For the LORD has ransomed Jacob
and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.
I will turn their mourning into joy;
I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow…
And my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, declares the LORD.
Jeremiah 31:11, 13-14
Wildflowers by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers is one of my favorite songs. The purity and simplicity of the melodic lines within the song, combined with Petty’s incredible songwriting and every-man voice, combine in this song to form something timeless, a simple truth of the desire for freedom. While Petty’s lyrics are certainly not Christian, they contain the universal truth of a deep longing for peace, which all humans possess. The need and desire for safety, away from oppression and worry, are innate to the human psyche. Many people spend years and fortunes pursuing this very thing, often finding that it is, in the end, sadly unattainable or, at the very least, uncommunicable. The goal of finding peace is noble; however, the method of finding peace is where so many err. Petty postulates that by letting “your heart be your guide,” one might find deserved peace and fulfillment in life.
The idea of the heart as a guide is right at home within American culture. This is the cartoon and movie mantra, the noble desire of the down-on-their-luck or maligned protagonist who must battle against oppressive forces to ensure their self-actualization and inherent right to be their true self. The worst villains are those who would oppose such self-truth or hinder progress. The unquestioned ethos of this philosophy is that the heart is good and pure and that its desires cannot be questioned. This idea is the starting point of various religions and philosophies of many atheists and theists alike. It is thought to be true often because it simply feels true, yet this circular logic is historically and biblically inaccurate.
The historical record is replete with examples of the flawed nature of the human heart. Global examples such as Adolph Hitler, Josef Stalin, Mao Zedong, Sadaam Hussein, and Muammar Gaddafi merely accentuate in recent history the human record of atrocity. Despots throughout the ages have engaged in the ruthless killing of millions to suit their perverse agendas. On the local level, news reports nationwide are inundated with stories that have shocked local communities. From school shooters who seemed ‘normal’ to closeted serial killers who operate for decades without detection to teachers who betray their spouses and children by engaging in pedophilia with school-age children, it has never been a difficult task to find wicked actions, both on the news and on our community streets. However, when we read these names and lists of heinous actions, most of us find it quite easy to distance ourselves from such evil. We have never committed murder, cheated on our spouses, or stolen millions. By our own estimation, we have lived morally good lives. Psychologists term this the self-enhancement effect, the tendency of people to overestimate their own ability and heighten their positive character traits, seen most profoundly in personal morals. In other words, people consistently overestimate how morally good they are and underestimate how good others are.
It is quite easy for us to view the moral actions of serial killers or pyramid schemers and view ourselves as morally superior by comparison. But this is a broken metric of morality; it is nothing more than the aim of our hearts to justify our actions to the inner voice that calls out for justice against all wicked deeds. Many of the most infamous criminals in recent history find justification for some of their most ruthless actions in self-assessment. However, terms such as good or bad demonstrate that areas of morality are black and white, not endlessly gray, and that there is an objective standard against which we can measure all human action, from genocide to lying on expense reports. The heart is not a final moral guide, nor can it be, as it is highly subjective. What this does point to is the reality that there is something wrong with the heart itself – the same heart that can motivate poetic expression of creation’s beauty can also lead a woman to drown her young children to appease a lover.
The biblical record paints a strikingly similar portrait. One great evidence for the authenticity and veracity of the biblical writings is the honest depiction of key figures in the redemptive story. Some of the most prominent figures of faith, through whom God passed promises and covenants, engaged in behaviors that leave us speechless. Murder, adultery, incest, lying, polygamy, syncretism, blasphemy, and more. It is a history of lustful humans who constantly chose to trust in themselves over their God, enacting human means to accomplish divine promises. Stories that have left indelible scars on geography along with the geopolitical strife of the present. The sin of individuals and families ballooned into the sinfulness of a nation whose heart was constantly led away from the worship of the God who formed them. In a striking statement in Jeremiah 17:9, God declares, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” As the creator who “searches the heart” (Jer. 17:10), God knows what lies within his creatures. Here, while condemning the actions of a nation that has so wholly rejected their God to incur the covenant penalty of exile, God isolates the true problem amid the symptoms of injustice and improper worship – it is a heart problem.
The Bible identifies what is truly wrong with the world. School shootings are tragic, but they are not our problem. Adultery devastates lives, but it is not the problem. Opioids slaughter hundreds of Americans each day, but it is not the problem. The problem is with our hearts. The brokenness of the human heart is what causes young men to seek wholeness and community by engaging in gang activity. The heart drives men to illicit sexual fulfillment outside of the covenant of marriage. The brokenness of the heart causes women to search for fullness and identity in their appearance or approval of a partner. The heart is not merely good with a slight defect; rather, “The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it” (Is. 1:5b-6a). The theological term for this is total depravity – man is hopelessly depraved, unable to discern the true nature of either what is wrong spiritually or what needs to be done to resolve the problem apart from the revelation of God.
Thus, apart from God, all men are dead. The heart has given up, and no hope remains; man can do nothing to return to God or even approach him. This vital point draws a great distinction between Christianity and all other world religions. Nearly all religions echo the truth that man has fallen or been removed from an ideal, that there is something intrinsically wrong with man apart from creation; man is dead and yet living. However, Christianity is the only religion that acknowledges man is inept to do anything about it from within himself. While other religions promote good works to gain favor with the deity, Christianity states that even our good deeds apart from Christ are tainted by our broken hearts.
This dilemma emerged in the days of Jeremiah as God declared the state of the human heart and pronounced judgment. God had made a covenant with man through Israel at Sinai, which had been reduced to rubble over the centuries. There was nothing wrong with the covenant, as it clearly spelled out formulae for blessing and cursing, life and death. The people had rapturously assented to the covenant and seen the Shekinah glory of Jehovah God emanating from the mountain in bright flashes and rumbling peals of thunder. The problem was with the people, with their hearts. The purpose of the law had been to instruct in righteousness; it was meant to convince the people of their need, to show them that the law would only lead to their death because, in their sinful state, they could never uphold its standards (Gal. 3).
God gave a glimmer of incredible hope in this time of great despair and national lament during exile. The very God so frequently transgressed would give a new covenant to his people. This covenant would not be one of external laws and covenants; it would be internal and renew its participants. Whereas the former covenant established a cause for death among all who heard it, the new covenant would bring life to the dead.
“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Jer. 31:33
“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.” Ezek. 36:26-27
The New Covenant was a glorious solution to an insurmountable problem. It would restore life to lifeless and hopeless beings. This is beautifully illustrated immediately following the promise in Ezekiel 37:1-14 where the prophet preaches to dry bones. Notice the imagery here! God does not send Ezekiel to the morgue where recently deceased bodies are reanimated. He sends the prophet to a valley where dry, sun-bleached bones are scattered with no connecting tissue. This is not dead flesh; it is evidence of flesh long since dead, rotted, and decayed. The audience is seemingly past the point of return.
The New Covenant solved the heart problem. There is no humanistic solution where we can bind together and solve man-made problems; no philosophical discussion can unravel the nature of man’s evil and solve such problems; no rehabilitation is sufficient to change a heart. Mankind cannot solve their own problems. They are dead, hopeless in their own efforts. This is precisely why a new covenant was needed. God was not caught off guard by the disloyalty of the people so that a plan B was required. Rather, the people acted towards God exactly as He had prophesied to Abraham and Moses. The covenant made at Sinai was meant to highlight the need for God and the futile nature of human righteous actions as they would always fall short. It was a covenant of grace and mercy that stretched a divine hand toward a people mired in sin and filth.
Yet, despite the spiritual blindness and rebellion of His people, God extended grace upon grace through a new covenant. Man would not be left to hope for a cosmic balancing of the moral actions of a lifetime. Such a system could never suffice as sins are committed against an infinite, eternal God – they therein require a greater degree of punishment than can ever be satisfied by sinful creatures. This covenant would manifest unlike any other religion could imagine. The God who is there, who has communicated His truth and nature to mankind would act in space-time history to solve the problem of man Himself, once and for all. Paul perfectly summarizes this progression.
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.” Eph. 2:4-5a
God, from the perfection of his merciful nature, manifested love towards dead and helpless people and transformed them from dead to living creatures. The truth of who we are and what God has done is far beyond what we could have imagined. The beauty of the new covenant pervades our feelings of hopelessness and dismay at the sinfulness of ourselves and those around us.
We must allow this truth to pervade our very being, disrupting our sense of morality and self-righteousness. For those of us in Christ, nothing can be done to improve our standing before God or remove our status in Christ. This is because we were dead, and God made us alive. Since actions did not earn our justification, we cannot undo what God himself has done. Conversely, all who are apart from Christ can never perform an action from within themselves to effect righteousness before God any more than a dead man can return to life through self-exertion. Despite this, many Christians continue to wager our morality against God’s grace. It is easier to focus on moral behavior than to trust in God’s unfathomable grace and mercy. Brothers and sisters, we must learn to rest in what God has done and revel in the freedom granted to us so that our souls will be driven to perform the good works set aside for us (Eph. 2:10; Titus 2:14, 3:8). Thank God for the gloriousness of the new covenant today and rest in the truth of the gospel alone.
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