p. 408 | They Shall See God by John Harvey Waggoner

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jul 8, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 26.

"They Shall See God."

By John Harvey Waggoner

THIS sentence is expressive not only of favor, but of honor. To be a citizen of the best and most glorious kingdom is a matter of pride and pleasure to all; to be received into the royal city as a favored inhabitant is a mark of respect prized by all who may enjoy it; but to be permitted to stand in the king's presence, and to behold his face, is counted the very highest honor.

But such is the favor and the honor promised in the Bible to a certain class. Not to stand before the kings of this world, who in a day may be dethroned and dishonored; or who must die and return to the dust, even as the meanest of earth; but to stand before the King of kings, before the Eternal One, the Creator and Upholder of all things. They have, not only an abundant entrance into his everlasting kingdom; not only right to the tree of life, a right to enter into the glorious city, but they shall see God; they shall behold his face, and be permitted to worship before his throne.

Who are they who shall thus be honored in Heaven? They are "the pure in heart." And why is this peculiar blessing promised to that class? It is because God is pure. He is infinite in holiness, and nothing impure can possibly stand in his presence.

They must be pure in heart; not merely correct in outward deportment; not blameless only in the sight of men. They must be pure in the sight of God; pure in the light of infinite purity and perfection.

Their outward life must also be correct. They must be above reproach before the world. But they must be more than this. The world cannot behold the corruption within. We may throw a cloak over our wrongs, and the world may be deceived in regard to our real character. The world may forget the errors which they have known, and judge favorably on account of their own failures. But God is never deceived. He never forgets. Nothing is hid from his sight; nothing is lost from his remembrance.

If the heart is not pure the life cannot be pure. "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts." Many have grieved because they could not banish evil thoughts from their minds. They knew these were wrong, but they lacked the moral power to subdue them. Many have sunk in discouragement over the feebleness of their efforts, over their many failures to overcome, over the weakness of their resolutions or their inability to carry them out. The difficulty in all such cases is in the heart. Conversion without conviction is shallow and deficient. But with many conviction is deeper than conversion. They know and approve the good, but fail to reach it in their lives. When they would do good, evil is present with them.

Evil thoughts are odious in the sight of God, and are among the "secret things" which God will bring into judgment. They are evidences of a corrupt heart, and if indulged, lead to a corrupt life. In the Saviour's catalogue of evils proceeding from the heart, evil thoughts are followed by "murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies." The apostle says that he who hates is a murderer; and the Saviour shows that he who indulges impure desire is guilty of adultery. This will be the scale of judgment in the great day. Hatred and impure desire are murder and adultery in their first stages. So they are regarded of God, and so they will be condemned in the Judgment.

Not among the least of the evils of the heart is its deceitfulness. "The heart is deceitful above all things." We are almost every day deceived by earthly hopes, earthly prospects, earthly pleasures, and earthly friends. But we are oftener and more terribly deceived by our own hearts. They lead us to feel secure when all around is danger. They cause us to feel self-complacent when all is darkness and corruption within. "Who can know it?" is the question of inspiration. It is impossible for any one to know his heart unless he is enlightened by divine wisdom; by the word and Spirit of God. So great is self-deception that many will not accept reproof, but insist that they are right when their lives are grossly corrupt. And unwillingness to be reproved, is one of the strongest evidences of self-deception and impurity of heart.

By this I do not mean merely an unwillingness to hear reproof or to be advised. Self-deception puts on more deceptive forms than that. Some will ask for advice, and court reproof in words, imagining that thereby they give strong proof of humility. But their invariable failure to act upon the advice given, and their neglect to reform the errors or habits reproved, show too clearly that their blindness is deep laid in their selfish hearts. All efforts to assist such seem unavailing.

To those who have grieved over their weaknesses, who have grown discouraged over their many failures, I would offer words of hope and courage. Our internal foes are our worst enemies, but we may say, in the words of the hymn:—

"Yet let nothing spoil your peace; Christ will also conquer these."

"The carnal mind," the natural or unrenewed heart, "is enmity against God." But this may be all removed, and we be "justified by faith," so that we may have peace "with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Says the Saviour, "Without me ye can do nothing." Here is our fault. Our efforts are made in our own strength. We do not make a complete surrender. When we become fully sensible of our own weakness, and are willing to put away every idol, and can believe that God is willing to receive us to the strong arms of his love; when we so hunger and thirst after righteousness that we truly hate the sins which grieve the Spirit of God, and yield all to the Lord without any reserve, then will he clothe us with the power of his salvation. His grace will be found sufficient for us, and we may realize as well as know that "perfect love casteth out fear."

A heart that is pure will have the love of God in it, and this will be manifested by complete submission to his will—cheerful obedience to his commandments. A pure heart will love to commune with God, and will daily gather strength from the "throne of grace." Strength to do or to bear, to work or to wait, and to hide self behind the cross, and "do all to the glory of God." J. H. W.