Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God. (Matthew 5:8, NKJV).
Purity
The Biblical definition of purity comes from the Greek word denoting "refined in the fire". It pictures something inherently impure that, while potentially valuable, cannot be rendered so without extreme external force or energy. As a description of the regenerated human heart it could not be more accurate.
Prior to faith in Christ, the inmost part of our being, our "heart", is filled with dross, dreck, and impurities. It is "dead in trespasses and sins", at "enmity with God", "desperately wicked", a "slave of sin", "fleshly", and bound for "perdition". It cannot be purified unless it is created anew in God, who is a "consuming fire". On his own, a man can do nothing to make himself valuable to God, except this one thing: believe in His Son as Lord and Savior. And even that capacity for faith is a "gift of God" dealt to each one of us by a sovereign act of Divine will.
At that moment of regeneration in the Spirit when a new believer is made alive again in Christ, that stone-hardened heart of sin is made pure, and eternal life is granted in a priceless transaction made possible by the death of God the Son Himself on our behalf. When that happens, Jesus tells us, we are made "children of God", we are "born again" and guaranteed "every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places". We become coheirs with Christ, adopted as sons and daughters of God the Father, "from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named".
And here is the thing that makes this amazing chain of events even more incomprehensible for me personally: I will SEE God. "[whom] I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!" (Job 19:27, NKJV).
David says: "As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness." (Psalms 17:15, NKJV).
Ancient Israel, that Chosen People whom God designated to be His special witness, and to receive and guard His word for millennia, longed to see God. But they knew, generation after generation, that such was impossible. "No one can see God and live." To even begin to approach Him, their sinfulness had to COVERED with a sea of innocent animal blood, and then only one man, the High Priest, could enter into His Presence, and that only once yearly.
But now, through faith in Christ, that veil of separation has been lifted. We who are children of God by faith can BOLDLY approach the Throne of Grace, we have perfect access "where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever…" (Hebrews 6:20, NKJV). We can come before the very throne of the Almighty God as beloved children and gaze upon His majesty and worship Him face to face.
To understand even a glint of what this means should drive us to our knees in gratitude and awe and love. He who made us pure through the fires of His sacrifice invites us into His presence, fulfilling the ancient longing of the human heart to LIVE in the presence of God.
Beyond-words amazing!
