Being Pure in Heart to See God and thus Gain God and be Transformed in Christ’s Image

Concerning seeing God’s face, on the one hand the Bible clearly tells us that no human being can see God and live, and on the other hand we also see that those who are pure in heart shall see God. Seemingly, this is a contradiction; actually, seeing God is a matter of degree.

If we are pure in heart, God rewards us with Himself, His very presence, that we may see Him (Matt. 5:8). When our face is unveiled and our heart is turned to the Lord, we will behold Him face to face and we will be transformed into the same image from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18).

We may not be able to see God physically face to face, but we can behold His face in spirit and we are transformed into the same image as He is. God is light; light is the nature of His expression, and when God comes to us, we see light. When we see God, we see light, and in His light we see the real light.

People in the world think that knowledge brings in light, but it is only God Himself, the Father of lights (James 1:17) that brings in light. The way for us to see God as light is to be pure in heart, that is, to have a heart that focuses only on God, desires only God, and is for nothing else in the universe except God.

However, we are very much distracted every day from the Lord Himself, and there are many other things, persons, and situations that capture our heart. How can we be pure in heart especially in this modern age of distractions? The only One who is pure in heart is the Lord Jesus Himself; He is the pure-hearted One, and He as the Spirit lives in us.

The way to be pure in heart is not by trying to purify our heart but by allowing the pure-hearted God-man Jesus Christ to saturate and permeate our being, and then allowing Him to touch anything that is incompatible with God and with His interest.

The key to being pure in heart is Jesus Christ living again as the Spirit in us to make us the same as He is – pure in heart, single in purpose, wholly and absolutely focused on God alone.

Being Pure in Heart means Focusing only on God and Being Single in Purpose

The condition for seeing God is not doing our best to fulfill His commandments or giving money to the poor; the only condition for seeing God is having a pure heart (see Matt. 5:8; Psa. 36:9). A pure heart desires only God and is focused only on God; it is a heart that is for nothing else in the universe except God.

In Psa. 73:25 the seeking psalmist had a pure heart, desiring to have God as his only possession on heaven and as his unique desire on earth; God was his goal, and he didn’t care for anything except God and gaining Him. Paul was the same in this, testifying that he considered everything else – including his attainments in the Jewish religion – to be nothing, even dung, compared to the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ (Phil. 3:8).

On the one hand we need to be strict and righteous toward ourselves, allowing ourselves no excuses, and we need to be merciful in dealing with others; on the other hand, toward God we need to be pure in heart, seeking nothing and no one else besides Him.

If we are pure in heart, God Himself will be our reward both in this age and in the next age. This is the greatest reward, and this is what we want: we want God Himself! We can have God and we can see His face if we are strict with ourselves, merciful toward others, and pure in heart toward God.

To be pure in heart is to be single in purpose, that is, to have the single goal of accomplishing God’s will for His glory. The Lord Jesus encouraged us to pray for the will of God to be done on earth as in the heaven (Matt. 6:10), and He even considered those who do the will of the Father to be His brothers and sisters and even mother (Matt. 7:21).

However, many in that day will come to the Lord and say, Lord, we did many great works of power in Your name! – and He will tell them, depart from Me, workers of lawlessness, I never knew you – because you didn’t do the will of the Father (see Matt. 12:50).

Many believers today do things for God yet without a pure heart, without being governed by God’s will; they are not slaves of God with their ear bored through at the door post – they do what they feel to dow and the Lord allows them to do….but do they do the Father’s will? Part of being pure in heart is to heave the single goal of accomplishing God’s will for God’s glory.

We receive Christ with our spirit, since our spirit is the organ to receive Christ; but we need to have a pure heart so that Christ as the seed of life would grow in us (Matt. 13:19). When we are pure in heart, Christ can grow in us without any frustration, and we will see God.

May we be the ones who seek only God, desire only God, focus only on God, have God as our unique goal, and be single in purpose to do the will of God (Matt. 6:10; 7:21; 12:50; Rom. 12:2; Eph. 5:17; Col. 1:9; 1 Cor. 10:31).

Lord Jesus, make our heart pure and single toward You. May our heart seek and desire only You, and may You be our only focus. Lord, we just want to see You, enjoy You, gain You, pursue You, and see Your face. May You live in us again as the Spirit so that we may become the same as You are, pure in heart and single in intention toward God. We want to be single in purpose, having the single goal of accomplishing God’s will for God’s glory. Lord, purify our heart and cause it to be single for You so that we may see You!

Seeing God causes us to Gain God and be Transformed into the Image of Christ

Job was a man of integrity – he was righteous before God, and he even prayed to God for his children in case they had a gathering and were ungodly; but Job didn’t know God, and the barrier to knowing God was Job himself, his piety, integrity, and righteousness, all that he had built up.

Therefore, God allowed Satan to do certain things to strip him and reduce him to nothing so that God would reconstitute him. God never gave Job an explanation or a reason for doing this – He simply appeared to Job to be seen by him, and Job said, I had heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye has seen You (Job 42:5).

When we see God, we don’t need any more explanations or reasoning: we have the answer because we have God! To see God is to gain God, that is, to receive God in His element, in His life, and in His nature. It is not wrong to hear about God by the hearing of the ear, that is, to have a second-hand knowledge about God, have information concerning to Him, and know some doctrines….but we need to see God face to face!

Many times, in order for us to see God, He has to come in and work in our environment to strip us of our self-made righteousness, built-up integrity, and piety, so that God Himself would appear to us, we would see Him, and we would be reconstituted with His element, life, and nature.

To gain God is to receive God in His element, in His life, and in His nature so that we may be constituted with God (see Rom. 8:11; Eph. 3:16-17). When we see God, whenever our heart is turned to the Lord and the veils are taken away, we behold Him face to face and we are being transformed into the same image even as from the Lord Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18).

Seeing God transforms us, because in seeing God we receive His element into us and our old element is discharged; this metabolic process going on in our being when we see God is called transformation (see 2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 12:2). Hallelujah, we are being transformed into the glorious image of Christ, the God-man as we see God and are being infused with God!

We do not know what we will be when He comes, but we know that, when we see Him, we will be like Him (1 John 3:2), and for eternity we will behold God’s face in the New Jerusalem, the eternal Holy of Holies (Rev. 22:4).

Today we need to exercise to turn our heart to the Lord, apply the blood of Christ, and have the boldness to approach God and be in God, so that the resurrected Christ as the Spirit would infuse God’s element into us and transform us into the same image as Christ as we behold Him – so that we may also reflect Him like a mirror!

To see God is to be transformed into the glorious image of Christ so that we may express God in His life and represent Him in His authority (Gen. 1:26; 2 Cor. 3:18; 4:4; Col. 1:15; 3:10; Heb. 1:3; Matt. 13:43). The more we see God by having an unveiled and pure heart, the more we gain God and we are transformed into the glorious image of Christ.

Lord Jesus, save us from merely hearing of You by the hearing of the ear; we want to see You with our eyes and behold You with an unveiled face so that we may gain You and be transformed into the same image as Christ! Lord, we turn our heart to You; remove any veils from our eyes that we may behold You and be infused with You until we are the same as Christ in His glorious image. Lord, transform us in Your image in emotion, mind, and will – saturate us with Your Spirit as we behold You face to face again and again!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, brother Ron Kangas’ sharing in the message for this week, and Life-study of Matthew, msg. 15 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (2), week 12 / msg 12, The Vision of God in a Transparent and Clear Heaven and the Heavenly Vision concerning the Desire of God’s Heart to Have a Dwelling Place with Man on Earth.
• All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
• Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
  # Lord, keep my heart always true to You, / Never backsliding, always viewing You, / A heart that is pure that sees only You, / A heart that loves You and treasures only You. (Song on having a pure heart for God)
  # Lord, we Thy presence seek; / May ours this blessing be; / Give us a pure and lowly heart, / A temple meet for Thee. (Hymns #411)
  # Draw me, Lord, each day. / Take my veils away. / With a pure heart will I see You; / Lord I just love You. / Nothing else I seek; / No one else for me. / I would fully and absolutely / Give my whole being unto Thee. (Song on Seeing God)