Blessed Are the Pure in Heart

OT Lesson: Exodus 33:7-23 (NLT)

It was Moses’ practice to take the Tent of Meeting and set it up some distance from the camp. Everyone who wanted to make a request of the Lord would go to the Tent of Meeting outside the camp.

Whenever Moses went out to the Tent of Meeting, all the people would get up and stand in the entrances of their own tents. They would all watch Moses until he disappeared inside. As he went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and hover at its entrance while the Lord spoke with Moses. When the people saw the cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, they would stand and bow down in front of their own tents. Inside the Tent of Meeting, the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Afterward Moses would return to the camp, but the young man who assisted him, Joshua son of Nun, would remain behind in the Tent of Meeting.

One day Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Take these people up to the Promised Land.’ But You haven’t told me whom You will send with me. You have told me, ‘I know you by name, and I look favourably on you.’ If it is true that You look favourably on me, let me know Your ways so I may understand You more fully and continue to enjoy Your favour. And remember that this nation is Your very own people.”

The Lord replied, “I will personally go with you, Moses, and I will give you rest—everything will be fine for you.”

Then Moses said, “If You don’t personally go with us, don’t make us leave this place. How will anyone know that You look favourably on me—on me and on Your people—if You don’t go with us? For Your presence among us sets Your people and me apart from all other people on the earth.”

The Lord replied to Moses, “I will indeed do what you have asked, for I look favourably on you, and I know you by name.”

Moses responded, “Then show me Your glorious presence.”

The Lord replied, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will call out My name, Yahweh, before you. For I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose. But you may not look directly at my face, for no one may see me and live.” The Lord continued, “Look, stand near Me on this rock. As My glorious presence passes by, I will hide you in the crevice of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove My hand and let you see Me from behind. But My face will not be seen.”

NT Lesson: Matthew 5:8 (NRSV)

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Sermon

Introduction

Good morning, everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful week. Last Friday, we had our monthly Gourmet Seekers meeting at Klooz Brewz. I did not get an exact count, but around 18 people joined us, and we had a great time together. I hope more people can join us next month on the last Friday of September.

Is anyone feeling stressed out from last week? If so, you are in luck because we have our Quarterly Communal Luncheon right after the worship service today. When we are stressed, we often crave sweets— maybe because “stressed” is just “desserts” spelled backward! We have got cakes and plenty of other desserts waiting for you. So, come to me, all you who are stressed out, and I will give you… desserts! This happens only once every quarter, so I hope you will stay and enjoy the fellowship of the saints along with some delicious food.

I have one more announcement to share. As mentioned previously, Neal has been working on the church history page on our website. You can now find a 49-page church history book available in PDF format on the church history webpage. You can view it online or download it for free. Neal did an outstanding job on it! Although it is available online, some of you might prefer a physical copy. If that is the case, please let the church office know. The printing cost is $15 per copy. We are not asking for payment, but if you’d like to contribute toward the cost of your copy such as $10, it would be appreciated.

Pure in Heart Will See God

We are continuing our exploration of the Beatitudes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Previously, Jesus taught us, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.” If you missed the previous sermons on these Beatitudes, the sermon scripts are available on our church website. And if you’d like to hear them with a beautiful Korean accent, you can watch the recordings on the church’s YouTube channel. Today’s sermon script is available at the back of the sanctuary just in case you do not understand my charming accent. Today, we turn to the next Beatitude: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” Has anyone here seen God? I have heard God’s voice in a dream once, and I believe I have felt the touch of God’s hand on another occasion, but I have not seen God with my own eyes. So, perhaps I am not quite as pure in heart as this Beatitude describes—but I hope my heart is not too far off either! Since none of us have seen God, let us look to the Bible for some examples of those who have, and who have not.

Who Did Not See God?

First, let me share some examples of people who, like me, did not see God. Perhaps, just maybe, they were not as pure in heart either. The first example is Paul the Apostle. You might be thinking, “Wait a minute, didn’t Jesus appear to Paul on the road to Damascus? And isn’t Jesus God, part of the Holy Trinity?” Yes, Jesus is indeed God, and He did appear to Paul. But Paul did not actually see Jesus. Let me read Acts 9:3-5 (NIV): “As he—Paul—neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?’ ‘Who are You, Lord?’ Saul asked. ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ He replied.”

So, while Jesus did appear to Paul, it was in such a bright light that Paul couldn’t actually see Him. All Paul experienced was the voice of Jesus, and he was blinded by the light. Later in the same chapter, Ananias prayed for Paul, and something like scales fell from his eyes, restoring his sight. This makes sense because, at that moment, Paul was on his way to persecute Christians and was certainly not pure in heart.

Another example is Adam and Eve. After they ate the forbidden fruit and sinned, we often imagine that they were confronted by God in person. But Genesis 3:8 (NRSV) tells us, “They—Adam and Eve—heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.” They did not see God; they only heard the sound of Him walking. Nowhere in Genesis does it say they saw God. Given that they had just sinned, it is understandable that their hearts were not pure at that moment.

Then there is Hagar, Abraham’s concubine, who was unfairly cast out of the house. However, she was not entirely innocent either—she had tried to use her status as the mother of Abraham’s son, Ishmael, to challenge the power dynamics in the household. When she cried out to God in the wilderness, her prayer was answered. She named the place El-Roi, claiming, “I have really seen God and remained alive after seeing Him.” But this claim is not accurate because, according to Genesis 16, she did not see God; she only heard the voice of the angel of God, not even the actual voice of God but of the angel. So, while Hagar claimed to have seen God, the Bible does not confirm this.

Jacob, in Genesis 32, makes a similar claim to Hagar. On his way back home, Jacob learned that his brother Esau was coming with four hundred armed men, presumably to kill him. Jacob sent his family across the river, but he stayed behind on the other side of the river, perhaps thinking he could escape if things went badly. That night, a mysterious man wrestled with him until daybreak. After the struggle, the man blessed Jacob and named him Israel. Jacob then named the place Peniel, meaning “the face of God,” and claimed, “I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.” However, the Bible refers to this figure simply as “a man,” neither confirming nor denying Jacob’s assumption. But in today’s Old Testament lesson, verse 20, and many other verses in the Bible, it is clear that no one can see God’s face and live. So, I am inclined to reject Jacob’s claim that he saw God’s face.

Finally, let us consider one of the greatest prophets, Elijah. In 1 Kings 19, Elijah was deeply depressed and even asked God to take his life. God instructed him to go to Mount Horeb, where He would meet with him. So Elijah went to the mountain. There was a great wind that tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks, followed by an earthquake and a fire. But God was not in any of these. Later, Elijah heard God’s voice in a gentle whisper. Even Elijah, in his moment of despair, did not see God but only heard His voice. Perhaps at that moment, Elijah’s heart was not as pure as it could have been.

Who Saw God?

So, who actually did see God? In John 14, Philip asked Jesus to show him the Father. Because Jesus and God the Father are one, Jesus replied, “Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father.” This means that countless people saw God through Jesus. At the very least, over five hundred people witnessed Jesus’ ascension. Jesus travelled through many towns and villages, including Jerusalem in Judea, Samaria, and Galilee. But for our focus today, let us set aside those who saw God through Jesus and concentrate solely on those who saw God the Father.

Genesis 12:7 (NRSV) tells us that the Lord appeared to Abram, and Genesis 26:24 says that the Lord appeared to Isaac. The term “appeared” is significant because it refers to sight rather than hearing. When something or someone becomes visible, we say they appear. But when you hear a cricket in the garage but you cannot spot it, you don’t say the cricket appeared. While Genesis 15 mentions that the Lord came to Abram in a vision, the other verses do not mention a vision or dream, which indicates that both Abraham and Isaac actually saw God because God appeared to them. To make this even clearer, Genesis 18 says that the Lord appeared to Abraham, and Abraham looked up and saw three men standing near him. These three men can be interpreted as a manifestation of the Trinity, as the Hebrew Bible describes the Lord, or Yahweh, appearing as three men.

In today’s Old Testament lesson, Moses saw God, specifically the back of God, because no human can see God’s face and live. Similarly, Exodus 24 tells us that Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel also saw God—not His face, but the underside of His feet. Exodus 24:9-10 (NRSV) states, “Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel. Under His feet there was something like a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness.”

God says in Numbers 12 that He communicates with prophets through dreams and visions, except for Moses, with whom He speaks face to face. To prove that, Ezekiel 1 mentions that Ezekiel saw God in a vision, and Isaiah also says he saw God in the holy heavenly temple, though this too might have been a vision, given that the location was heaven above. So, it seems that only Moses had this direct, face-to-face communication with God. But here is the thing: the Bible is clear that anyone who sees God’s face will die. So, how was Moses still alive after this encounter? And if Moses spoke to God face to face, why did he later ask God to show Himself, not the face but the back, implying that Moses had not fully seen Him?

This leads me to believe that the phrase “face to face” in the Bible might not be a literal statement but rather a metaphor or the figure of speech for the intimate and direct way God communicated with Moses. Even though the Bible mentions several times that God spoke to Moses face to face, it was likely through voice alone. This reminds me of the Charlie’s Angels—the three pretty women never actually saw Charlie, they only heard his voice, but they still did what he asked. Similarly, we do not see God, and we rarely hear His voice, but we still strive to do what God wants.

Biblical Conflict

Now, I’d like to present a conflict in the Bible for us to consider. In John 1:18 (NRSV), it says, “No one has ever seen God—period.” But what about Moses? No one has ever seen God! What about Abraham or Isaac? No one has ever seen God. So, which part of the Bible is true? For instance, the Bible clearly states that Abraham saw three men, and it identifies these three as Yahweh. But John emphatically declares that no one has ever seen God. So, who is telling the truth—Moses, who wrote about these encounters with God, or John, who insists that no one has ever seen God? I am not going to answer this for you today because this is your homework. The Bible presents us with two seemingly conflicting statements. How would you reconcile this conflict? I am not asking you to write an essay or even to give me your answer—just take some time to reflect on this issue. Ponder it in your heart and see where it leads you in your understanding of God’s Word. Do you want to discuss or debate? I will be available.

How to Be Pure Heart

But the teaching of Jesus today is not about whether we can see God physically or metaphorically. It is about the purity of our hearts. The word ‘pure’ in Greek is καθαρός (katharos) and in Hebrew טָהֵר (taher), both carrying the meaning of being clean or pure. The book that uses this concept the most is Leviticus, which is all about ritual cleanliness. There are many laws in the Mosaic tradition that involve washing and physical purification. However, the essence of purity is not about bodily cleanliness but the purity of our hearts, as Jesus teaches us today. That is why David prays in Psalm 51, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.” He understands and emphasises in the same chapter that a clean heart comes from the forgiveness of sins and the blotting out of transgressions.

So, how can we be forgiven? How can we become clean? Jesus tells His disciples in John 15, “You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you.” This suggests that by listening to the word of God, we can be pure in heart. But here is the challenge: simply hearing the word does not guarantee a pure heart. At the Last Supper, Jesus referred to Judas Iscariot, saying that not all of the disciples were clean. Judas had listened to all of Jesus’ teachings, just like the other eleven disciples, but his heart was not clean. He was outwardly smiling in front of Jesus, but inwardly, he was holding a dagger behind his back. This kind of double-mindedness is the opposite of being pure in heart. Isaiah 65 warns us about those who say, “Don’t come near me, I am holier than you, I am purer than you, I am cleaner than you.” Such hypocrisy is far from a pure heart.

If listening to the word alone is not enough to purify our hearts, then what should we do? In Luke 11, a Pharisee invited Jesus to a dinner party. The Pharisees were meticulous about washing their hands, but Jesus told them in Luke 11:41 (NLT), “So clean the inside by giving gifts to the poor, and you will be clean all over.” This suggests that helping the poor and needy can lead to a purity of heart. But only a person who is pure can truly make others pure. Only someone without sin can wash away our sins. Moses writes in Numbers 19:19 (NRSV), “The clean person shall sprinkle the unclean ones on the third day and on the seventh day, thus purifying them on the seventh day. Then they shall wash their clothes and bathe themselves in water, and at evening they shall be clean.”

So, who is without sin? Who is clean and pure? The answer is Jesus. Only Jesus can wash us clean and make us pure in heart. The apostle Peter says in his first letter (1 Peter 1:22, NRSV), “Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth”—and Jesus is the truth—“so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart.” Peter emphasises that we can achieve purity by obeying Jesus, and the result of that purity is genuine, mutual love. The apostle Paul also affirms this in 1 Timothy 1:5 (NIV) saying, “The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart.” So, as we strive to be pure in heart, let us remember that true purity is not just about outward actions but about an inward transformation through Jesus Christ, which leads to genuine love for one another.

Conclusion

Friends, let us place our faith in Jesus, the only one who can wash away our sins and cleanse our hearts, making them pure. Let us follow His commandment to help our neighbours, as we do through ministries like the Caring Centre. And above all, let us cultivate genuine, mutual love for one another. In doing so, we will see God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. Amen.