PT-1 "The Meaning" (Matt. 5:8)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/15/2020 11:29 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  PT-1 “The Meaning”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 5:8

            Message of the verse:  “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

            In today’s SD we begin to look at the meaning of this verse as we kind of break down some of the key words in the verse.

            I want to look up the word “blessed” in my Online Bible Greek/ English Dictionary and then look to see what MacArthur has to say about it.  “1) blessed, happy” is about all it has to say about this word, and this is the same word that begins many of the beatitudes.

            MacArthur writes “The word ‘blessed’ implies the condition of well-being that results from salvation, the status of one who has a right relation to God.  Being accepted by Him is a matter of internal transformation.”

            Now we will do the same for the word heart:  “1) the heart

1a) that organ in the animal body which is the centre of the circulation of the blood, and hence was regarded as the seat of physical life

1b) denotes the centre of all physical and spiritual life

2a) the vigour and sense of physical life

2b) the centre and seat of spiritual life

2b1) the soul or mind, as it is the fountain and seat of the thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, affections, purposes, endeavours

2b2) of the understanding, the faculty and seat of the intelligence

2b3) of the will and character

2b4) of the soul so far as it is affected and stirred in a bad way or good, or of the soul as the seat of the sensibilities, affections, emotions, desires, appetites, passions

1c) of the middle or central or inmost part of anything, even though inanimate”

            MacArthur writes the following about this word:  “Heart translates kardia, from which we get cardiac and similar terms.  Throughout Scripture, as well as in many languages and cultures throughout the world, the heart is used metaphorically to represent the inner person, the seat of motives and attitudes, the center of personality.  But in Scripture it represents much more than emotion, feelings.  It also includes the thinking process and particularly the will.  In Proverbs we are told ‘As [a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he’ (Pro. 23:7, KJV).  Jesus asked a group of scribes, ‘Why are you thinking evil in your hearts?’  (Matt. 9:4; cf. Mark 2:8; 7:21).  The heart is the control center of mind and will as well as emotion.”

            When one looks at different “religions” like the ones that the Pharisees had one can see that what they are trying to make the outside clean and not do anything with the inside.  Jesus said that it is the inner man, that is in the core of his very being, that God requires purity.  So they missed the boat, and every religion today that has these same principles that the Pharisees had misses the boat also.  What Jesus is talking about is not a new truth, but an old one long forgotten amidst ceremonies and also traditions. Let us look at Proverbs 4:23 “Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.”  Think back for a moment as to why God destroyed the earth by the flood.  “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”  I know that there were probably more reasons that that, but the highlighted portion of this verse gives us the main reason God destroyed the earth by a flood.

            We will conclude this SD by looking at some things that David wrote, along with other writes of Scripture to help us better understand the meaning of our verse from Matthew.  One of the more famous things that David wrote in the Psalms is Psalm 51 and we will be looking at verses six and ten:  “Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.  10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.”  I have heard Warren Wiersbe say “The heart of the matter is the matter of the heart” and it seems like this fits here in these two verses from Psalm 51.  Asaph wrote the following in Psalm 73:1 “Surely God is good to Israel, To those who are pure in heart!”  We have another rather famous verse that comes from the pen of Jeremiah who writes the following in Jer. 17:9

10 “9 “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? 10 “I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.”  When a person begins to do something evil it will always begin in the heart and mind and Jesus comparably sues them in Matthew 15:19 “"For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  “Pr 4:23 Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.”  The word heart is used in the combination of Psalms and Proverbs 184 times with 64 in Proverbs and 120 in Psalms.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To have a little talk with Jesus, to learn more about contentment, and thus be more content, and to learn more about humility and thus be more humble, and to continue to have joy in my heart as I study God’s Word.

5/15/2020 12:08 PM