The Pure in Heart

“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8)

In 2013, authorities discovered that some beef products sold in European supermarkets contained horsemeat. In some cases, the “beef” was 100% horsemeat. This sparked an outcry. Many people resented the unsuspected injection of horsemeat into their diet.

Sometimes products are not what they appear to be. This is also true of people. Sometimes what people appear to be on the outside is not what they are on the inside. And sometimes people fool themselves into thinking that as long as they appear good on the outside, it doesn’t really matter what they are on the inside. This is a scandal bigger than the horsemeat scandal.

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus repeatedly confronted the Pharisees because they outwardly appeared righteous to men, but inside they were full of sin and hypocrisy. Jesus said that they were like a cup that was beautiful on the outside but was brimming with vile contents inside. They were like a burial vault pleasingly adorned on the outside but filled with putrefying bones inside (Matthew 23:25-28).

In the sixth beatitude in Matthew 5, Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart.” The word heart in the Bible refers to one’s inner being, to the soul or spirit. It is the mind, the will, and the understanding. The heart is the seat of the affections, attitudes, and emotions. It is the place of self-reflection and decision-making. It is who we are at the very core. A pure heart is a clean heart, undefiled by anything that corrupts, and unmixed with evil. Jesus declares that those who are pure inside (as well as outside) are blessed.

1. The Supreme Importance of the Heart

The word heart (with the meaning “inner being”) appears over 800 times in Scripture. This fact alone indicates that God is concerned about what is going on inside. Going to church a few times a year and taking Communion will not make us holy. We need Christ to transform our hearts.

Jesus illustrated the importance of the heart in His teachings in the Sermon on the Mount. He said that the man whose heart is filled with anger at his brother is just as guilty as a murderer. And Jesus said that looking upon a woman to lust after her is adultery committed in the heart (Matthew 5:21-28).

a. The secrets of the heart

Psalm 44:21 says, “[God] knoweth the secrets of the heart.” This fact makes the contents of our hearts of supreme importance. God knows everything that is in our hearts—every attitude, every lust, every idea, every imagination, every regret. He knows the thoughts we had yesterday afternoon. He knows the thoughts we will think tonight. Everything in our hearts is open to Him. We cannot hide it.

After God rejected King Saul because of his rebellion against the Lord’s command, God told Samuel to anoint a new king. God sent Samuel to Bethlehem to the house of Jesse. When Samuel saw Jesse’s first son, Eliab, he said, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.” Samuel was deceived by Eliab’s princely looks.

“But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance [appearance], or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).

Man looks on the outward appearance. That is all that he can see. But the Lord sees deeper. He sees and knows what is in the heart. He knows the secrets that no person can see. Eliab’s looks fooled Samuel; the Pharisees’ outward lives fooled others; but they did not fool God. Nor can we. We can dress ourselves up, paste a smile on our faces, and act nicely. But God sees straight through the façade. If we are going to do business with God, we need to deal with the contents of our hearts.

Jesus rebuked the superficial piety of the Pharisees by quoting Isaiah 29:13, where God says, “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me” (Matthew 15:8). The Pharisees said that they loved God, but God had His eye on their hearts. And what He saw grieved Him.

b. The treasure of the heart

Even though people cannot see the thoughts of our hearts, usually what we are on the inside eventually shows up on the outside. Trying to hide the true nature of our hearts is like trying to conceal a skunk under an overcoat.

Jesus said that our hearts are like a storehouse in which treasure is heaped up (Matthew 12:35). That treasure in our hearts becomes the resource we draw upon when we speak and act. If we have laid up good treasure in our hearts, we will have good resources to draw upon when we are faced by people that irritate us, circumstances that cause anxiety, or lusts that tempt us. Godly responses do not come out of nowhere. They flow out of a heart filled with good treasure.

Likewise, sinful responses do not come out of nowhere. They come out of a store of godless things in the heart. If we treasure up vile thoughts, bitter attitudes, and self-conceited opinions of ourselves, that is what will spew out when we are squeezed. Jesus said, “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man” (Mark 7:21-23).

Proverbs 4:23 admonishes, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” How we live flows out of (issues forth from) our hearts. Therefore, the writer says, “Guard your heart.” The verse could also be translated this way: “More than all guarding of other things, guard your heart.” That is, of all the things we cherish and protect, the most important is our hearts.

c. The anatomy of a pure heart

In the New Testament, several words are used to describe a pure heart. The word that Jesus used in the Beatitudes means “clean.” It refers to a heart that is cleansed from all filth, a heart in which nothing is found that defiles it.

Second Peter 3:1 speaks of a “pure” mind. (The word pure used here is also translated as “sincere” in Philippians 1:10.) This word could have either of two meanings behind it. One meaning is “to shake to and fro in a sieve” until all impurities (such as chaff or stones mixed in with wheat) have been removed and only a pure substance remains. In this example, having a pure heart means that everything that is displeasing to God has been thrown out. A second meaning of this word is “something which can stand the judgment of the sunlight, something which even when it is held up to the clear light of the sun reveals no faults or flaws” (William Barclay, New Testament Wordbook [New York: Harper and Row], p. 32-33).

An example of this last meaning is a woman in the marketplace who, before buying a piece of pottery or cloth, first holds it up to the sunlight and examines it for flaws. If it withstands scrutiny, it is found to be “pure” or “sincere.” It has withstood the test. Likewise, a pure or sincere heart can be hauled out into the full glare of the sunlight and have its secrets examined and be found faultless.

The New Testament also speaks of “singleness of heart” (Colossians 3:22). This refers to a heart that has unmixed motives. This person is not a double-dealer. He does not pretend to be a friend to others while secretly working to undo them. He does not pretend to serve God when really he is only concerned about himself.

Many times when we look deep into our hearts, we realize that what we find there is shameful. We might fear that if people really knew what we are on the inside, they would despise us. I cannot tell you what people would do if they knew. But I can tell you what God would do. The truth is that God already knows what is in your heart. And He still loves you. He invites you to come to Him, confess all, and by His strength join in the battle for a pure heart.

2. The Battle for the Heart

John Bunyan’s book The Holy War is an allegory about the battle for our hearts. God built a town called “Mansoul” (Man’s soul) to be His delight and pleasure. The devil deceived and conquered Mansoul, becoming its master. But God’s Son, Emmanuel, redeemed the town from the devil’s tyranny. After Prince Emmanuel entered Mansoul, it still had to defend its walls and gates against the onslaughts of the devil. Two prominent gates of Mansoul were “Eye-Gate” and “Ear-Gate.” The war for our hearts rages today. The devil knows the importance of the heart and will spare nothing to insinuate his lies into our hearts.

a. Fortify the gates

What comes in through the Eye-Gate and Ear-Gate enters the heart and influences it for good or for bad. In 1 Corinthians 15:33, the apostle Paul warned, “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.” Don’t think that what we see and hear doesn’t influence us. It does! Paul says plainly, “Bad company will ruin good moral character.”

Words set to music stick in our minds. We cannot listen to rock or country music and expect the lyrics dripping with malice or sexual innuendo not to affect our hearts. Nor can we fill our ears with refrains promoting selfishness and carnal living without our hearts being tainted. We cannot sing the lyrics “I did it my way” and also have it God’s way.

Images also stick in our minds. If we set violence before our eyes, the images that enter our minds will feed our imagination later. If we gaze upon seductive pictures, the images burned in our minds will be fodder for lustful fantasizing later.

Job said, “I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?” (Job 31:1). That is, Job made a solemn and irrevocable commitment not to take a lustful look. And he subjected his eyes to this commitment. Job’s exclamation, “Why then should I think upon a maid?” voices his indignation at the thought of breaking this covenant. He will not think (that is, contemplate while gazing lustfully) upon a maid. Job’s Eye-Gate was securely fortified.

The prophet Isaiah describes the righteous person who has fortified the Eye-Gate and Ear-Gate against delighting in violence and sin: “He . . . that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood[shed], and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; he shall dwell on high” (Isaiah 33:15-16). This does not mean that the disciple of Christ will ignore a duty to help those who are victims of violence and evil, but it reflects an attitude of the heart that refuses to be entertained by watching sinful acts on the movie screen.

b. Patrol the streets

In John Bunyan’s town of Mansoul, Mr. Prywell patrolled the streets, prying into every hiding place, looking for agents of the devil. We also do well to pry into the recesses of our hearts and throw out all that is opposed to God.

Jesus cleansed the temple in Jerusalem, saying, “It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves” (Luke 19:46). A Christian’s heart is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and must not be a den of half-lies, self-conceit, and ill-will. May the same holy zeal that Jesus had for the temple be the zeal that we have for the temple of our hearts!

In 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, Paul uses the imagery of warfare to describe the battle for a pure heart. To fight this battle, we need God’s weaponry. Paul says that these weapons are “mighty through God.” We cannot win the war by our own strength. Paul surveys the enemy’s attacks on our hearts:

Strongholds are fortresses or castles. Wrong ideas can become systems of thought so strongly lodged in our hearts that it is difficult to remove them. For example, we might believe that we are worthless and unlovable. Such a stronghold must be pulled down by a strong faith in Christ’s redeeming love.
Imaginations are unscriptural reasoning and arguments. They can be worldly opinions, philosophies, theories, and psychologies. Imaginations could be trying to reason why we don’t need to obey God’s commands, why we can’t trust His promises, or why we shouldn’t believe His truths.
Every high thing is every thought that says, “I know better than God does.” Arrogant thoughts need to be thrown out.
Every thought needs to be brought into captivity. Every day, dozens of thoughts dodge about in our minds. Whenever a thought does not agree with God’s truth, it must be arrested and replaced with a thought that is obedient to Christ.

The work of cleansing the heart will be difficult at times. Christ wants to radically transform our hearts by having us remove our sinful habits and replace them with thoughts and actions that are pure. Old ways of thinking will have to go. Former pleasures will have to die. Notions and opinions that once roamed freely in the mind will have to be arrested. This is not a work that will be done in a day, a week, or a year. It is the work of a lifetime.

c. Rebuild the city

The ancient city of Jerusalem had a “Dung Gate” through which all the city’s useless rubbish was carried out to a trash heap. Likewise, when Prince Emmanuel entered Mansoul, all the trash had to be carried out. But the remodeling of Mansoul did not end with sweeping the city clean. Christ Himself needed to come into the city and dwell in the palace that had been prepared for Him.

A pure heart is not maintained by simply emptying it of evil pleasures. It must also be filled with Christ and things He approves and delights in. In Philippians 4:8, Paul lists those things that should be brought into our hearts. These adjectives should describe the thoughts we think, the things we listen to, the books we read, and the stories we tell.

True—a trait hated by half-lies, half-truths, and all their kinsfolk.
Honest—also translated as “honorable” or “noble”; inspiring respect and reverence for God and His words and works.
Just—right and acceptable from God’s perspective.
Pure—holy, sacred, chaste, modest.
Lovely—inspiring delight in the natural world which God has created to be enjoyed.
Of good report—reports of good and kind deeds.
Virtue—moral excellence.
Praise—thanksgiving to God.

Paul says, “Think on these things.” Paul’s command implies that we are responsible for our thoughts and mental processes. Our sin nature does not have to dictate our thought patterns. To be clear, thoughts and desires may present themselves to our minds without our eliciting or desiring them, but we can choose how we process them. We can choose to continue dwelling on wrong thoughts, or we can choose to put them away and replace them with better thoughts.

3. The Blessing of Seeing God

The blessing Jesus promised to the pure in heart is “they shall see God.” Seeing God is not just a casual glance cast upon an object. The use of the word see in the sixth beatitude has the richest meaning possible, conveying a range of blessings enjoyed by the disciple of Christ.

Those who see God find in Him their deepest longings satisfied. In Psalm 17:15, David prayed, “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.”
Those who see God look upon Him as the object of their greatest joy and affection. Isaiah 33:17 promises that the righteous will see God in Heaven: “Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.”
Those who see God look upon Him as their very own God and their very own Father. To see something is sometimes used as a way of expressing the idea of possessing, experiencing, and participating in something (compare Psalm 16:10; John 3:3,36).
Those who see God draw near to Him in face-to-face fellowship. The Bible speaks of the joy of speaking to a friend face to face. John told the recipient of his second epistle that rather than writing, he wished to “speak face to face, that our joy may be full” (2 John 12). “The Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend” (Exodus 33:11).

The joy of seeing God will be the believer’s experience in Heaven, where they shall see His face (Revelation 22:4). But the joy of seeing God is also part of the believer’s experience now. True, they do not see Him visibly. But like Moses, they endure, as seeing Him who is invisible (Hebrews 11:24-27). Moses turned away from the pleasures of sin and the treasures of the world because he had set his gaze upon something else. He enjoyed a relationship with God that no one else in his day had (Deuteronomy 34:10).

Like Moses had to choose between the sinful pleasures of the world and the rewards of serving God, so do we. We cannot have both. It is only the pure in heart that will see God. David asked and answered this question: “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 . . .” (Psalm 24:3-4).

Which will you choose? Will you right now get on your knees and confess to God your sinful thoughts and the wickedness of your heart? Will you believe that Jesus Christ died for you and ask God to forgive you for Christ’s sake? Will you ask God to begin the work of cleansing your heart and making you a new person in Christ? If you do, He will hear your prayer and forgive your sins and make you His very own son or daughter.