The understanding of what is Required

Matthew 5:8

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

If only we had the understanding of what is required to be pure in heart, and then act on it, would not all people want to be pure in heart so they could see God?  Does the Scripture give us information on how to be pure before our God?  It might be wise to answer a question with a question; was Jesus pure in heart before God.  Now not so fast with your answer, give some thought to the question, what are the ramifications if Jesus was not pure before the Father?  One short answer, you and I are without hope of redemption, but Jesus was God in the flesh, and you and I are not, there in lies a big problem, we need to be pure like Jesus.  Is that possible?

If the requirement is to be like Jesus, how can we attain purity, it might be helpful to look back to the Law and Moses where God required a lamb without spot or blemish, (pure) to be sacrificed and the high priest to enter the temple and make atonement first for his sins and then for the people, but it was something he had to repeat each year.  For God made it very clear without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. (Hebrews 9:22)  The ninth chapter has a road map of the grace God has given you and me through the shedding of His pure Son’s blood.  Begin in Chapter 9:24, “For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.”

Jesus is rightfully called the second Adam, for in that sin came into the world through Adam, redemption came through the blood of Jesus Christ.  So to be pure, no man has this ability we need to enter into Christ, and Christ to enter into us.  And in John I’ve found this promise: “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

(John 14:18-21 ESV)  And once more you are confronted with the question; “Does Jesus tell the truth?”  How you act on what He has said is the real answer to what you believe, not by mere words.

I am often ask if I’m a religious person, and if I am may this quote from James be my religion: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”

(James 1:27 ESV)

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice