Blessed are the Pure in Heart, for They Shall See God

(Part 6 of a series of 9 articles on the Beatitudes)

by Pastor Paul Wolff

Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)

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Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Matthew 5:8

As we saw in the Fourth Beatitude (Blessed are those who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness, for They Shall be Satisfied ), outward piety is not the same thing as purity of heart. Piety may (or may not) be a sign of purity of heart, but it is sometimes just a show to try to cover-up a guilty heart. We are not made righteous and pure when we do what is right, especially because we are sinners to begin with. We must rely on God to make us pure and righteous through the work of Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. We may think we are pure and holy when we do what we feel is good, but our sinful condition deceives us and makes us think we are pure when we are filthy dirty with sin.

The Pharisees made themselves look like pious, godly people, and they likely thought that they were, but both John the Baptist and Jesus exposed them for what they really were: children of snakes (Matthew 3:7) and whitewashed corpses (Matthew 23:27). The reason why this is true is found when Jesus taught, “Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean’; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him ‘unclean.’ ” (Matthew 15:19) Here Jesus shows us that the sinful heart is the source of sin. Because of this, sinful actions are not what make us sinful or “unclean” (because we are already sinful) and, correspondingly, good works do not make us pure and holy. A murderer (for example) is not made holy by doing some good deed – or even by doing some “great” deed. He is still a murderer, and subject to condemnation. The good can never outweigh the guilt of our sin. Because of God’s commandments, we ought to be doing good in everything we do, so if we fail to do some good, then we can’t do more than everything we already do to “balance the scale.”

This would seem as if we would have no hope of having a pure heart once it is corrupted, and that would be true unless there was some way that our impure heart could be purified. David wrote in Psalm 24:3-6

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to what is false
and does not swear deceitfully.
He will receive blessing from the Lord
and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob. — Selah

The prodigal son recognized his impurity and sin, and repented. The Father rejoiced to receive his son as if he had returned from the dead.

Properly speaking, only Jesus naturally qualifies for all this, so we should first see this as a prophesy of the Christ. Jesus stands in God’s Holy Place because He is God in the flesh, and is perfectly pure and holy. Yet, it was not for His sake alone that Jesus was obedient to God the Father, but Jesus was the perfectly obedient Son to redeem us from our sins that we may be washed clean and made pure that we, too, may “ascend the hill of the Lord and stand in His holy place”. We, who trust in Jesus to forgive us and save us from our sins, are those who “receive blessing … and righteousness from the God of (our) salvation.” The “salvation” that David foretold is the redeeming work of Jesus to take the guilt of our sins in His body and suffer the punishment of death in our place so that He may redeem us and purify our hearts that we may “stand in (God’s) holy place” with pure hearts and without the fear of condemnation for our sin.

What, then, is a pure heart? How can sinners even comprehend such a concept? Martin Luther says it is a heart which is “watching and pondering what God says and replacing its own ideas with the Word of God.” This is another way of saying it is a heart which lives by faith, trusting in the saving work of Jesus Christ. Saint Paul wrote, “We who are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’ know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.” (Galatians 2:15-16) To be “justified” is to be forgiven, and, having been forgiven, your heart is made pure by the saving work of Jesus Christ. This is the only way we may have a pure heart.

David also wrote in Psalm 51:10 “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” King David was not made impure by his adultery, murder, and other sins. He was already corrupted by sin from the start, and that sinfulness is what led to his terrible sins in his actions toward Uriah and his wife, Bathsheba. Yet, the repentant King David trusted that God would purify his wicked heart and “renew a steadfast spirit” within him. Again, we see that David was not purified by doing some great work to “balance the evil with good,” but he was purified only by the work of God to “create” and “renew” this pure heart within him.

The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews describes how we sinners are purified when he wrote, “When Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” (Hebrews 9:11-14) This shows us that the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament weren’t really what purified God’s people in ancient days. They were just prophetic signs pointing toward their fulfillment in the Messiah who offered His life as the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world. Christ’s death purifies us because He is the “perfect” sacrifice for sin who redeems us by suffering the punishment that we deserved, so that we may be purified to live in His presence eternally without sin.

Saint Paul also describes this in His letter to the Ephesians, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:25-27) Here it is clear that Christ is the one who sanctifies us and washes us clean of our sin through Holy Baptism (“water with the word”) that we may be purified and stand in God’s presence “without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she (i.e. “the church”, which are all believers in Christ from all times – see Revelation 7:13-14) might be holy and without blemish.”

“They will see God”

God gave Jacob a vision of heaven and angels to show him that he was truly blessed by God despite his lies and treachery toward his father, Isaac.

Now that we see that those “pure in heart” are those who trust in God to save them through the life and death of Jesus Christ, and have been purified by His blood, we see that Jesus says that the pure in heart will “see God.” This is a great blessing because we cannot see God now as sinners. In Genesis 32:22-32 Jacob wrestled with God, then named the place “Peniel” because he had seen the face of God (Peniel means “God’s face”), and was delivered (from death – see verse 30). This shows that it is a very rare thing for anyone to see God, even in ancient times, and even among Biblical saints. Though God may make Himself visible to anyone if He sees a need to do so, only a select few have ever seen God in this way (and those are far fewer than have claimed to have done so). This also shows us that God’s people expect God to meet them at their death to take them to be where He is.

It is not superstition to say that no sinner may see God. When Moses asked to see God’s glory, God Himself told Moses, “You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” (Exodus 33:20) Also, in Deuteronomy 5:25, after hearing God speak the Ten Commandments, the Israelite congregation told Moses, “If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, we shall die.” These verses remind us that our sinfulness puts us in no state to encounter God in the fullness of His glory – either seeing His face or even hearing His voice. God’s holiness is so pure that anyone sinful cannot live in His immediate, unfiltered presence. In the Biblical passages like these we see that, in His mercy, God hides His glory from us when He deals with us, so that He does not kill us. This is why God the Holy Spirit works through the “Means of Grace”. These are God’s Word and the Sacraments of the Lord’s Supper and Holy Baptism. The “Means of Grace” are God’s ways of coming to us personally, and dealing with us without bringing harm to us, but still working salvation for us.

God the Holy Spirit works through these “Means” to come to where we are to create a pure heart within us (the new birth of Holy Baptism), to call us to repentance (by the Law in God’s Word), to lead us to trust in Jesus for our forgiveness and salvation (through the Gospel in God’s Word), and to give us the Body and Blood of Jesus to eat and drink (in the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper) so that we may remain a part of His body in this sinful world until the fulfillment of our salvation. These “Means” are simple worldly things (water, words, bread and wine) that are joined to God’s Word to bring God to us for our salvation. God works through these means so He doesn’t destroy us, and so that all who don’t want God’s salvation and forgiveness (for whatever reason) can reject Him if they so desire. In this way, God gets all the glory and credit for our forgiveness and salvation, and those who reject Him get all the blame themselves, since God has provided forgiveness and salvation for all who trust in Jesus as their savior.

Samson’s Parents feared they would die when the Angel of the Lord foretold the birth of their son. They soon realized that God graciously allowed them to see Him so that they would know how to raise their son to conquer their oppressors.

Besides Jacob seeing God at Peniel there are a couple similar encounters with God in the days of the judges in Israel. In Judges 6:22 Gideon fears that he will die because he has seen the Angel of the Lord, but the Lord comforts him and tells him that he will not die. Likewise, in Judges 13:22 Samson’s father fears that he and his wife will die for having seen the Lord, but his wife says that if God had wanted to kill them He wouldn’t have accepted the burnt offering and wouldn’t have given them directions about how to raise their son as a Nazirite (i.e. someone set apart for service to God). It seems that God made these appearances to impress upon these people that the message He gave them was true because it truly came from God. This may have been necessary because there was still quite a bit of apostasy among the Israelite people from time to time that not all messages that people claimed to come from God really came from Him. These kindly appearances of God showed people that God had a particular purpose for them, and they should listen to Him and follow His directions.

The prophet, Job, also gave a strong testimony of trusting that he would live after he died, and see God in the resurrection of all flesh on the last day. Though the textual evidence suggests that the book of Job is likely extremely ancient, suggesting that Job lived long before Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible (as we count them), Job testified, “After my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.” (Job 19:26-27) Job not only trusted in God to resurrect him from the dead, but that God would also purify him from all sin that he might see the face of His beloved redeemer without fear of condemnation and death. It is no wonder that the familiar hymn, “I Know that My Redeemer Lives” is a favorite both for the celebration of Christ’s Resurrection, and for comfort to those who mourn at Christian funerals.

Job testified, “After my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.” (Job 19:26-27)

The Apostle John also gives a strong testimony of confident faith that Christians will see God when he wrote in his first Epistle, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” (1 John 3:1-3) God demonstrates great love for us (for the sake of Christ) by adopting us as His children (see John 3:5) as we live by faith in Jesus, who has paid the price to redeem us from our sin and washed us clean through the water of Holy Baptism. Since Christ has done this for us, we will be able to see God without harm once our Sanctification is completed in the resurrection of the body on the Last Day.

What do the Wicked See?

If the “pure in heart” are blessed to see God, then what do those with impure hearts see? It is most likely that they only see themselves, and seeing themselves they could either imagine that they see God (and are deceived), or they see their wickedness and sin and despair of any hope of salvation. The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 36:1-2 (NIV) “An oracle is within my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: There is no fear of God before his eyes. For in his own eyes he flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin.” Here we see that the wicked is so focused on himself that he does not see God, but he has a false impression of the state of his wicked heart. Solomon also wrote “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart.” (Proverbs 21:2) Any man who considers himself right in his own eyes has made himself his own idol or false god. If you think you are righteous, then you will not look to God for your salvation and will not see Him, and you will think Jesus foolish for dying on the cross because you think you have done the work yourself. This is, of course, a self-delusion. If you think Jesus a fool, then you would not trust in Him to save you from your sin, but then you would be lost.

Saint Paul wrote in his letter to Titus (1:15), “To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.” Sinners who are corrupted by sin cannot really bear to see the things of God which are truly pure. To do so only reminds us of how impure we really are, and that is not easy to take. Our sinful condition blinds us to our impurity so that we think we are pretty good, and it hurts to see the truth.

David did not see God with his eyes, but he trusted in God’s Word and promises.

David wrote, “You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell. The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong.” (Psalm 5:4-5) This is another reason why the wicked cannot see God. Unless God sanctifies you and makes you holy, you cannot stand in God’s presence, nor see His blessed face. However, as Jesus makes clear in the sixth Beatitude, those who have been purified through faith in Jesus will see God and stand in His presence without fear of punishment.

Another Psalmist wrote, “In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor; let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised. For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord. In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, ‘There is no God.’ (Psalm 10:2-4) Here we see that the wicked cannot see past the evil “desires of his soul.” He is greedy for worldly gain and “curses and renounces the Lord.” The wicked do not seek God, and because of that, they do not see Him, and they convince themselves that “‘There is no god.’” In a way, the wicked are like stubborn children who cover their face with their hands, and proclaim, “I can’t see you!” In Psalm 10 the Psalmist prays that God will bring justice and punish the wicked, but when it happens it will be a surprise to the wicked.

Solomon also wrote, “The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.” (Proverbs 4:19) Here we see that the wicked stumble, but do not know what they are stumbling over because their way is “darkness” and they cannot see what makes them stumble. Saint John tells his readers, “God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5) Because of this, those in darkness do not see God. Though, as we see above, that darkness is self-inflicted, because God reveals who He is in the Holy Scriptures, if only people would open their eyes to see what has been revealed. 

What will we see when we see God?

God became flesh and dwelt among us and we will behold His glory forever, because He has redeemed us and forgiven all our sins.

When we see God, we will see that God loves us so much that the Second Person of the Trinity became incarnate as a man to live in obedience to God’s law, and then to suffer and die on the cross to redeem us sinners so that He can restore to us the purity and holiness which He created in the first place. In this holiness, He will take us to live with Him forever, where we will always see His glorious face smiling at His beloved children with an unfailing, eternal love.

Therefore this sixth Beatitude contains many great blessings. God, in His merciful kindness, first purifies our hearts through faith in Jesus Christ as our savior. Then He will gather us to Himself so that we may see Him, and rejoice in His glorious presence without being destroyed. This will not happen to us in this sinful world, but will only occur at the judgment on the Last Day. Thus, all believers in Christ will praise God for His great work of salvation, and for the glorious life which is to be revealed in His beloved sanctified people. 

 

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See also:
Psalm 73
Proverbs 20:9
2 Timothy 2:22
Isaiah 1:12-20
Jeremiah 4:14
Acts 15:7-11  
Psalm 14:3 (and 53:3)
Galatians 2:16

 

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Other articles in this series:

Blessed are the Poor in Spirit

Blessed are Those who Mourn, For They Will be Comforted 

Blessed are the Meek, for They Shall Inherit the Earth 

Blessed are those who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness, for They Shall be Satisfied 

Blessed are the Merciful, for They Shall Receive Mercy 

Coming soon:

Blessed are The Peacemakers, for They Shall be Called Sons of God

Blessed are the Merciful, for They Shall Receive Mercy

(Part 5 of a series of 9 articles on the Beatitudes)
by Pastor Paul Wolff​

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Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” (Matthew 5:7)

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Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Matthew 5:7

Mercy and grace are related because they are both expressions of love. Because all of us children of Adam and Eve are corrupted by sin, our love is imperfect – and so is our practice of mercy and grace. God’s love is perfect, and His mercy and grace are perfect. An easy way to distinguish mercy from grace is to think of mercy as God not punishing us as our sins deserve, and grace is God giving us good things which we do not deserve because of our sinfulness. However, in the Holy Bible, the meaning and use of the word “mercy” is much broader than this simple definition, and in practice both mercy and grace can often describe the same thing, which is nearly always God expressing His love in how He deals with us.

Jesus proclaims in His Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” (Matthew 5:7) Here Jesus encourages all God-fearing people (and everyone else, if they will listen) to have mercy on their neighbor, and God will have mercy on them, too. God certainly has had mercy on us all by sending Jesus to pay the price of death to redeem us all from our sin and death. Since God has already done this great merciful thing for us to rescue us from the punishment we deserve, we ought to also have mercy on others, even (and especially) when they sin against us. The blessing received by the merciful is that they will also receive mercy from God. God is certainly merciful to all people, though not all receive it because some reject God’s forgiveness in Jesus Christ, and so they miss out on what God freely gives them.

God is the loving father who has mercy on his disobedient children and forgives our rebellion and sins.

The concept of mercy is common in the Holy Scriptures. There are between ten and twenty dozen occurrences of the word “mercy” in the Bible. This depends on which translation you read because in the Old Testament there are several different Hebrew words translated as “mercy”, and different translations sometimes translate these words as “love” (especially “steadfast love”) or “grace” or “kindness” (especially “loving kindness”) or “loyalty” (?) or “pity” or “compassion” instead of mercy. Most times it is not immediately defined, and assumes that the reader knows what mercy refers to, as in Psalm 23:6 which says, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Though mercy is connected with “goodness” here, it is not otherwise defined. The concept of “mercy” is common in the Psalms, which served as the hymns (and prayers) of the Old Testament times, and still serve as the basis of our hymns today, too.

Psalm 25:6-7 says, “Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!” In this Psalm mercy is connected with God’s “steadfast love” (or “mercy”), and the effect of God’s mercy here is that He would “remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions.” It is verses like this that show us that mercy means that God is withholding from us the punishment which we deserve on account of our sins.

In King David’s great Psalm of repentance after he was confronted with the guilt of his sin by the prophet, Nathan, David immediately begins by asking God for mercy. “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.” (Psalm 51:1) Again, here God’s mercy and love are connected, and the expected result is that God would “blot out my transgressions.” The idea here is that God wipes away the stain of our transgressions and sins like a writer wipes away spilled ink on the page (or parchment). Later in the history of God’s people, Isaiah gives God’s people this message which calls to mind King David’s psalm of repentance. “I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” (Isaiah 43:25) This is great good news for all God’s people because with sin comes death, and if God does not remember our sins, then we will be spared from sin’s punishment.

Jesus had mercy on the crowd who followed Him, and miraculously fed 5,000 people to satisfaction with five loaves of bread and two fish.

The best example in Holy Scripture which describes what God’s mercy (and its opposite) is like is probably Christ’s Parable of the Unmerciful Servant. You can find it in Matthew 18:21-35. In the parable the king forgives his servant a debt so large that he could never repay it. That is how God deals with us in mercy. Our sin condemns us to death, which is a debt that we can not pay without being destroyed. God, Himself, covered our debt by becoming incarnate (Jesus Christ) and taking the punishment of death, Himself, in order to rescue us from the death which would destroy us. In the parable the forgiven servant should have been so appreciative of the king’s mercy that he ought to have had similar mercy on his neighbor who owed him a small debt. However, he was overly harsh with his neighbor, and when the king heard about it he determined that his servant did not appreciate what he had done for him, and withdrew his offer of mercy and put him in prison until he had paid every last penny of the original debt – which was forever, because the debt was so large as to be impossible to repay. This parable shows us that God wants us to be merciful to our neighbors as God has been so much more merciful to us. If we truly understand and appreciate the great cost that our King (Jesus) has paid to cover our debts, then we will find it much easier to also show mercy to our neighbors who owe us much smaller debts. Though our neighbors’ debts may seem large to us, compared to what we are indebted to God, our neighbors’ debts to us are infinitely smaller, and ultimately insignificant in the long run.

In Psalm 103:8-10 David also combines God’s mercy and grace and describes it in this way: “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.” Here David praises God because of His mercy and grace because He does not punish us for our “sins” and “iniquities”. He goes on to emphasize this in verse 12 where he writes: “as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” This is another way of describing God’s forgiveness. If He removes our transgressions (sins) from us, then He will not punish us for them. Also, since God removes our transgressions “as far as the east is from the west,” then they can’t come back to condemn us. They are gone for good. This is the result of God’s mercy and grace, and it is also how we ought to forgive our neighbor.

Since God’s mercy is so closely connected with His forgiveness, we should also see that this Fifth Beatitude is related to the Fifth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” We certainly should remember that God’s forgiveness is not conditional on how well we forgive our neighbor, but that “We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) It can’t start with us, because in our sin, our mercy and forgiveness is either incomplete or lacking in some lesser or greater way. It must start with God because His mercy, love, and forgiveness is perfect in every case. Likewise, in the beatitudes, we receive mercy from God first, then in response to His mercy and forgiveness and grace, we have mercy on our neighbor.

Jesus has mercy on even the weak and powerless, as shown by His gentle rebuke of the disciples who wanted to send the children away.

The Holy Scriptures also give many examples of the mercilessness of sinful men. Solomon observes in Proverbs 12:10 “Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.” This proverb also shows that if a man is faithful to God, then his mercy also extends to how he treats his livestock. If he is wicked, he also is cruel to his animals. We easily recognize this when we see in the news that some celebrity abuses his animals then he is roundly chastised for his cruelty by everyone. Though sometimes people take this too far when they criticize people more harshly when they abuse their animals than when they abuse their children or spouse. Solomon also observes in Proverbs 21:10 “The soul of the wicked desires evil; his neighbor finds no mercy in his eyes.” Such is the terrible nature of sin that those who love their sin more than they love God actually desire to do evil. They cannot even find it in their heart to have mercy on their neighbors. We can take comfort in Christ’s Fifth Beatitude in this for the opposite case. If the merciful receive mercy from God, then the unmerciful wicked person will not receive God’s mercy (until they repent of their sin and find forgiveness in Jesus). We also see this elsewhere where God condemns the unmerciful, such as Proverbs 3:33, “The Lord’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the dwelling of the righteous.” This curse certainly can be removed when sinners repent and ask God for forgiveness. Since God is merciful, He is most eager to forgive and save all who repent and look to Him for salvation. “The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” (Psalm 145:8)

Jesus, Himself, had mercy on His neighbors at all times. Many times those who had desperate desires to be healed of various afflictions pleaded with Jesus to “Have mercy,” and Jesus mercifully granted them healing and forgiveness. In Luke 17:11-19 ten men suffering with leprosy saw Jesus at a distance and called out to Him, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” Jesus had mercy on them by healing them of their leprosy. In the next chapter, Luke 18:35-43, a blind beggar (likely the same man named Bartimaeus, in Mark 10) called out to Jesus, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Although some of the bystanders told him to be quiet, He again asked Jesus for mercy. Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” and he said he wanted to recover his sight, and Jesus gave him his sight back. In Mark 5, Jesus cast out many demons possessing a man, and after the man was cleansed and came into his right mind, Jesus told him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” Here Jesus shows that by rescuing the man from demon possession He had mercy on him. This is also interesting that although Jesus told the demons to go out of the man, He told the man to tell his friends that “the Lord” has had mercy on him. Here Jesus was acknowledging that He is God, or, at the very least, that His healings were done by the power of God, while not denying that He is the one true God with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus showed mercy to the family of Jairus by raising his daughter from the dead. See Mark 5:21-43

This is the first Beatitude in this series which is not quite so clearly a curse in the worldly sense. Few people would say that those who show mercy are inherently cursed by doing so. Though, it is not too difficult to find people who think that merciful people are fools. It is hard to show forgiveness to people who sin against you. Our sinful flesh would more likely want to “assert our rights” and repay sin with vengeful wrath, rather than withhold punishment and forgive. Showing mercy is a great witness to the Christian faith. You show you trust in Christ’s forgiveness when you forgive others.

Indeed, while it is hard for us sinners to have mercy on our neighbors, it was also difficult for God to have mercy on us and cover the great debt of our sin. When it comes to forgiveness, God can’t just “look away” and ignore sin. God is righteous and just, and must punish sin. Yet Jesus took the punishment for our sin Himself when He died on the cross. That was not an easy thing to do, yet, in mercy and love, Jesus did what was necessary to pay the price for our sin so that God could have mercy on us, while still properly punishing sin and pouring out His anger on the man, Jesus Christ, on the cross.

The Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, foretold what it would cost God’s Messiah to have mercy on us and heal us from sin and all sin’s consequences. He prophesied, “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned – every one – to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:4-6) Another time, when Jesus healed a deaf man (Mark 7:31-37), He sighed or groaned upon healing the man. As I explain it in this article Jesus groaned because even in healing the sick and raising the dead, it cost Jesus suffering and pain because all illness and afflictions of the body are consequences of our sin. In healing us from all these, Jesus had to suffer for them in order to remove sin’s effects from us. This is what Isaiah meant by saying, “with his wounds we are healed.” This is another reason why Christians have confidence that on the day of resurrection we will be raised glorious and whole – as God intended us to be. Jesus has had mercy on us – at great personal cost – so that we may be healed from sin in body and soul. This also gives us peace of mind so that we may put aside our pride and, in love, have mercy and forgive those who sin against us. Jesus has done so much more to have mercy on you, that such knowledge makes it easier to have mercy on others. May Christ keep you in His mercy and lead you to be merciful.

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Other articles in this series:

Blessed are the Poor in Spirit

Blessed are Those who Mourn, For They Will be Comforted 

Blessed are the Meek, for They Shall Inherit the Earth 

Blessed are those who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness, for They Shall be Satisfied 

Blessed are the Pure in Heart, for They Shall See God 

Coming soon:

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Father, Into Your Hands I Commit My Spirit

by Pastor Paul Wolff

“It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!’ And having said this he breathed his last.” (Luke 23:44-46)

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Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.

As Jesus was dying on the cross He had just proclaimed His victory by the word, “It is Finished.” Yet there was one thing yet to do, and without it we could not have been saved. “The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23) And if Jesus had not died to pay for the sins of the world, we would have had to die for our sin without any hope of salvation. It was proper for Jesus to proclaim His victory before it was done, because after He was dead He would not be able to say anything. Plus, He had come this far, He was not going to back out now. He had suffered God’s wrath over our sins and remained the faithful, obedient Son, still loving and trusting in God the Father, even while enduring the fierce wrath of God over all our wickedness and sins.

Is it any wonder that God twice proclaimed publicly, “This is my beloved Son. With Him I am well pleased.” When any of us sinners face some lesser pain or suffering we are easily tempted to wonder if God has abandoned us. Yet, here is Jesus, tormented and tortured on the cross, suffering the wrath of God over the sins of the world, which He had nothing to do with and did not contribute anything to in the least, and He still trusts in God to save Him from the death which follows directly.

We also see here that both His first and last words on the cross were prayers to His beloved Father. “Father, forgive them” and “Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit.” These prayers were prayed by a faithful Son who loved His good and gracious Father, even when it seemed like God was His enemy. Jesus lived His life as a man by faith, just as all of us ought to do, but where we often fail, Jesus was steadfast at all times. Here as Jesus faced death, He was still trusting in God to save Him. Jesus knew that He had to die, but He had faith that God is the one who rescues people from death. Even the sinless Son of God, who carried the sins of the world in His body and suffered the wrath of God like no one ever knew – He trusted that God would not abandon Him to the grave forever, but would rescue Him as He had promised to rescue us sinners for the sake of Christ.

Jesus died on the cross to rescue you from the condemnation of your sins.

This also is where Jesus faced His last temptation as a mortal man – who was also God Almighty. Many times Jesus had been tempted to use His almighty, Divine power to save Himself, and this is surely one of those times. Jesus was at one of His weakest points as a man, yet, He could have summoned all power in heaven and earth to save Himself. If there had been the slightest flaw in His love for God or for wicked sinners, He could have stumbled here. If He had secretly desired the damnation of any horrible wicked murdering, lying, godless sinner, then He would not have let Himself die, and we all would get exactly what we deserved. Yet, Christ’s love was perfect. Jesus paid the full price for all sinners, even those who despised Him and rejected the price He paid to win their salvation, and all those who loved their sin more than Jesus, and reject His forgiveness and salvation. Jesus still loved them to the end, and gave His life for them.

Jesus had no proof that God would save Him from death, except what was written in the Holy Scriptures. In His humility, Jesus did not use His Omniscience as God to give Him assurance of God’s Will. He had the Word of God in the Bible, but Jesus had to trust that the Bible was true, and that God always kept His word.

It is humbling to think about it, but among all the things that could have gone wrong and cost us our salvation, we had to depend on Jesus not being a Biblical skeptic who doubted that the Bible was an accurate and dependable record of God’s Word. Jesus fully trusted that the Bible was the Word of God, and He always interpreted it correctly, even when those around Him often misinterpreted the Scriptures, and twisted the meaning to say something different – just as we see people doing it today. Even when the devil tried to twist the Scripture to tempt Jesus to sin, Jesus trusted God’s Word in the Bible was right, even when it caused Him suffering and pain.

Here we also see that these very last words out of the mouth of Jesus before He died were straight from the Bible. Jesus was quoting Psalm 31:5 which says, “Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.” We see that Jesus did not quote the whole verse, but His strength was failing, and He was dying, and we get the idea. Jesus was trusting in God, His Father, to look after His spirit and do with it what was good, right, and proper. Jesus would not try to save Himself, but trusted in God to restore His life, and to accept His sacrifice as the payment for the sins of the world, so that all who believe in Jesus will also be forgiven and rescued from death and given life everlasting in Paradise. Jesus trusted in God to be faithful to His Word, and He was not disappointed.

Jesus died trusting in God to save Him, and He not only saved Jesus from death, but gave Jesus all authority in Heaven and on earth, and rescue from sin and death to all who look to Jesus to save them from their sins. God’s Word is true, and because Jesus trusted in God and gave His life to redeem our sinful lives, we have the full forgiveness of sins and the promise of everlasting life in Paradise. We can live by faith, just as Jesus did His whole life, so that when we find ourselves face to face with death, we can trust in God to rescue us, and say with Jesus: “Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.”

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Articles in this series from 2023:

Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.
I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.
Woman behold your son. Son, behold your mother.
My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
I thirst.
It is finished.
Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

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God’s Name is Holy

Advent Devotion on the Lord’s Prayer 

by Pastor Paul Wolff 

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Jesus said, “Pray then like this, … ‘Hallowed be Thy Name’” (Matthew 6:9)

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God is the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Yet the Father is not the Son or the Holy Spirit. The Son is not the Father or the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not the Father or the Son. It is a paradox, but this is how God reveals who He is.

You might sometimes hear people talk about the “names of God”. Hopefully you will never hear a Christian saying such things because the Holy Bible never speaks of the “names of God”. The Scriptures frequently speak of God’s “name” in the singular, but never in the plural. This seems peculiar because, although Scripture is clear that there is only one God, yet Jesus revealed that God is Triune: three distinct persons united in one God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Even in the Old Testament, the generic word for the true God is in the plural form, as if it were to say, “gods”, yet when referring to the true God, the pronouns (and accompanying verbs) for this God are all singular – “he”, “him”, and usually “I” (generally not “we”, though Genesis 1:26 does say, “Let us make man in our image…”) which shows that God is singular and masculine.  

In the days of Moses, God told Moses His name by saying, “I am who I am.” (Exodus 3:14) At first glance, we might think this begs the question, “Then, who are you?” Yet, this does tell us a few important things about God. The true God who spoke to Moses is the God who exists (“He is”), as opposed to the false gods, who do not exist except in the perverse imaginations of their followers. This name also shows us that God is eternal and does not change. This is also why we read in Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” He is who He is – eternally. This is why the Jews wanted to stone Jesus when He told them, “Before Abraham was, I am!” (John 8:58) They recognized that Jesus was claiming to be the eternal God who was Abraham’s God two thousand years earlier. This would have been blasphemy if it weren’t true, but it is.

The True God is the one who would live and die to redeem you from your sins and rescue you from death. This is why His name is hallowed among us.

When Jesus instituted the Sacrament of Holy Baptism He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:18-20) Notice that the “Name” (singular) of God is “the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit”. Jesus doesn’t say “names”, but “name”. This isn’t because Jesus did not know grammar. He certainly did, but was teaching us something profound about God. God may be triune, but the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are one God, not three, yet three distinct persons. It is a mystery, but this is how God reveals Himself in the Holy Scriptures.  

You will never hear me speak of the “names of God” except when teaching against it, as I am doing here. Those who speak of the “names of God” are either being imprecise in their language or they are trying to give the false impression that “all religions are alike”, or that ‘all roads lead to heaven”, or some such lies that try to diminish the unique character of God. The different worldly religions cannot all be different aspects of the same religion and god because all the world religions contradict each other. Rationally we can see that they may all be false, but they cannot all be true. At most, only one may be true. Christianity is the only religion of grace where God does all the work to save sinners, and then gives forgiveness for free through faith. All the other world religions (and false teaching in Christian churches) make you save yourself or do something to aid in your salvation. Which religion do you think is true? This is why God’s name is holy, and hallowed among true believers within all Christian denominations. 

It is also easy for people to be confused about God’s Name because the Holy Bible describes God in many different ways. Each distinct “name” that the Scriptures use to describe God shows a different aspect of God’s nature or personality. They are all true descriptions of God, but each one only shows a partial picture of God’s Name. In the Old Testament God is called such things as the Lord, the Ancient of Days, the Eternal God, the Living God, the Eternal Father, and many more such things. In the New Testament God is revealed through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who also has several distinct titles. Yet we still do not say that “God has many names.” Why? Each of these names for God describe a certain aspect of His personality as He has revealed it to us. Each “name” shows us a part of who God is, but does not show us the fullness of God. It has been said that the entirety of the Holy Scriptures are an explanation of the Name of God. This is a good way to look at it. The Bible tells us who God is and what He has done to save us from our sin through the incarnation of God as a man, Jesus, and His lifetime of work to win our salvation, especially His innocent suffering and death on the cross as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 

“You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

In Matthew 1:20-21 An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph of Nazareth in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” The name, “Jesus” means “savior”, and that is His ultimate work. God’s name is truly hallowed among us because of all that God has done to save us from sin and death. God did not have to come down to earth to save us. He could have punished us as our sins deserve, and would have been justified to do so because we deserved punishment for our sins. Yet God preferred to take the hard road and sent His Son to become incarnate to redeem the world from sin through His life, death, and resurrection. 

God is both perfectly just and unfailingly merciful. These characteristics would seem to oppose each other when it comes to God wanting to save us from our sins. God’s holy desire to punish sin with death seems at conflict with His loving desire to rescue us from sin’s necessary consequence of death. Yet, in Jesus, God found a solution. God accepted Jesus as a substitute who would die for sinners and win our salvation. The Second Person of the Godhead became incarnate as a man, Jesus Christ, to live the perfect life in obedience to God’s Law, which we failed to do in our sinfulness, then Jesus offered His life as the perfect sacrifice to pay for the sins of the world. The life of Jesus is sufficient to pay for sin because His life is God’s life, and His blood is God’s blood, given and shed to redeem us all from our sins. God’s name is truly holy, because He found a way to rescue and redeem you from your sins while being perfectly just in punishing the sin of the world through the death of Jesus. In the life and death of Jesus, God found a way to be perfectly just in punishing sin, and perfectly merciful and loving in redeeming us through the sacrifice of the life of Jesus. This is why we will praise and thank God for all eternity for the Salvation He won for us sinners. 

We call the holy family “holy” not because Mary and Joseph are holy, but because Jesus is holy.

There is nothing in all the world more precious than the love of God. He has redeemed us and calls us His children, though we do not deserve it. Yet, because Jesus paid the price for the sins of the world we are happy to receive His forgiveness and salvation as a most wonderful gift, and praise God forever for His unending love. 

This Petition in the Lord’s Prayer in closely related to the Second Commandment, “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.” The commandment and the petition both deal with God’s name. Because God’s Name is holy, we should use it properly and not misuse it. This is not easy to do. As time went by after God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses, the Israelite people of the Old Testament put too much emphasis on God’s Law and, for fear of misusing God’s Name, they stopped using it altogether. Instead of using the Name that God gave them to use, they instead spoke the general term, “lord”, even in their worship and when reading the Bible. If God had not wanted the people to use His name, then he wouldn’t have given it to them, but God gave us His Name so that we might use it. In Psalm 50:15 God says, “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.” It is for Bible verses like this (and many others) that Martin Luther explains this petition by saying that it is our duty to “Call upon God in every trouble, pray, praise, and give Him thanks.” 

In the Advent season we especially remember God’s name because God sent His Son to be our savior, to rescue us from sin, and to bring us back into the household of God as His beloved children – for the sake of Jesus. God’s name truly is holy, as is everything He has done to give us good gifts in this life, and for the salvation that He has prepared for us through faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord. 

Our Father in Heaven is Always Near to Us

Advent Devotion on the Lord’s Prayer 

by Pastor Paul Wolff 

Jesus said, “Pray then like this, ‘Our father, who art in heaven …’” (Matthew 6:9)

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The angel Gabriel was in heaven and on earth at the same time showing us that heaven is not far away.

We know from the Holy Bible that God resides in heaven, and that is a place which seems far away from us because it is a place which we have absolutely no way to get to on our own. Yet, God is never far away from us. Just before Jesus ascended into heaven, He told His followers, “I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20) This is not metaphorical (or “spiritual”), but it is real. Jesus is never far away even though He is in heaven. Jesus is with us always as He has promised. Those who say otherwise are calling Jesus a liar. We cannot get to Him in heaven, but He can easily get to us because He is with us always, even when He is in God’s heavenly kingdom. 

If you read Scripture carefully you can see that heaven really is not far from us here on earth, though we cannot access it ourselves. One of the earliest examples of God being near us is found in Genesis 9:16. This happens after the great flood when God gives the rainbow as a sign of His mercy and He promises not to punish us with another great flood, though our sins deserve it and much more. God says, “Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” It is interesting to note that the sign of the rainbow is for God to see and remember His covenant. The sign is not only for us. Though we should note that rainbows are only visible as bows to people standing on earth. I remember sitting in an airplane flying above the clouds during the middle of the day, and looking out the window and seeing on the clouds below the shadow of the plane surrounded by a complete circular prism of light. It wasn’t a half-circle like a bow, but a full circle. For God to see something shaped like a bow, He has to be here on earth with us, not above the clouds. This is a comfort because of the promise of the rainbow – that God will not destroy us because of our disobedience and sin, but will rescue us through Jesus. 

We also see that heaven is not far from us when the angel, Gabriel visited the priest, Zechariah in Luke 1:19. The angel told Zechariah, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.” Now, Gabriel was standing in the temple in Jerusalem talking with Zechariah, but he was also, at the same time, standing in the presence of God (though Zechariah could not see God as the angel did). This is yet another example that heaven is not somewhere far away, but is very near to us, as God, who is in heaven, is very near to us. Our problem is that, as sinners, we do not have access to God, or His heaven, except through those earthly Means of Grace which God gives us to bring us a taste of heaven here on earth. Those Means of Grace are God’s Word, and the Sacraments of Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Through these earthly gifts, God gives us a little bit of heaven so that we may receive the forgiveness of our sins, and be strengthened in our faith, so that we may at last receive the complete fulfillment of God’s promises in Christ – the resurrection and sanctification of our bodies, and everlasting life in God’s paradise as His Holy children who have been redeemed by Christ Jesus, our crucified savior. 

God’s merciful promise of the rainbow also shows that He is near us always as He also promised.

Those who think heaven is somewhere far away do themselves a disservice by also thinking that Jesus is far away. The world very quickly starts to feel quite threatening and dangerous if we find that we are here alone and Jesus is far away. That is why Jesus reassured His followers at His ascension that He is with us always. (see Matthew 28:20 above) We should believe Jesus even (and especially) when it seems like we are all alone and in danger from worldly and spiritual temptations and dangers. 

We all can understand why Jesus seems so far away from us. We are physical creatures, and we cannot sense God’s heavenly kingdom with our physical senses, so we can feel vulnerable and alone when temptations and dangers are near. It is in those times when we rely on faith in Jesus to give comfort and assurance. Everything in the world may tell us that the situation is hopeless, and that the “great” powers of the world are too powerful to be overcome, yet, when we trust God’s Word, we can be assured that God is in control, and “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to (Jesus)”. (Matthew 28:18) We also have the assurance that, on account of Christ, God will protect us and give us good things so that nothing can steal away our salvation. (See Romans 8:31-39) God indeed is Sovereign and powerful, but He doesn’t use His power to force us to serve Him. God gave us His Son, Jesus, to win our salvation through His life and death, and then God gives us His Word to tell us all He has done to save us so that we might believe. Through this faith (i.e. believing God’s Word) and Holy Baptism, God adopts us as His beloved, redeemed, children. 

Since God now considers us as His children, He will not abandon us to sin, nor to our enemies in this world, nor to our enemies in the spiritual world. We cannot fully access the heavenly realm as sinners in a sinful world, but we don’t have to. We have God’s Word and His assurance that He is near and that He is in control – despite all evidence that we are alone and in danger. Christians need to believe God’s Word and trust in Him to protect us when in danger, and to rescue us from all sin and death as necessary. God keeps His promises and is unfailingly trustworthy.