THE BEATITUDES (continued)
We have now arrived at the sixth of the eight Beatitudes and possibly the most important in Jesus’ eyes for it is here that the promise is that “they shall see God“.
◊ Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. This saying seems to be a rather straightforward statement by the Master but there is a depth here which may not be appreciated by most. We have spoken of being in the Kingdom and being in the Presence of God in previous posts and this is truly a great thing. We have spoken also about striving to enter at the strait, the narrow, gate and this is truly the Way. Being pure in heart is to have accomplished all this and then to find oneself in oneness with the Master and with the Father… seeing God.
This Beatitude is also the end point of all the Beatitudes though it is not the last. It is the end of our Earthly journey to God. It is when we have seen God that our true nature, our spiritual nature, is fully aware and awake on this physical plane and in this physical form. Jesus tells us: “Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father” (John 6:46) which statement should make it clear to us that we, in this life of ours, can be of God and see God and from this then we can extrapolate that this is the nature of the pure in heart. In a previous post about the abundance of the heart we said that pure in heart refers to those whose heart is stayed on things that are pure, things of the Spirit and not on the lower desires and wants. It is from the heart that we speak and we act and, if we are pure in heart, we will act and be like one who is of God.
Now this should not be made over simplified nor too complex and to string together some of the Master’s sayings may serve to clarify the point of purity of heart and the rarity with which it is found in the world today. From the Gospel of John, where we find much concerning our personal relationship with the Lord and of His Divinity, it says: “Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do . He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:42-44). Two very important details concerning our topic lie in this statement by Jesus.
First is that we do have two natures that can influence our hearts: the devil (our lower selves, our base desires and wants feeding the selfish nature of man at all levels from the criminal to the bystander) and God (our higher nature, the soul, the spiritual self that feeds us righteousness and selflessness and provides those ideas and ideals that are the Good, the Beautiful and the True).
Second is that He says that if God were our Father, that we would love Him. Now many of us say that we love Jesus and the Christ and God but the Master told us that: “If a man love me, he will keep my words” (John 14:23) and “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). So there is a proof to our love and that is that we keep His word. Putting all this together we can say that this (that we love Him as evidenced by our keeping His words) is what makes us pure in heart.
Based on this there are few that can qualify as pure in heart for in that purity come all the good things to the forefront of our daily lives. Righteousness brings a part of this but man can appear righteous outwardly and inwardly still be prone to the thoughts and emotions of the flesh. The righteousness of God however, that righteousness that Jesus speaks of when telling us “seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33) is that which is alike to purity. Perhaps this is why the Master tells us to strive which is more that just trying but trying with conviction.
Having defined all the other words for the Beatitudes, let us define this word as well. The older meanings for pure are: Separate from all heterogeneous or extraneous matter; free from mixture or combination; clean; mere; simple; unmixed; as, pure water; pure clay;pure air; pure compassion. Free from moral defilement or quilt; hence, innocent; guileless; chaste; — applied to persons. Free from that which harms, vitiates, weakens, or pollutes; genuine; real; perfect; — applied to things and actions. (Script.)Ritually clean; fitted for holy services.*, which give some idea of the depth of what biblical pure in heart may be. Modern usage however is somewhat more bland in defining pure as free from moral taint or defilement: pure love*¡* which is the only spiritually oriented definition in the text with the rest having to do with physical things.
The Greek Lexicon says of pure: clean, pure; physically (purified by fire; in a similitude, like a vine cleansed by pruning and so fitted to bear fruit); in a levitical sense (clean, the use of which is not forbidden, imparts no uncleanness); ethically (free from corrupt desire, from sin and guilt, free from every admixture of what is false, sincere genuine, blameless, innocent, unstained with the guilt of anything)**. Strong’s gives us clean, pure, clear of responsibility, innocent***. Do we get a picture of what Jesus meant by pure from either of these or is it as outlined above, the culmination of all our life journey and the accomplishment of being of God?
Who is there that has achieved this goal of pure in heart? Only a few names come to mind and we cannot know that they have or not. To be pure in heart is to be righteous, to be meek as we defined it, to be poor in spirit as in giving all up for the Lord, to be mourning our inconsistency because we are without spiritual pride, and to be merciful, loving all of God’s children. Names; Mother Theresa, Pope John Paul II, and the Dali Lama are or were among the selfless leaders who give all for the Kingdom. There are others who in selfless love for humanity have given of themselves without fanfare and without making it of themselves. Leave a comment if you can add to this list.
Note on the Quote of the Day
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. (2 Corinthians 10:3-6). In today’s quote we have an instruction from the Apostle on getting into His Presence and becoming pure in heart.
- * Websters Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913
- ** from praus New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- *** Strongest Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible – 2001
- *!* Dictionary.com Unabridged based on Random House Dictionary – 2011
