Ezekiel 11:18

"And they shall come thither and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence. And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and I will give them a heart of flesh; that they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord Jehovah."

As already noted, this paragraph was never fully realized by the racial Israel, the ultimate fulfillment of it being achieved in the Messianic kingdom. Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel gave definite and reassuring promises of the New Covenant which God would make with Israel "in those days," that is, in the days of the Messiah. "The full realization of what was promised here can only be understood in the light of the gift of the Holy Spirit upon the day of Pentecost."[19]

God's ultimate blessing of the New Israel, exclusively identified with the Church of Jesus Christ in the New Testament, would come under the New Dispensation, in the days of the Messianic kingdom. "Right here in this paragraph is the germ of that ultimate development, which Ezekiel would more fully explain in chapters 40-48."[20]

"I will put a new spirit within you ... I will take the stony heart out ... and will give them a heart of flesh ..." (Ezekiel 11:19). "In Jesus' interview with Nicodemus (John 3), he stated that Nicodemus should have known the truth of the new birth. But where is this truth stated? It is here in Ezekiel 11:19."[21]

"But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of detestable things ..." (Ezekiel 11:21). It should always be remembered that this promise of the exiles' return to Canaan was not given, "as an irrevocable, unconditional promise, but it was contingent upon their obedient behavior."[22]