This is the second in a series reprinted from Joymakers (Available from HSA Publications)

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

The promise of sanctification is the restoration of the original human nature.

Sanctification means to imitate God and Christ, to manifest in our life God's own nature, as God told His chosen people, "You shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy" (Lev. 19:2). Through Ezekiel, God promises to vindicate His holy name and to gather His scattered people and bring them into their own land, where they will be cleansed and transformed (Ezek. 36:25-27). After reviewing the Old Testament injunctions to holiness, Paul writes, "Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, and make holiness perfect in the fear of God" (2 Cor. 7:1).

Sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit to make us holy and nurture in our lives the fruits of holiness. Through the Holy Spirit we receive God's love (Rom. 5:5). Our life is transformed into holiness and beauty, and we bear the fruits of God's love, life, and lineage. Paul describes the nine fruits of the spirit which will overcome the fruits of the flesh: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23). Peter lists nine virtues by which we partake of God's nature: diligence, faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love (2 Pet. 1:4- 7).

Theologians are divided on the issue of sanctification. Some believe that sanctification takes place in full when we are reborn through Jesus and the Holy Spirit. (For example, Erasmus, Wesley, and Ritschl believed this.) Others take into account the fact that even after rebirth we find ourselves beset with the effects of sin, and we need to continue receiving forgiveness and making a new beginning. (This was the viewpoint of Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and Barth.)

We believe that both of these positions have validity. On the one hand, we receive sanctification when we are reborn through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, at which point we are reconciled to God for the first time. We are also justified, for all accusation of sin is taken away, enabling us to live and walk in freedom, manifesting the love of God. On the other hand, we live in a world that is full of evil, and evil influences constantly assail us. Therefore, in order to establish a realm in which we can enjoy a sanctified life with God, we must expand God's territory.

We have to multiply God's domain through witnessing, through establishing Godly families, societies, nations, and a Godly world. Each of these levels brings us to a higher state of sanctification beyond individual sanctification. On each level, there are new challenges and temptations. We are surrounded by the satanic world, which constantly attacks us, tempting us over and over. Therefore, we have to fight this influence every day, reflecting on our thoughts and actions, and repenting. This is the ongoing process of sanctification that is to be part of our lifestyle as God's holy children.

In spite of the great grace and promises of the New Testament, there is an implication of unfinished business, of penultimacy, which will be fulfilled at the time of the Second Coming. Paul admits: For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. (1 Cor. 13:9- 13)

Seeing through a glass darkly and imperfectly, not face-to-face, implies that even with the great purification of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, the greatest apostle knows there is still more to come.

God is perfect and God is pure and holy, so He cannot relate directly with whatever is impure and defiled. The Old Testament reports that no person can look upon God and live, so great is the blinding radiance of His face (Ex. 33:20). Similarly in the New Testament we read that no man has seen God at any time (John 1:18, 1 John 4:12). It is impossible for fallen people to relate directly with God. In order for us to connect with God, we need a mediator. In the Old Testament age, people connected to God through offering all things, which are purer than fallen people. Abel, Noah, and Abraham, for instance, made offerings which were acceptable to God. A large part of the Mosaic law is devoted to instructions for various types of offerings. However, there was no unfallen person through whom people could connect with God. Throughout human history, many people have not recognized the existence of God, because God is invisible and there have been few true exemplars of godliness on earth. In Psalm 14:1 we read, "The fool says in his heart, `There is no God.'"

Who is this invisible God? If God were wholly other, or totally different, from His creation, we would have no way of knowing Him. Various arguments have been developed to support the existence of God. We can begin our quest with the things of creation, which are symbolic manifestations of God. Paul uses the analogy of being-finding in the study of this world evidence of the nature of God: "Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made" (Rom. 1:20). Seeing in all creation evidence of order, law, and principle on all scales from the movements of the celestial bodies to the structure of the atom, people have argued that there must be a God who designed it. In addition to being evidence of the existence of God, these principles indicate something of the nature of the Creator as a God of order, law, and principle. Because the world contains gradations of goodness, truth, etc., there must be a summum bonum which is the cause of all goodness, truth, etc. This we call God.

Genesis records that God created humankind in His image (Gen. 1:27) and imbued with His spirit (Gen. 2:7); so the Creator is not merely cosmic law but a personal God. We can direct our God-search inward as well as outward. Although God's image in fallen people is tarnished and often broken, at the core of our being and in our deepest desires, we can still discern universal qualities that point us to the invisible God. All people have a conscience, which impels us to seek beauty, truth, and goodness; this power of conscience must come from a God of beauty, goodness, and truth. People seek eternal, unchanging, and absolute value; therefore, God, who created us in His image, must be eternal, unchanging, and absolute.

Jesus teaches, "God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:24). As spirit, God has no visible body, no hands or feet. So our contact is somewhat limited to His presence as an immaterial and infinite Spirit. At the creation, God infused His breath into humankind (Gen. 2:7), and thus we are spiritual as well as physical beings. Spirit is invisible, but Jesus indicates that through worship, our spirit can connect with God's spirit. Mystics throughout the ages have reported spiritual encounters with the divine.

The Judeo-Christian tradition emphasizes the personal nature of God rather than abstract philosophical constructs or nebulous mystical perceptions. God is a concerned, loving, involved Being-not an Unmoved Mover or an abstract First Cause. Still, it is not as easy to get to know God as it is a person seated next to us. Jesus comes as the true son of God and through him people can discern the invisible God: "For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim. 2:5).

The invisible God is the God of Jesus Christ. Through Jesus God invites us to His kingdom of peace, righteousness, and joy. The goal of our faith is an intimate relationship with God, to make Jesus' God our God, to make Jesus' Heavenly Father our Heavenly Father.

The Bible is the testimonial of God's everlasting love for humankind (Jer. 31:3). At the core of the New Testament is the message that "God is love" (1 John 4:8). Parental heart and love for their children can be found in all corners of the earth, regardless of race, nation, or culture. Such heart and love must come from God. Therefore, we can understand that God is a God of heart and love. Like spirit, love is invisible, but it has a magnetic, uplifting quality; and our purest, deepest experiences of human love open our heart to experience God's love.

Throughout the ages, people in all parts of the world have longed to contact the invisible God. The Indian poet R. Tagore sought to unite Eastern and Western religious traditions. He won a Nobel Prize in literature for a body of work devoted to humankind's search for truth and for God. He wrote:

Have you not heard His silent steps?
He comes, comes, ever comes.
Every moment and every age, every day and every night
He comes, comes, ever comes ...
In sorrow after sorrow, it is his steps that press upon my heart
And it is the golden touch of his feet that makes my joy to shine.

Since God is invisible, it has been difficult for people to connect with Him. Why is God invisible? God is the source of all that is good, beautiful, and true. If God were visible, we would all want to possess Him and obtain these incredible treasures of love for ourselves. Imagine people all around the world each grabbing for God, each greedy for as much of God as they could snatch. What a terrible situation for God to be in! Therefore, to be fair to each of His children, God is invisible. As an invisible, nonmaterial being, transcendent of space and time, God can connect with each of His children and dwell with each of them.

In a sense, God's invisibility is a handicap. Because of the fall, Satan controls the material world and uses it as the base of his power (Rom. 8:19-23), trying to keep it the focus of fallen people. Being invisible, God has difficulty competing for our attention. How difficult has been the labor of our invisible God, working through history to save His lost children! People are concerned primarily with material, tangible objects, and their first longing is for what they can see. However, if we carefully examine the circumstances of our life, we discover that more valuable than visible objects are invisible qualities such as love, life, knowledge, friendship, and truth-and, ultimately, God.

The purpose of our physical life on earth is to connect with the invisible God and develop an intimate relationship with God as our Father. We connect with God through our mind, which-like God-is invisible. Our mind is subject, the initiator, the seat of our heart and personality, the core of our character. This nonmaterial aspect of our being, our mind and heart, is most closely reflective of God. If we really want to connect with God, our body should obey and follow our original mind. Our original mind always guides us in the way of righteousness and goodness; through the voice of our conscience it directs us to overcome evil and follow good. The more we resemble God, the more we attract His presence in our life.

When Jesus appeared on the earth, although he was a man of complete purity, many people did not recognize him as such. Seeing him through the filter of their own impurities, people even accused Jesus of committing sins and crimes. Because they were not pure in heart, they could not see God. Jesus was like a flawless mirror, and in him people saw the reflection of their own heart. The only ones who had an inkling of Jesus' unique virtue were people who had some purity of heart themselves-simple fishermen, a repentant prostitute, sincere Jews. Those who were poor in spirit, those who had a pure heart and a hunger and thirst for righteousness, met Jesus and recognized him. Those whose hearts were not pure saw in Jesus only the reflection of their own impurity; some recognized their sin and changed, while others tried to destroy the mirror.

Sometimes we can "see God" or glimpse God in other people when their souls are shining with grace. When Jacob met his brother Esau after years of enmity, he said to him, "To see your face is like seeing the face of God" (Gen. 33:10). At that moment, Jacob and Esau reconciled a decades-long, Cain/Abel-type quarrel in which Esau, like Cain, had actively sought to kill his brother. At such moments of reconciliation, God indeed shines out of the faces of those who are able to overcome the fallen nature in their hearts and reach out to embrace each other as brothers.

There are biblical prophecies of how and when we shall "see" God: "Strive for peace with all men, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14); "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood" (1 Cor. 13:12); and, "They shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads" (Rev. 22:4). Many theologians believe that the hope of this world is to go to the spiritual world and see the face of God, and there participate in God. However, the original purpose of creation was for the invisible God to become visible through His creation. God created heaven and earth and humankind as expressions of His love. He invested all of Himself in the development of what He created. The invisible God manifested Himself symbolically through all things of creation and in image through people. Jesus Christ is a man of perfection, fulfilling the purpose of creation, so he is the visible God, God made manifest. Jesus Christ is not only the son of God (Matt. 3:17, 4:3), God and he are one:

Phillip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, `Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works." (John 14:8-10) This means that since the fall of Adam and Eve, Jesus is the first physical appearance or manifestation of the invisible God in human history. However, Jesus himself implies that his mission will reach a fuller fruition and completion at the time of the Second Coming (Rev. 21:1-7). Today, we again await the revealing of the visible God through the Second Coming.

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