The Beatitudes and the Kingdom of God

Context

Declaration of Independence

By the end of Spring of 1775 tensions between the American colonies and its governing authority of Great Britain had escalated. By April, the Revolutionary War had commenced. Yet most didn’t want total independence but relaxed tryanny. All of that changed however over the course of 1775, when the British tried to utter crush the revolution. By July of 1776, the American Colonizers had had enough, and formally declared their independence.

The Preamble:

WHEN in the Course of human Events it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth the separate & equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.

Then move into:

We hold these truths to be self-evident.

All men are created equal.

rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.

Communist Manifesto

By the late 1840s’ Communism had grown to European popularity as. contrast to the wealth and prosperity or European White Collar society. In 1847 the Communist Manifesto was written.

The preamble: Two things result from this fact:

I. Communism is already acknowledged by all European powers to be itself a power.

II. It is high time that Communists should openly, in the face of the whole world, publish their views, their aims, their tendencies, and meet this nursery tale of the Spectre of Communism with a manifesto of the party itself.

To this end, Communists of various nationalities have assembled in London and sketched the following manifesto, to be published in the English, French, German, Italian, Flemish and Danish languages.

But long before the Declaration of Independence, and Communist Manifesto Jesus inaugurated the order of the New Covenant Kingdom by providing its Declaration and its Manifesto: The Beatitudes.

The Kingdom of God

Notice his audience: It was his disciples, but also a larger audience was in attendance. But he was only directing those who would follow Him.

It is a discourse given to further explain his first sermon in Matthe 4:17

Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand.

The word for Preach is like a herald of a monarch. Prepare! Pay Attention. A New King is here, and His kingdom is here.

At hand= urgency. RIGHT NOW.

Already, but not yet. Wherever God’s rule and will would be carried out, God’s Kingdom would be a reality. But not in its complete sense until the end.

His Kingdom = His governance. The rule and authority of God.

Psalm 145:13— it is an everlasting kingdom.

Isaiah 52:7 Your God Reigns!

The Jews knew this would be inaugurated by the Messiah.

Malachi 3:1-4

Zech 9:9-10

Isaiah 9:1-7

But they thought it would be political or militaristic.

The Beatitudes are Jesus initiating His Kingdom, and telling them what it would actually be like!

Blessed be the Poor in Spirit

This beatitude is first because this is where we start with God. On this one Spurgeon once said, “A ladder, if it is to be of any use, must have its first step near the ground, or feeble climbers will never be able to mount.”

This is the first step, because it puts the remaining commands in full perspective. These Kindom commands cannot be fulfilled in our own strength, but only by a desperate dependence on God’s power.

The Poor of this world, tend to be those rich in faith.... but here, it is poor in Spirit. Aware of our own emptiness before God.

The Kingdom is ours when we acknowledge it cant be bought in our own wisdom, strength, or riches.

Blessed are those who Mourn, for they shall be comforted.

The second rung on this ladder is a great complement to the first. When we are aware of our own spiritual poverty, our consequnetial emotion is mourning.

Isaiah woe for I am a man unclean.

Peter— woe for I am undone.

But when we mourn over our spiritual poverty, in God’s Kingdom we will be comforted. Sealed with the Comforter unto everlasting life. Beauty for ashes. Joy for mourning, for we shall see God.

Blessed are the Meek, for they Shall Inherit the Earth.

When we are aware of our spiritual poverty, mourning over our state, it will create a genuine meekness. A lowliness.

This is the yoke of Christ. Matthew 11:29, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly of heart.”

For Christ, when reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered it didn’t threaten, but entrusted his soul to him who judges rightly.” 1 peter 2:19

Meekness means that we do not insert our own rights, and the use of inheritance to his largely Jewish audience would immediately conjur thoughts of the Promised Land. Their inheritance in the Old Coventant for being God’s people… It would be an earthly kingdom, and to attain it they would need to assert their rights on the peoples of the land.

This inheritance though is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. It is of heaven, not just of the heart.h.

Rev. 21:7.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst.

True hunger and true thirst is are keenest and most desperate of appetites, so it is spiritually. Our real need, is right standing with God.

But due to our sin we are enemies of the Cross. By nature children of wrath.

But our soles long for this right standing. To be satisfied or saturated to the full. Fortunately christ says, “To all who thirst come...” He offers living water. We shall be filled.

These first 4 beatitudes show the deep spiritual need we have and what happens when we are aware of it and express it.

Blessed are the Merciful , for they will be shown Mercy.

Psalm 103:8, “The Lord is merciful and gracious!” vs. 11, “For as high as heaven is above the earth, so great is his mercy toward those who fear Him.”

What is Mercy?

Justice is getting what you deserve.

Mercy is not getting what you deserve.

Grace is getting what we don’t deserve.

When we acknowledge the deep grace of the first 4 beatitudes we will become aware of God’s mercy and extend it to others.

Do you find yourself vengeful? Unforgiving? Condescending? Judgemental? Have you encountered the God of Mercy

Blessed are the Pure in Heart, for they Shall See God.

The word pure here is the same word used in OT ritual purity cleansing. Washings that make one clean before they enter the sanctuary of God.

But Jesus is saying blessed is the pure in heart. You can clean the outside of the cup, but what about the inside.

Story of Soufian.

In the OT, if you were unclean. You couldn’t come in. Who can ascend to the hill of the Lord… only those who are clean.

But if we are cleaned by God, we can see Him.

Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they shall be children of God.

Again, our ability to be a peacemaker is solely dependent upon the earlier rungs of this ladder.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

Jesus is the peacemaker. And if we live into His Kingdom, under His rule, we too will live as peacemakers and reflect him as children do their fathers.

So to Conclude:

When we are poor in Spirit, and mourn over our emptines, and embrace the meekness that comes with it, and we truly hunger and thirst for rightsttanding with God, and receive his mercy while giving it away, and live as peacemakers then…

We possess His Kingdom.

We will be Comforted.

We will inherit the earth.

We will be satisfied.

We will receive mercy.

We will see God.

We will be his children.

But the result of living this way. The Kingdom way while on the earth is what?

persecution… When we are persectued for this way of life we once again possess the kingdom, and our reward is Great!