Let me say this about the Scriptures. The Scriptures are very mystical. In seven different places in the New Testament it talks about the mystery: [1] the mystery of Israel (Romans 11:25); [2] the mystery of iniquity (II Thessalonians 2:7); [3] the mystery of the Gospel (Ephesians 6:19); [4] the mystery of Christ (Ephesians 3:4); [5] the mystery of faith (I Timothy 3:9); [6] the mystery of godliness (I Timothy 3:16); and [7] the mystery of change (I Corinthians 15:51). The Scriptures are mystical, so if you only see and receive what you read in the Bible naturally, you will miss it. Somehow our spirits have to learn how to reach below the surface and find the mystery that is there. That is important, and it doesn’t come all at once.
Just because you are a Christian doesn’t necessarily mean that you are able to see the mystery in the Scriptures. Just because you have received the Holy Spirit doesn’t mean you have the ability. Jesus on a number of occasions would give a parable and at the end of the parable He said, “To him that has ears to hear, hear what the Spirit is speaking.” He did not even try explaining it to them. In fact, Jesus moves along with His disciples and they say, “Lord, they don’t understand what You are talking about,” and Jesus answered, “They are not supposed to understand it. It is given for you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom, not for them” (Matthew 13:10-11). Why did the Lord Jesus not explain to them the mysteries of the Kingdom? It is a matter of heart. Their hearts were not able to receive. He did explain them to the disciples. For the others He did not. For this people’s heart is waxed gross (made fat), and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed. Matthew 13:15.
Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.
It has to do with the heart. The pure in heart shall see God in the Scriptures. The pure in heart shall see God’s secrets and mysteries in the Scriptures. Receiving forgiveness for your sins does not mean that you have a pure heart. Just because you have been blessed and you have received the Holy Spirit to some measure does not mean that you have a pure heart. I was in a home meeting down in South Carolina many years ago and there was a Pentecostal preacher there. This Pentecostal preacher stepped in when we were talking about the Holy Spirit and said, “The Holy Ghost won’t dwell in an unclean temple.” I was much younger then and I got rather upset. I said, “Wait a minute. You are not teaching that here.” The Holy Ghost won’t dwell in an unclean temple? Of course He will. The temple does not get clean until He gets in there and starts cleaning! If you have to have a pure heart before the Holy Spirit will come in, you won’t ever get it!
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
The heart is desperately wicked! Jeremiah understood that. He is called the weeping prophet because seeing the sinfulness of the people he wept over them. He knew the judgments that were coming and the captivity of Judah in Babylon. He wept over the people. He loved them with all of his heart and yet they treated him harshly.
We want to see what God is really saying in the Scriptures. That requires a pure heart. You say, “Well, I don’t know if my heart is pure yet.” It probably isn’t, not completely, but it is headed in that direction. That is important. As God is purifying your heart, the revelation begins to come and you begin to see things. Lo and behold, the next time something pops out to you and you see it you’ll say, “Wow! I never saw that before! Hey, the Lord just purified my heart a little more. He opened the door so I could see.” It is not with your eyes or your ears. It’s not with your human intellect or the genius of your mind that enables you to know the Lord or the things of the Lord. It is with your heart.
Sometimes we fail to understand that when the Scriptures talk about your heart, it is not talking about that organ in there that pumps the blood. It is talking about your spirit, the very center and core of what you are. That is your spirit. So our heart needs to be purified. You could also say our spirit needs to be purified. It needs to be healed and cleansed. In the Old Testament they would take the hyssop, dip it in the blood, and sprinkle it on the altar and over different things, a sanctifying process. Oh, to have the Holy Spirit with His hyssop, dip it into the blood of Christ and sprinkle our hearts so we can see, hear, and understand and know the Lord. Hyssop our hearts, Lord!
Copyright © 2009 by Henry DuBose