The Visio Dei: The Greatest Event of Our Lives

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

In this, the sixth Beatitude, Jesus tells us how to obtain perfect spiritual vision ... if we want to see God, then this is the great text. But as before, we should begin by defining our terms and in this case, we must determine what is meant by "pure." Its Old Testament usage generally referred to internal cleansing and it is very likely that this is just what Jesus was referring to as the "pure in heart" comes from the rhetorical answer to the question posed in Psalm 24:3, 4 "Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart." Significantly, the Old Testament prophets looked forward to the day when God would given His people clean hearts. Ezekiel records God's words: "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh" [36:25, 26]. Similarly, Jeremiah envisaged a new covenant in which God would put His "law in their minds and write it on their hearts" [31:33].

In Jesus' day the need was dire because of the Pharisees' complete externalizations. Hence the warning of Jesus: "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish and then the outside will also be clean. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness" [Matthew 23:25-28].

But in addition to this primary meaning, "pure" also calls for a purity of devotion. William Barclay tells us that the root word in the Greek "described clear water, sometimes metals without alloy, sometimes grain that had been winnowed, and sometimes feelings that are unmixed." As it is used in our text, it carries the idea of being free from every taint of evil. We must keep this squarely in mind because it is normally supposed that "pure" as in "pure in heart" primarily refers to being pure in mind regarding matters of sensuality, and it certainly does include those matters. But the idea cannot be so limited, for it goes far deeper. Here in the sixth Beatitude it means a heart that does not bring mixed motives or divided loyalties to its relationship with God. It is a heart of singleness in devotion to God -- pure, unmixed devotion.

Consider our experiences with people we've met who while greeting us keep looking around both beside and behind us at other people and things. They really are not that interested in us; but perhaps only see us as objects or means to an end. In the God-man relationship such behavior is scandalous. On the flip-side, "pure" may be represented by the words focus, absorption, concentration, sincerity, and singleness. "Blessed are the pure" is thus a very searching statement, because focusing on God with a singleness of heart is one of the biggest challenges for 21st century Christians. Very few in this frenetic age are capable of the spiritual attention this Beatitude calls for.

Moreover, the depth of what is called for here is seen in the qualifying words "in heart." We are to be singly focused "in heart" on God. In the Scriptures, heart means more than just the mind; it also includes the emotions and the will. It is the totality of our ability to think, feel and decide. So "pure in heart" means that not only our minds but also our feelings and actions are to be concentrated singly on God. If our focus is merely intellectual, we are not pure in heart. This is a most daunting requirement -- a radical cleanness of heart, totally focused on God.

The depth of this heart requirement is further underscored by the realization that it is from the depths of our hearts that all our human problems come. Jeremiah said, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure" [17:9]. Jesus said, "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander" [Matthew 15:19]. On top of that He said, "Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.' ... For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts" [Mark 7:15, 21]. The Scriptures are conclusive on this matter, but our hearts tell us the same. All we have to do is look into our own hearts of darkness, observing the mixed motives, the distractions, the divided loyalties, to know this is completely true. The words of Ivan Turgenev, the 19th century Russian novelist, speaks for us all: "I do not know what the heart of a bad man is like. But I do know what the heart of a good man is like. And it is terrible."

The looming question before us is, therefore, how can we ever accomplish this? This Beatitude is far beyond our reach. Jesus is asking for perfection! And at the end of the first section of the Sermon on the Mount, this is precisely what He demands, "Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect" [Matthew 5:48]. How can this not drive us to despair, for none of us perfectly models any of the Beatitudes? None of us perfectly exhibits poverty of spirit. None of us perfectly mourns our sins. None of us is perfectly humble and gentle. None of us perfectly hungers and thirsts. None of us is always merciful. No one is perfectly pure in heart. Then what are we to do? There can only be one answer ... we must cast ourselves on the grace and mercy of God and thus receive His radical renewal. We must ask Him to implant and nourish the character of the Kingdom in our lives. God demands a humanly impossible character, but then gives us that very character by His grace. And with that He bestows a humanly impossible vision.

Because this Beatitude's sublime benefit is a vision of God Himself. Here, as in the preceding Beatitudes, the word "they" is emphatic: "for they [they alone] will see God." And as with the other Beatitudes, the future is in immediate reference as to what goes before. They will see God as they become pure in heart. And the seeing is continuous. What this means is that it is possible to actually see God in this life -- now! Of course, we do not see Him in His total being, because that would be too much for us. However, we do see Him in many ways. We see God in the pages of His Word. We also see and celebrate God in His creation. This kind of seeing is the special possession of the believer. We see the footprints and the hands of God in nature. And those of us in faith, also see Him in the events of our lives -- even the difficulties. Job exclaimed after his varied hardships of life, "My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you" [Job 42:5].

This sixth Beatitude goes even further as it tells us that the purer our hearts become, the more we will see of God in this life. The more our hearts are focused on God, absorbed with Him, concentrated on His being, freed from distraction, sincere -- single, the more we will see Him. As our hearts become purer, the more the Word lives and creation speaks. Even the adverse circumstances of our lives seem to sharpen our vision of God. Seeing God in this life [what I often call "God sightings"] is the summum bonum -- the highest good, because those who see Him become more and more like Him. "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit" [2 Corinthians 3:18].

But there is even more to seeing God, for the "pure in heart" will one day see Him face to face. And in that split second of recognition, believers will experience more joy than the sum total of accumulated joys of a long life. We will behold the dazzling blaze of His being that has been, and always will be, the abiding fascination of angels. Both Scripture and reason demand that we understand that it will be the greatest event of our eternal existence -- the visio Dei, the vision of God.

For us as believers this Beatitude is, thus, both an opportunity and a challenge to develop and enhance the purity and focus of our hearts. Yet we must also realize that only God can make our hearts pure ... as the Apostle Paul describes in Philippians 2:13, " ... continue to work our your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose." We must also fill ourselves with God's Word. In the Upper Room Jesus told His disciples, "You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you" [John 15:3]. Immersion and interaction with God's Word will purify. Lastly, we should think about and meditate on just what we'll be in eternity. The Apostle John described just what such a hope will do to us: "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure" [1 John 3:2, 3]. We will be transformed at the visio Dei into the likeness of Christ! This is the most fantastical thing we could ever be told! And this is our purifying hope.