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Observe here, 1. Man by nature, since his fall, is afar off from God, not barely by a natural distance as a creature, but also by a moral distance as a sinner; God made man near him, but when man sinned, he departed from him; now we draw nigh to God by conversion, and in all the actings of repentance; there is a first and a second coversion; a first conversion from a sinful state, a second conversion from sinful acts, by both we draw nigh to God; but the drawing nigh to God here principally intended, is by approaching to him in prayer, and in the use of every holy ordinance: and humbling of the soul before God, is a drawing nigh unto him; hence it is that good men delight so much in prayer, and other holy duties; they meet with God in them, and draw near to God by them; and they that meet with God, meet with all delights.
Observe, 2. As the duty required, draw nigh to God, so the encouragement annexed, he will draw nigh to you: God will certainly draw nigh to that Christian, in a way of mercy, who prepareth his heart to approach and draw near to him in a way of duty; the Lord is nigh to all them that call upon him; nigh to comfort, nigh to quicken, nigh to guide, nigh to support.
Mark! to signify to us our deep pollution, and universal pollution; we are called upon both to cleanse and to purify, and that both our hands and our hearts.
Quest. But why is cleansing of the hands set before purifying the heart? Must we sweeten the streams before the fountain?
Ans. It is not unusual in scripture to put that first which is visible first, as calling before election, 2Pe_1:10. And because grace (having once entered the heart) discovers itself by an immediate cleansing of the hands; so that if we would have a holy life, we must get a clean heart.
Learn, 1. That unclean persons can have no communion with God.
2. That they who draw nigh to God, must cleanse their hands; because the sins of our hands do keep us at a distance from God, and God at a distance from us. Commerce with God in an ordinance is one thing, and communion with him is another; a man may have a commerce or trade with an enemy for profit sake, whilst he refuses to hold communion with him in a way of friendship and intimacy of acquaintance.
Learn, 3. That double-minded men have corrupt hearts: double- mindedness is a dividing of the heart between God and something else: whereas God calls for the whole heart, the whole mind, the whole soul, the whole strength.
Learn, 4. That this double-mindedness hinders both our drawing nigh to God, and God's drawing nigh to us; a heart divided between God and the world, between conscience and lust, between religion and self interest, will hinder all intercourse and sweet communion betwixt God and us in the duty of prayer. Cleanse therefore your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.