Daily Bible Verses for 9/8/2016
Bible Verse
And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.”
Reading Notes
Jesus is speaking of the heart’s desire of all believers, all those who love the Lord. And it’s this desire that drives our commitment to following Jesus, and that desire is to see Him face to face. Because of our faith in Christ, we are made pure in the eyes of God. The work of Jesus on the Cross of Calvary has removed our sins from us, because by faith, God has imputed the righteousness of Jesus to us! What God gave us is a free gift for all who accept Jesus by faith as their Lord and Savior. Prior to our salvation, the Bible tells us we were dead in our trespasses and sins and at enmity with God. To fully understand this we have to understand that each person has a body, soul and spirit. And prior to our salvation, our spirit was dead in trespasses and sins, our soul which is tainted by our sin nature, controlled the motives and desires of our hearts and minds. Then God stepped in, and through the work of the Holy Spirit, we were changed when we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. With our salvation, we received a new spirit which is alive to God and the things of God.
In addition, we were also indwelt by the Holy Spirit who begins God’s work of spiritual growth in us, transforming us into children of God. The Holy Spirit remains with us until we go home to see Jesus face to face. The Holy Spirit carry’s out God’s work of spiritual growth in us, called “sanctification” and it’s this process of sanctification which prepares us for service in the kingdom of God. Therefore, we have to remember because of what Jesus did for us at the Cross of Calvary, we receive a new spirit, eternal life and we are made pure in the eyes of God. The word used here for pure gives the meaning of being free from guilt and the consequences of sin which is eternal separation from God. To know for certain we are free because of the work of Jesus. Moreover, as we grow in the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord, who He is and what He has done for us, it’s this purity, which stems from the work of the Holy Spirit, that transforms us from the inside out. It’s the work of God in us, which builds a godly character within each of us and makes us useful for service to God and others. This is the result of our salvation which begins the process of spiritual growth through the work of the Holy Spirit, thereby changing our lives.