“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8)
This beatitude with the promise of seeing God should not be separated from the other Beatitudes but instead should be seen as fitting with the others much like a puzzle. This individual beatitude is a part of the Beatitudes as a whole and only with this one can the others make the fullest sense. It is also true that this particular beatitude will only make sense in light of the others. This is reflected in the Trinity in that we see the glory of the one God when we see the glory of the three Persons. We should take some space and time to reflect on this beautiful truth.
The poor in spirit are blessed because the kingdom of heaven belongs to them. But we also know that the kingdom of heaven consists in the reign and rule of God in the heart of believers and then in eternity where the reign of God is perfect apart from sin. What would the kingdom of heaven be like without a sight of God? What would it mean to have the kingdom of God in our hearts if we could not see or understand that kingdom and its operations? What would it mean to see God if we could not see or understand His operations in His kingdom? It should be apparent at this point that each of these two blessings cannot be had without the other. In fact, they are so related that I cannot see how one could have one without the other. The promise to see God cannot be true apart from having the kingdom of God in us and being able to distinguish that kingdom and its operations from the deceiver’s.
In light of the previous paragraph, the article from last week’s newsletter can be seen in a different way as well. Last week we looked at how God is seen and how believers can see the glory of God in others and in themselves. That glory being worked in and through other people and ourselves is the kingdom of God in this world. This kingdom belongs to the poor in spirit, yet it cannot be seen apart from being pure in heart. The pure in heart see the kingdom of God wherever it is and are not just focused on self and what happens to self. This again shows how related the blessings of these two beatitudes are.
Now, if we look at how the same two beatitudes are linked in the nature of what they are, we can see that it takes a person that is poor in spirit to be pure in heart. Sinners are justified through faith alone by grace alone in order that it may be by Christ alone to the glory of God alone. A justified sinner is one that has given up all hope in his or her own righteousness and trusts in the imputed righteousness of Christ alone. In order to do that the sinner must be humbled and broken and as such not trust in any righteousness of his own. But more than that, the sinner must see that he has no righteousness of his own at all. But even more than that, the sinner must see that he has no possibility of earning any righteousness by his own works. That is what it means to be poor in spirit. It is only when sinners are broken from any hope of their own righteousness that they will trust in the righteousness of Christ. It is only when one is trusting in the righteousness of Christ that the life of Christ is lived through the person and that the person is free from seeking self in his works to loving God through Christ in those works. Being poor in spirit, then, is necessary to having a pure heart because love is necessary to a pure heart.
Proud people that are religious want to do things for their own honor and glory, though perhaps that will not be admitted to self or others. But the poor in spirit want to see the glory of God rather than their own. The poor in spirit have no way of obtaining righteousness and so they are able to love God rather than self. The poor in spirit want to see the glory of God rather than that of self. So they are not blinded by their pride and desire for self to be exalted, so they are enabled by grace to see the glory of God and His kingdom in and through others and self.
This is seen in Paul as an example in Philippians 1:15-18: “Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will; 16 the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; 17 the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice.” In this text Paul desired Christ to be exalted even when men were doing it against him. How can we explain this? In one sense we must see that Paul was unconcerned about the appearance of his own righteousness, but instead was concerned about the glory of God that shines through the Gospel. He loved the truth and glory of God as displayed in the Gospel rather than his own honor, status, and righteousness. He was able to see something of the kingdom of God even when men were preaching in an effort to cause him distress. He was poor in spirit and pure in heart.
The Holy Spirit will not dwell in an unclean heart and not with those who are proud of their own righteousness as the Pharisee, even if they are professing believers and even if they hold to the orthodox confessions. Instead, as seen in the second beatitude, these are those that mourn over their sin. The Holy Spirit convicts of sin, illuminates the eyes of the heart, works in believers the fruit of the Spirit and thus works sorrow in the hearts of believers for sin. It is this working in the heart that produces a pure heart in practice and so puts into practice what Christ has done for the soul. We see a form of mourning in Paul in Romans 9:1-5 when he agonized over the lost condition of his fellow Jews. It is a mourning that love for others produces when we see that they don’t have Christ.
But again notice the connection between mourning and seeing God. It is the pure heart that is able to see God but only those who can see God in truth also are able to see where God is not. While this is not an infallible sight in all cases, it does teach us an important truth. Those who are able to see God are really the ones with the clearest sight to see where He is not. Because Paul had a pure heart and was able to see God he could also see where God was not and that brought mourning. Thus we can see where mourning for our own sin and the sin of others brings a pure heart which enables the pure of heart to see that God is not in others and mourn for that. This is connected with last week in that the pure in heart desire to see the glory of God in self and others and when that is not seen they mourn for that. It is a definition of sin that we fall short of His glory (Rom 3:23). Those who mourn are those that see how far short of His glory they and others fall. They mourn over that and desire to seek His glory more.
The next beatitude is meekness. The meek are promised to inherit the earth. Without any real issues to deal with it is clear how meekness and the sight of God are linked. Meekness is the emptiness of self and the presence of God in the life so that when the believer is insulted or harmed the believer responds in love. A meek person shows us one aspect of the pure heart that sees God and also what the true love of the meek person is. We can use the teaching about Stephen in Acts 6-7 for this. Stephen was chosen as a deacon to serve the widows so that the apostles could devote themselves to prayer and the Word (6:1-5). But Stephen was also a man that spoke the Word of God as well, and before long he had the Jews upset with him (6:7-10). They brought false charges on him and brought him to trial (6:11-14). Instead of a selfish anger being displayed by Stephen, when the Council looked at him they saw something very different: “And fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting in the Council saw his face like the face of an angel” (v. 15). That face was surely one of peace and love shining with the glory of God. That is a picture of meekness which is being content with God’s will despite what men are doing.
After the false charges, Stephen did not answer the charges directly but went through the history of Israel and pointed out how the Israelites had constantly resisted God (7:1-50). At the end, instead of defending himself, he told them this: “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did” (v. 51). Instead of defending himself in a way that would be called “gracious” or “winsome” today, he preached the Word to them and applied it to their hearts. As a meek man he did not defend himself directly but preached to them for the good of their own souls. “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him. 55 But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; 56 and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
We see the meekness of Stephen also displayed in a pure heart. He was not there to defend self, but to put Christ on display. That was the issue in his preaching before he was arrested and that was the real issue at that point as well. Notice that this meek man with a pure heart saw the true kingdom of God throughout the Old Testament and not just what was going on with the nation of Israel. He then was enabled to look into heaven and saw the glory of God. He was then stoned to death as he prayed for the forgiveness of those who stoned him (7:57-60). In this beautiful and powerful story we see true meekness and purity of heart. We also see a man that saw the kingdom of God here as well as being given a sight of the glory of God in heaven as he went to be with his Lord. A meek heart is the opposite of a defensive heart and a selfish heart. A pure heart is one that is not selfish and focused on the glory of God. Both of these hearts are really one and the same. The meek heart desires the glory of God and not that of self and the pure heart is to some degree free from the love of self so that it can see the glory of God. Thus we can see how the Beatitudes all speak with the same language and aim at the same point. They all direct a person away from the interests of self-love and point to having a heart that the glory of God will flow into and then through. It results in the blessedness of seeing the beauty of that glory displayed through others and ourselves.
God Loves... Himself 
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