We have been looking at the song “Purer In Heart, O God” and the scriptural references to its lyrics. The second half of the second verse of that song has the words, “Be thou my friend and guide, let me with thee abide.” Then, we find these words in the third verse. “THAT I THY HOLY FACE ONE DAY MAY SEE.” The song is suggesting that if we are pure in heart and live with Him, in His house, we will also “see” His face. Even when Moses received The Law, he could not see God’s face. God told Moses, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live” (Exodus 33:20)! Can we be so blessed as to see God face-to-face?
As we began this study, we noted that the song’s thoughts begin with the beatitude, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). These words of Jesus are a promise to us that exceeds God’s blessing on Israel. The words of the Levitical Priest’s blessing to the people, as given by God, only referenced God seeing them. “The LORD bless you, and keep you; The LORD make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace” (Numbers 6:24-26). Consider the difference for us as expressed by Paul for our vision of God. “Now we see in a mirror (gospel) dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known (1 Corinthians 13:12).
The full view of Jesus and our Father is waiting for us in heaven. Jesus said He was going there to prepare a place for us (John 14:2-3). To be included in the “us” we must be “born again” (John 3:3). Paul explains the process of the new birth to the Romans. “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection” (Romans 6:3-5). To be raised from the death caused by sin, is to be enabled to rise with Christ to the presence of the Father and see Him face-to-face. “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
The song continues, Keep me from secret sin, Reign Thou my soul within. God told Israel through Moses, your sin will find you out (Numbers 32:23). Sometimes we sin and do not realize it. The law made provision for “trespasses” in addition to premeditated sins. The prevention of secret sin was to know and keep God’s ordinance for each portion of life and worship (Leviticus 22:9). When Israel would ask for and receive a king, the king was to copy, write with his hand, a copy of God’s Law. He was to study that copy, read and meditate on it daily, so that he would not sin. (Deuteronomy 17:18-20). In that way, the “mind of God” would be in the king to guide him.
Every Israelite and everyone of us today needs to know God’s requirements as specified in the gospel. That would allow us to do as Solomon recommends. “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14). God’s plan to “keep me from secret sin” is contained in His gospel of Christ “It is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “the just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:16-17).
In the early morning, just before Jesus was arrested, He prayed for the close association expressed in the song, “REIGN THOU MY SOUL WITHIN.” Jesus prayed to The Father, “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me” (John 17:20-21).
How close is our relationship to Christ and our Father?
