Pure in Heart

As we think of what it means to be pure in heart, we are reminded of Jesus and His disciples. It was early in Jesus’ ministry; Jesus was just beginning to call men to be his disciples.

Blessed are the Pure in Heart, for they shall see God.

Matthew 5:8, King James Version

Simon Peter and Andrew were both followers of Jesus. Jesus found Andrew fishing, and called him to follow him. Andrew ran to get his brother, Peter, and both followed Jesus.

The next day, as Jesus was walking, he found Philip and called Philip to follow him. Philip lived in the same city as Andrew and Peter. Philip ran to find his good friend Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."

Nathanael thought, "This can’t be. The Bible never says anything about a prophet coming from Nazareth. The Bible talks about the Messiah coming from Bethlehem." He asked Philip, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

Philip just smiled and said, “Come and see.”

sn’t that just like us. Many times we think we already know something is not true, so we don’t think it’s important to go check it out.

Nathanael, however, was not like that. Even though he thought that Jesus couldn’t be the Messiah, he did go along with Philip to see Jesus.

Jesus saw Philip and Nathanael coming toward him, and said, “Look, here comes a man in whom there is no deceit (in other words, Pure in Heart)!”

Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know me? I’ve never seen You before today.”

Jesus said, “Before Philip called you, when you were standing under the fig tree, I saw you.”

Nathanael fell at Jesus feet and said, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel.”

Because Nathanael had a heart that was pure, he immediately recognized who Jesus really was.

When our heart is pure, we love God with all of our hearts, and we recognize that His Word, the Bible is true, and Jesus is Lord of our life.

Jesus looked at Nathanael and said, “Because I said I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these. Most assuredly, I say to you, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

Now, let us look at an example of someone not being pure.

Later in Jesus’ ministry, Jesus went to the synagogue and taught. While there he saw a man whose right hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees watched Jesus to see if He would heal on the Sabbath so they could accuse Him.

Jesus knew what they were thinking. He looked at the man with the withered hand and said, “Get up. Come over and stand here by me.”

Then He looked at the scribes and Pharisees and said, “Tell me, is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath by saving a life rather than destroying it?”

Jesus then looked back at the man and said, “Stretch out your hand.” As the man stretched out his withered hand, Jesus made it whole again like the other.

The scribes and Pharisees became very angry. Isn't it amazing, children. They stood right in the same room with Jesus when

he healed the man’s hand. Shouldn’t that have been enough for them to realize who He really was?

Nathanael didn’t need to see a miracle to believe. Because he was Pure in Heart, he knew exactly who Jesus was.

So, what do you think? Were the scribes and Pharisees Pure in Heart?

So how do we get hearts that are pure? We need to pray to God and ask Him to make our heart pure. Only with pure hearts will we ever be with God in Heaven, and understand that Jesus is the Lord and King of our lives.

Blessed are the Pure in Heart, for they shall see God.

Next: Blessed are the Peacemakers