Matt.5:8 – Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
This verse sounds like a foreign dialect to many people, even church going folks. What do I mean by that? Well there are two things in this short verse that I am talking about. First is the word purity, what does it mean to have a pure heart? If I am not mistaken the Lord says that our hearts are desperately wicked, so how can I have a pure one? A pure heart is the work of God, we are cleansed by the blood of Jesus and given a new heart. The next problem is seeing God, again that is quite a foreign concept to most. Seeing God happens automatically when your heart is purified. Seeing God simply means God becoming real to you, your spiritual senses suddenly become aware of Him. Here is how Jonathan Edwards describes the blessedness of seeing God.
“The beholding the beautiful holiness of God gives unspeakable pleasure to the mind; the idea of that is immensely the most agreeable and amiable idea that can be in a created mind. And then the beholding of God’s grace, it adds to the joy to consider that that Being that is so amiable in himself is so communicative, so disposed to love and benevolence.
The view of God’s majesty and greatness again will greatly heighten the joy. To behold such grace and goodness, and such grace and goodness and majesty united together! And especially will the beholding of God’s love to the person beholding increase the pleasure, to consider that He that is so great and so glorious a being loves him, and is his God and friend!
Again, the beholding of God’s infinite power will still add to the pleasure, to think that He that is his friend, and loves him with so great a love, can do all things for him! So the beholding of His wisdom, because He thereby knows what is best for him and knows how so to order things as shall make him most blessed. So the consideration of his eternity and immutability: it will rejoice him to think that his friend and his portion is an eternal and unchangeable portion and friend.”
When I read these comments I thought about the famous song “Amazing Grace”. This song is describing this verse, the blessedness of seeing God for yourself. You see His love for you when He took your sins on the cross, you see His sovereign care for you as He has watched over you all of your life, you become aware of His incredible wisdom seeing His unfolding plan for your life, and you become aware of His power that is always working on your behalf. Seeing God for yourself brings you to the place of worship, this is where you begin to see the beauty of heaven.
