Pure in Heart
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Striving for Purity
Striving for Purity
Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
Micah-Lyn used to say cleanliness is next to godliness. She thought this was in the Bible. I asked her what scripture was she quoting? Micah-Lyn 1:1?
What is the definition of Pure?
without blemish, defects. Clean, clear, innocent, free of any contamination, perfect.
At times we think of the color white as pure or good.
Purity of heart is freedom from evil desires and purposes. “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners and purify your hearts, you doubled minded” James 4:8
Jews and purification
The conception of personal cleanliness as a prerequisite of holiness - this is central to Jewish tradition.
Cleansing with water for physical as well as spiritual purity was commanded in the Old Testament. Moses bathed Aaron and his sons before their ordination as priests.
Leviticus 8:6 “And Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water.”
The Jews were, of all ancient peoples, the most aware of how sinful, how unclean they were before their God and how much they needed to be cleansed from their sins:
Isaiah 59:2-5,7,12
“…your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you….your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken lies and your tongue mutters wicked things. No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case with integrity….They hatch the eggs of vipers and spin a spider’s nest….Their feet rush into sin…Their thoughts are evil thoughts; ruin and destruction mark their paths….our offenses are many in (God’s) sight and we acknowledge our iniquities.” Isaiah 59:2-5,7,12
The strongest example in the Old Testament of spiritual cleansing is the annual release of the Scapegoat on the Day of Atonement,
Leviticus 16:20-24 “When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the Tent of Meeting and the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat. He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the desert in the care of a man appointed for the task. The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a solitary place; and the man shall release it in the desert. Then Aaron is to go into the Tent of Meeting and take off the linen garments he put on before he entered the Most Holy Place, and he is to leave them there. He shall bathe himself with water in a holy place and put on his regular garments.”
The Scapegoat, carrying in its body the collective sin of the Israelites, is, typologically, one who bears all the blame for something he did not do. The Yom Kippur Scapegoat, let loose to die in the barren desert, was released year after year after year. Sin could be put away for a time but it was not eliminated. After officiating at the sin/atonement ceremonies, the high priest would have to “bathe himself with water in a holy place” to cleanse himself physically from the spiritual filth of sin. The Scapegoat, carrying the collective sin of the Israelites. The Yom Kippur Scapegoat, let loose to die in the barren desert, was released year after year after year. Sin could be put away for a time but it was not eliminated. After officiating at the sin/atonement ceremonies, the high priest would have to “bathe himself with water in a holy place” to cleanse himself physically from the spiritual filth of sin.
By the time of Christ, ceremonial cleanliness by water had become a ritual involving full body immersion in a mikveh (or miqveh), a “collection of water.”
One can argue the Jewish cleansing in the Mikveh is the predecessor to Christian Baptism
Islam Purification ritual: Islam (ritual ablutions; Wudu)
It is obligatory for all Muslims to wash before praying, ritual called Wudu.
Hinduism (bathing in the Ganges River)
The people bathe in the river; they believe it washes away their sins so it is a cleansing process.
All walks of people seek purity, cleanliness - restoration.
“Dirtiness is perceived by all, cleanliness is pursued by women” - I say “Dirtiness is perceived by all cleanliness is pursued by all”
If pure means perfect, unpolluted, undefiled. Job 15:14 “What is man, that he can be pure? Or he who is born of a woman, that he can be righteous?”
We as people are unclean, imperfect and stained before God. Job 4:17 “Can mortal man be in the right before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?”
How then can we be pure before God?
Blood of Jesus Christ Ephesians 1:7 “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,”
By Faith Acts 15:9 “and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith.”
In Christ Acts 4:12 “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Obeying the Truth 1 Peter 1:22 “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,”
Walking in the faith 1 John 1:7–9 “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”