Title The 6th Blessing/Matt 5:8
Contents
Text: Matthew 5:8
Title: The 6th Blessing
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” Matthew 5:8 At first glance, it may seem that the personality described in this great verse or the promise given here is more difficult for man to reach than the previous verses. Cognitive, difficult to distinguish. “The pure in heart”: Who are these people?
Who among us can be sure that he has a character worthy to see God, or to bear his dazzling splendor with joy? “For that assembly shall see God.”
God is the one whom no one has ever seen and cannot see. Is it then that Jesus Christ mocks us with unfulfilled demands and hangs before us with unfulfilled hopes?
What good is it if you say to a man lying in bed with a gunshot wound in his legs in war, 'If you just get up and run, you'll be safe'? What good is it to tell people that you would be very blessed if your present condition could be reversed? But Christ does not use such foolish methods.
These words seem to be too high-level and far-fetched, but in reality they are words that are very hopeful and bright among the words that came out of the lips of Jesus.
There are three things we notice in this great verse: how the heart can be pure, how a pure heart can see God, and how seeing God can be sheer happiness.
How can I make my heart pure?
The key that opened the secrets contained in the meaning of the eight blessings in the preceding passages is also particularly needed here. If we regard this as an isolated word, as pointed out earlier, it becomes a source of ridicule and pain. It means that, in order to have the purity of heart to see God, first, the poverty of the spirit to recognize one's condition, the contrition caused by the seriousness and hopelessness of the condition, and the longing for righteousness must precede it.
Only when the longing for heaven and the tears of repentance dry up, the comfort given, and the qualifications of the righteous, given through faith, will your heart be cleansed from sin and pride, your eyes will be opened, and you will be able to see the eternal glory of God without glare. The words of the text, if you think of them in isolation, you only feel a sense of disappointment.
“Can a Cushian change his skin and a leopard change his spots?” (Jeremiah 13:23). can stick But God can change its color. When the text is compared with the other eight blessings, it is concluded that purity of heart is a gift of God, not the result of human actions.
Reform and introspection must begin with awareness of sin, contrition for sin, longing for the divine good, and an open mind to accept these things. And only in doing so can we rise to this serene height of purity of heart. In this way, and only by this method, the ‘clean’ can be healed ‘from the unclean reality’, and the sinful man, who is bound by Satan’s bondage, the source of all evil, can be cleansed, cleansed, and set free. Then God becomes the purpose, goal, motive, power, and reward of all human action. Righteousness is a gift. And it is a gift contingent upon conversion to God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. The craving for chastity in all of us is suppressed, frustrated, and bumped up countless times in our daily lives. That longing certainly exists. And the only way that longing can be fully satisfied is our dirty empty hands
It is to go up high in the presence of God and say this.
“Give me what you command, a pure heart. Then I will be clean.” But we must not forget this. That is, this gift is not given once and for all, but is given continuously only if there is a continual longing. is to do “Therefore, beloved, let us, having these promises, cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1).
Everyone who has this gift purifies himself as he is clean. The Lord who brings us the gift of regeneration calls us all to a fountain of pure water. “Wash yourselves, and be clean yourselves, forsake your evil deeds, stop doing evil, and learn to do good” (Isaiah 1:16). “What God has joined together, let no man separate.” We receive the power to purify through faith, and we use this power through diligent works. Faith and action are inseparable.
II How can a pure heart see God?.
When people hear a sermon of a text like this, it is easy to be sucked into a certain deep mystery. But I will resolutely resist such temptations and treat this text in a clear and practical form. Of course, I don't need to remind you that:
In other words, the problem (seeing God) mentioned in the text does not mean that we recognize God through our five senses, or that we fully know and grasp the infinite God. Just as man cannot stretch out his short arm in the heart of the burning sun, neither can the infinite God be comprehended. Nevertheless, when sinners are cleansed through faith in Jesus Christ, they are able to establish a direct relationship with God that can ignite the name of “seeing God.” And such a plan brings a firm, clear, and distinct perception as much as seeing God through the five senses.
This is because there is no room for an illusion of the five senses when a pure heart sees God the Father of purity.
There is one thing to remember when we interpret these words of the Bible. That is, in very serious circumstances, we must always be guided and guided by the great principles that Christ proclaimed.
“He who has seen me has seen the Father.” Jesus Christ, who had the name of the Word from eternity, lives forever and ever, just as that name suggests. In other words, it means the being who reveals the eternal God. Whenever there was any flash or spark of God in man's mind, either by contemplation of nature and providence, or by the intuition of his own spirit, there was the action of "that light that came into the world and shines upon every man." .
And far beyond the limits of the historical revelation of Israel recorded in the Bible, the eternal Word was illuminating the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. The faint eyes of humans were capable of discerning them.
But now we stand in the brilliance of His historical manifestation through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, so that we see God is nothing other than recognizing and realizing Christ as “God in the flesh.”
Whether we call this confirmation or communion with God in Jesus Christ, or we use the metaphor that God abides in us and we in God, they are all the same in the end. That is, the consciousness of God's presence, the awareness of God's character, the blessed assurance of a loving relationship with God, and the heart, with God, who has come close to us all in Jesus Christ. It is fellowship through heart, will, and action.
It goes without saying that purity of mind is essential for such awareness and active, practical fellowship. As we know, this is not an arbitrary request. By the nature of the problem, it is inevitably inherent and unavoidable. If we contemplate for even a moment what kind of being God is, we will realize that only pureness of heart can actually enter into loving fellowship with God. “How can two walk together unless they agree” (Amos 3:3).
Even the smallest sin blocks God from us. A very small amount of dye contaminates miles of river water, preventing reflections from the blue sky and twinkling stars. Even the smallest evil blocks and obscures Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, from our sight. “The pure in heart”, and only such a person “will see God”.
III. Why is it a blessing to see God?
Seeing God is our only means of elevating us to higher levels of still power and happiness that we cannot otherwise reach. Just as the stars cover their faces and fade away when the sun rises into the sky, seeing God will overshadow all the dazzling illusions of the earth.
Seeing God will make us “master of ourselves, ruler of the world, king of time, five senses, and the universe.” For Christians who hold fast to Jesus Christ and who enjoy communion with the Father and the Holy Spirit in Christ, this is possible.
The golden gates of heaven still keep their secrets. All our imaginations of the bliss up there are like dreaming of a winged life where the chrysalis will one day come from its grave. Let's be content with what we don't know. You will discover that seeing God from above is the heaven of heaven. Let's firmly believe this.
To see this Eternal God - it is possible for us thanks to the Eternal Reverler. Because the Bible teaches that only in Christ can the glorified saints see the Father. This is the same reason that we can see God only in Christ here on earth. To see God at that time, unlike seeing with physical eyes, is not a state of looking at a certain brilliance that cannot be captured from afar. To see God is the actual possession of the object we look at. When we have God, we see God. And that possession is a sufficient possession.
When the day comes, people will say to the mountains and rocks, “Fall upon us, and hide us from the day of the One who sits on the throne…” will do (Rev 7:16). Each of us must choose between the two. one is this
“Every eye will see him, and those who pierced him will see him, and all the peoples of the earth will mourn over him” (Revelation 1:7).
Another way is this: “I will see Your face in righteousness; when I awake, I will be satisfied with Your likeness.”
If we cry out, 'Create in me a pure heart, O God,' he will answer
“Sprinkle clean water on you and purify it with thyme… I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove the hardened heart from your flesh and give you a tender heart, and I will put my spirit in you” (Ezekiel). 36:26,27).