As the marvels of technology zip along
at snowballing speeds, so likewise, the digital appetite for more, more, more
grows hungrily anticipating the next ground breaking advancement in the
multimedia ticklers affecting the human existence. It is understandable,
therefore, that the more realistic the visual stimuli can be, the more of a
craving it creates for seeing into other dimensions and imagined realities. We
live in a visually ambitious society. People yearn for graphic experiences that
even, in the not too distant past, didn’t exist. Is it any coincidence then
that Peter’s sermon on the day of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit quoted from
Joel’s prophecy that forecast an increase of visual spiritual demonstrations
for Last Day’s people prior to the return of the Lord? Furthermore, shouldn’t
we therefore ask: Are we in the generation that Joel and Peter predicted? I
can’t help but wonder if we are.
Acts 2:16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my
Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and
your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: 18 And
on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my
Spirit; and they shall prophesy: 19 And I will show wonders in heaven above,
and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: 20 The
sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great
and notable day of the Lord come: 21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Joel 2:28-32)
In our study of truth that works we have
looked at numerous methods that God communicates His truth to humankind
according to biblical evidence and practical experience. We’ve more recently
focused on various ways the Spirit conveys truth, including the different types
of visual manifestations revealed in Scripture together with dreams and
visions. However, it would be prudent for us to take a look at what type of
people these observable signs would come to and the dangers they may face. We
will also need to face the fact that in the Last Days, whenever that will be,
faith will be at an all-time historical low due to the veneration of reasoning,
science, and the devaluation of the Bible as an absolute for truth as God’s
word. Truth will have become so relative to the individual experience that God
will take measures to prove Himself to a people who have not known Him nor
heard of His power and person. They will need undeniable evidence to rattle
their intellectual prisons and proud chains of human reasoning. In reality they
will be a generation who has placed God on trial and unbeknownst to their dull
conscience He will confidently take on their unrealized challenge with great
finesse. This generation will be very much like doubting Thomas and this is
where we will begin.
THE GENERATION WHO HAS PUT GOD ON TRIAL
John 20:19 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of
the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear
of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be
unto you; 20 And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his
side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. 21 Then said Jesus
to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I
you.:22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them,
Receive ye the Holy Ghost: 23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted
unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. 24 But
Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he
said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put
my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will
not believe. 26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and
Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the
midst, and said, Peace be unto you. 27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither
thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into
my side: and be not faithless, but believing. 28 And Thomas answered and
said unto him, My Lord and my God. 29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because
thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and
yet have believed. 30 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence
of his disciples, which are not written in this book:31 But these are written,
that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that
believing ye might have life through his name.
The grieving disciples, minus Thomas, also called Didymus,
fearfully hid from potential capture and imprisonment by the Jews. To their
amazement, Jesus appeared in their midst and comforted them. However, when
Thomas heard about it, being overwhelmed with doubtful grief, and desperately
wanting proof, told the others that he would not believe unless he had visible,
undeniable, tangible evidence. Eight
days later, hiding once more behind closed doors, Jesus visited them again, and
this time, Thomas was present. There in those miraculous moments Jesus invited
the doubting, and certainly-shaken Thomas to see the nail pierced hands and
place his hand in the open wounded side. The undeniable visible nature of
Thomas’ encounter with the Lord were what Thomas needed to believe and
instantly he professed his absolute faith. Interestingly, Jesus did not
criticize him, but instead blessed all who in the future that would believe
without seeing. Nonetheless, we need to consider the current state of humanity and
even many in the Church who are among those that waver in faith needing to see.
Joel’s prophecy, and Peter’s repetition of it in his famous sermon, reveal that
God will go sovereignly visible again and there is nothing anyone can do to
prevent His doing so. Regrettably, there is a tremendous resistance to these
potential manifestations of God. They are scoffed at in “intellectual circles”
of society and equally mocked in the human reasoning dominating many Christians
who are supposedly educated in the things of doctrine and theology but have
never been acquainted with the very real presence and power of God. Perhaps the
Thomas Generation is much larger than we know. What’s worse we cry out for a
move of God in Truth, but we fight the Only One who can help us because we have
become so proud of our knowledge we discount the reality of His biblical
manifestation desperately needed today. Faith is difficult for those who live
in the realm of human reason because faith often lives outside of what makes
sense. God will, however, open the eyes of the sincere if they will cry out to
Him for His reality. There are also challenges ahead for those who need to see,
but who are motivated wrongly. Let’s look at those hazards now.
DANGERS FOR THE GENERATION WHO HAS PUT GOD ON TRIAL
THE MOTIVATION OF WANTING TO SEE INSTEAD OF BELIEVING GOD’S WORD
Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the
field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God
said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?2 And the woman said unto
the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:3 But of the fruit
of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not
eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.4 And the serpent said unto
the woman, Ye shall not surely die:5
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be
opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.6 And when the woman saw that the tree
was good for food, and that it was
pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took
of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and
he did eat.7 And the eyes of them both
were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves
together, and made themselves aprons. (KJV)
From early on in the creation of the world and humanity Satan has
attempted to shift human eyesight to what brings pleasure in preference to what
produces faith. The word of the Lord should be enough for anyone. However, the
devil tries to diminish the absoluteness of word of the Lord by suggesting that
there is more to life than what can be found in God and His word.
Adam and his wife had walked with and seen God in the garden. They
were not ignorant to His presence and reality. But when the serpent approached
the woman to tempt her, he didn’t forcibly push her to disobey. Instead he
challenged the authority of God’s word, making light of the consequences for
disobedience, and suggested there was more that she and her husband could have
and be if they took of the forbidden fruit. He just had get her to look and see
through a different perspective- his and his deceptions.
Adam and his wife already were seeing into the eternal realm. So
which type of eyes was Satan trying to get them to see with and what would the
consequences be? Once they yielded to the temptation and ate of the fruit the
Scripture says that the eyes of both of them were opened. Which eyes? Their
carnal eyes were opened. Sadly, from that point on, as spiritual death settled
in on them, their spiritual eyesight was blinded. They saw earthly things and
conditions and how limited that eyesight was and is. Once a person desires to
see into hidden things, more than yearning after knowing and believe what God
has spoken, deception takes over and sensations become more important than
spiritual mindedness. A worldly wisdom becomes more important than obedient
relationship with God and carnality overtakes the human life.
John 4:47 When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea
into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and
heal his son: for he was at the point of death.48 Then said Jesus unto him,
Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. KJV
2 Cor 5:6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that,
whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 7 (For we
walk by faith, not by sight:) 8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather
to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. KJV
Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen.2 For by it the elders obtained a good report.
KJV
1 Peter 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more
precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be
found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:8 Whom
having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye
rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: KJV
God doesn’t condemn those who need to see to believe, even though
this degree of faith is often more shallow and temporary than not seeing and
believing. It’s just that to assume that seeing is believing seldom produces
stability. However, the signs and wonders, visions and dreams, prophesied of in
Acts will come whether human beings pursue them or not. The motive for seeing
largely determines the origins for the sight. Do we need to see like the
disciple Thomas and the generation compared to him, or do we simply want to see
to satisfy our carnal nature for a sensation of participating in something
spiritual?
Jesus criticized the
unbelief of the Capernaum nobleman, whose son was on the verge of death, and
was desperately desiring the Lord to heal his son. (John 4:47-48) Even so, the
man’s anxiety moved him to a confession of faith because of love for his son and
the boy was healed from the hour the Lord spoke it out. 2 Cor. 5:6-8 states
that even though we do not see the Lord, we walk in faith because of who He is
and not according to what we see.
Considering all these things, wrongful desire opens up the soul
and usually drives the generations into the methods and practices connected
with occult and new age religions to see into hidden things of the supernatural
and spiritual realm because the generations desire a feeling, or what seems
like a spiritual experience. An odd and dangerous mixture occurs when zealous
people, void of biblical protocols and unfamiliar with sovereign spiritual
encounter force conditions, along with sometimes altering their physical state
of being in order to generate an environment producing a euphoric mood that can
contribute to simulated heightened awareness of the unseen realm. Frenzied
dancing, rhythmic breathing techniques and hallucinogenic drug usage have been
employed throughout the course of human history by people desperate to see
beyond this earth. Sadly these practices are all incapable of producing a
genuine visitation of God and therefore wrong. God is not manipulated by
breathing techniques or how much you perspire when you dance. There is a great
difference between adrenaline and the anointing. In conclusion, we need to be
taught from the Word and Spirit combined if we are to stay accurate in
receiving visual spiritual encounters. But more than that, your spiritual value
and faith is not determined by whether you see visions or have dreams. So what are the characteristics of people who
see visions and heavenly things, bearing in mind you cannot manipulate God by
trying to be all these things so you can see!
BIBLICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PEOPLE WHO ARE ALLOWED TO SEE
SPIRITUAL THINGS
Matt 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
(KJV)
In nearly every biblical instance when
someone saw into the spiritual realm through dreams and visions, a certain
condition of heart had to be in place for the vision to occur. That singular
state is purity of heart based on what Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount:
Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.
This is a promise to the pure in heart.
They shall see God. But what does this mean? Does this mean that only the
“Perfect” or “totally sinless” individual can see the things of God? We need to
look at this in much more depth.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE PURE IN HEART CONSIDERING THE NEW
TESTAMENT REFERENCES THAT APPLY TO THIS?
There is always an unseen and
frustrating tug of war between the doctrines that pertain to what has been
accomplished through grace in the New Birth resulting in spiritual purity and
the doctrine of holiness in walking that purity out in daily life without
becoming bound under the law again. On the one side of things, we have been
made righteous in Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 5:21) because of His shed blood and our
baptism where the Old life/ Old man/ Old nature is dead and buried (Col.
2:11-13). We are no longer to be sin-conscious, no longer known as sinners,
(Rom. 5:8) having been reborn into the image He intended in the beginning.
Because of this the believer is identified as a saint of the Lord, seated with
Him above all things. Yet, on the other hand, we are told to be Holy as He is
Holy (1 Pet. 1:15-16), laying down our old nature and putting on the new man
(Eph. 4:22) which is continually made in the image of Christ. On occasion,
though rare, the writers of the letters in the New Testament and epistles challenge
the believers calling them sinners (James 4:8), reminding us that we must
constantly live out the holiness and righteousness afforded us in the new birth
without falling back into law and dead works. It’s like a teeter totter life
and one that must always be kept in check by an intimate relationship with the
Lord through grace and faith and remembering the work of the New Birth.
Therefore, if we’re to address the idea of “the pure in heart shall see God”, we
have to take a closer look at what it means to be pure and how that is set in
motion.
The New Testament concept of “pure” is drawn from 7 different
Greek words, most of which are derivatives of a primary root. For the sake of
understanding, the words are grouped according to (Katharos, Kathara,
Katharon, Katharismos, Katharizo, Katharotes), (Hagnos, Hagnizo, Hagneia),
(Eilikrines)
The Greek word translated as “pure” in Matt. 5:8 is the word
Katharos. It is this type of purity that specifically affects the heart to see
God. This word and it’s derivatives are also translated as the word, and or,
concept of “clean”. It can refer to being physically clean, as when Jesus told
the various religious leaders to clean the inside of the cup so that the
outside of the cup would also be clean (Matt. 23:26). In Rom. 14:20 it means a
purity related to Levitical ritual that was not necessary for the believer to
adhere to because of the accomplishments of the new birth. Most importantly, it
applies to being ethically pure or free from corrupt desire, sin and guilt as
found in Titus 1:15. And finally, it describes a Levitical and ethical purity
described in Luke 11:41. Therefore, when considering the following verses, to
be pure is to be clean from anything that proves to be a distraction from God,
clear of all defilement as affects one’s attentions, and uncluttered or
better, stable in will and conviction with right motivations and genuine love.
Matthew
5:8 Blessed are the pure in
heart: for they shall see God.
John
15:3 Now ye are clean <2513>
through the word which I have spoken unto you.
Acts 18:6 And when they opposed themselves, and
blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be
upon your own heads; I am clean <2513>: from henceforth I
will go unto the Gentiles.
1 Timothy
1:5 Now the end of the commandment is
charity out of a pure <2513> heart, and of a good
conscience, and of faith unfeigned:
1 Timothy
3:9 Holding the mystery of the faith in
a pure <2513> conscience.
2 Timothy
1:3 I thank God, whom I serve from my
forefathers with pure conscience, that
without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;
2 Timothy
2:22 Flee also youthful lusts: but
follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord
out of a pure heart.
Titus
1:15 Unto the pure all things are
pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure;
but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
Hebrews
10:22 Let us draw near with a true heart
in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
James
1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before
God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their
affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
1 Peter
1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit
unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a
pure heart fervently:
Pure in heart would then include all the aspects of the human
heart being submitted to the characteristics of what purity is.
The hidden person of the heart contains many things, both positive
and negative, depending on what motivates it. Of course, it can refer to the
center of circulation for the blood. But it’s far more than that. According to
the Greek word Kardia the heart refers to
a. The seat and
center of all physical and spiritual life
b. The seat and
center of all spiritual life- the soul, the mind, as it is the fountain of the
seat of the thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, affections, purposes,
endeavors
c. The seat of the
understanding, the faculty and seat of intelligence
d. The seat of
the will and character
e. The seat of
the soul so far forth 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
f. The seat of a
soul conscious of good or bad deeds (our conscience)
Therefore one’s heart is pure, and capable of seeing God,
if one’s soul, mind, thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, affections,
purposes, endeavors, understanding, intelligence, will, character,
sensibilities, emotions, conscience are clean to the best of one’s knowledge
and conviction. I realize that this sounds extremely complex and impossible to
realize. However, pure-hearted-ness is not nearly as demanding as one might
suspect, provided one is born again.
Now obviously, only God can fully reveal the condition of your
heart, as to whether it is pure or not. Additionally, He can reveal himself to
anyone He chooses, no matter what their heart condition might be. But the fact
of the matter is, He has promised that the pure in heart will see Him. How then
does this purity of heart come about? We’ll look at that in depth in the next
post.
