text: Ezekiel 11:14-21
Introduction: Two Kinds of Religion
There are, at bottom, only two kinds of religion in the world. The first is the religion of human achievement, human pride, and human geography. This is the religion of the flesh. It trusts in what it can see, what it can build, and where it is located. It measures spiritual status by real estate. The second is the religion of divine accomplishment, divine grace, and divine presence. This is the religion of the Spirit. It trusts in the God who is not contained by temples made with hands, the God who makes promises and keeps them, the God who is Himself the true location of all our blessing.
In our text today, we see these two religions collide. The word of the Lord comes to Ezekiel, who is a prophet in exile, ministering to a people in exile. They have been scooped out of their land, away from their temple, and deposited in the heart of a pagan empire. Back in Jerusalem, the remnant that was left behind had developed a nasty, self-righteous theology. They looked at their cousins in Babylon and said, "See? They are far from Yahweh. We are the righteous ones, the chosen ones, because we still hold the deed to the land." They had a dirt-based religion. Their confidence was in their location, not their Lord. They believed God was a cosmic landlord, and they were the favored tenants.
But God demolishes this entire framework. He speaks to Ezekiel and turns their theology completely upside down. He declares that the real action, the real blessing, the real future is not with the proud remnant in Jerusalem, but with the humbled exiles in Babylon. God is about to do something new, something radical, something that cannot be contained by geography. He is going to be their sanctuary Himself, and He is going to perform a spiritual surgery that will change them from the inside out. This is not just a promise for ancient Israel; it is a foundational prophecy of the New Covenant. It is the gospel in advance. It shows us that true religion is never about where you are, but about who God is for you and in you.
The Text
Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, "Son of man, your brothers, your relatives, your fellow exiles, and the whole house of Israel, all of them, are those to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘Go far from Yahweh; this land has been given to us as a possession.’ Therefore say, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Though I had removed them far away among the nations, and though I had scattered them among the countries, yet I was a sanctuary for them a little while in the countries where they had gone.” ’ Therefore say, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries among which you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.” ’ When they come there, they will remove all its detestable things and all its abominations from it. And I will give them one heart and give within them a new spirit. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God. But as for those whose hearts walk after their detestable things and abominations, I will give what is due for their way on their heads,” declares Lord Yahweh.
(Ezekiel 11:14-21 LSB)
The Arrogance of the Left Behind (v. 14-15)
The stage is set by a report of the trash talk coming out of Jerusalem.
"Son of man, your brothers, your relatives, your fellow exiles, and the whole house of Israel, all of them, are those to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘Go far from Yahweh; this land has been given to us as a possession.’" (Ezekiel 11:14-15)
Notice the emphasis. God is identifying with the exiles. He says to Ezekiel, "your brothers, your relatives, your fellow exiles." This is personal. The people left in Jerusalem, however, are filled with a poisonous pride. Their logic is simple: God judged the wicked by sending them into exile. We are still here. Therefore, we are the righteous, and the land is ours. They had turned God's judgment on others into a testimony to their own self-righteousness. They were using the Law as a measuring stick, and they had conveniently placed themselves on the tall side of it.
This is the constant temptation of external religion. It is the spirit of the Pharisee who thanks God he is not like other men. It is the spirit of the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son, stewing in his own dutiful misery while his brother is being celebrated. The Jerusalemites had the temple, they had the land, they had the city, but they did not have God. They had mistaken the props for the play, the container for the contents. Their taunt, "Go far from Yahweh," was dripping with irony. In their very act of claiming proximity to God's house, they were revealing their profound distance from His heart.
The Portable Sanctuary (v. 16)
God's response is a stunning course correction. He doesn't deny His judgment; He re-frames it.
"Therefore say, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Though I had removed them far away among the nations, and though I had scattered them among the countries, yet I was a sanctuary for them a little while in the countries where they had gone.”’" (Ezekiel 11:16)
God admits His agency. "I had removed them... I had scattered them." This was not an accident. It was covenantal discipline. But in the very midst of that discipline, there is a shocking promise. "Yet I was a sanctuary for them." The word for sanctuary is miqdash, the same word used for the holy temple. The very thing the exiles had lost in Jerusalem, God Himself became for them in Babylon. The glory of God had departed from the physical temple in Jerusalem, as Ezekiel saw in his vision, and it had become a mobile, portable reality for the true people of God in a foreign land.
This is a foundational lesson. God's presence is not tied to a building, a location, or a "holy site." God's presence is tied to His people. Where two or three are gathered in His name, there He is in the midst of them. This promise sustained the Jews in exile, and it is the bedrock reality of the church. The church is not a building; it is a people in whom God dwells by His Spirit. God was a sanctuary for them "a little while." This points to the temporary nature of the exile, but it also points forward to the greater reality. The ultimate sanctuary is Jesus Christ Himself. He is Immanuel, God with us. In Him, the fullness of deity dwells bodily (Colossians 2:9). When we are in Christ, we are in the true sanctuary, regardless of our physical address.
The Promise of Restoration (v. 17-18)
The temporary sanctuary in exile was not the final plan. God promises a physical return and a spiritual cleansing.
"Therefore say, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries among which you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.”’ When they come there, they will remove all its detestable things and all its abominations from it." (Ezekiel 11:17-18)
God's sovereignty is on full display. "I will gather... I will assemble... I will give." The restoration is not a human political project; it is a divine act of grace. He who scattered is the only one who can gather. This had a literal fulfillment when a remnant returned under Ezra and Nehemiah. But like all Old Testament promises of restoration, it casts a much longer shadow. It points to the great gathering of God's people from every tribe, tongue, and nation through the preaching of the gospel. The ultimate land of Israel is the renewed creation, the whole earth brought under the dominion of Christ the King.
But notice the condition of their return. When they come back, "they will remove all its detestable things and all its abominations." The result of God's grace is their repentance. God doesn't just change their location; He changes their disposition. The idols that got them kicked out of the land in the first place will be repulsive to them upon their return. True restoration always involves a radical break with past sin. Grace is not a license to continue in filth; it is the power to cleanse the house.
The Divine Heart Transplant (v. 19-20)
Here we come to the heart of the matter, quite literally. How can a people so prone to idolatry suddenly have a hatred for it? God explains the radical, internal surgery He will perform.
"And I will give them one heart and give within them a new spirit. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God." (Ezekiel 11:19-20)
This is one of the clearest prophecies of the New Covenant in the entire Old Testament. The problem with Israel under the Old Covenant was not the law. The law was holy, just, and good. The problem was the people. Their hearts were hard, stubborn, and unresponsive to God. They had hearts of stone. A heart of stone cannot feel, it cannot respond, it cannot love. It is dead. You can write the law on tablets of stone, but you cannot make a heart of stone obey it.
So God promises a miracle. He promises regeneration. He says, "I will give... I will take." This is not a cooperative venture. This is a unilateral act of sovereign grace. He will perform a divine heart transplant. He will take out the dead, unresponsive, rebellious heart of stone and replace it with a living, soft, responsive heart of flesh. He will give them a "new spirit," His own Spirit. He will give them "one heart," a unified heart that desires to please Him, replacing the divided, idolatrous heart that tried to serve both God and mammon.
And what is the purpose of this divine surgery? "That they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them." The goal of grace is obedience. God does not give us a new heart so that we can feel warm feelings about Him. He gives us a new heart so that we can obey Him from the heart. This is the essence of the New Covenant, as Jeremiah also prophesied: God writes His law not on tablets of stone, but on the tablets of our new hearts (Jeremiah 31:33). And the result is the great covenant formula: "Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God." This relationship, broken by sin, is restored by the miracle of regeneration.
The Unregenerate Remnant (v. 21)
But the promise of grace is not universal. There is a warning for those who persist in their rebellion.
"But as for those whose hearts walk after their detestable things and abominations, I will give what is due for their way on their heads,” declares Lord Yahweh." (Ezekiel 11:21)
This refers back to the arrogant inhabitants of Jerusalem, but it applies to all who reject God's grace. For those who insist on clinging to their idols, whose hearts "walk after" their abominations, there is no heart transplant. There is only judgment. God will give them exactly what their way deserves. He will recompense their deeds upon their own heads. This is the doctrine of reprobation, and it is the necessary flip side of the doctrine of election. God's grace is a sovereign choice, and for those not chosen, He sovereignly passes them by and gives them the justice they have earned.
The warning is stark. You will either receive a new heart from God by grace, or you will have your old heart's desires given back to you in judgment. There is no third option. You cannot perform this surgery on yourself. You must receive it as a gift.
Conclusion: The Gospel According to Ezekiel
This passage is a glorious declaration of the gospel. We are all born in exile, far from God. We are all born with hearts of stone, dead in our trespasses and sins. Our natural religion is the religion of Jerusalem, a religion of pride, self-righteousness, and externalism. We think we are fine because we are in the right place or do the right things.
But God in His mercy does not leave us there. He becomes our sanctuary in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the true temple, the place where God meets with man. He was scattered on the cross, bearing our exile, so that we could be gathered into the family of God.
And through faith in Christ, God performs the promised heart surgery. He takes out our dead, stony heart and gives us a new, living heart. He puts His Spirit within us, causing us to be born again. This is not something we earn or assist. It is a pure gift. The Christian life is the experience of learning to live with this new heart, learning to walk in His statutes not out of slavish fear, but out of heartfelt love and gratitude.
The central question this text puts to every one of us is this: what kind of heart do you have? Is it a heart of stone, hard, rebellious, and clinging to its idols? Or is it a heart of flesh, softened by grace, responsive to God's Word, and beating in time with His? If it is the former, then your only hope is to cry out to the divine surgeon and ask Him to perform the miracle He has promised. For He is the God who gathers exiles and replaces hearts of stone.