Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Kerry Muhlestein on the Transformative Nature of Initial Justification and Salvation as a Whole



We often talk about [being born again] as becoming a new creature in Christ, drawing on the language of Paul when he said, “therefore if any man be in Christ, He is a new creature” (2 Cor. 5:17). But what does it mean to be born again or become a new creature in Christ? . . . I believe that being born again means that the power of the Atonement enters your being through the Holy Ghost and changes your nature into something more godly. It means that by the grace of God the person you were before is gone, and some aspect of your character or nature becomes more heavenly. Soon after that experience the strongest effect of it will begin to disperse . . . Consider the group Ezekiel was talking to. In his day, Israel had been incredibly wicked, repeatedly ignoring the Lord’s requests and warnings. Few of us could possibly have done as many wrong things as had Israel. Yet even if we have, hear what the Lord promises Israel: “Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence. And I will hem one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh” (Ezek. 11:17-19).

What a wonderful promise! Wherever we are spiritually, God is trying to gather us in to Him if we will just put our sinful things away. We will be given a new heart! There is nothing more we can ask for. If we want to be exalted, we have to understand that exalted beings have a different nature, a different heart. Through the power of the Atonement we can have our natures changed, our hearts remade. And to heighten its wonder, this is a promise extended to a wicked people—a people who had rejected the word of God and were in the midst of experiencing vast punishment. If God extends such hope to them, how much more must He extend to each of us in our own lives? The Lord’s message, delivered through Ezekiel, is one of hope and promise. (Kerry Muhlestein, Return Unto Me: Old Testament Messages of God’s Love for You [American Fork, Utah: Covenant Communications, Inc., 2013], 94, 95, 96-97; comments in square brackets added for clarification)