How is Your Heart?*

     The spiritual condition of our hearts, like its physical condition, can make all the difference in our lives. There are medical devices used to examine the physical condition of a human heart, but the Word of God says that the LORD examines the spiritual condition of the heart. The LORD has a heart, and the spiritual condition of a person's heart is open to God's knowledge. Before the judgment of the flood began, the LORD said this about man: "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made (aleph-tav)-man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart." (Gen. 6:5-6).

 

     What a condemnation of mankind! It is also important to note that the word "man" in verse 6 above is preceded in the written Hebrew of this verse by the Hebrew letters aleph and tav. These letters are the first letter and the last letter in the Hebrew alphabet. In the Book of Revelation, Jesus identified Himself several times with these letters, which are translated into the Greek equivalent "Alpha and Omega", as well as saying that He was the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Therefore we can say that the written but untranslated aleph-tav in Hebrew connects "man" in this case as belonging to the Messiah/Christ. This makes the condemnation all the worse.

     The prophet Jeremiah wrote this about man's heart: "The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars...Thus saith the LORD: Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD...Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters...her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings." (Jer. 17:1-10, excerpt).

     The Book of Proverbs tells us how we should keep our hearts in the LORD using an example of an earthly father and son: "My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee." (Prov. 4:20-24, see also Psalm 28:1-3). This is what we are seeing today. The condition of the heart is being shown more than ever by those of froward and perverse lips, and insincere and lying lips. 

     The LORD rebuked His people through another prophet, Zechariah, for their unjust, unmerciful and oppressive treatment of their brethren. The LORD also said: "And oppress not the widow, not the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart." (Zech. 7:5-10, excerpt). However, God's people refused to listen and obey. They "stopped their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant (meaning sharply pointed stone, a diamond, like a thorn) stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts." (v. 11-12). Sin is not to be celebrated as we see it being today but repented of.

     Another prophet, Jeremiah, received a powerful promise from the LORD for His people. The LORD said that He would make a new covenant with His people, unlike the previous covenant which He had made but His people had broken. The LORD said of the new covenant: "After those days...I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people...they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them...for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." (Jer. 31:27-34, excerpt). 

     Paul wrote of the fulfilment of this prophecy saying: "Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart." We have that new covenant by the body broken and the blood shed by Jesus. He told us that this was the new covenant in His blood.

     Jeremiah also revealed the continued work of the LORD, as the LORD said: "And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear (meaning fear, awe and reverence) me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me." (Jer. 32:39-40). The LORD promised one heart and one way in our hearts so that we would not depart from Him. In the garden of Eden, man walked with God and fellowshipped with Him. Why would we want to walk away from the place where God walks with men as Adam did?

     Jesus rebuked the slander that the Pharisees had spoken in their accusations against Him and the works of the Holy Spirit. He told them that there is a treasure within men's hearts (see also Mt. 6:19-21, and Luke 12:22-34). A heart containing a good treasure, like a good tree, brings forth good things: "...the tree is known by his fruit. O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh...bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words, thou shalt be condemned." (Mt. 12:33-37, excerpt). Rather than receiving the words of Jesus in their hearts, the crowd of religious experts demanded a sign from Jesus. Jesus answered: "An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (v. 38-40). Jesus then said that those in the past who had seen signs from God and followed them would rise up in condemning judgment against this generation who demand a sign from a scornful heart. By the way, before this confrontation, Jesus had already supplied a sign when He healed and restored a man in the synagogue who had a withered hand (Mt. 12:9-13). However, the generation of religious "vipers" blasphemed that miraculous sign (Mt. 12:31-32), instead of receiving it.

     How is your heart?

     Christianity is not a religion, which is something that man creates. Christianity is nothing less than a personal, life-changing relationship with the risen Christ, the Messiah of Israel. As Jesus prophesied of the events that would take place before His return, we see how the evil of men's hearts manifest against those of faith in Christ. However, Jesus also said: "And it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist." (Lk. 21:7-15, excerpt). A mouth of wisdom speaks out of a heart of Godly wisdom, which will be much needed in the days to come. Events will be so traumatic that men's hearts will fail them with fear, "for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." (v. 20-28). Man was made to be "aleph-tav", connected to Messiah/Christ, not by religion but with relationship faith and the Word of God in their hearts. 

     How is your heart?

     There is to be expectation in our hearts for the appearing of our Lord, Jesus. As John the Baptist preached to prepare the way for the Lord, he repeated the Word of the prophets: "And all flesh shall see the salvation of God," from Isaiah 52:10. The expectation of the appearing of the Messiah/Christ was so great in that time, that the people wondered if John the Baptist could be the Christ. John answered that there is one who would be coming who is much greater than himself. (Lk. 3:6, 15-16).

     Is your heart in expectation of the marriage supper of the Lamb Jesus, and His return?

*Based upon Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson, Jr.'s 8/2/26 message to the church. If you would like to hear the complete message, you can find it on the Facebook page of Kenneth E. Stevenson Jr. Dr. Stevenson's video messages are also found on You Tube at the Kenneth Stevenson channel. To contact or support this ministry, or to request prayer, you can write to PO Box 154221, Waco, TX, 76705. To find out more about the Shroud of Turin, which is evidence of Christ's suffering, death, and resurrection, and to receive a free e-book now available in several languages, go to http://www.theshroudofturin.org/freebook. Also the book NAZAH: White Linen and the Blood of Sprinkling, written by Dr. Stevenson, is available on Amazon.