Blessed are the pure in heart (Matthew 5:8)

This statement by Jesus seems to point to something debatable in experience, indeed two debatable experiences, or at least what seem to be unlikely for disciples to have at first glance. The first is that sinful individuals can be pure in heart and the second is  that they will be able in some way(s) to see the God who is described elsewhere in the Bible as invisible. Yet we know that Jesus did not makes guesses about what was possible for his disciples or false promises that could not be fulfilled. Having thought about that, perhaps we now wonder why Jesus is so confident that both will come true. Is it because he will bring them about in the experience of his disciples?

As we commence our sermon, I would quote a statement I read in an article by Andrew Miller. He said, ‘‘The purer the heart is, the more clearly it will see God, and the more clearly it sees God, the purer it must become.’ C. H. Spurgeon said something similar in his commentary on Matthew: ‘It is a great reward to be able to see God and on the other hand, it is of great help towards being pure in heart to have a true sight of the thrice-holy One.’

Becoming pure in heart

The first point we can consider is that the New Testament does not equate purity of heart with perfection of heart (which is what we might have thought initially about the meaning of purity of heart. Listen to Paul writing to Timothy: ‘The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith’ (1 Tim. 1:5). He says that Christian love comes from a pure heart.  In 2 Timothy 2:22, Paul again says to Timothy: ‘So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.’ His words point to the fact that the kind of prayer that is acceptable to God comes from a pure heart.

Peter also mentions the existence of a pure heart in Christians when he says to his readers: ‘Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God’ (1 Pet. 1:22-23). In the original language, Jesus, Paul and Peter use the same word when referring to purity of heart.

So, if the idea does not necessarily point to perfection, what kind of heart is being described? Clearly, it is describing a changed heart in the person who was born a sinner. So we can suggest that what is meant by pure heart is a heart that has been cleansed by the blood of Christ. When we think about it from this point of view, two aspects come to mind. There is the cleansing that a sinner receives at conversion when all his sins are dealt with as far as divine pardon is concerned. There is also the cleansing that is connected with sanctification, or ongoing cleansing, as mentioned by the apostle John when he writes in his first letter that ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness’ (1 John 1:9).

What else can be said about a person who is pure in heart? Because he is aware of his sinfulness, he will have a penitent heart. It is not that repentance makes him clean, rather his repentance accompanies his cleansing. Repentance is the ongoing response of a sinner who knows that he needs cleansing. He understands the desire of David when he asked the Lord in Psalm 51 to create within him a clean heart.

Connected to those details is the necessity of an undivided heart. A divided heart actually does not love anything. It is not possible for someone to love two alternatives equally. One cannot love God and sin. The object of one’s love affects that person’s heart. A person who loves God loves holiness and righteousness, and a person who loves sin loves sinful thoughts and practices.

Peter mentioned another feature of a pure heart when he explained to the church leaders in Jerusalem what had taken place when some Gentiles in Caesarea had heard him and embraced the Saviour. He said that ‘God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith’ (Acts 15:8-9). Faith in Jesus who had died as a sacrifice on the cross was followed instantly by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and the person’s heart became a clean or pure place.

So what is meant by purity of heart here is not perfection, but a new heart in which the sinner confesses his sin and is cleansed, whose heart is penitent and undivided in its loyalty, a heart which is marked by faith in Jesus and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In other words, the person that Jesus is describing is a normal disciple who has responded to the gospel message in faith and is being sanctified in life.

In light of those details, let me quote again what was said by Andrew Millar in an article he wrote on this Beatitude: ‘The purer the heart is, the more clearly it will see God, and the more clearly it sees God, the purer it must become.’

Seeing God

There are two occasions or periods for seeing God. One is seeing him in this life and the other is seeing him in the next life. In what ways do we see God in this life? The first way in which we see him is in the creation that he has made. As the psalmist reminds us at the beginning of Psalm 19, ‘​The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.’ In the order of creation, he displays his power and also reveals that he is the eternal God because he existed before he made all things. This revealing of himself by God is clear, continuous and for everyone. The psalmist was not acting as a scientist when he made this announcement. Because his heart was undivided, he saw God’s eternity and omnipotence wherever he looked. Of course, it is good for a scientist to discover features of the creation that cause him or her to conclude that there is a God.

A second way in which the pure in heart see God is in what we call the doctrine of providence, or if we want to put it another way, all that happens. These individuals sees God through their personal experiences. Why were we born where we were, why did we have the parents we had, why do we possess the natural talents we discover we have, the role we have in life, how long we shall live, the person we will marry, the day we shall leave this world, and everything else. The one who is pure in heart sees God in all of life, when in situations that are unexplainable. And she also sees God in providence on the big scale. She sees God when political leaders rise and fall, in historical events, in geographical changes, in developments in society, in negative things that occur. Again, she does not understand everything, but she sees God. Somehow she understands that he is involved in all of life. Sometimes, believers forget this because events become bigger than God. This is what Job discovered when God took him on a tour of creation and showed him all the circumstances of every day that the Lord was involved in.

A third way that she sees God is when she meets other people because every human that she meets is made in the image of God. Some of those that she meets never think about God and choose to despise him and disobey him. Every person in a courtroom is made in the image of God, as is every person in a supermarket or a hospital. Whenever she meets them, she still senses there is something about each of them. It does not mean that she refuses to acknowledge their sinfulness and she is fully aware that one day she and all of them will stand at the judgement seat of Christ. Because she is pure in heart, she sees God in his image bearers.

A fourth way in which she sees God is in the gospel. Through the gospel she discovers that although God hates the sin he loves the sinner. She also discovers that his love is not merely a sentimental appreciation from a distance. Rather, she finds that God has done something about sin when he sent his Son into the world to pay the penalty for sin, and because of what Jesus did on the cross she can be forgiven her sin. And when she repents of her sin and turns to Jesus in faith, and becomes pure in heart, she is delighted to see God in the gospel.

A fifth way in which she sees God is in the Bible. In the Bible, she hears God’s voice, sees God’s actions, begins to understand God’s plans, rejoices in God’s promises, discovers the way of God’s blessing, and finds out that in the Bible God constantly addresses her. Therefore, she loves to read it. Through the Bible, she can join the author of Hebrews when he says that ‘we see Jesus crowned with glory and honour’.

A sixth way, and it is connected to seeing God in the gospel and seeing him in the Bible, is that she sees God in the church. In the church, she sees constant wonders. God is great in the cosmos, but he reveals his greatness in a closer way in the church. Everyone in church is a wonder, especially those who are new creations in Christ Jesus. In the church, she discovers those who have been forgiven, those who have been adopted into his family, those who are becoming Christlike, those who are taken through trials, and those who are looking forward to heaven.

Hopefully, thinking about those six ways helps us to see the truth of Andrew Millar’s words: ‘The purer the heart is, the more clearly it will see God, and the more clearly it sees God, the purer it must become.’

No doubt, there are other ways of seeing God in this life. I want now to mention how we will see him in the next life, what is often called ‘the beatific vision’. I don’t think when the Bible says that we shall see God it means that we shall see him in his divine essence. Rather we shall see God in the person of Jesus. When believers come to the end of their journey in this world, they pass immediately into the presence of the Saviour. As Paul put it, their experience is absent from the body and present with the Lord. They are with him personally and they will discover that they now have a pure heart in a very different sense. We know little about the life of heaven, but we do know that it is a place of fellowship with God through Christ, and in that way believers already there see God.

Yet that is not the end of their experience because in the future the resurrection will take place. As far as believers are concerned, they will then be with Christ bodily but glorified. This hope is not just a New Testament one because Job looked forward to the time when he would see his Redeemer after being raised from the dead. We have no idea where the dust of Job is, but Jesus knows, and the day is coming when Job and all believers who have died will be resurrected by Jesus and those still living will be transformed into his likeness. On that day, they will be pure in heart and they will see God.

In the meantime, as Andrew Miller observed, ‘The purer the heart is, the more clearly it will see God, and the more clearly it sees God, the purer it must become.’