By Francis Frangipane
God’s purification process cleanses the condition of our hearts and opens our eyes. Jesus warned that the Pharisees were blind leaders of the blind. Jesus wants us to see where we are going. The Scripture says, “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11, KJV). The pleasures of this world are a dim reflection of the pleasures of eternity. But seeing eternity is not our main objective. We must aim to see the One who made it and live in fellowship with Him.
He did reveal Himself to people in the Scriptures, and they witnessed the glory of God—He revealed Himself to Isaiah, Abraham, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Solomon, David, and Habakkuk. God also revealed Himself to Peter, James, and John on the mountain.
The Son of God is the mediator between God and man. Jesus Christ, who carries the glory of the Father, is the only One who has ever directly revealed Him.
Beloved, to see Jesus is to behold God. But first, we must renounce every perception of the Almighty other than what we have found proved true in Christ. Therefore, study the life, teachings, and deeds of Jesus Christ, and you will remove the veil of mystery surrounding the nature of God.
Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9, NKJV).
What truth could be more profound? Each time we read what Jesus did, we behold the nature of God. Every time we listen to what Jesus taught, we hear the voice of the living God.
Jesus is the image of the invisible Father (Heb. 1:2– 3). He mirrored on earth those things He saw His Father doing in heaven; He echoed the words the Father whispered to Him from eternity.
Do you truly desire to see God? Christ’s words are windows through which the pure in heart behold the Almighty.
God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son. —Hebrews 1:1–2
The teachings of Jesus Christ are not to be blended into the Scriptures as though He were one of many equally important voices used by God. He is, in truth, the living revelation of God Himself, the sole expression of His invisible glory.
• Prophets point the way; Christ is the way.
• Teachers expound on the truth; Jesus is the truth.
• Apostles proclaim the life; Jesus is the life.
• Yes, all speak the Word, but the Son of God is the Word.
When Christ speaks, we are listening to God unfiltered, unbiased, and unveiled.
Blessed are the Pure in Heart
Jesus said the pure in heart would see God. David wrote, “To the pure you show yourself pure” (2 Sam. 22:27). Think about it, not only can we truly know God, but also He desires to show Himself to us.
His promise is not reserved for a time later in heaven, but in some deep measure, He desires to fulfill His words here and now.
We might have grown content with the illusion of distance, yet God is not content. He created us to live in steadfast union with His presence. The sense of distance between the Almighty and ourselves is a deception.
Indeed, the Lord corrects us not merely because He hates sin but because sin separates us from His presence. He loves us and purifies us so we can see Him.
The church has gotten so conditioned by the lack of God’s presence that the lack of God has become “orthodox Christianity.” We have made a closed heaven normal.
God seeks to open the heavens and be God to us. He is already in our midst, but we sometimes fail to recognize Him. We’re the same as those two men walking the road to Emmaus. Jesus asked them, “What happened today?” They filled Him in without ever recognizing Him. They were telling Jesus about Jesus. He opened the Scriptures to them. But they didn’t see Him because it wasn’t revealed to them. (Luke 24:15–17.)
Then later, as He was breaking bread, it says that He was revealed, their eyes were opened, they saw He was the Son of God, and then He vanished from their sight. They said, “Were not our hearts burning within us?” (Luke 24:32, NIV).
Once Jesus is revealed, it impacts the heart. If God is touching your heart, God is purifying you for Himself. Ask God to give you an enterable heart so that He can whisper, “This is the way,” whenever you turn to the right or the left (Isa. 30:21).
Remember, the whole reason for our existence is the perfection of our hearts. Everything, even the way you look, is constantly changing. It’s not in how you appear before people—how you dress or what you do. It’s what you are before God. Everything else will be swept away. But where your heart is, there your treasure is. Proverbs 4:23, NKJV, says, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.”
The pure in heart see God, and it’s God in them that enables them to see God in others. God is among us. I believe He wants to lead us to a place where our minds are filled with His glory. Something changes inside us when we begin to see God.
The problem with the disciples is that they didn’t see Him. If you look at John 14:8, the disciples said, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” And Jesus said, “Have I been with you so long and still you don’t know Me?” He said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” We think that with that kind of statement, the next verse would read, “And they all fell on their faces and trembled.” But they didn’t. Instead, they all just sat there. “What do you mean, if I see You, I see the Father?” They couldn’t grasp that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself.
The Bible also says in Luke 10:21,
At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for doing so was well pleasing in Your sight. All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son determines to reveal Him.”
John 14:6 says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me.”
Jesus said the revealed knowledge of the Father comes only to those to whom the Son wills to reveal Him, and He reveals the glory of God only to babes. Little children are pure in heart.
Oh, Lord Jesus, help me become aware of my heart’s condition. Help me live sensitively in my inner man, vulnerable to Your voice, so that You can purify me with your Word.
Lord, help me love it when You chasten me. You’re making me pure. You’re enabling me to become capable of seeing You.
Adapted from Francis Frangipane’s book, The Heart That Sees God, available at www.arrowbookstore.com.