In the book of Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, we see that he wept because of the things that were coming to pass. Also, we see that Jeremiah is one of the prophets in the Old Testament who spoke much about the heart. Ezekiel, too, has a great number of references concerning the heart. He spoke about God taking out the heart of stone and giving us a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 11:19).
“Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit 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 you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” Ezekiel 36:26–27.
Jeremiah said that God will write the Word on your heart. “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Jeremiah 31:33.
He also said, The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9, KJV. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13, KJV. Many precious promises and references to the heart are found in the book of Jeremiah.
We are taught that we are permanently identified with our actions—with what we do, what we think, and so forth. All of these things seem to belong to the recent teachings of modern psychology, but that is not so.
Long ago Jeremiah said: The sin of Judah is written down with an iron stylus; with a diamond point it is engraved upon the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of their altars. Jeremiah 17:1.
Isaiah prophesied, The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves. Isaiah 3:9, KJV.
There were things that were written on their faces. Of course the prophets had the advantage of being seers. I do not think that they saw just the outward man, or just things written on people’s foreheads. There is a great deal in the Word of God about people having a sign or a mark on their foreheads (Ezekiel 9:4; Revelation 7:3; 9:4; 13:16; 14:1, 9; 20:4; 22:4).
There is also a great deal in the Word about people having signs or marks in their hands (Job 31:7; Psalm 7:3; 24:4; Proverbs 7:3; Isaiah 59:3, 6; Ezekiel 23:37; Habakkuk 3:4; Revelation 13:16; 14:9; 20:4).
God also has our names written on the palms of His hands. “Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands.” Isaiah 49:16a.
It would be interesting to study the many references to these signs.
In the mystical realm, by the Holy Spirit, it is amazingly possible to read palms (but not the lines in the palm as in the occult practice of palmistry). In the Spirit, it is possible to read a person’s forehead. Most of the things of a person’s spirit are written upon his head. And God has written things that can be seen upon the heart. With an iron stylus God had written the sin of Judah on their heart (Jeremiah 17:1).
This shows something that God had intended when He made man—that he was really to be a tablet.
Do not let kindness and truth leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Proverbs 3:3.
Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. Proverbs 7:3.
You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. II Corinthians 3:2–3.
Though man was made out of clay (Isaiah 45:9; 64:8; Jeremiah 18:6), he was created to be something that would declare God Himself in the days to come.
What God had in mind has never been completely done yet. He intended that throughout the eternal ages we should be exhibits of His grace; we should manifest and declare His grace throughout all eternity. It would be so written upon our spirits, so written upon our hearts, that we would be declaring it for all eternity.
… in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:7–10.
Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20–21.
This is why the Word of God becomes so very significant to us, for He said, “The day will come when I will write My law on their heart; and they will not say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they all will know the Lord. I will write this upon their spirit, upon their heart, and everyone who sees them will know” (Jeremiah 31:33–34).
In the New Testament Paul comes forth with the same thought, saying that we are manifestly the epistle of Christ, known and read of all men.
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 fleshly tables of the heart. II Corinthians 3:2–3, KJV.
This has a great deal of significance for us. It means that God is writing upon us what He has to say to the world.
The greatest One to ever come forth, a Man without sin, the first One since Adam’s day to live without sin—and yet the One upon whom all our sins were to be laid—when He came forth He was declared to be the Word of God (John 1:14). All that God had to say was written upon the heart of Christ. Anything that God ever had to say was in Christ.
He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” … His name is called The Word of God. Revelation 19:16b, 13b.
God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. Hebrews 1:1–2.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:1, 14.
God had a lot of things that He spoke through the prophets, but when He really wanted to declare everything of His whole counsel and will, everything that He had to say to the world, He declared it through Jesus Christ. Do not think that the Father did not want to communicate His will to us—He sent His will to us! Jesus is the will of God, Jesus is the Word of God, Jesus is everything God the Father has to say and everything that He feels for us.
Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how do you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” John 14:8–9.
The human heart, in its perfect state, was meant to be that upon which God could write, and the angels will read throughout eternity: “Look, there is another one who declares the glory of God, who is an exhibition of divine grace.”
For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves. II Corinthians 4:6–7.
Paul will say, “I am exhibit ‘A’ because I was the chiefest of sinners” (I Timothy 1:15). But we are all exhibits of the divine grace of God; and He comes to teach us, to show us many things. Yet that is not the end of it; we ourselves are going to be the radiant reflections of the Lord.
Look at II Corinthians 4:1: Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart. What ministry?
Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. II Corinthians 3:5–6.
We have a new ministry. What is that ministry? Paul goes on to say that it is not a ministry of death, but it is a ministry of the Spirit (verses 6–8). Let us look again at what Paul said in verses 5 and 6 (KJV): Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; who also hath made us able ministers …
What is this ministry Paul was talking about in II Corinthians 4:1? In II Corinthians 3:3 he had said, … you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. This is the ministry Paul had. He did not call himself a preacher; he was a Kingdom scribe. He was busy writing epistles; and by the Spirit of God he kept writing, writing, writing a Living Word in the hearts of people.
Although Paul was truly a preacher, he said in II Corinthians 4:1–2: Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
Then in verses 5 and 6 he said, For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. Note what he said: … to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. That is what Paul’s ministry was. He was saying, “We are going to give you the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”
Verse 7: But we have this treasure in earthen vessels-like tablets of clay, like a vessel of clay. Look into it, and you will see the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
The only picture of Christ that the Father wants you to see is what is reflected in the earthen vessels. The only way that God really wants to reveal His Son is to reveal Him, not in cold Bible commentaries, not in the work of artists, not in beautiful sculptures, but in us. What God wants done is that others would see the picture of Jesus Christ, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ, in us, in earthen vessels. We were made to be the writing material of eternity. This is what God intended. This is what God is going to do.
If sin could be written “on the tablets of the heart,” as Jeremiah said, how much more could God write of His own love in the heart.
Jeremiah saw that the sin of Judah was written on the tablets of their heart with a stylus of iron. Now let’s see the opposite picture which Jeremiah saw.
“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. And they shall not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ’Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” Jeremiah 31:31–34.
Are you beginning to see that God intended some eternal significance in what is going to be written in your life? Do you believe that during a man’s lifetime, it is important for us to see more in his life than just his deeds, what he gives, what he does, and the sins that are written against him? These have some significance.
But the real purpose of a man when he comes forth, and during all the days of his life as he listens, as he walks, as he submits to the Lord, is that God would make him an eternal entity, an epistle written by the hand of God, someone who for all eternity would be an exhibit of what God had to say upon this planet, of what God wanted to do.
Do you realize what is happening to you when you hear the Word and receive it? It does more than just change you for the moment. It is part of a great plan for you to become an epistle of Christ now, but that plan does not end now! Do you realize that God has a plan for you for all eternity? This life is just the preparation for what is to come. In a sense, this is the time of discipline. You must not miss the meaning of this Word.
It is important for me to realize, as I walk with God day by day, that what I go through does not have great significance if it is only for this life. If it is only for what God is doing in this life, it does not have the significance it should.
Why should God take most of my life to bring me to the place where I can say in my older years that I have tried to walk with God from the time that I was 23 years old, that I have listened to His Word and have done His will, and that I have been a responsible person and a faithful servant? Does the spiritual warfare I go through have significance? Does being able to stand and preach sermons to a few and help them for a few years make all of that worthwhile? I say that it is too big a price to pay. It is like studying the piano for twenty years in order to play one performance of “Chopsticks.” I know what battling Satan is, and I know what it is to go through deep trials; and I feel that for the people’s sakes I probably would go through it again. Nevertheless, I believe that God never intended for me to go through all that I have gone through, or for you to go through what you are going through, just so that it should be significant in this life alone. If we have hope only in this life, we of all men are most miserable (I Corinthians 15:19). We are paying too great a price, if that is all we are going to get. We have paid a price to walk in this walk with God, and we cannot say that it has been worth it, unless we believe it has some eternal significance.
We are coming into the Kingdom! We are coming into sonship! We are becoming something. It is not what we are doing; it is not what we are enduring; it is what we are becoming! We are becoming what God has to say to the whole universe throughout ages to come.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:4–7.
We are becoming epistles of God. We are becoming the Living Word. We are now as Christ was, the Word made flesh (John 1:14). We are going through trials, but it does not even enter our imagination the far-reaching effects of what we are going to be in the days to come (I Corinthians 2:9–10).
This is opening the door to a great eternal truth. How should you see yourself?
An artist could paint a surrealistic picture of a church full of people. Every one of those people could be portrayed as the scrolls of the Scriptures, because that is what God is doing. From the pulpit there could be a great pen, dipped in the blood of Jesus Christ, splashing out the Living Word over all of those scrolls, writing upon them the eternal messages of glory, making them the living epistles of what God has to say.
We are becoming the library of eternity. It is being written on our hearts!
Years ago, I heard that scientific experiments had already taken place in which scientists had been able to recover conversations by inserting certain instruments into material substances, such as plaster on walls. In some way, they recorded the effect that the sound vibrations had had on those walls and recovered the conversation. How true this is, I do not know; but God says we will give an account for every idle word (Matthew 12:36). On the Judgment Day would you want God to play back, on some kind of complicated tape recorder, the sound waves of all that you have said in your lifetime? God have mercy on us!
We see in the Scriptures that at the end of his lifetime, when Joshua made a covenant with the people, he set a great stone by the sanctuary for a witness and said, “Behold, this stone shall be for a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord which He spoke to us …” Joshua 24:27.
We wonder what kind of life, what kind of things are in that which God has created. I believe God was speaking the truth in Christ when, as the people were shouting, “Hosanna,” at His entry into Jerusalem, He said, “If you would be quiet, these very stones would cry out the praises of the Lord” (Luke 19:37–40).
Psalm 19 tells us, The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. In some unknown vibrations that our ears are not in tune with, all the heavenly hosts are declaring the glory of God. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Psalm 19:1–3, KJV.
If all of these created things are declaring God’s glory, do you not think that you too were created and that you too will vibrate forth as a living epistle of God throughout eternity, as His Word that endureth forever (I Peter 1:25).
God is an engraver; on your hearts will be etched His Word, or your sin.
We are becoming the library of eternity; God’s Spirit is writing on our hearts.
Believers are destined to be eternal entities, exhibits of divine grace.
What God has to say to the world must be written on our hearts.
Our destiny: the glory of God in the face of Christ seen in us, His earthen vessels.
What we are doing is not as important as what we are becoming, and we are becoming what God has to say to the whole universe throughout ages to come.