And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
Do you ever think that you have a heart of stone? Do you have a very headstrong personality? Most people believe that you are who you are and that individuals can’t really change. However, I believe that to be a false statement. I don’t think that people “can’t” change, it’s that they “won’t” change. But, God in all His glory still shows grace. Israel’s heart had become rebellious, idolatrous, and hardened against God. Despite breaking the conditions of their first covenant with Him, the Lord in His grace, promised to make a New Covenant with His people. This time it was to be an UN-conditional covenant. There were no legal requirements for Israel to carry out; no conditions that they could break. In His New Covenant with Israel, the Lord promised to give His people a new heart of flesh instead of a heart of stone. God promised to give them a spirit of grace through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit of life and love. The entire human race had become sodden in sin. Man’s nature was infected with selfishness. The human heart was flooded with degenerate desires. The entire population was filled with pride and boastfulness. All humanity had a propensity towards arrogance, disobedience, ungratefulness, and godlessness. Every person, Jew and Gentile alike, was born dead in their sin and at enmity with God. But the Lord promised to give them a new heart in His New Covenant. He promised to purify their heart and cleanse their inner soul through the spilt blood of a sinless Mediator: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you,” was God’s promise to His people, “and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh.” Despite centuries of rebellion, God promised to remove men’s rock-hard, heart of stone and replace it with a heart that is sensitive to the Lord and responsive to His Word. This wonderful promise to humanity was to come through the nation of Israel. Israel were the people with whom God made His covenant and Israel was to be the nation through Whom the Messiah would be born. The promise of the New Covenant was to be fulfilled in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, such that all who trust in Him as their perfect, sinless, Kinsman Redeemer, Jew and Gentile alike, are beneficiaries of this gracious promise which includes a renewed heart and an enlightened mind with godly understanding and right judgements, and this would come through the power of God’s own Holy Spirit. The Lord promised to sprinkle clean water on His people and cleanse them of all their filthiness and idolatry. He pledged to bring them back to the land which He had promised to their forefathers. He pledged to multiply the fruit on the tree, the produce of the fields, and to fill their granaries to overflowing. He told them that one day they would recognize their faults, repent of their sins, and deeply regret their foolish ways. Moreover, He pledged that in that day: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your body of flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” This wonderful promise to the nation of Israel was cut at Calvary, and the wonderful promise to give His people a new heart and put a new spirit within is fulfilled in the life of ALL who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior of their soul and the Mediator for their sins. The total fulfillment of this staggering prophecy and wonderful promise will be fully ratified and finally completed when the regathered, repentant, and regenerated nation of Israel will unite their national voice to call on Christ for salvation at the end of the Tribulation period. On that day, Israel as a nation will recognize the One Whom they pierced, and weep for Him as one weeps for an only son. But for those of us who have already trusted Him for our salvation during this post-Cross dispensation of grace, we have already had our heart renewed and our consciences cleansed through the eternal Spirit Who has taken up permanent residence within our heart and soul. Those of us who have already trusted Jesus as Savior, have been made ministers of this New and Better Covenant because we believe in Jesus the Son of God and Son of Man Who willingly offered Himself without blemish to God, for our sake. If you allow Him to, God can move and change each of our hearts; He will not only soften your heart, He will replace it and remake it in the Spirit of the Lord. He will reform your heart to be more like Jesus. It can be kind of a scary notion, being remade. But, do not fear it. It can only be attained by submitting yourself to the Lord. Nobody can change you, except for yourself…and God. It requires you to be humbled and beseeches that you release the reigns of your life a little. Let Jesus take the wheel. Have I mentioned that He knows what’s best for you? However, He can only make you whole if you let Him. You hold the key to your reformation. Will you allow Him to do it?
Spiritual Steve 