Blessed Are The Poor In Spirit, For Theirs Is The Kingdom Of Heaven
The Beatitudes
MATHEW 5:1-12
“And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
”Matthew 5:1-12 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/mat.5.1-12.NKJ
V
Jesus’ sermon known as the Beatitudes, sets out a pattern for life that contradicts the worlds.
Living for God means being willing to give when others take, to love when others hate, and to help when others abuse, to give up one’s own rights in order to serve God for the good of others.
The Beatitudes are a code of ethics and a standard of conduct for all believers; they contrast eternal values with temporary values; they contrast the superficial “faith” of the Pharisees with the genuine faith that Christ demands, and they show how the Old Testament expectations will be fulfilled in the New kingdom.
One cannot cherry pick from God’s Word and values by taking what he or she likes and leave the rest, these Beatitudes must be taken as a whole.
Being blessed by God is more than happiness; it implies the enviable state of those in God’s kingdom.
Not promises of worldly pleasure, or earthly prosperity, but rather, being “blessed” by God means to experience the confident hope, joy, and peace that we have in Christ whatever our circumstance.
There is great contrast between the religious church of the Pharisees and the five fold ministry of God.
The old religious church relied on works and religious practices in a hope to please God.
Those religious acts and sacrifices were important in the pre-sacrifice days of Jesus, because they made a way for the high priests to help people pay their debts of sin through sacrifice and plea mercy and forgiveness.
But since Jesus became the Lamb that was slain (REVELATION 13:8), with exception of communion, every religious practice has been put behind us, for Jesus paid it all.
He came into this world through the womb of Mary, “who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Philippians 2:6-11 NKJV
Jesus came to undo the work of the devil, build His Church, and pay the debt of the world with His own blood (JOHN 3:16).
“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.”
I Peter 3:18-22 NKJV
My beloved, Jesus paid it all, and all we need do is believe.
“For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.” But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down from above) or, “ ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.””
Romans 10:5-13 NKJV
But my beloved, “Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.”
Isaiah 53:1-5 NKJV
Today, though God used the old religious church of the Pharisees for the past two thousand years, He is today, systematically dismantling it piece by piece to make way for His church to rise up His way.
That is the revival to come as God reaches out to the people in a last call before He returns with final judgment.
“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”
Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV
Unlike the old religious church of priests and vicars, Christ Church operates through the offices of apostles, prophets, evangelist, pastors, and teachers, of which Christ is the head.
The truth is, if it’s not Jesus five fold ministry, it shall prophet you nothing.
“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”
Ephesians 4:1-6 NKJV
All glory to God forever and ever! Amen.
