Latest / Reformed Thinking / Blessed Are the Pure in Heart: The Promise of Seeing God (Matthew 5:8)

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Blessed Are the Pure in Heart: The Promise of Seeing God (Matthew 5:8) · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reformed Thinking. Today we're doing a deep dive
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into what might be one of the most radical and, well, one of
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the most glorious promises that Jesus ever made during his time
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on earth. It's a single sentence, really,
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that seems to hold the entire story of salvation within it.
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We're looking at Matthew chapter 5, verse 8, right from the heart
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of the Sermon on the Mount. Blessed are the pure in heart,
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for they shall see God. And when you just hear that, it
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should immediately create a kind of a striking tension in your
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mind if you know the rest of the scriptures.
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It really should, because on one hand you have the highest goal
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of human existence, the very reason we were made, which is to
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see God. Right.
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You see it everywhere. You get Moses standing before
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the Lord, and he just has this, this bold, almost desperate
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plea. Please show me your glory.
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That's the ultimate request, isn't it?
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And then you have David, the Psalmist, who says his one
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desire, the one thing he asked for, is to gaze upon the beauty
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of the Lord. To behold God is the peak.
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It's the goal of everything. But that desire just runs
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headlong into this massive, impossible wall.
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The same Bible that talks about this desire also insists that
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God lives in unapproachable light.
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That no sinful person can see his unveiled essence and live
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Sin has created this this infinite gap between US and God.
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Exactly. God's own holiness means that
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when it comes into contact with impurity, the result isn't
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blessing, its destruction. So that's the great dilemma.
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Humanity's greatest longing is for something that our sin makes
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utterly impossible. We are completely disqualified
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from the one thing we were made for.
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And then Jesus steps onto the mountain, and he resolves this
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tension, not by dimming the light, so to speak, but by
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creating a new way forward. He gives this incredible
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resolution. Blessed are the pure in heart,
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for they shall see God. It's an astonishing statement.
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So our deep dive today is all about unpacking that promise.
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We're going to look at the requirement.
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What does purity of heart actually mean?
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And maybe most critically, we'll show how God himself is the one
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who grants that purity, and he does it only through the work of
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Christ. And then, finally, we'll get to
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the promise itself. What does this vision of God
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look like both now in this life by faith, and in the future when
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we will see Him face to face? So let's start with the context
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we have to see where this verse fits.
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Jesus is on a mountain. Right, so let's start there,
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looking at Matthew 5.8 inside the bigger picture of the Sermon
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on the Mount. When Jesus begins his most
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famous sermon, she doesn't start with a list of commands, a list
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of do's and don'ts. He starts by describing the true
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citizens of his Kingdom. That's such a key point, right?
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5 verses 3 through 12. It's like a a portrait, a
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character sketch of someone who is already living under God's
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saving rule. It is, and it's so critical for
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you listening to get this right from the start.
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These beatitudes are not a moral ladder you're supposed to climb
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to earn God's favor. No, they're describing the
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spiritual state of a saved person.
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They describe the word God has already started inside of them.
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That's. Right.
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They are descriptions of a blessed state, not a set of
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instructions for earning it. The word he uses blessed are in
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the Greek. It's macario is a really weighty
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word. It's not about being happy in a
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psychological sense, is it not just a fleeting feeling?
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Not at all. It describes A settled,
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objective state of well-being, of being under the favor of God.
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It's talking about the person whom God sees as being rightly
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related to him. And that's true no matter what
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their outward circumstances look like.
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And we have to remember who is speaking.
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This is Jesus, the Messianic King.
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He's not just offering some good advice or a nice thought.
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He's. Pronouncing a royal verdict.
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His word has power. It's performative.
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When he says blessed are the poor in spirit or blessed are
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the pure in heart, He is actually declaring a state that
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now exists because his Kingdom has arrived in his own person.
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His word brings about the blessing it announces.
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OK, so if we look at the flow of the Beatitudes themselves, there
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seems to be a real logic to them, a progression that leads
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right to this idea of purity. Oh, there's a stunning
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progression aggression. It all starts with recognizing
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your own spiritual bankruptcy. That's poverty of spirit in
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verse 3. Which naturally leads to sorrow
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over your sin, right? That's the mourning in verse 4.
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You see your need and you grieve it.
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Exactly. And that recognition of your
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need and your sin, it creates this deep, intense desire for a
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right relationship with God. You begin to hunger and thirst
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for righteousness, which is verse 6.
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And it's only after all of that foundational work of grace,
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after recognizing your need, repenting and longing for
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righteousness, that Jesus finally addresses purity of
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heart in verse 8 is placed right in the center.
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It is, and notice it comes before the more external
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virtues, like showing mercy in verse 7 or being a peacemaker in
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verse 9. The order is telling us
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something. The order is vital.
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It's signaling that the virtues other people can see, like being
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merciful, are only real if they're coming from an inner
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life that God has renewed. The heart in the Bible is the
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source of everything. It's the.
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Wellspring of all our. Actions it is So if the heart is
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pure, then the life that flows out of it will naturally show
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the character of the Kingdom. Purity of heart is the necessary
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condition that allows all the other Kingdom virtues to even
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exist authentically and. Let's not forget the setting.
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He's on a mountain that's a huge parallel to the old customer, to
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the giving of the law on Mount Sinai.
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It's an unmistakable parallel. Jesus is presented here as the
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greater Moses, but there's a massive difference.
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Right, Moses went up the mountain as his servant to get
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the law. Whereas Christ goes up the
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mountain as the divine law giver himself, He isn't there to
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abolish the law, but to fulfill it, to show its true and deepest
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meaning. And that fulfillment is what
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makes this whole sermon, especially verse 8, so
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revolutionary. Jesus isn't just focused on
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outward actions. He's not just saying don't
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commit adultery. No, he goes deeper.
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He penetrates right to the inner reality of the heart.
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He deals with the lust and the anger that come before the
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outward act. So the righteousness he's
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talking about has to go way beyond the surface level
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obedience of the scribes and Pharisees.
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Their religion was often just a a clean outside covering A
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corrupt inside. Exactly.
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His fulfillment has to reach our motives, our desires, our hidden
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loyalties. The command to be pure in heart
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is almost like the headline for the whole sermon.
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It sets the standard if the heart isn't right with God, then
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absolutely nothing that comes from it can be truly righteous.
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So the heart is the target, which means we have to be very
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clear on what the Bible means by heart and what this required
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purity actually is. And this is where we really need
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to slow down and be precise, because our modern idea of the
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heart is just not what the Bible is talking about.
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When we say heart today, we usually just mean our feelings,
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our emotions, right? But the biblical heart, the word
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is cardia, is the inner Control Center of the whole person.
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It's the command center. It's the engine room, the
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strategic headquarters of yourself.
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It is. It includes your emotions, of
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course, but it's primarily the seat of your intellect, your
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reasoning, your desires, and your will.
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It's where you think. It's where you make plans.
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It's where you give your ultimate commitment.
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The sources point to Proverbs 4.23, which says above all else,
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guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
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Some translations say from it are the springs of life.
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That verse establishes the heart as the absolute source of human
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action, and because of that, it's also the location of our
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ultimate loyalty. Which is why the greatest
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commandment, the summary of the whole law, is to love God with
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all your heart, and all your soul and all your might.
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That all is the key. That singular focus makes the
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heart the place of single minded demotion.
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OK, so if the heart is the Control Center, then the demand
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for curity, the Greek word is catharos, becomes incredibly
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intense. What does Catharos actually mean
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in a moral sense? It means more than just being
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clean. Like washing dirt off your
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hands. Catharos has the sense of being
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unmixed, unalloyed. Like pure gold.
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Exactly like pure gold, it has no dross, no other base metals
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mixed in with it. It's entirely one thing.
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So purity of heart means an inner life that is not diluted
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with competing motives. It's a devotion that is not
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alloyed with idolatry or self-interest.
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So we can define it first by what it's not.
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It's the opposite of. Duplicity.
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Precisely. It directly rules out hypocrisy,
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which is presenting one face to the world while your heart is
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secretly motivated by something else entirely.
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It's the opposite of that Pharisaical pattern Jesus
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condemned, where they kept up all the outward rituals of
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purity, but inside, as he said, they were full of greed and self
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indulgence. That kind of spiritual
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compartmentalization is, by definition, impurity.
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And it also rules out a divided will, a vacillating heart.
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The book of James speaks right to this when he talks about the
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double minded man. The double minded heart is the
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impure heart in its classic form.
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It's divided because it's trying to serve 2 masters.
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It says it's loyal to God, but it's also chasing after the
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approval and affections of the world.
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Right, James says to those people.
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Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you
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double minded. Because that double minded
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person hasn't really decided what they want.
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They oscillate back and forth and it leads to instability in
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their beliefs and in their actions.
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That spiritual wavering is the polar opposite of the single
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hearted devotion Jesus requires. So on the positive side, purity
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means total integrity. At the deepest level, it means
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your mind, your affections, and your will have all been cleaned
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up and pointed in One Direction toward God.
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It's the alignment of your inner intention with your outer
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action. If I pray, is my real motive to
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talk to God? Or is it to look spiritual in
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front of other people? If I serve someone, is it for
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God's glory or is it to make myself feel good or look good?
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The pure heart wants God in His glory.
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Period. But this is the point where the
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beatitude stops being an encouragement and starts feeling
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like a a sharp, painful mirror, this demand for absolute unmixed
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purity just exposed to the devastating reality of sin.
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It does. It shows us that the natural,
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unregenerate human heart is the problem itself.
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The Bible is just relentless on this.
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Jeremiah says. The heart is deceitful above all
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things, and desperately sick. And Jesus himself in Mark's
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gospel says that from within, out of the heart of man, come
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evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, the
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whole list. The heart is the source of the
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corruption. So if the standard is total,
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unalloyed integrity, which sinful people simply do not
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have, then we're all stuck. We're facing impossible barrier.
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The very premise of The Beatitude seems to condemn every
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single one of us. And that's the conclusion you
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have to come to. It's inescapable.
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Purity has to be a gift. It cannot be an achievement.
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You can't summon it by trying harder, or through moral
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discipline, or by following a bunch of external rule.
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You can't. The standard for seeing God is
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absolute purity, and our natural condition is absolute impurity.
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So this drives us to find the only true source of that
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cleansing. And that brings us to the
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glorious resolution of the problem, the divine source of
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purity, which comes entirely from God's sovereign grace and
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the work of Jesus Christ. And this isn't a new idea.
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It's deeply rooted in the Old Testament covenant promises.
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God knew about this human impossibility, and He promised
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to do something about it. You think of Ezekiel 36 where
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God says I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be
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clean, and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will
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put within you. That promise of a covenant
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cleansing a heart transplant is exactly what Christ came to
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accomplish. He didn't just come to teach the
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law perfectly. He came to fulfill it for us and
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to provide the heart change we need.
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And this provision is delivered through the only person whoever
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perfectly met this standard. Through Jesus Christ, he's the
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only truly pure hearted man whoever lived.
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His life was a perfect, single minded expression of devotion to
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the Father. Unlike us with our constantly
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divided hearts, Christ's heart was wholly, completely devoted
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to His Father's will. He fulfilled the law in every
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thought, every desire, every action.
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The writer of Hebrews describes him as holy, innocent,
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unstained, separated from sinners.
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He's not just our perfect model. He is the substitutionary source
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of purity for his people. And the sources make a
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distinction here that is so important for a Reformed
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understanding. The purity we need is provided
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in two ways, first as a declaration and then as an
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ongoing work. We're talking about
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justification and sanctification.
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Let's start with justification. This is the legal or forensic
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act of God where he declares A believing Sinner to be righteous
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in his sight. And it's based entirely on
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Christ's perfect, pure obedience, on what theologians
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call His alien righteousness. Can.
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We just unpack that phrase imputed purity for a moment.
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Why is that concept so critical? It's everything.
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If Christ's purity is imputed to us, it means it is legally
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credited to our accounts through faith alone.
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We are not actually pure in and of ourselves.
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Our sinfulness is still there. But God looks at us, and he
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counts Christ's perfect life, including his perfect purity of
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heart, as if it were ours. So the moment a Sinner believes
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they are declared pure in a legal sense, they are covered by
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the perfection of Christ, and this declaration is
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instantaneous and it's complete. It is.
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This is why the Beatitude is not a ladder for us to climb.
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When the high standard of the Beatitude exposes our deep
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impurity, it's not meant to make us try harder.
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It's meant to drive us to Christ's imputed purity, which
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fully and completely satisfies God's standard on our behalf.
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If you missed that, you turn the whole Sermon on the Mount into a
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system of works righteousness. You do.
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You have to understand that this legal declaration of purity
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justification is what makes the vision of God possible in the
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first place. But, and this is huge, but the
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sources are just as clear that the faith that justifies is
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never alone. Justification is always, always
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accompanied by sanctification. This is what we could call
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imparted purity. Yes, this is where God fulfills
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that Ezekiel promise of giving a new heart.
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The same God who declares the ungodly to be righteous also
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regenerates them by the Holy Spirit.
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He gives them a new heart that actually desires purity and
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wants to pursue holiness. So sanctification is the
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progressive, ongoing purification of the believer's
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heart. It's a process.
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It involves a real ongoing battle against the sin that
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still remains in US, but the key is that the fundamental
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direction of the heart has been decisively changed.
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It's a total reorientation. The now pure heart is one that
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hates the sin it once loved and pursues the holiness it once
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ignored. And that's true even though it
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doesn't achieve sinless perfection in this life.
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That's the classic formulation, isn't it?
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Samuel Eustis, Epicator At the same time, we are both justified
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and sinners, but the true believer has received this
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imparted purity, and you see the evidence of it in their genuine
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desire for and pursuit of the standard Christ lays out.
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So this growing purity is the fruit.
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It's the evidence of a real saving grace.
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It's our participation in Christ's own purity because we
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are united to Him. That dual reality, imputed
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purity covering our imperfection, and imparted
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purity driving our progress, is the great protection against all
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sorts of doctrinal errors. It's the only way to hold
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together the high standard of God's law and the free grace of
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the gospel. The person who is truly resting
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in Christ's imputed righteousness will also be a
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person who is being purified inwardly by His Spirit.
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The 2 are inseparable. OK, so if God is the one who
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grants the purity, what what about the fulfillment of the
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promise? What does it actually mean for
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the pure in heart to see God? Let's turn to the promise
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itself. And we have to see that this
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vision of God is Christ centered from start to finish.
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Christ is the one who makes the vision possible.
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He's the one who makes us fit to see.
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And he's the one in whom we ultimately see God's glory.
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And this fulfillment seems to happen in two stages or two
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dimensions, One is present and one is future.
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That's a good way to put it. O let's start with the present.
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How is the problem of God's invisibility solved for us right
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now? How do we see God by faith in
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this life? The problem is solved in the
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incarnation. God in his pure essence remains
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invisible, unapproachable. But God in his grace reveals
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himself in his Incarnate Son Jesus.
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Christ is the ultimate self revelation of God.
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He is, the New Testament calls him, the image of the invisible
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God, and maybe even more powerfully, the radiance of the
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glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.
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So when Jesus says to his disciples, whoever has seen me
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has seen the Father, he's resolving that immediate problem
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of God's invisibility for every believer.
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He is absolutely We see God today as the Holy Spirit opens
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our eyes to understand the gospel as it's written in the
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Scriptures. Paul describes this in second of
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Corinthians 4 where he says God has shown in our hearts to give
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the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
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Jesus Christ. Which means this present sight
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is real. It's not imaginary.
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It's a genuine spiritual understanding of God's
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character, his love, His Holiness that we get through the
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message about Jesus. It's.
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Very real. But it's also partial.
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It's mediated, It's incomplete. We don't see the full unveiled
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glory of God right now. We see God's character reflected
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in the person and work of Christ.
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But it's like Paul said, we see in a mirror dimly.
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The purity we have now isn't perfect yet, so the vision we
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have now isn't perfect either. We have to walk by faith in the
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testimony of the Word, not by direct mediated sight.
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That's right. But the verb and the promise
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points us forward. The future tense UPS on tie,
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they shall see is very emphatic. It's eschatological.
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It points us to the end of all things.
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And that's the second dimension, a future perfect sight.
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This is the great hope that pulls the Christian life
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forward. The beatific vision, the
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blissful sight. This is the absolute peak of
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blessedness. It is the direct, unclouded
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personal enjoyment of God's unveiled glory forever.
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This is the moment when faith finally becomes sight, when we
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are at last in the immediate presence of God.
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And the Bible confirms this is the ultimate reward.
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First, John 3 says we shall see him as he is.
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Revelation 22 promises that God's redeemed people will see
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his face. That implies a kind of knowledge
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and intimacy and enjoyment of God that completely transforms
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us and fulfills. Us it does.
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The pure heart, which will be made completely and finally spot
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Atlas at the moment of glorification, will at last be
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able to not just withstand but rejoice in the direct light of
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God's presence. Our pursuit of purity today is
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motivated by the absolute certainty of that future vision.
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It is truly incredible. The very standard of purity that
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condemns us is the purity that Christ provides for us, which
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then makes possible the very vision we were created to long
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for. Now, because this promise is so
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central, it's really important that we spend some time making
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sure we have doctrinal clarity and guard it from some common
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mistakes. Yes, this is vital for Reformed
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thinking. We have to handle this verse
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carefully, keeping in mind the distinction between law and
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gospel, between the purity God provides and the purity we're
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called to pursue. OK, let's start by refuting
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moralism or legalism. OK, someone can read Matthew 5.8
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and think, OK, I have to achieve purity of heart through my own
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intense moral effort and then God will let me see him.
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And that would be to turn the beatitude completely on its head
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into a system of works. It's not a self help program
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since purity has to be a gift from God.
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Because the natural heart is fundamentally deceitful.
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Any attempt to achieve it on your own relies on the very
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impurity you're trying to fix. So the Beatitudes first job is
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to be a mirror. Its first job is to show us we
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are utterly unfit for God's presence and to drive us empty
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handed to Christ's finished work and His credited righteousness.
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Legalism just fundamentally misunderstands how deep our
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corruption really goes. Then on the other end of that,
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we have to refute antinomianism. That's the idea that because
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we're justified by grace through faith.
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We can just live in impurity and it doesn't matter.
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The Beatitude slams the door on that idea.
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It's crystal clear about who sees God.
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It's the pure in heart. God does not declare people
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righteous and then just leave them wallowing in their sin.
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The ones God justifies, he also sanctifies.
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Always to claim you have faith in Christ while you are
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deliberately and happily pursuing a divided, impure life
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is just evidence that your heart hasn't actually been changed.
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The pursuit of purity is the necessary and unavoidable fruit
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of real saving faith. The text guarantees that a lack
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of purification is proof of a lack of justification.
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We should also probably address universalism.
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Does this promise to see God apply to everyone no matter what
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they believe or how they live? No, absolutely not.
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The promise is exclusive. It draws a very sharp, clear
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line. Only those who have been
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purified in Christ, those who have the character that's being
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described in all the Beatitudes, will see God.
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The unrepentant, those who cling to their divided loyalties in
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their sin, are separated from the presence of the Lord.
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They will not enjoy the beatific vision.
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They will experience the justice of God's judgement.
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The requirement of a pure heart is what separates the sheep from
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the goats. And finally, let's guard this
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against two other errors, mysticism and perfectionism.
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First, does purity of heart mean we can achieve sinless
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perfection in this life? No purity here describes the
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character and the direction of the heart.
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The true believers heart has been decisively turned toward
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God and away from sin, and now hates sin.
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But sanctification is a progressive work.
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We are not free from the presence of indwelling sin until
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we are glorified. So claiming sinless perfection
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now would be to deny our constant need for Christ's mercy
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and the reality of the spiritual battle we're in.
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It would. And what about mysticism?
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Does seeing God mean we should be seeking out private visions
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or some kind of ongoing extra biblical revelation?
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That's a common error. It is, but the promised sight of
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God in this life is fulfilled when our hearts are illuminated
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by the Holy Spirit to see God's glory in the face of Jesus
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Christ as revealed in the written Word.
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We see God's face in the Gospel. We have to guard against the
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mistake of seeking personal, direct revelations or ecstatic
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experiences that try to go beyond or contradict the truth
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that's already been delivered once for all in the Scriptures.
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A pure heart seeks to understand the pure revelation of God in
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His Son, which is testified to in the Bible.
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That's it. That clarity is so needed.
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Matthew 5.8 is a razor edge statement.
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It cuts away every form of self salvation and every excuse for
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self indulgence, and it just drives us completely to Christ
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as our only source of purity. And that leads us straight into
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the practical implications. If this promise is certain, if
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seeing God really does depend on a purity that He provides and
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that we pursue, then this truth has to have a present moral
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force in our lives right now. The certainty of that future
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hope is the single greatest motivation for holiness today,
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the apostle John writes. Everyone who thus hopes in him
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purifies himself as he is pure. This hope should be stirring
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believers up to seek a deeper cleansing today.
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And that seeking has to start with honest, even relentless
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self examination. The Beatitude pushes right into
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the most private parts of our lives.
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Our motives, our hidden desires, our secret loves.
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We have to ask the hard questions.
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What are the hidden alloys in my heart?
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Where do I have a divided loyalty?
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This means we have to deal with the sins that we hide, often
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even from ourselves, under spiritual sounding disguises.
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It means being honest about the lust we excuse as just a
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struggle, or the bitterness we have toward a family member that
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we dress up as righteous discernment.
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Or the love of money that we justify is just being prudent.
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The path toward greater purity starts with the pain of honest
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confession. And then we have to deliberately
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place ourselves under the means of grace that God has given for
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our purification. We don't magically become pure.
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We have to subject our hearts to the sanctifying power of the
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Scripture. David prayed.
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How can a young man keep his way pure?
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By guarding it according to your word.
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So the consistent, thoughtful reading and study of the Bible,
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especially when it's paired with faithful preaching, is the main
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way God washes our hearts. It's how He corrects our desires
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and renovates our thinking. It is the clean water from that
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Ezekiel 36 promise. And prayer is absolutely
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indispensable. That classic cry from Psalm 51,
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Create in me a clean heart, O God, has to be the regular plea
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of every Christian. If we never ask God to reorient
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our affections, if we never ask Him to expose and remove the
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impurities we're harboring, then we are already drifting into
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hypocrisy. We also have to think about how
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to apply this in a culture that just bombards us with impurity,
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especially through media and the Internet.
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Jesus taught that the heart is shaped by what the eyes choose
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to look at. Which means that pursuing a pure
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heart necessarily involves A rigorous guarding of our eyes
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and our imagination. This takes real diligence.
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It means setting boundaries, maybe using accountability
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software or partners, and just refusing to let our mental space
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be filled with images and stories that are hostile to
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holiness. A pure heart doesn't
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compartmentalize. It doesn't.
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It seeks integrity in every area.
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It means being honest at work. It means avoiding gossip.
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It means being humble when you succeed in being truthful and in
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your speech. A pure heart acts the same way
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in private as it does in public. And finally, there are corporate
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implications here for the church, aren't there?
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Matthew 5.8 isn't just about individuals, it's describing the
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character of the community where God chooses to dwell.
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That's a great point. The church as a whole is called
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to be a pure bride waiting for her king, and that sets a high
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standard for church discipline, for mutual accountability, and
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for a shared pursuit of holiness.
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And this puts a particular weight on church leaders, on
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elders and pastors. They have to be exemplary in
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their personal pursuit of holiness.
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They must be above reproach. Yes, in an age where we often
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prioritize giftedness or charisma, Matthew 5.8 reminds us
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that the definitive question for leaders and for all of us is
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what kind of heart do you have before God?
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Is it pure? Is it single minded in its
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devotion to Christ? So we've covered this tremendous
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scope of just one single verse. It holds up this impossible
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standard, and in doing so it exposes the depth of our sin and
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it condemns our natural heart. And yet the very same verse that
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shows us our complete inability to meet that standard also
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announces the greatest comfort and guarantee in Christ.
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He's the only pure hearted man and His perfection is counted as
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ours, while His Spirit begins the real work of purification
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inside of us. So in Christ the impossible
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promise becomes a certain inheritance.
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He is the source of our purity, both legal purity credited to us
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and the actual purity imparted to us.
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And He is the ultimate goal of our site, both now through the
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gospel and perfectly one day in glory.
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And this promise doesn't make holiness optional for the
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believer, it makes it inevitable, because the nature
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of a heart made pure is to perceive the God it is promised
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to one day see. And here's the final provocative
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thought we want to leave you with.
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And it's rooted right in this great promise.
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The promise of Matthew 5.8 both comforts the trembling believer
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with the assurance of seeing God.
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And it compels every Christian to seek a heart that is
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decisively turned Godward. Because the vision that is
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promised is what fuels the purification that is required.