THE BEATITUDES:
Blessed Are The Pure In Heart
Last week, we discussed the first of three attributes which ought to exist among those who have come to faith and obedience of the gospel of Christ. We need to be a people who display mercy; in fact, our receipt of mercy from the Father is contingent upon us being merciful ourselves. The Lord continues,
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (Matthew 5:8)
Katharos, the Greek word translated as "pure" means "...clean, clear, pure..." (Strong's). We should have a clean heart - a clear conscience, unfettered by sin.
The apostle Peter, speaks about the time of our cleansing. He wrote:
Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart (1 Peter 1:22)
A pure heart is attained through obedience to the word of God, which the Lord stated we must hunger and thirst for (Matthew 5:6). Having been made pure, we are then to continue to conduct ourselves in a way consistent with that clean nature. James gives a few examples of what it means to walk before God with a pure heart. He states that:
Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. (James 1:27)
The pure heart is not just a matter of bringing our conduct into subjection to God's word, but also has affected the conscience. The Hebrew writer reveals the weakness of the Law of Moses, but the power of the gospel. Consider,
...if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:13-14)
“In Christ Jesus, we have been made pure in both heart and conscience.”
In Christ Jesus, we have been made pure in both heart and conscience. This peace of mind can only be attained by those who are in Christ Jesus:
To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. (Titus 1:15)
This purity of conscience is certainly a blessing in itself, but as Jesus speaks of it, He identifies the pure heart as that which entitles us for yet another blessing - the pure in heart shall see God.
The apostle John spoke of this wonderful blessing:
Beloved, now we are the children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. (1 John 3:2-3)
The Scriptures tell us many times that man cannot see God (Exodus 33:20; Deuteronomy 4:12; John 1:18). Paul speaks of the Lord, saying that He
...alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen. (1 Timothy 6:16)
We cannot see the Lord in the here and now, but we have the glorious hope of being with Him throughout eternity in the hereafter. What an immense blessing!
Let us live in such a way that we will be pure in heart, focussed upon the will of God day by day in our lives. If we are so, then we will have the hope of eternal life, and will be in the presence of God forever.
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Answering The Atheist
Complaint:
Were plants created before (Genesis 1:11-13; 1:27,29,31) or after humans (Genesis 2:4-7)? Is there a contradiction?
Response:
Genesis 1 makes it obvious that plants were created before mankind, as they were created on the third day, but man was made on the sixth day.
Why the questioner believes that Genesis 2 says that man was created before plant-life, I cannot see. Notice:
| v 4-5 | the LORD made the earth and heavens, before any plant of herb was on the earth; |
| v 5 | at that time, "...there was no man to till the ground..." (This would infer that mankind was not yet created) |
| v 6 | a mist watered the ground (thus providing nourishment for the plants - remember, there was no man to tend to them yet) |
| v 7 | after this, "...God formed man of the dust of the ground..." |
There is no contradiction.
This article is in response to Skeptic's Annotated Bible.