S4: Week 41 Day 1: Annotating  Ezekiel 36:26-27

Summary

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A Year in the Bible with Daily Grace

Episode: S4: Week 41 Day 1 – Annotating Ezekiel 36:26-27
Date: October 6, 2025
Hosts: Beth and Alexa

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on Ezekiel 36:26-27, focusing on how God’s promise of a new heart and spirit in the Old Testament points to Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit. The hosts guide listeners through annotating these verses, highlighting God’s initiative in transformation, and introduce the ongoing theme of seeing Christ throughout all of Scripture.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Structure and Importance of "I Will" Statements

• Beth observes a recurring motif in prophetic texts: God's repeated use of "I will," which underscores His sovereignty, faithfulness, and power to fulfill His purposes.
  • “We have all probably noticed a pattern…that is the use of the phrase 'I will.'…it shows us God's power, His faithfulness, and his determination to bring about his sovereign plan.” (Beth, 02:17)

2. God as the Initiator of Transformation

• God commits to enacting every part of the renewal described in Ezekiel 36:26-27—giving a new heart, a new spirit, and guiding obedience.

  • “God is the one who is doing the action here. He is the One who will bring about the results…” (Beth, 02:52)

• The hosts outline the four specific promises God makes:

  • Give a new heart and a new spirit
  • Remove the heart of stone
  • Give a heart of flesh
  • Place His Spirit within, causing obedience

3. The Role of the Holy Spirit in Obedience

• Alexa cues in: the annotation instructions prompt drawing attention to "Spirit" in the text.

  • “What is the role of the Holy Spirit in this passage?” (Alexa, 03:34)

• Beth explains:

  • The role of the Spirit is to cause people to follow God’s statutes, not by human effort, but by divine empowerment.
  • “The people will obey God…but it’s not by their own strength or volition…The Spirit that is within them is going to be what’s going to cause them to do all of that.” (Beth, 03:39)

4. Encouragement in Prophetic Passages

• Alexa reflects on the comfort found in God’s continual promises, especially during spiritually dark or challenging times detailed by the prophets.
  • “Seeing the continual phrase 'I will' helps us when maybe the prophets start to feel a little bit depressing because that phrase reminds us that God is still working and promising…” (Alexa, 03:10)

5. The Trinity Present in Old Testament Promises

• Alexa notes the presence of both God the Father and the Spirit, hinting at the work of the Trinity across Scripture.
  • “I also just love seeing the Trinity at work in different ways throughout Scripture. So I love that we see God and the Spirit at work here.” (Alexa, 04:14)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "We have all probably noticed a pattern…that is the use of the phrase 'I will.'…it shows us God's power, His faithfulness, and his determination to bring about his sovereign plan."
  — Beth (02:17)

• “The people will obey God…but it’s not by their own strength or volition…The Spirit that is within them is going to be what’s going to cause them to do all of that.”
  — Beth (03:39)

• “Seeing the continual phrase 'I will' helps us when maybe the prophets start to feel a little bit depressing because that phrase reminds us that God is still working and promising to bring good things about, even if the situation at the moment is…pretty dim.”
  — Alexa (03:10)

• “I also just love seeing the Trinity at work in different ways throughout Scripture. So I love that we see God and the Spirit at work here.”
  — Alexa (04:14)

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Important Timestamps

• 01:00 – Introduction to the week’s passages and their Christ-centered connections
• 01:52 – Reading of Ezekiel 36:26-27
• 02:17 – Discussion of “I will” statements and God’s initiative
• 03:10 – The encouragement of God’s promises in prophetic books
• 03:34 – Annotation focus: the Spirit’s role in obedience
• 04:14 – Reflection on the Trinity at work in Scripture

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Tone and Closing

The conversation is warm, encouraging, and focused on helping listeners deeply engage with Scripture. Listeners are invited to continue reflecting and return for deeper discussion in following episodes.

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Next Episode Preview:
The hosts will dive further into the meaning and application of Ezekiel 36:26-27, continuing to trace the threads that run from the Old Testament to Christ and the empowering work of the Spirit.

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Transcript

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[Beth]

Welcome to A Year in the Bible with Daily Grace. This year we want to spend a few minutes with you every day walking through our study, Christ and all of Scripture. Each week we will dive deeply into two passages of scripture, one from the Old Testament and one from the new, seeing how they connect and point to Jesus.

[Daily Grace Narrator]

Whether you are doing the study yourself or just following along with us here, we are hopeful that through studying these passages each week, you will see how Christ is not only present throughout the entire biblical story, but the center of it.

[Beth]

Hey everyone, welcome back to another week of A year in the Bible. I'm Beth and I'm here with my co host, Alexa.

[Alexa]

Hey everyone, we are excited to study the Bible again with you this week. This week we are looking at Ezekiel 36, 2627 and Romans 8:1 4. And we're going to see how we are given the Spirit of Christ who helps us walk in obedience to God.

[Beth]

So today we're going to be going over our annotations for Ezekiel 36:26 through 27. So Alexa, can you read that passage for us?

[Alexa]

Sure. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will place my spirit within you and cause you to follow my statutes and carefully observe my ordinances. So Beth, tell us about how you annotated this passage.

[Beth]

Yeah, so this is another passage from the prophetic books in the Old Testament. And so I think that we have all probably noticed a pattern that has emerged in these prophetic passages, and that is the use of the phrase I will. So for the last few weeks we have seen this phrase and talked about how it shows us God's power, His faithfulness, and his determination to bring about his sovereign plan. And that is once again present here in this passage that we're looking at today. So I wanted to mention that again. So here are all of the things that God says that he will do. So he says he will give his people a new heart and a new spirit. He will remove their heart of stone and give a heart of flesh. He will place His Spirit within them and cause them to follow his statutes. And so, as we've seen in previous weeks, God is the one who is doing the action here. He is the One who will bring about the results that he desires through these promises.

[Alexa]

I just love the continual reminders of God's faithfulness and just his power to act that we see all throughout Scripture, but in the prophets in particular. I feel like seeing the continual phrase I will helps us when maybe the prophets start to feel a little bit depressing because that phrase reminds us that God is still working and promising to bring good things about, even if the situation at the moment is spiritual. Pretty dim. So did you want to share about any other prompts?

[Beth]

Yeah, so I want to look at the last prompt, which says to draw a box around the word spirit in verse 27, and then it asks what is the role of the Holy Spirit in this passage? So I think the Spirit's role here is to cause God's people to follow his statutes and carefully observe his ordinances. And I find this fascinating in light of what we were saying earlier about God being the one who is doing all of the action here. So the people will obey God, they will follow his ways, but it's not by their own strength or volition or power. The Spirit that is within them is going to be what's going to cause them to do all of that. And so we're definitely going to be unpacking all of this in greater detail as we go through our conversations throughout this week.

[Alexa]

That's so good. I also just love seeing the Trinity at work in different ways throughout Scripture. So I love that we see God and the Spirit at work here. Well, that is all that we have for you today, but we hope that you join us tomorrow when we go deeper into Ezekiel 36:26 27.

[Daily Grace Narrator]

Thank you for listening to today's episode of A Year in the Bible with Daily Grace. Be sure to check out our show notes for some helpful links and resources related to today's episode. And make sure you're following Daily Grace Podcast and a daily GraceCo on Instagram for more Bible study resources and encouragement.

[Alexa]

We're looking forward to studying God's Word with you again tomorrow. Bye, friends.