Thomas Watson’s words, ‘A pure heart breathes after purity. If God should stretch out the golden sceptre and say to him, “Ask and it shall be given thee, to the half of the kingdom”, he would say, “Lord, a pure heart.” ’

The difference between a pure and an impure heart is well illustrated in the testimony of Augustine. In his Confessions he tells how, as a young man struggling with his emerging sexuality, he prayed, ‘Give me chastity and continency, only not yet’. He confessed to being afraid that God would answer him immediately, whereas at that time he wanted his lust ‘satisfied rather than extinguished’. He was at least being honest in his prayer, but as an unbeliever he was far from pure in heart. Augustine was eventually converted when in his early thirties, and the language of his prayer changed dramatically: ‘Power of my soul, enter into it, and fit it for thee, that thou mightest have and hold it without spot or wrinkle.’ Augustine was still not perfect, but his heart was pure.

J C Ryle puts it well: ‘A zealous man in religion is pre-eminently a man of one thing. He only sees one thing, he cares for one thing, he is swallowed up in one thing; and that one thing is to please God. Whether he lives or whether he dies; whether he has health or whether he has sickness; whether he is rich or whether he is poor; whether he pleases man or gives offence; whether he is thought wise or whether he is thought foolish; whether he gets blame or whether he gets praise; whether he gets honour or whether he gets praise; for all this the zealous man cares nothing all. He burns for one thing … and that one thing is to please God and to advance God’s glory.’

John Owen writes, ‘I do not understand how a man can be a true believer unto whom sin is not the greatest burden, sorrow and trouble.’

Matthew Henry says, ‘We love God as much as we love his Word.’

the eighteenth-century preacher Octavius Winslow put it, ‘Prayer is the pulse of the renewed soul and the constancy of its beat is the test and measure of the spiritual life.’

If we sense his presence, power and love so deeply here, how much more must we do so there? If worshipping and serving God can be such a delight now, what must these be like then? If there is ‘joy and peace in believing’ (Romans 15:13), how much greater will these be in seeing? In heaven, the blessedness of the pure in heart in seeing God will be utterly beyond anything we can presently imagine or describe.

Peter Jackson—pastor, preacher, and gospel pianist extraordinary—was blinded through measles when he was just eighteen months old. He knows that God could restore his sight immediately, and he would no doubt rejoice in the blessings that would follow, but nevertheless delights to say, ‘If I remain as I am, the next person I see will be my Saviour.’ Could any vision be greater than that?

Thomas Watson’s words, ‘The saints shall have their heads so full of knowledge and their hearts so full of joy that they shall find no want … We shall never be weary of seeing God, for, the divine essence being infinite, there shall be every moment new and fresh delights springing forth from God into the glorified soul … The more the saints behold God the more they will be ravished with desire and delight.’