First, to see God because of the purity of our heart at work means to be admitted to his presence. After the plague of darkness on Egypt, Pharaoh exploded to Moses with these words:

“Get away from me; take heed to yourself; never see my face again; for in the day you see my face you shall die.” Moses said, “As you say! I will not see your face again.”

(Exodus 10:28–29)

When a king says, “You will never see my face again,” he means, “I will never grant you admission again into my presence.”

In the same way, we call the doctor today and say, “Can I see Dr. Lundgren today?” We do not mean; can I see him from a distance. Or can I see a picture of him? We mean, can I have an appointment to be with him?

So, the first thing seeing God means is being admitted to his presence.

Second, seeing God at work means being awestruck by his glory — by a direct experience of his holiness. After God confronted Job in the whirlwind, Job said, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

“Seeing God is the great goal of being pure.” Virtually all of our spiritual sight in this life is mediated to us through the word of God or the work of God in providence. We “see” images and reflections of his glory. We hear echoes and reverberations of his voice. But there will come a day when God himself will dwell among us. His glory will no longer be inferred from lightning and mountains and roaring seas and constellations of stars. Instead, our experience of him will be direct. His glory will be the very light in which we move (Revelation 21:23) and the beauty of his holiness will be tasted directly like honey on the tongue.

So, seeing God means not only being admitted to his presence, but also being awestruck by a direct experience of his glory.

Seeing God because of our faith at work means being comforted by his grace. Again and again the psalmists cry out to God that he not hide his face from them. For example in Psalm 27 (verses 7–9) David says,

Hear, Yahweh, when I cry aloud, be gracious to me and answer me! Hide not your face from me.

“Hide not your face from me,” is the same as saying, “Be gracious to me!” This means that seeing the face of God is a sweet and comforting experience. If God shows his face, we are helped. If he turns his face away, we are dismayed.

So, when Jesus promises the reward of “seeing God” there are at least these three things implied: we will be admitted to his presence, not just kept in the waiting room. We will be awestruck with a direct experience of his glory. And we will be helped and comforted by his grace.

And this we will have — in part now, and fully in the age to come — if we are pure in heart at work.

• Hebrews 9:14 —how much more will the blood of the Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
• Hebrews 12:24 —and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.
• 1 John 1:7 —but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

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