Seeing God

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

SEEING GOD

Matt 5:8

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

NIV

Here is a promised we can sink our eyes into. To look upon God, to see him, to stand in his presence, face to face and live. For in order to do that we must have died in this life and been buried, resurrected and attained eternal life, thus being in either heaven or within the new city of Jerusalem. What an incredible sight we will behold seeing God. The Greek word used here carries the meaning of gazing, with wide open eyes at something remarkable, thus differing from other Greek words translated to see in the sense of casual observation, such as when we see a car drive past where we stand. But here, we stand with wide open eyes, gazing upon the most remarkable image we will ever see, God. But there is a condition to this privilege of seeing God. We must have a pure heart, a clean heart. How can then we ever see God? He has declared our heart is not pure all the time.  

Jer 17:9-10

9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? 10 "I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve."

NIV

It is obvious no good deed can ever be good enough to gain eternal life. We are not saved by works, but by faith in Christ Jesus. Certainly in the time of Jeremiah they were all about deeds, as they lived under the law. Yet the law was to show them they could not keep it and thus needed the Messiah, the Savior. But the point here is that in order for us to have that pure heart, the clean heart, we must have the Spirit dwelling within it. We must have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, giving our heart to him. This is the one and only good deed we will ever be able to do. That is the only one good deed that is sufficient. When God searches our heart, he finds Jesus there and thus we will then see God. If however he does not see Jesus in our heart and mind, we will not see God. The only one who is pure is God himself. There is no way we in and of ourselves can have a pure heart. We will never see God in this flesh, but one day when we pass from this life onto eternal life, we will gaze with wide open eyes at the most remarkable sight, God, in all his majesty, all his glory and all his awesomeness. But in the meantime, although our hearts can deceive us and wander off into areas it should not travel, we can still know that the main focus of our heart is to follow Jesus. We will fail at times, we will fall short of the mark, but as long as we have Jesus, God sees a pure heart. That is not to say we should willfully engage in acts of sin, but the fact is we will yield to some temptation at some point, perhaps even on a daily basis. Can we be certain it is not willful? Can we always claim our sin is not willful, but it is against our will and we are unwilling participates? How then can we understand our heart? Yet God sees us through the blood of Jesus which makes us pure, clean and able to one day stand in his presence and see him. There may always be some mystery in this, but there it is, the truth in fact stands before us. With Christ we have a pure heart and we will see God.