Blessed the pure in heart, for *they* shall see God.
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Good — James McBroom. Now I have all I need.
The sixth of the Lord's beatitudes stands at the peak of the gracious qualities He sets before His disciples. It fuses the deepest inward reality — a clean, undivided heart — with the greatest conceivable blessing: to see God Himself.
The Inward Reality
William Kelly emphasizes that this is no merely outward religion but a quality wrought by Christ Himself in those who are born anew. Having set out the seven characters of the beatitudes, he writes:
William KellyTheirs too is purity in heart, and as by faith they see God now, so shall they beyond others by-and-by (Rev. 22:4).
— `authors/kelly/gospel/11.html`
For Kelly, these qualities are not native to fallen man, nor even to unfallen Adam. They are the features of Christ reproduced in the disciple:
Such are the qualities, said the Lord, which suit the kingdom. They are not those of man fallen nor even unfallen. The first man in Paradise had none of them any more than the outcast race. "Ye must be born anew," and even then have your new character formed and impressed by the Lord Jesus… Those that follow Him, having Him as their life, must have His qualities reproduced and manifested in them.
— `authors/kelly/gospel/11.html`
A New Heart, Not a Patched One
James McBroom draws the sharp contrast between the natural heart — which Scripture elsewhere calls deceitful and desperately wicked — and the heart God Himself creates in the believer:
James McBroomThe same lips describe the human heart in its sinfulness, but by His power He can change it from being hard and stony and write His laws upon it, that in boundless grace it might be like His own. It is said of the elders of Israel that they saw God and did eat and drink. Surely it is blessed to behold the beauty of the Lord and inquire in His Temple. Have we ever beheld the King in His beauty? Can we say, "We see Jesus crowned with glory and honour"? If so we can look forward to the time when His servants shall serve Him and shall see His face (Rev. 21). Meantime there is a wholesome word for us, "Pursue peace with all, and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord."
— `authors/mcbroom/Notes_on_Matthew.html`
Motives, Not Merely Actions
A reading on Matthew 5 in The Bible Treasury stresses that the Lord here is dealing with what is inside — with motives, not outward ceremonies. The writer links the beatitude to the new covenant promise of a new heart:
The Bible TreasuryIf we love it there is that word in the Proverbs, "He that loves pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend." It will show itself in conversation. The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable. When the kingdom comes a new heart will be given… He will take away the stony heart that said, "Away with Him"; but the new heart will say, "With His stripes we are healed." The blessing of the new covenant is not only, "their sins and iniquities will I remember no more," but "I will put my laws in their heart," and there will then be a people who shall love the Lord with all their heart.
— `magazines/bt/BT_NS11/1917_209_Matthew_Reading.html`
He then explains what a "pure heart" really is — a heart without reserve:
A new heart is a heart without any reserve. An evil conscience would keep you away. A true heart rests on the knowledge that all is done; so I am able to draw near, not in presumption, but having the heart sprinkled from an evil conscience… Motives are dealt with here and that which is inward.
— `magazines/bt/BT_NS11/1917_209_Matthew_Reading.html`
The Normal State of a Christian
Writing in An Outline of Sound Words, the author of "Things That Are Pure" insists that purity of heart is not an exceptional attainment reserved for spiritual giants, but the ordinary condition in which a Christian ought to be found:
When the Lord Jesus said in Matthew 5:8, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God," He was speaking of His people in their normal condition, for it is normal for a Christian to have a heart that is free from the pollution of the flesh, and that answers to the divine exhortation, "Be ye holy, for I am holy."
— `magazines/OSW/later_articles/1967 c/28 Things that are Pure.html`
He ties the practical keeping of this purity to Paul's words to Timothy — love flowing out of a heart kept pure:
"Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned" (1 Tim. 1:5). These practical features are to mark us, love flowing out towards others from a heart that is kept pure by obedience to the word of God, with all that belongs to the flesh kept in the place of death.
— `magazines/OSW/later_articles/1967 c/28 Things that are Pure.html`
Seeing God — Now and Hereafter
J. N. Darby, in a reading, treats the promise itself with reverent reserve. When pressed whether the pure shall actually behold God in His essence, he answers:
J. N. DarbyI do not believe a creature can see God in His essence. But it is said that the pure in heart shall see God, and "in heaven … angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven."
— `authors/darby/NOTESJOT/40017_8E.html`
And in another reading, Darby warns against taking the promise for granted — it is a searching word, not a comfortable assumption:
I remember a brother speaking to a fellow-traveller, who answered him, "Oh, I am quite sure that the pure in heart will see God." Well, he replied, do you think you are pure enough in heart to see God? "Oh, you are beginning to be personal," said he.
— `authors/darby/NOTESJOT/40041E_B.html`
Synthesis
Drawing these threads together: "Pure in heart" is not moral blamelessness summoned up by the natural man, but a heart made new by the Spirit of God — a heart without reserve, undivided in its affections, free from the pollution of the flesh, with Christ Himself as its object. Such purity is inward; it deals with motives beneath the surface of the act. It is normal for a Christian and not an exotic attainment — Peter says God purified the hearts of the Gentiles by faith — but it must also be maintained in practice, by obedience to the Word and watchfulness against defilement.
The promise, "they shall see God," works on two planes. By faith, the pure in heart see God now — they behold the beauty of the Lord, they see Jesus crowned with glory and honour, they draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. And by sight, they shall see Him hereafter, when His servants shall serve Him and shall behold His face (Rev. 22:4). The sight of God is both the present privilege and the final reward of those whose hearts belong undividedly to Him.