THE BEATITUDES VIII

THE BEATITUDES VIII

5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Well, this beatitude seems to be saying something that is humanly impossible. I'm sure none of us would be so bold as to say that our hearts are pure. That is, if we define pure as free from defects, from wrong thinking or feelings, from sin.

Some people might ask, 'Who said I wanted to see God?' Indeed, we must accept that there are people in our world like that. In fact, believe it or not, I have a brother who would probably say that at this stage in his life. Of course, that doesn't make me very happy but what can I do? Of course, I can continue to pray for him, love him, try to keep the channels of communication open between us, hoping some day he will change his mind.

On the other hand, we know that many great thinkers - philosophers and theologians, from all over the world and from all times in history have thought about this question of how we get to see God. They have looked at the universe, at earth, at ourselves, and concluded there is a Higher Power. They have also concluded that our ultimate destiny then must surely be to be somehow connected with this Higher Power.

It really doesn't take much more thinking to also realize that no one in all of history seems to have achieved this in a way that convinces everyone else of its reality. If we see ourselves as mortal beings and this Higher Power as God, supernatural and immortal, it isn't hard to understand that it is probably impossible for us to see God by our own efforts.

Well, according to our Christian teachings, according to the Bible, God himself made it possible for us to see him. We are taught that God is holy, righteous, perfect, and cannot tolerate imperfection in his presence. So, how then can we get to see him? Knowing we could not achieve this on our own because of the barrier of sin, which had brought on us the punishment of death, God came to earth himself in the form of an only Son to die in our stead, in our place. The powerful effect of this sacrifice was made complete by The Son then rising in triumph over death in the resurrection, which we celebrate at Easter. This is what the whole Bible points to. If we accept this sacrifice as made on our behalf, if we thus believe in Christ Jesus, God forgives and wipes away our sins. Indeed, God himself makes us holy! God makes us pure in heart in his eyes, in his sight. This gives us the hope and promise of seeing Him after we die, leaving behind our imperfect body and taking on the perfect new one waiting for us so we can be re-united with our Creator and God. This is summarized in many passages in the Holy Scriptures, one of which is II Corinthians ch. 5. Beginning at verse 15 we read:

            "He died for all, that they which live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again (15)…Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; look, all things have become new (17). All things are of God, who reconciled us (made things right between him and us) to himself by Jesus Christ (18) …For he made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin (talking about Jesus the Son); that we might be made righteous like God through him (21)."

There you have it – we are made righteous, pure in heart, through Jesus, by what God himself did.