In the Fulness of Time/Part 10
| By: Dr. Thomas O. Figart; ©2007 |
| Dr. Figart continues his look at the passage known as the Beatitudes. Who are the “pure in heart” and the “peacemakers?” What blessing do they received, how and when? |
The “Pure in Heart” and the “Peacemakers”
Hardly had the year 2000 arrived when I began to hear and read that some people were stating that the reason nothing significant happened was that the new millennium does not really begin until January 1, 2001. If I remember correctly, even the ungodly communist Fidel Castro refused to celebrate the new millennium on that basis! While I do not accept Castro’s atheistic communism, January 1, 2001 is surely the proper date for the new millennium. This particular series of articles has been advocating this from the very first.
However, we have also emphasized that the first phase of the return of Christ will be His appearance in the air to receive His own unto Himself, and “so will we ever be with the Lord” (See I Thessalonians 4:13-18). The second phase of His return will come seven years later, after “the time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jeremiah 30:7) which our Lord Himself designates as the “great Tribulation” (Matthew 24:21) and further asserts that He will then return to earth in power and great glory when “he shall sit upon the throne of his glory” (Matthew 25:31).
It is at this time when He shall institute the judicial principles set forth in the Beatitudes as part of His Messianic Kingdom. Thus far we have considered the first five Beatitudes; we continue now with the sixth Beatitude:
- Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
To be classified as “pure in heart” one must be like the Lord Himself, since the heart of man is “deceitful above all things and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). When a person is cleansed in the blood of the Lamb he becomes a new creation in Christ and is given a new heart; he is one of these “blessed” in the eyes of the Lord.
But just when shall these blessed ones “see God”? To be sure, as many writers have noted, in heaven the believer shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is (I John 3:1-3). Is this what Jesus is promising in this beatitude? It seems hardly necessary to repeat that all these promises are immediate in nature, as Jesus is offering His Messianic Kingdom of Heaven. Does this “beatific vision” refer only to heaven? Or would God appear visibly in an earthly kingdom? Why not let the prophets (which the Lord came to fulfill) speak for themselves?
First, with regard to the necessity of a “pure heart” Psalm 24:3-10 speaks of the LORD of hosts, the King of glory, entering Jerusalem, and only the one with “clean hands and a pure heart” will ascend unto the hill of the LORD. Then, with regard to actually seeing God, Isaiah 33:17, 20-22 tells us: “Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty; they shall behold the land that is very far off. . . Look unto Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of its stones shall be removed, neither shall any of its cords be broken. But there the glorious LORD shall be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams . . . For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.” Further, in Isaiah 35:1-2: “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God.”
Unless the familiar places are all spiritualized to mean something other than they normally mean, the only conclusion possible is that this is the earthly kingdom of Messiah, and that the visibility of the glory of the LORD is in His Person! All this was placed before the followers of Christ as a real and present offer as He presented the principles of His kingdom.
- Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the sons of God.”
Who are these peacemakers and specifically, how and when do they make this peace? First, it should be remembered that the prophets designated the Messiah as the Prince of Peace in Isaiah 9:6 and that His kingdom was to be a kingdom of peace: “The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness . . . In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace as long as the moon endureth. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth” (Psalm 72:3, 7-8). This same sort of prophecy in Isaiah 27:1, 4-5 mentions that there would be those who make peace along with the Messiah: “In that day the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan the crooked serpent . . . Fury is not in me. Who would set the briars and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together. Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me, and he shall make peace with me.” The conclusion: peacemaking is part of the responsibility of those “blessed” ones in the kingdom of heaven which Jesus offers in Matthew 5.
While it is understandable that the Apostle Paul calls the gospel “the gospel of peace” in Romans 10:15, because Christ has “made peace through the blood of His cross” (Colossians 1:20) so that “He is our peace” (Ephesians 2:14), none of these truths are part of the context here in Matthew 5:9.
Alan McNeile’s commentary on Matthew offers good insights even though he is not a dispensationalist. Thus, it was interesting that he says “in the coming age one of the blessings of the kingdom will be the manifestation of peace-makers as His sons, because they share His nature” (McNeile, Alan, The Gospel According to Matthew. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1980, pp. 52-53). Even though his concept of the kingdom is the new heavens and earth, still, he is wise enough to see that this peacemaking is not some attempt at compromise with the truth, and that it is a specific manifestation of the sons of God. It is of vital importance to note that they do not become sons of God by making peace. They are, however, manifested as such because they share the nature of God. Any interpretation allowing for human works as a means of becoming sons of God is in direct opposition to salvation by grace through faith!
It is not surprising, then, to have Jesus include peacemaking as one of the manifested characteristics of the “blessed” in His proffered kingdom to come on earth “in the fulness of time.”
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