Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Matthew 5:8

When Jesus told the woman caught in sin in John 8, “Go and stop sinning,” it was more than a clever way to end an awkward conversation. He meant it. God always supplies what He demands, particularly in the area of temptation (1 Cor 10:13).

We see in our verse for today, that the pure in heart are the ones who “see God”. Put another way, God reveals Himself to Christians who hearts are pure… and He is in the business of making our hearts pure. That is the Gospel in a nutshell.

Magdalene was the first one that Jesus revealed Himself to after His resurrection. I think it’s right to say that she had already been made pure in heart.

But this raises a more deep-seated question: Do we really even want to see God? The Israelites at Mt Sinai didn’t. They sent Moses to do their bidding, instead. Shepherd-boy turned king, David certainly did want to see God and even wrote about seeing Him (Ps 27:4). One glimpse of Jesus certainly turned the Apostle Paul’s life around. And the Apostle John…what more can be said?

Strong’s Hebrew and Greek dictionary says something really radical about the particular words Jesus used when He said the pure in heart “SHALL SEE” God:
“A prolonged form which is used in certain tenses; to gaze (that is, with wide open eyes, as at something remarkable; and thus differing from simply voluntary observation; or mechanical, passive or casual vision. . . an earnest, continued inspection)” <parenthetical is in the quote>

So today’s verse is not primarily talking about someway, someday, in the sweet by and by those who’ve worked really hard to clean up their lives will see God in heaven. It’s talking about now. It’s talking about God’s work, it’s talking about our continuously gazing with wide eyes at the amazing presence of Jesus as a prolonged, continual, and present practice. So let’s look at our today’s verse with this new information:

Blessed are the ones whose hearts have been made pure, for they continually gaze intently and earnestly upon God.