Matthew 5:1-161And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: 2And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, 3Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. 5Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. 6Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. 7Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. 8Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. 9Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. 10Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. 13Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. 14Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:1‑16)
Part 10
The Sixth Beatitude
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Verse 7.
We now approach the most heavenly and lofty of all the beatitudes, and in some respects the most difficult to make plain to others. Not, surely, that we should be less acquainted with a pure heart than with a merciful heart, but the object of the pure heart, and the effect of seeing that object, is a blessedness which transcends the power of language.
We must have both the condition of heart and the object to know their full meaning; and so it is with the heart’s vision of heavenly things—the glory of God as it shines in the face of Jesus Christ. Let us now endeavor to explain.
The moral condition of the heart or soul, is here the important question. God only being pure absolutely, there must be purity of heart to appreciate Him.
There is no thought here, we need scarcely say, of bodily sight, for even Jesus is now hidden from our view. It is only with the eyes of the heart or the moral vision of the soul—which is simply faith—that we can see God or appreciate His excellency and glory; and this blessedness is made to depend on the condition of the heart.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
The purer the heart is, the more clearly it will see God; and the more clearly it sees God, the purer it must become. Thus the one acts and re-acts upon the other.
The purity of heart which is here pronounced “blessed” may thus be the result of faithfully following in the line of the earlier beatitudes, especially the first of this class, which leads to the contemplation of God in one of the most attractive aspects of His character—divine mercy. From the commencement to the close of Scripture, mercy is spoken of as the grand prerogative and glory of God. The Psalms especially speak much of His “mercy and His truth.” To him “belongeth mercy;” “He is plenteous in mercy;” it is “above the heavens;” and “the earth is full of His mercy.” Now the simple or normal effect of drinking at this fountain of mercy is to become “merciful,” and this grace immediately precedes and leads the way to that moral perception of God, which results in purity of heart.
It may be well to notice here, that we cannot make or keep the heart pure by trying to do so. Were we to look within and make the condition of the heart our study and our object, we should sink down, as many have done, into a state of mere mystical, self-occupation.
To be merciful, the heart must have an object that is the perfect expression of the divine mercy; to be pure, it must have an object that is absolute in purity. As the heart is not inherently pure, it can only be accounted so by reflecting a pure object; and that object being Christ, we find in Him the true explanation of a pure heart and seeing God. The heart is purified by faith in Christ, who is the brightness of God’s glory, and the express image of His person. (See Acts 15:99And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. (Acts 15:9); 1 Peter 1:2222Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: (1 Peter 1:22); Heb. 1:33Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; (Hebrews 1:3)).
What relief, what rest, the heart finds in finding Him! No theories, no analogies, no efforts, no experience can solve the question or give rest to the mind, but Himself—Himself known as the once lowly but now exalted Man in glory.
Now then, my soul, let thine eye rest on Him—the eye of faith, the eye of thy heart. Meditate long, meditate deeply on Him. Gaze now on that “countenance transcendent.” Blended there are the rays of all divine perfection, and of every beatific vision. Majesty divine as “the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God,” mingling its many glories with the sweet and lowly graces of godly sorrow, meekness, righteousness, mercy, holiness, and peace, together with all goodness, wisdom, and love, is the God whom the pure heart sees; but not only sees, its privilege is to bask in the beams of that moral glory now and for evermore.
“In Thee most perfectly expressed,
The Father’s self doth shine;
Fullness of Godhead, too, the blest—
Eternally divine.
Worthy, O Lamb of God, art Thou
That every knee to Thee should bow.”
But see, I pray thee, that Christ is thy one object; a pure heart must be an undivided heart—a whole heart. Thus and thus only shall thy whole body be full of light. All other objects but dim thy spiritual vision.
“They looked unto Him,” says the psalmist, “and were lightened.”
When darkness is loved rather than light, there can be no perception or appreciation of moral beauty. Such was Israel’s blindness, and such it is now, but the day is coming when they shall look on Him whom they rejected, and see in Him the glories and perfection of the Godhead. Then truly, shall they see God, and know the blessedness of being “pure in heart.”
With the people of Israel, we know, this is future; but what of thine own purity of heart, O my soul? Is it a present, deep, divine, blessed reality? Is thy heart pure?
Seest thou God? These are solemn questions, but proper ones; and God forbid that any of us should speak of these things without knowing them personally in the divine presence. But surely we know Him in whom the holiness of God is perfectly reflected. There only we can see God and have communion with Him.
(To be continued).