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MATTHEW 5:8 “BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART FOR THEY SHALL SEE GOD.” (KJV, NKJV, NASB, ASV, RSV)
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” (NIV)
Jesus made some interesting, and perhaps startling, statements in His Sermon on the Mount. There have been many studies aimed at helping us understand what Jesus was saying on this occasion. At first glance, what Matthew tells us in Verse 8 seems fairly simple. If we want to “see” God, we can only do it with a pure heart.
This really makes sense. Since God is pure and holy, we cannot approach him without some purity in our hearts as well. The only holiness that matters to Him is the holiness imputed to us by Jesus. But it seems that what Jesus is saying here is that if we want to see God, if we want to come close to His presence, we cannot do it with anything less than a pure heart.
Others have said this: Purity in a person means “without malice, treachery, or evil intent; honest; sincere; guileless.” Being pure in heart involves a singleness of heart toward God. Billy Graham wrote: “A pure heart is a reflection of doing what God wants us to do. Our inner being is the root of all our actions. From our hearts come our motives, our desires, our goals, and our emotions…day by day, as we follow the Holy Spirit, He helps us turn from evil and seek what is good. God does want us to have pure hearts, and He blesses the ‘pure in heart,’ just as the Bible says.”
David wrote in Psalm 24:3-4, we cannot even approach God without a pure heart. “Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully.”
Timothy speaks to this in 1 Timothy 5 when he states that our love must come “from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith.” Peter commands us to “love one another fervently with a pure heart.” (1 Peter 1:22) How often have we found in the church those who can’t love one another at all, let alone with a pure heart?
In three of the four Gospels, Jesus told his disciples, “Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.” (Matt 19:14, Mark 10:14, Luke 18:16) How much purer heart can there be than an innocent child, one who has yet to learn that above all things, our hearts are deceitfully wicked? (Jeremiah 17:9)
So, how do we get there? Of course, first we must be drawn to Jesus and accept Him as our Savior and Lord. One could argue that it is only with a pure heart, drawn to Him, recognizing the wickedness of our own selves that we can even receive so great a salvation.
Purity of the heart means being made clean through the Spirit and the Word. That work must come from God. It is impossible for us to do this on our own without the miracle of conversion of our hearts. A pure heart is God's throne and dwelling place, eternal dwelling place, for that matter, but He can only knock there (Rev. 3:20) if we open the door through a clean, pure heart.
Once we give our heart to Jesus, we are very quickly reminded of the wickedness of the old self. Like David, we cry again and again, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10) We are not saved over and over again. But we must renew a right mind, a right spirit, in us, seemingly every day. Remember, we are blessed and see God if, and because, we have a pure heart. With an impure heart, we will miss him…fail to see Him and most likely try to do it all in our own strength.
Third, we need to learn to practice clean heartedness. This is tough because the world and Satan work very hard to drag us back into the wickedness from which Jesus saved us. I believe it is a life-long battle that we fight every day. To be pure in heart means our heart doesn't seek anything other than the Lord Jesus. It means we take Him as the unique goal of our life.
2 Tim 2:22-26 lists lots of things for us to flee (youthful lusts, foolish disputes, quarrels). Away from these things we can be one of “those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” I do not seek a pure heart so I can be blessed. I seek and develop a pure heart because of the promise that I “will see God.” What greater goal in life could we have than that one?
Questions to ponder: What is the difference between a pure heart and holiness? How does the Holy Spirit fill us with His presence so we even have a remote chance of possessing a clean, pure heart? How do impurities in our heart push away others from receiving Jesus themselves? What are the evidences of one who has a pure heart? How can you see this in one another?
Other Scriptures to consider: Psalm 73:1 “…God is good to those who are of a clean heart.” Matthew 15:8 “…their lips honor me but their heart is far from me.” 1 Peter 1:22, What does loving each other fervently with a pure heart look like?
 
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