They Shall See God

In His famous Sermon on the Mount Jesus gave the disciples a list of beatitudes. The sixth one on the list is this: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matthew 5:8). What does it mean to see God? Does this passage mean that you and I can get some glimpse of God if we are pure in heart?

That would contradict God’s own words to Moses in Exodus 33:20, “You cannot see my face, for no man shall see me and live.” What did Jesus mean if we cannot see God?

This was a reference to the policy practiced by ancient kings. Far from the fashionable photo ops we see in Buckingham Palace, kings in those days were kept hidden away from commoners. Seeing the king was reserved for special people. We get a glimpse of this in the Old Testament when even Queen Esther was hesitant to approach her husband when she had not been summoned by him (Esther 4:11), an offense she knew could be punished by death. God is not like those ancient kings. Even though we cannot get a physical glimpse of His face this side of eternity, Jesus was letting us know that God is approachable. That is why the author of Hebrews said we can boldly approach the throne of grace (4:16), which happens whenever believers pray. 

So how can we have access to God? We must be pure in heart. The Jews were used to being purified physically to be ceremonially clean as part of their law, but Jesus wanted them to purify their hearts—their inner person—by removing the filth of the flesh. Jesus’ half brother James would later write, “purify your hearts, you double-minded (James 4:8).”

The pure in heart, and only the pure in heart, can talk to God now and will get to see Him in heaven. Are you pure in heart?  

David's Harp

The events recorded in the first part of I Samuel 16 are familiar to most people who have spent time in church. Even though Saul was the king of Israel, this chapter explains how God used the prophet Samuel to anoint the future king. Samuel was told he would find the next king in the house of Jesse in Bethlehem, but he wasn’t given a name. Jesse proudly paraded his firstborn son Eliab by the prophet, but God made it clear that Eliab had not been chosen. Jesse continued with his second son, down to his sixth son, but each time the prophet rejected the candidate.

Samuel asked if there were any other sons, and Jesse told him about his youngest son who was tending to the sheep. That seventh son, David, would go on to become Israel’s greatest king. An important lesson is demonstrated here, that “the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart (v.7).”

But that is not the end of the story. Before the chapter ends we read that God sent a “troubling spirit” to Saul so that the only thing that could soothe him was music. The king wanted the best harpist in the kingdom to be brought to him, and someone in the court knew that a young shepherd in Bethlehem happened to play a pretty mean harp. David, the future king, was brought to the palace to play, but he would no doubt get a good education on the life of a king while he was there. Saul couldn’t know David was his replacement or he would have killed him, and David couldn’t be trained otherwise. God used a harp to put David in the place where he needed to be.

I can imagine young David trying to learn his instrument; I’m sure he got frustrated over wrong chords, or had to push through with painful callouses on his fingers. Because he stuck it out he allowed himself to be in position for God to use him. God took something as mundane as a harp and used it to change David’s life. Maybe there is something in your life that God is going to use to bring about something good; you won’t know if you don’t stick it out even when it gets hard. Be faithful in all the small things, and God just might use them to do something great.

When Satan Quotes God

Often times our caricatures of the devil involve a pitchfork wielding red imp, or some scary monster from a horror film wreaking havoc on his prey. To be fair, he is characterized as a roaring lion seeking his next victim, but the lion is only one simile associated with the devil. It should not be overlooked that he is also depicted as a cunning serpent.

We might conjure up images of the devil hating God’s Word and seeking to destroy the Bible, but there are at least two instances in Scripture when he attempted to use it to his own advantage. Yes, Satan quoted God’s Word. These accounts are found in Genesis 3 and Matthew 4.

In the Genesis account, Satan, in the form of a serpent, tempts Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. We could rightly call this an example of misquoting rather than quoting because the snake changed God’s command. He turned “You shall surely die” into “You shall not surely die.” Adding a single word to God’s settled word has brought disastrous consequences for the last 6,000 years.

In the Matthew account Satan is tempting Jesus after His forty-day fast. In verse six Lucifer quotes Psalm 91:11-12 verbatim (“He shall give His angels charge over you…in their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.”). He doesn’t add or subtract a word; in fact, his use of the perfect Greek tense in “it is written” rightly indicates that God’s Word will stand forever. However, he took the verse out of context, using it to do something that God’s Word forbade, namely tempting the Lord (Matthew 4:7, Deuteronomy 6:16).

Satan no doubt hates the Bible, but he is not afraid to quote it. He will tweak it or take it out of context, but he will certainly use it. Just because someone may be quoting the Bible, their doctrine may still be corrupt. We must be careful to rightly divide the word of truth so that we can be on guard against Satan’s oldest trick.

Call it What it is

We all appreciate honesty. We want our doctor to be honest with us, even if we don’t like the diagnosis. We want our teachers to tell us if we are wrong so that we can improve our method. We want our spouse to tell us something they don’t like before it grows into a bigger problem.

People that appreciate history do not want to see the facts misrepresented. We wouldn’t stand for someone trying to say that Lincoln was the first President, or that we were on the losing side of the World Wars.

Christians should appreciate efforts to protect the integrity of the Bible. We would argue with anyone who said the lie of Ananias and Sapphira was of no consequence, or that the sin of Achan was no big deal. We would object to a claim that Judas Iscariot was a devoted disciple or that Caiaphas was a follower of Jesus.

If we appreciate honesty and factual integrity, especially as it relates to the things of God, then why would we sit idly by when someone preaches a false gospel? You do not have to try hard to find a preacher who claims God’s chief goal is your happiness, or that you are just fine as you are (before salvation), or that material blessings are the proof of your obedience.

Sadly, instead of hearing a host of believers call out these false prophets, we are more likely to hear them call out the ones who call out the false prophets. We should have a burning in our soul when someone perverts the gospel, but instead many are drawn to them because they scratch their itching ears.

If you think calling out heresy is wrong, judgmental, or mean, remember that Peter, Paul, and Jesus Himself called it out. We need to call it what it is so that by it others are not led astray. Paul called out individuals by name because they shipwrecked the faith of other people. He was not out looking for a fight, but Paul would always fight for the purity of the Gospel.

“But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort, who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some.”

2 Timothy 2:16-18