4/17/2023 0 Comments Pure hearts church![]() Haggai 2:11-14 illustrates the impossibility of holiness being transferred from one to another, and by contrast, how easily defilement is transmitted: Uncleanness is so easily communicated that one can become unclean by unintentionally coming in contact with a corpse or a person with an infectious disease. Familiarity with the laws of uncleanness shows that defilement is readily communicable in a way that holiness is not. Like dust and dirty dishes, uncleanness requires regular action and maintenance. The rituals teach that purity is achieved and maintained by effort and attention. Vigilance is the watchword regarding defilement. ![]() However, the various washings teach that life, unless religiously maintained, is ever gravitating, ever slipping, toward impurity. ![]() Purity is closely associated with God's election of His people, for by His grace He confers purity to them. This does not mean the various washings to attain a ritual purity were useless either to the ancient Israelites or to us under the New Covenant. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart-these, O God, You will not despise." He writes in Psalm 51:16-17: "For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it You do not delight in burnt offering. Ceremonial purity gradually became seen as symbolic rather than genuine purity. However, in the Psalms and the Prophets, as time advances toward the arrival of Jesus Christ, the standards for purity before God shift from merely ceremonial actions to moral conduct. In His inspired Word, God Himself makes the distinctions between what is pure and impure. By this means holiness was established and protected within the Israelite communities. In much of the Old Testament, purity by means of various rituals is generally presented as an adjunct of the sacrificial system. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. In this vein Paul remarks:īrethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. Their desire to achieve purity before God is commendable, but Jesus clearly demonstrates that they chose to do it the wrong way, leaving their hearts unchanged. Relating strongly to much of what is written in the Old Testament, this standard is something the Pharisees vainly pursued through an obsessive observance of thousands of cultic rules they and others added to God's inspired Word. "Blessed are the pure in heart" ( Matthew 5:8) is a beatitude expressing a standard that is extremely difficult to achieve. ![]() Depending upon the context, it can take on such senses as clear, entire, true, perfect, sterling, chaste, virginal, immaculate, spotless, untainted, good, moral, impeccable, honorable, principled, ethical, guiltless, flawless, sincere and many more. Men in their hypocrisy want freedom when sowing their wild oats to consort with loose women, but when they marry, they desire a chaste, pure virgin, unsoiled by another man.Ī good dictionary will define pure as "conforming absolutely to a standard of quality faultless." When a thing is pure, it is unmixed, unalloyed, unadulterated, uncontaminated or undefiled by anything foreign to itself. People want to wear clothing of pure fabrics such as silk, cotton and wool because they are exquisite in appearance, comfort and endurance. Pure water is becoming a difficult commodity to find. We consider pure gold and silver to have lasting value. Animal breeders produce pure-blooded animals from dogs and cats to pigs. Advertisers hustle their products as pure, claiming pure pleasure, pure satisfaction, pure sugar and pure soap. In the physical realm those who care pursue pure things because it signifies they seek nothing but the best. ![]()
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