Day 21 - Pure of Heart
THE WORD
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” Matthew 5:8 (NIV 84)
THE APPLICATION
Imagine that you are at a concert! You are excited to see your favorite artist, but alas, you do not have the credentials to see them up close. From your position, based on your qualifications, you cannot ‘see’ your artist as much more than a distant blur on stage. The required credentials are ‘P.I.H.’ passes - Pure In Heart passes. There seems to be a premium on those who are ‘pure in heart’ and their ability to access the stage and ‘see’ the artist up close and in person.
As seen in the previous example of the concert, Jesus declares a special promise for those who are ‘pure in heart’. The promise is unique amongst all of the groups that he addresses in the beatitudes. Jesus declares that the ‘pure in heart’ will actually “see God”. Now many people would worry about this promise based on the requirement of a ‘pure heart’, but there needs to be a basic understanding of salvation, justification, and sanctification to understand it properly.
Through salvation (God’s saving power to rescue humanity, through faith, from the penalty of sin and the power of death), we are justified (presented as faultless before God) and conformed into the image of Christ through sanctification (the process of becoming like Jesus). Under the ‘old covenant’ there were strict requirements on who could see God. There was a strict requirement of purity and cleanliness in order to ‘see God’. However, under the ‘new covenant’ we are presented as clean through Christ!
Now let’s look at a place in scripture where David defines what seeing God may mean:
‘’Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood and has not sworn deceitfully.” Psalm 24:3-4 (NIV 84)
Contextually, we can see perhaps where Jesus may have gotten this tenet from scripture. David is writing from a place of returning from exile. He is giving us a picture of the temple mount and reminding us of certain qualifications of priests. In the days of the temple, the priests were the only ones who could ‘see God’ by entering the ‘holy of holies’. The priest had to offer a sacrifice to cleanse himself of any sins before he approached God. The high priest was the only one that could walk into God’s presence at the ark, and ‘see God’. In Christ, we all become a part of the royal priesthood and are presented as pure before God. Therefore, Jesus is perhaps giving us a "salvific" glimpse and a promise of what He was about to accomplish on the cross. Through faith in Christ we are made clean, our hearts are purified and we have access to God almighty!
THE NEXT STEP
- Recall a time when you did not have the ‘credentials’ to gain access to something that you viewed as important.
- Reflect upon the reality that Jesus qualifies us to have access to God Almighty.
- Think of ways that you can present the gospel of Jesus Christ to others that they may have access to God as well.
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