Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8
After a revival meeting in 1843 America, a young girl walked along the way with her brother They were speaking to each other about the promise of Jesus’ soon coming. Here is an excerpt of that conversation:
“On the way home, we talked seriously concerning the evidences of our new faith and hope. ‘Ellen,’ said Robert, ‘are we deceived? Is this hope of Christ’s soon appearing upon the earth a heresy, that ministers and professors of religion oppose it so bitterly? They say that Jesus will not come for thousands and thousands of years. If they even approach the truth, then the world cannot come to an end in our day.’
“I dared not give unbelief a moment’s encouragement, but quickly replied: ‘I have not a doubt but that the doctrine preached by Mr. Miller is the truth. What power attends his words! what conviction is carried home to the sinner’s heart!’
“We talked the matter over candidly as we walked along, and decided that it was our duty and privilege to look for our Saviour’s coming, and that it would be safest to make ready for His appearing, and be prepared to meet Him with joy. If He did come, what would be the prospect of those who were now saying, ‘My Lord delayeth His coming,’ and had no desire to see Him? We wondered how ministers dared to quiet the fears of sinners and backsliders by saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ while the message of warning was being given all over the land. The period seemed very solemn to us; we felt that we had no time to lose.
“‘A tree is known by its fruits,’ remarked Robert. ‘What has this belief done for us? It has convinced us that we were not ready for the coming of the Lord; that we must become pure in heart, or we cannot meet our Saviour in peace. It has aroused us to seek for new strength and grace from God.
“What has it done for you, Ellen? Would you be what you are now if you had never heard the doctrine of Christ’s soon coming? What hope has it inspired in your heart; what peace, joy, and love has it given you? And for me it has done everything. I love Jesus, and all Christians. I love the prayer meeting. I find great joy in reading my Bible and in prayer.’
“We both felt strengthened by this conversation, and resolved that we would not be turned from our honest convictions of truth, and the blessed hope of Christ’s soon coming in the clouds of heaven. We were thankful that we could discern the precious light, and rejoice in looking for the coming of the Lord.” –Christian Experience and Teachings of Ellen G. White, p. 36–37
What would you say to Robert if he asked you “What has this belief done for us?”
What has the belief in the promise of Jesus to come back to save His people and bring them home with Him done for us? Has this belief changed our outlook on life? Has it led us to examine our lives? To come to the conclusion that we need to be pure in heart or we cannot see our Saviour in peace?
In peace we are assured that Jesus will accept us. However, if we do not have this pure heart it will be an experience of great dread and anxiety.
Like Robert and Ellen, has the knowledge of the signs of the times “convinced us that we are not ready for the coming of the Lord, that we must become pure in heart”?
As Robert asked that day, “Would you be what you are now if you had never heard the doctrine of Christ’s soon coming?”
These are the same issues that we wrestle with today, over 170 years later. Do we not have the same circumstance today that existed all those years ago? Are there not many ministers that say that Jesus will not come for many years? Are there not Christian ministers “quieting the fears of sinners and backsliders by saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ while the message of warning [is] being given all over the land”?
But what is your resolve?
Pure in Heart
“Pure in heart.—Here, as with the poor in spirit, the noun determines the region in which the purity is to be found—the ‘heart’ as representing desires and affections, as the ‘spirit’ represents the will and higher personality. The purity so described is not that which was the ideal of the Pharisee, outward and ceremonial, nor, again, was it limited, as the common language of Christians too often limits it, to the absence of one special form of sensual sin; but it excluded every element of baseness—the impurity of hate or greed of gain, no less than that of lust. Not without cause, however, has the evil of the latter sin so overshadowed the others that it has almost monopolised the name. No single form of evil spreads its taint more deeply than that which ‘lets in contagion to the inward parts.’”–Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers on Matthew 5:8 (1878)
Sin is a contagion that affects every part of our character. It is not merely an outward view but has deep inward roots. It manifests itself in many ways and does not want to leave. It grips our heart from the inside. On top of it all, we are a natural home for Satan and his demons to dwell in. They love dwelling there and they do not want to leave.
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9
God says that the heart is “deceitful above all things” and yet He also says that only those that have a pure heart will see Him. How can this be?
“Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.” Jeremiah 17:5–6
God says if you trust in man it is like the “heath in the desert”. The heath is an area where little grows. It has an appearance of some vegetation; but, in reality, any plants there are weak scrub brush.
If we trust in man God says that our heart will be like a parched “wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.” Not inhabited by who? By God. Sin brings a desert to our heart. Anything good is incapable of growing there, yet somehow this heart needs to become pure.
Conversely, how does God describe a heart in which He dwells?
“Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7–8
For the person who trusts God, life is in their heart and life proceeds out of it. The heart will “never cease from yielding fruit.” The person who has God living in his heart will always have a positive effect on others around him. Their influence will always be good and will always uplift those around them. They will never pull down people but rather build them up.
These are not my words but God’s words. Which situation describes your life more accurately? Is your heart scrub brush in a desert that is lifeless and pulls down all that it is in contact with, or a well-watered oasis that benefits all of the people around you—all of the people and not just some?
It is really a simple observation—the same observation made by Robert and Ellen over 170 years ago.
Robert died at the age of 27 of tuberculosis, in 1853. It was ten years after he had that conversation with Ellen.
Let us not leave for tomorrow what should be done today. Let us cherish each moment that God has given us. Do not let Satan or his demons reside in your heart. Starting this moment, let God turn the heath into a lush oasis of His love. Amen.
“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8.
John Formosa