The Joy of Lament: Pure Heart = Open Eyes

 

Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God - Matthew 5:8

This one statement packs such a punch! Everything that was lost in Genesis 3 Jesus makes a reality for those who will come to Him. From the dawn of creation, we see man walking with God and enjoying fellowship with Him and then the unthinkable happens, man sides with evil and commits treason against the High King of Heaven. God casts man out of His presence and sin separates man from his Creator, but God who is rich in mercy makes a promise in Genesis 3:15. He promises that a Seed is coming and that Seed will crush the head of the Serpent, thus begins God’s unfolding plan of redemption, settled before the foundations of creation were laid.

First God chooses a man Abraham, through whose line the Seed would come, from that man comes a people, Israel, who would represent Him among the nations and then there is a deliverer, Moses, who would lead His people out of the bondage of slavery and then there would be the king, David, from among the people whose lineage would last forever. Throughout the Old Testament we see picture after picture of God’s coming redeeming promise. In Ezekiel 36:22-38 The Lord promises to give His people a new heart and put His Spirit in them. He promises that His people will hate their sin and mourn and weep and they will know The Lord. In Malachi 3:1 says that The Lord whom we seek and in whom we delight will come suddenly to His temple!

Our hearts are horribly and deceitfully wicked and we can not approach God unless our heart is pure, and our hands are clean (Jeremiah 17:9 and Psalm 24:3-5). This is a work of The Holy Spirit (John 3:1-20; 16:5-15). We need someone to come along and open our eyes to our rebellion against God and each other. We need someone who is going to lead us into all the truth. We need someone who will purify our heart and grant us reconciliation and peace with God.

 Thanks be to God that He has not left us to ourselves. He has sent Christ to be the full and sufficient payment for our sin. He has vindicated Christ by raising Him from the dead and He is our great high priest and mediator who pleads on our behalf and He has sent His Spirit! The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead makes us alive also and gives us the power to resist sin (Romans 8:10-12). The Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we belong to God through Christ and our righteousness does exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees because our righteousness comes from Christ Alone! Our heart is pure, and our hands are clean as we abide in Him and His Word abides in us. We know The Lord! Our eyes are open and even in these little glimpses we have of God now on earth, we look forward to a greater day when we shall see Him face to face! 

Jesus packs all of this in one statement, “Blessed are the pure in heart.” Why? “For they shall see God!” This statement is intimate because it implies relationship, which He unpacks in chapter 6 when He teaches us how to pray. It’s intense because the promise is so great that the desire to have a pure heart is fueled by it. When temptation comes and sin presents itself, we can only say no if we’ve been conquered by a greater love or a better promise. Once we have seen the goodness of God, then we, like Moses, can say no to the pleasures of sin even if it means embracing suffering (Hebrews 11:24-28). This promise is also imminent. While there is the greater day when we will see God face to face the promise is experienced now as well. Every time we say no to sin and resist temptation the grip and desire loosen. There are some things that just don’t tempt us anymore because by God’s grace we’ve been able to say no to them and they’ve fallen off of us and God’s presence now fills that part of our heart. Like a child learning to walk our steps are a little wobbly but there are a few strides we can now take with confidence because Christ has enabled us to conquer areas that used to cause us to fall. In those moments of victory and resistance we get to see God. Ours is not a God far off but a Father who is near. Ours is not a Savior who calls us to religious routines but One who has done the work for us and invites us in to share in the joys of His completed work.

Be encouraged Christ has purified our heart, we shall see God.

In Christ, 

Storm

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