Seeing God (part 5)

Continuing the quest for knowledge, and specifically to ascertain the defining characteristics of those that are “pure in heart,” who are also those that will “see God,” it is now time to forward in the sermon to the sixth chapter.  It is there that one encounters the second and only other use of “heart” in the course of this dissertation from the mountain.  This usage will prove to be quite beneficial in the quest.  It will not only impart knowledge, but also, along with so much else being said here, inform the ethical, practical, and performative mandate in association with the Christian’s charge to be the place where heaven and earth come together---the Creator God’s will being done on earth as in heaven. 

Interestingly enough, the “Lord’s Prayer,” from which these words of the covenant God’s will, earth, and heaven are lifted, constitute a portion of the preface to the second presentation of the heart.  It is worth mentioning that just as Jesus’ sermon began with a mention of the kingdom of heaven (5:3), so too does Jesus’ prayer include a mention of the kingdom of heaven within its opening statements, as Jesus says “Our Father in heaven, may Your name be honored, may Your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9b-10). 

From there, it is not necessary to travel a great number of verses before hearing the context for Jesus’ mention of the heart.  Beginning in the nineteenth verse of this same chapter Jesus says “Do not accumulate for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.  But accumulate for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal” (6:19-20). 

Given Jesus’ clear understanding that it is His God’s desire that His will be performed on earth as in heaven, and given the context of the kingdom of heaven come to earth that is everywhere present in Matthew’s narrative as well as being the foundational structure for this particular sermon, Jesus is not drawing a hard and fast dichotomy between the earthly realm and the heavenly realm.  Indeed, as it His intention to establish the Creator God’s kingdom on earth, the seeming dichotomy between earth (usually conceived of as the physical realm that is occupied by man) and heaven (usually conceived of as the aspired-to final destination of Christians) actually disappears. 

It is paramount to hear Jesus speaking from within His own culture and its conceptions, rather than from the position of a religious culture that is overly and improperly defined by Greek (primarily Platonic) and Enlightenment-driven thoughts of the separation of the physical from the spiritual.  Given the Jewish hope that the covenant God would establish His reign through His Messiah, restoring His creation as an attendant feature of the establishment of His kingdom, one would correctly hear Jesus speaking of earth and heaven in terms of past and future.  Treasures on earth would be linked to the old world and the old way of doing things prior to the coming of the Creator God’s kingdom that is heralded by the presence of Jesus, whereas treasures in heaven are linked to the new way of doing things, in association with the recognition of the God of Israel’s rule having come to earth.

It is following this talk of treasure, and its earthly (pre-kingdom of God) usage versus its heavenly (kingdom having come) usage, that Jesus speaks of the heart.  He says “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (6:21).  Yes, the disposition of one’s treasure reveals the disposition of the heart.  Clearly then, purity of heart is linked to the accumulation and disposition of treasure in ways that are commensurate with the establishment and extension of the kingdom of heaven.  

Stop Sinning

Wash!  Cleanse yourselves!  Remove your sinful deeds from My sight.  Stop sinning! – Isaiah 1:16  (NET)

Earlier in this chapter, Isaiah writes that “The sinful nation is as good as dead, the people weighed down by evil deeds” (1:4a).  Furthermore, it can be learned that “They are offspring who do wrong, children who do wicked things” (1:4b).  This is clearly not good.  What’s more, “They have abandoned the Lord, and rejected the Holy One of Israel” (1:4c).  The result of this is that “They are alienated from Him” (1:4d).  Isaiah goes on to write about a dreadful and ghastly situation, in which it is said that the Creator God’s people “insist on being battered” (1:5a), while adding that it is as if their head has a massive wound (1:5b), and their whole body is weak (1:5c) with bruises and cuts and open wounds that have been left unattended (1:5d).  Worse than that, the devastation and desolation that has been brought about by their evil deeds, wicked things, abandoning and rejecting and being alienated from the Lord, means that their land has been devastated and burned with fire, that their crops have been destroyed by foreigners” (1:7). 

It is the midst of this that Israel’s God, through His prophet, tells His people to “Wash!  Cleanse yourselves!  Remove your sinful deeds from My sight.  Stop sinning!” (1:16)  A few lines later, their God gives His people comforting assurance, saying that “Though your sins have stained you like the color red, you can become white like snow; though they are as easy to see as the color scarlet, you can become like white wool” (1:18b). 

Furthermore, their God extends His mercy, telling His people that if they will simply “Stop sinning,” and rather, “have a willing attitude and obey, then you will again eat the good crops of the land” (1:19).  With such a will to obedience, God promises to reverse the curse on the land and the crops.  Though the covenant God has said “When you spread out your hands in prayer, I look the other way; when you offer your many prayers, I do not listen” (1:15a), we can imagine His reversing promises to extend to this as well. 

Here, one remembers God’s promise to Solomon at the dedication of the Temple, in which He is reported to have said, “if My people, who belong to Me, humble themselves, pray, seek to please Me, and repudiate their sinful practices, then I will respond from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).  This can be neatly harmonized with what is being said here in this first chapter of Isaiah.  Even though the Creator God has said that He will not hear His people’s prayers “because your hands are covered with blood” (1:15b), that He will wash away the stain to make them appear as white as wool.  Conversely, in the midst of the merciful extension of His grace, this God also warns His people, saying “But if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword” (1:20a).  To this is appended the ominous and punctuating statement of “Know for certain that the Lord has spoken” (1:20b). 

Now, following the story arc of Scripture, one cannot help but know that the judgment that is promised to fall upon God’s people, according to the books of Deuteronomy and Leviticus, comes first and foremost because of idolatry (coincident with a failure to keep the Sabbaths and reverence the sanctuary, which would certainly be a by-product of idolatry).  Isaiah is apparently alluding to this here in this chapter.  Along with failing to keep the Sabbaths and reverence the sanctuary, idolatry (the divine-image-bearer worshiping the creation and therefore giving over his rightful dominion) most clearly represents their abandoning of their Lord and their rejection of their God.  However, here in Isaiah, there is more to be found. 

When the Creator God instructs His people to remove their sinful deeds and to stop sinning, calling them a sinful nation, saying that they are weighed down by evil deeds, doing wrong and wicked things, He goes on to give them and all that would read or hear these words an insight into what He had in mind.  Thus, one might be more than a bit surprised to read, “Learn to do what is right!  Promote justice!  Give the oppressed reason to celebrate!  Take up the cause of the orphan!  Defend the rights of the widow!” (1:17) 

Those are the words that follow the exhortation to stop their sinning.  That is what precedes the Creator God’s speaking about their being stained red with their sins that are red as scarlet.  It would seem that it is the failure to do these things that covered their hands with blood, that made their God refuse to hear their prayers, to hate their keeping of the feasts that He Himself had ordained and given to them, and to reject their sacrifices (1:11-15).  Apparently, it was the failure to do these things that caused their God to compare His own people to Sodom and Gomorrah (1:10) (the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah being oppression of orphans and widows, and the denial of justice, which is certainly well implied by the story of Lot as recorded in Genesis). 

The covenant people of the Creator God, according to Isaiah and their circumstances, were not doing what was right, in that they were defeating justice, causing the oppressed to mourn, turning away from the orphan, and casting off the widow.  In stark contrast to those things that so many generally want to classify as sins, it was these things that were their evil deeds.  This was their sin.  Ultimately, in this, they were failing to be God’s light.  Israel was failing to bear the image of their God.