Scripture Reading: Ezra 9:1—10:14; Matt. 5:8; Rev. 22:4; 21:18b, 21b
Ⅰ
Before Ezra arrived, there was mixture among God's recovered people, but he purified the recovery by causing "the holy seed" to be separated from anything heathen—Ezra 9:1—10:14:
A
The Lord's recovery is the holy seed; we must be so pure that the holy seed will never be mingled with anything heathen.
B
In the Lord's recovery there is the need of purification to separate the holy seed from anything that is heathen—9:1—10:14:
１
In all the steps of the Lord's recovery, there is the need of purification.
２
In the local churches we must be thoroughly purified of all mixture.
３
Anything common and anything contradictory to the heavenly nature of the Lord's recovery must be purged out—2 Tim. 2:19-22.
Ⅱ
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God"—Matt. 5:8:
A
To be pure in heart is to be single in purpose, to have the single goal of accomplishing God's will for God's glory—1 Cor. 10:31.
B
A pure heart is a heart that takes the Lord as the unique goal—1 Tim. 1:5; 2 Tim. 2:22; Psa. 73:1.
C
If we are pure in heart, we will see God—Job 42:5:
１
In the New Testament sense, to see God is to gain God, and to gain God is to receive God in His element, life, and nature that we may be constituted with God to become not only one with God but also a part of God.
２
Seeing God transforms us, because in seeing God we receive His element into us to become God in life and nature but not in the Godhead.
３
To see God is to be transformed into the glorious image of Christ, the God-man, that we may express God in His life and represent Him in His authority—2 Cor. 3:18; Gen. 1:26.
４
In the New Jerusalem, all God's redeemed, regenerated, renewed, sanctified, transformed, conformed, and glorified people will see God's face—Rev. 22:4.
D
The more we see God, the more we abhor ourselves and deny ourselves—Job 42:6; Matt. 16:24; Luke 9:23; 14:26.
Ⅲ
"Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience"—1 Tim. 3:9:
A
A pure conscience is a conscience purified of any mixture.
B
We should have not only a good conscience but also a pure conscience—1:19; 3:9:
１
A good conscience is a conscience without offense; we may have a good conscience by confessing the wrong we have done and by the cleansing of the blood of Jesus, God's Son—1 John 1:9, 7.
２
A pure conscience is a testimony that we are seeking only God and His will:
ａ
Paul could say that he served God with a pure conscience because he was seeking nothing other than God Himself—2 Tim. 1:3.
ｂ
Only a pure and single heart, through many dealings, can influence the conscience to be pure and single.
Ⅳ
"In everything we commend ourselves as ministers of God…in pureness…in a holy spirit, in unfeigned love"—2 Cor. 6:4a, 6:
A
Pureness is the prerequisite in the leadership and a basic condition of our service—1 Tim. 3:9; 1:5:
１
It is unusual to find a pure motive in what touches the Lord's work or His church—2 Tim. 1:3; 1 Tim. 3:9.
２
Impureness is often the source of misunderstanding and suspicion—Titus 1:15.
B
The first qualification in the work is a purity of the spirit, not a measure of power; it is hard to find a person whose spirit is pure—2 Cor. 7:1:
１
The more we know God, the more we will treasure purity over power.
２
Our greatest problem is our mixture—the mixture of the self with the spirit—Heb. 4:12.
３
We cherish this purity, for it is free from any contamination of the outer man—2 Cor. 4:16.
Ⅴ
"Everyone who has this hope set on Him purifies himself, even as He is pure"—1 John 3:3:
A
"This hope" is the hope of being like the Lord, of bearing the likeness of the Triune God—vv. 1-2.
B
To purify ourselves is to live a life that is the expression of the righteous God and to abide in the Lord—1:9; 2:27-29; 3:7.
Ⅵ
"The city was pure gold, like clear glass"; "the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass"—Rev. 21:18b, 21b:
A
Since gold signifies the nature of God, the city's being pure gold signifies that the New Jerusalem is altogether of the divine nature and takes the divine nature as its element.
B
The pure gold, which symbolizes the street and the city proper of the New Jerusalem, is like clear glass, signifying that the whole city is transparent and not in the least opaque.