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Monday
Reading: Matthew 5 v 8
So far in our study through the Beatitudes we have recognised two dominant
sections. The first three Beatitudes all involve the emptying of oneself. The fourth
Beatitude, however, speaks of being filled, and the evidence of one being filled is
that they will show mercy, purity and be active peacemakers. It is this second
section that we are into this week. Last week we dealt with the issue of mercy. This
week (verse 8) takes us into the subject of purity – “Blessed are the pure in heart, for
they will see God”.
The first thing that I would like you to notice is the link that exists between verse 8
and verse 4. Verse 4 speaks of those who mourn over sin. I believe it true to say that
when you get serious over the issue of sin to the point that you “mourn” over it, you
will become what verse 8 speaks of as being “pure in heart” (I would encourage you
to look back over the devotionals of that week and refresh your memory on the
subject of mourning). In verse 8 there are three key words which I would like for us
to focus on: pure, heart and see. Let’s look today at the first word.
PURE – another word for purity in Scripture is the word “holiness”. The holiness
theme is a theme that runs all the way from Genesis through to Revelation. Holiness
speaks of a set-apartness of the believer. All through the Bible, God sets-apart
people, items, buildings and tents for His use. They are therefore deemed to be
Holy. The primary condition of anyone of these set apart people or objects is that
they are to be “pure”.
At the time of Jesus, the Pharisees felt that purity simply involved the do’s and
don’t’s of the law. They felt that by self-effort they could attain purity by simply
obeying the Ten Commandments and the other laws of Moses. Scripture points out
to us the futility of this exercise and that failure will inevitably be the result. The
purity spoken about in Scripture is a purity associated with perfection. That means
that even should you break one law, your purity becomes defiled. In Matthew 22 v
36 a lawyer came to Jesus and asked Jesus which was the big one: he was asking
which of the aspect of the law was the one that needed to be kept above all others.
Jesus answered his question by pointing him to the first of the Ten Commandments.
The young man realised the impossibility of this and walked away feeling the weight