email: cholt@gt.rr.com
ON SEEING THE INVISIBLE
By Charles W. Holt
"And the LORD said, "You cannot see my face; for no man shall see Me, and live" (Ex. 33:20).
"No man hath seen God at any time" (Jn. 1:18; 1 Jn. 4:12).
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Mt. 5:8).
Seeing God is extremely difficultif not impossiblefor some people. They can’t see God anywhere nor in anything. To others, there’s nothing to it, He is everywhere. This is PANTHEISM. In other words, He can be seen in every flower, tree, sunset, a baby’s smile, etc. On one hand you have all the poetic drivel, the empty imaginations of putting God in the wind, rain, sun, moon, stars, bushes and trees. On the other hand, we have what the Bible says IS possible and what people have found through their personal experience. Put objective fact,God CAN be "seen" with subjective experience, "that which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon we declare to you" (1 Jn. 1:1,2), and you arrive at the dynamic reality that God HAS BEEN and STILL IS being seen by multitudes of people today. (No, this is not an, "I was abducted by aliens" experience."
Seeing God in a pantheistic way and seeing God as revealed in the Scripture are at polar opposites. Our concern in this study (as it must be in life) is to see God as the Bible reveals. To see God is to know God; to experience God; to have a relationship with God, and eventually dwell in the very place where God actually resides. "That where I am, there you may be also" (Jn. 14:3). And, "They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads" (Rev. 22:4). So you see, for the believer, there is a present reality and a bright prospect for the future. "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face" (1 Cor. 13:12).
Carrie Breck, in her hymn, FACE TO FACE, wrote:
Only faintly now I see Him,
With the darkened veil between,
But a blessed day is coming
When His glory shall be seen.
Face to face! O Blissful moment!
Face to face to see and know;
Face to face with my Redeemer,
Jesus Christ who loves me so.
(Chorus)
Face to face I shall behold Him,
Far beyond the starry sky;
Face to face in all his glory,
I shall see Him by and by!
According to our study text, "the pure in heart" do now, and will later, see God. It is true that the impure in heart will also see God. It is appointed unto men once to die, then comes the judgment when all will see Him (see Heb. 9:27 with Rev. 19:11-15). This is validated from Revelation 1:7, "and every eye shall see Him even they who pierced Him." It takes little imagination to understand the difference there is of seeing God with a pure heart and seeing God with an impure heart. The "impure in heart" will only see God as the Judge and hear Him pronounce the sentence of eternal separation from His light and love, "Depart from me, ye evildoers! who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels" (Mt. 7:23, 25:41). The "pure in heart" will see God as Lord, Savior, Redeemer. They will enter into a joyful fellowship with Him forever. They will hear, "Come, you are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance (Mt. 25:34) and "... well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord" (Mt. 25:23).
HEART: What we should understand by the use of this word.
-- Sometimes the Bible uses heart to indicate emotions.
--"Let not your heart be troubled" (Jn. 14:1).
-- Sometimes the Bible uses heart to indicate the intellect.
--"Why reason ye these things in your hearts" (Mk.2:8).
-- Sometimes the Bible uses heart to refer to the will.
--"But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself" (Dan. 1:8).
Considering emotion, intellect and will as the very essence of our inner-self, we see that heart means THE MASTER CONTROL AREA OF LIFE.
--It is in our emotion, intellect, and will that we are created in the image of God.
--It is in our emotion, intellect, and will that we express our failures, disobedience, and sinfulness.
Consider this insightful verse: "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues [i.e., source] of life" (Pr. 4:23). The unregenerate (thus impure) heart is the source of all our problems. "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?" (Jer. 17:9). Without question or argument it can be said that the problem of mankind, you and I, is a heart problem (as defined above). While various interest groups focus on the environment, economy, and education as a way to solve our problems¡Xand many of these programs are useful, they have and will continue to fall woefully short of addressing the deepest core needs of mankind. The Bible teaches that the very foundation, the very center of our personality is evil and corrupt, therefore man’s actions can only be evil continually (see Gen. 6:5). The human problem has been and continues to be sin and the foulness that it rouses. And its source is THE HEART.
The Problem is Inner--Not Outer.
Strong arguments backed by research that attracts brilliant minds with ability to articulate their proposals say that crime, homelessness, abortion, juvenile delinquency, etc., has environmental causes. Change the environment (not climate control) and you will cure society’s ills. Really? Do you suppose if the best "fix-it" programs now being tried would suddenly succeed above and beyond all their author’s wildest dreams that the sin problem would end? One doesn’t need to guess what the environment was like when the sin problem was first created. Adam and Eve were in the best possible environment yet they sinned. Living in a veritable paradise will not alter the heart’s affinity toward evil.
You should take note of the fact that in the New Testament a group of the most strident and conscientious religious reformers that lived thought and preached that the environment caused uncleanness. So they washed themselves many times a day to keep clean. Jesus jolted their sanctimonious rituals with the most outlandish statement that tore the very heart out of their well-constructed theories when He said, "There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man" (Mk. 7:15 NKJV). But Jesus didn’t stop there. In Mark 7:21-23 He continues, saying, "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man" (NKJV). The prophet Jeremiah nails it down, when he wrote, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately [i.e., incurably sick]; who can know it? (Jer. 17:9 NKJV). Oh! But the worldly-wise, intellectuals, philosophers, rationalizers, those who know God by their logic, their kith and kin, all hate that! (For God’s viewpoint see 1 Cor. 1:20-25).
What is a Pure Heart?
This gets very interesting. The Greek word KATHAROS is used in our subject verse. In plain ole English it’s translated "pure." As Jesus uses the word, it means, "clean or unmixed." Sometimes it describes purity in the physical sense, i.e., clean clothes or clean animals that are without a blemish. If used of a piece of metal it would have no impurity or alloy. In the Old Testament it appears 150 times to describe ceremonial purity. As He does throughout the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus raises the standard from Old Testament ceremonial purity to the higher standard of the inner experience or attitude of the soul which deals with moral purity, hence pure means morally clean or unmixed.
We get other English words from KATHAROS. For example, CATHARTIC comes from it. We have all experienced a CATHARTIC agent used by a doctor for the cleansing of the physical system. In my childhood it was Dr. Mom who administered generous doses of castor oil as part of the annual spring cleaning ritual. That scene is just as vivid in my mind today as it was when I was 10 years old. I rise to bear witness that orange juice and castor oil does not mix even when given in equal doses at the same time.
In psychology and psychiatry a CATHARSIS (from the same Greek word) means to cleanse on the emotional level. In certain circumstances counselors seek to guide their clients into the place where they will experience catharsis. When this happens it marks an important milestone in the client’s treatment and recovery. Usually, true healing begins at the point of catharsis.
Thank God for the spiritual catharsis or the cleansing of the inner man. Peter reports of the Gentiles that God, "purified their hearts by faith" (Acts 15:9). Jesus scolded the religious leaders once, saying, "Woe unto you, scribes, and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse (katharos) first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also" (Mt. 23:25,26 KJV). We are impure inside, therefore unclean on the outside.
The Evident Importance of a Clean Heart
Why should one bother to consider if it is important or not to have a pure heart? A simple response to the question will include:
1. Because God requires it. "Because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy" (1 Pt. 1:16).
2. The experience of the prophet Isaiah reinforces this truth. He shows us his experience in Isaiah 6:3-5.
3. "Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully" (Ps. 24:3,4 KJV).
4. "Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart" (1 Tim. 1:5 KJV).
For the Problem There is a Solution
How can we be clean? How can our thoughts, our words, our deeds be right? How can we think God¡¦s thoughts? How can we will to do what God’s will? How can we know, feel and be moved by the things God desires; to hate what God hates and to love what God loves? How can we be made pure and clean in the very center of our being? All this is possible because God has a plan. It is a plan that works. God’s plan is centered in and around Jesus and what He did by coming into this world and dying on the cross.
Consider this:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us acceptable in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches o His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence [i.e., understanding](Eph. 1:3-8).
The shed blood of Jesus, applied by the Holy Spirit to the believing heart (see Acts 15:9), "cleanses or purges (KJV) our conscience" (Heb. 9:13-14 and see 1 Peter 1:22).
Regeneration is the work of the Holy Spirit in the believing heart, creating a new nature. "As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness by which we have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust" (2 Pt. 1:3,4 NKJV).
The newly regenerated heart now begins a process that is dynamic and ongoing. It is called sanctification. Paul speaks of this, saying, "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Cor. 3:18 NKJV). We are active participants in the Holy Spirit’s work of sanctification. (See Heb. 12:14; 1 Peter 1:22; Rom. 8:13).
Cleansing, regeneration, sanctification begin with acknowledging our sinful condition and turning to God in prayer. Some examples:
--"And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die" (2 Samuel 12:13).
--At that time David prayed, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me" (Ps. 51:10).
--James exhorts us to, "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, you double minded" (Ja 4:8).
The Promise of Seeing God
"Blessed¡Xhappy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous [that is, possessing the happiness produced by experience of God’s favor and especially conditioned by the revelation of His grace, regardless of their outward conditions]are the pure in heart, for they shall see God! (Mt. 5:8 Amplified Bible).
To "see" God in the "sweet by and by" is a wonderful prospect that is based on solid rock Scripture. Recall the words of the hymn quoted earlier. "Face to face shall I behold Him." In addition, consider this:
Jesus said, "that where I am there you will be also" (Jn. 14:3).
Paul said, "We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord" (2 Cor. 5:8). And again, "to depart and be with Christ, which is far better" (Phil. 1:23).
Ancient Job said, "in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another" (Job 19:26,27).
The Apostle John said,"it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as he is pure" (1 Jn. 3:2,3).
The great Spirit-filled deacon named Stephen had the curtain of heaven pulled back briefly before he died. As the stones rained down upon him the Bible says, "But, he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory o God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!" (Acts 7:55,56).
John, of Revelation, saw a river of pure water, clear as crystal, in a place where, "there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him" ¡V now get this "They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads" (Rev. 22:2,3).
Our "bright hope for tomorrow" fills us with certainty and comfort in knowing that "the toils of the road will seem nothing, when we get to the end of the way" (From "It will be Worth it All," Esther Rustoi). Meanwhile, the terrible "now and now" captures our attention as we continue to deal with life’s daily trials. Keep in mind that Jesus said the person who is truly happy is one with the pure heart. He says it is the key to the greatest of all blessings¡Xand happiness namely, the blessing of seeing God.
God’s greatest blessing has nothing to do with physical, temporal possessions! Jesus did not say, "Happy, to be envied, are the pure in heart for they shall obtain great wealth, status, possessions and abundance of creature comforts." Jesus would later be heard saying, "one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses" (Lk. 12:15 NKJV) and, "Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing" (Lk. 12:23 NKJV).
This is a promise of a present happiness. It is the promise of seeing God in our present circumstances. It is the promise of being personally transformed by the experience of seeing God now. Seeing God transforms every circumstance and every experience we live. Some examples those who saw God and their lives were transformed include:
1. Jacob "struggled with God" through the night in a desperate attempt to receive His blessing. This wresting match resulted in a life changing experience. After he obtained his desire, he testifies, "For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved" (Gen. 32:30). To see God is to live, not die. To see God is to preserve life and face its challenges with greater faith, great strength and greater success as if was in Jacob’s experience with his brother Esau.
2. Of all the great leaders in Hebrew history Moses ranks at the top. His life story, from birth to death, is recorded in the first chapters of Exodus. Woven into the fabric of his story is the successes and failures he endured while leading nearly 2-million slaves out of Egypt into the "Promised Land" of Canaan. To say it was a daunting task is an understatement. It called for Herculean strength, Job’s patience, and Solomon’s wisdom. Nevertheless, he had to do it as a mere mortal a person with like passions as us. How he did it is not a secret. By knowing his "open secret" we are furnished the same opportunity to successfully cope with our own "stiff-necked and hard-hearted" circumstances. How did he do it? Read and reap! "By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as SEEING HIM WHO IS INVISIBLE" (He. 11:27)
This brings us to the question: how did Moses see Him who is invisible? He saw Him in the same manner we see Him today. "Seeing" [Gr. HORAO] in this verse, means, "to see with the mind, to perceive, know, i.e., become acquainted with by experience, to experience, to take heed."
We see Him by faith. "whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith the salvation of your soul" (1 Pt. 1:8,9 NKJV). By our faith we know Him, experience His grace, mercy, and power. By our faith we have a relationship with Him and thus know Him better and better each day.
We see Him when we are filled with His Holy Spirit and are led by the Spirit in our daily walk. The Apostle Paul makes this clear: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit¡Keven so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God" (1 Cor. 2:9-11 NKJV).
We see Him by reading His word ¡Vthe Bible.
We see Him when we confess and acknowledge our sins and come to Him for cleansing.
We see Him as we walk in the light, as He is in the light.
We see Him as we love one another and "follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man will see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14).
TO RECAP: A pure heart is a cleansed heart; a heart free from the control of wickedness. It is one dedicated to God. The pure heart has a singleness of purpose, to serve, worship, and glorify God in all things. The pure in heart see God. They see the invisible.
Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus by Helen Lemmel
O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There is light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!
(Chorus)
Turn you eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face.
And the things of earth
Will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.
