Matthew 5:8
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.—Matthew 5:8 Aaron Marten In this beatitude, the Lord Jesus gives us a perfect instruction as to what the intentions of our heart should be. We are to maintain pure heart thoughts and desires in all that we think, say, and do in our consecrated walk along the narrow way. However, this is much easier said than done given the fact that the Bride of Christ must accomplish this great feat while still in the flesh and in the “present evil world” (Galatians 1:4). Nevertheless, if we are to make our calling and election sure and see God when we pass beyond the veil, we must purify our hearts of all sin, hatred, malice, and anger through reliance on our Lord’s sacrifice and Jehovah’s merciful grace. The Pure in Heart To those who heard Jesus’ “sermon on the mount,” the statement that the pure in heart would see God must have been astounding. Who could see God and live (Exodus 33:20)? Even when Moses saw only the backside of God, his face shown so brightly that he had to wear a veil (Exodus 34:29-35). The apostle John emphasized this point when he wrote, “No man hath seen God at any time” (John 1:18). From the testimony of the Scriptures, it is clear that no human being can see God. Furthermore, Paul tells us that the natural man cannot truly grasp the spiritual realm without the anointing of the holy spirit (1 Corinthians 2:14,15). Therefore, from the Scriptures we know that Jesus must not have been talking about an earthly class when he referred to those who would “see God.” It must refer to a heavenly class. The Scriptures refer to two spiritual classes: the Church and the Great Company. While it is true that the Great Company will be spiritual beings and in one sense “see God,” this beatitude refers primarily to the Church. The Bride of Christ is composed of those who fully relied on the Lord throughout the duration of their walk, even unto death. These are the ones who truly will have kept their hearts pure. They have had no cares in the world and the intentions of their hearts are pure and blameless. Those of the Great Company, however, may have had their hearts pure at the beginning of their walk, but they failed to keep their robes spotless by continually washing them in the merit of Christ’s righteousness. Only those of the true church possess hearts that are unadulterated and sincere in complete devotion to the Lord’s will. Nature of the Heart When talking about the nature of humanity, it is important to distinguish between the state before the fall and the state after. Adam was originally created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27); he had a pure heart. There were no evil influences to taint his heart’s intentions before Eve was tempted by the serpent. It is only when sin and selfishness entered that the quality of purity was eradicated from the human heart as a “natural” quality from that point forward. The fact that human hearts in this present evil world are naturally evil because of sin is recognized throughout the Scriptures. The prophet Jeremiah wrote, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it” (Jeremiah 17:9, NAS). Our Lord makes this point about the heart when he said, “Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders” (Matthew 15:19). When we first draw near to the Lord, our hearts are in this “natural” condition to a degree because of hereditary sin. Only when we begin to consciously tear down the will of our sinful nature and ask the Lord for assistance in this will we begin to make progress toward attaining a Christ-like character. Paul speaks about this throughout his writings: “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:17, NAS). Only when we recognize that the old heart, the heart we obtained at birth, is corrupt and full of evil desires can we begin to put on the new creature and purify our hearts to be pleasing to the Lord. Purification If we are to be faithful to our consecration, we need to purify our hearts. How can we accomplish this seemingly great feat? Relying on the Lord by asking for his help as we struggle with our fleshly desires is always necessary when trying to attain a more righteous character. The Lord expects us, however, to also make a conscious effort to perfect ourselves by weeding out the sin in our hearts as well as we can to show the Lord the sincerity in our hearts. This purification process is no easy task. Even the apostle Paul struggled with his old natural tendencies throughout his Christian walk (Romans 7). One way this process begins is through fear: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10). Fear cannot bring about lasting effects. To truly purify our hearts, we must always look for any imperfections. The best way to make progress along this line is to walk circumspectly along the narrow way. In everything we think, say, or do, we should ask ourselves why we are doing what we are doing. If we see that ultimately our motives in a specific action are to serve the Lord and fulfill his will, we can be sure our hearts are pure. We are making progress toward acquiring the absolute purity the Lord seeks for each of his saints. On the other hand, if we see that our intentions are not pure, we must feel a sense of urgency to correct the matter. In many cases perhaps an action must be stopped altogether. In other cases an action we know would be the Lord’s will may be neglected out of fear or a lack of confidence in him. In any case it is important that we cleanse the heart as we strive toward becoming an image of Christ. Not Purity in Deed It is also important to note the difference between purity in heart and purity in deed. Oftentimes, the heart has pure intentions, but sometimes the ability to perform or speak the Lord’s will is impeded by the old flesh in which we still reside. As long as we are still constrained to the fleshly nature, we need the robe of Christ’s righteousness to cover us. The Lord does not require us to maintain absolute perfection in deed, word, or thought. This was maintained by Jesus as the unblemished lamb of God. Instead, God requires that we purify our hearts, our new wills, and that we want nothing more than to serve him to the uttermost. This does not mean that we should not try to reach a greater level of perfection and purification in our deeds, but we should realize it is a goal we cannot fully accomplish while in the flesh. We should also remember that the Lord will not condemn us for failing to accomplish what we cannot do. The Lord judges our heart intention. Despite what our flesh would have us do, the Lord sees what is truly in our heart; on this basis we shall be found worthy or unworthy to receive the divine nature. Seeing God What a marvelous thought that if we are faithful to our consecration and maintain our heart’s purity, we will see God! We will be able to meet, face to face, the Creator to whom we have devoted our lives and our very existence. And we will be able to enjoy this great blessing for eternity if we can maintain our course on the narrow way for this short lifetime on earth. This should be a most comforting thought to any of the Lord’s people suffering a terminal disease. They can rest assured knowing they will soon meet the Lord whom they have come to know and love, and shall see him forevermore. This thought of seeing Jehovah God after we are changed should be a daily meditation of all the members of the Church. Yet there is a sense in which the members of the Church can already begin to see God while still in the flesh. Through a study of God’s word, we can see his character manifest and thus we come to know God and see him in our mind’s eye. After having the truth of God’s word made clear before our eyes by the anointing of the holy spirit, we begin to see the attributes of God and thus see him in a figurative sense. Many professed Christians cannot truly see God because they have been blinded by the doctrines and creeds of devils and of men (see Ephesians 4:14). Those who believe in a God who would eternally torment billions are blinded in the sense that they cannot see the true love of God. Trinitarians are blinded because they cannot see God’s perfect justice shown in the giving of a perfect human life for a perfect human life. Those who believe in an immortal soul are blinded to see God’s wisdom in his foreknowledge that some would have to be destroyed permanently. It is only with pure truth and by approaching the word of God with a pure heart that we can see glimpses of our Father in heaven while we are still human beings. Continual Cleansing Being able to see a foretaste of God should ignite a passion within us to continue to purify our hearts. Can we do more to adjust our hearts to be in harmony with God’s will? As good stewards of all that God has given us, perhaps the most important thing we can give back to the Lord is our time. Time is the one asset we are given by God that we absolutely must use. None of us can slow, stop, or in any way impede time. We should have a sense of urgency knowing that we are limited in the amount of time we have to devote to the Lord during our consecrated walk (1 Corinthians 9:24). The more time we spend on changing our heart to an attitude of wanting to serve the Lord to a higher degree, the better we will be. The time until each of us receives the blessing of being able to see God face to face is closer than it was before. May this be a continual, daily encouragement to each of us as we strive to purify our hearts and faithfully complete our walk in the narrow way. |