The Prophetic Word - Day 42: Man had a terminal heart condition.

“And so the Lord says, “These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote. What sorrow awaits those who try to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their evil deeds in the dark! “The Lord can’t see us,” they say. “He doesn’t know what’s going on!””

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭29‬:‭13‬, ‭15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

God’s people were always going astray. Although He had clearly given them His guidelines for their living, they always seemed to slip into some sort of idolatry and sin.

It was in this context that the Lord promised a day when things would be very different.

“”But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭31‬:‭33‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The Lord spoke of a time when His way of being and doing—rather than being written on stone—would be written on human hearts. Yes, His people would serve Him from their hearts!

So the question comes to mind, what was wrong with the human heart?

The Lord, speaking through the prophet Jeremiah, offers this commentary concerning the condition of man’s heart:

““The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.””

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭17‬:‭9‬-‭10‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Looking at the first part of this scripture in another translation we see the condition of man’s heart put like this:

“Crooked [is] the heart above all things, And it [is] incurable — who doth know it?”

Jeremiah‬ ‭17‬:‭9‬ ‭YLT98‬‬

Sadly, fallen man had an incurable, indeed, terminal, heart condition.

When man originally broke from God’s instruction, he became not only a dead-man-walking, but also now had a heart that was hardened—or closed—to the Spirit of God. And as such, the heart had become terminally sin-sick.

In the Old Testament we see instances of people being moved on by the Spirit of God, people who loved the Lord, but in whom the Holy Spirit of God did not, could not, continually and permanently abide.

When Jesus’ disciples misunderstood His warning to them about the leaven of the Pharisees, He asked them this question:

“But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember?”

‭‭Mark‬ ‭8‬:‭17‬-‭18‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Jesus saw firsthand from a human perspective the heart problem even His closest disciples had.

As well, we know that Jesus knew that the heart of man could not be trusted:

“Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many began to trust in him. But Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew all about people. No one needed to tell him about human nature, for he knew what was in each person’s heart.”

‭‭John‬ ‭2‬:‭23‬-‭25‬ ‭NLT‬‬

In our opening scripture we see the Lord saying that in terms of the worship and obedience of His people, they talked a good game, but their hearts were looking somewhere else.

Jesus actually quoted part of this scripture in His commentary on the religious leaders of His day. We will talk more about that tomorrow.

Peace to you. Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!

#ThePropheticWord