Blessed: A Kingdom Without End

Two Kingdoms

Fair/Carnival Games: The Allure

Low Cost for High Reward

It’s never what it seems, and there’s ALWAYS a bigger prize.

The person working the game doesn’t have to convince you that you can win, they only need to convince you that THEY think you can’t.

The allure is not that you have something to gain from playing the game, it’s that you have something to prove.

The truth is, every “game” is designed to for you to lose. Even if you win, you just gave them $10 for a $1 bear and you still lose.

Doesn’t this sound just like the world we live in?

The Bible tells us of a promised world we all desperately are trying to get back to, but it’s not going to come about through schemes and deception, but rather through suffering that brings about redemption.

The Beatitudes

In Matthew 5, Jesus gives a teaching about life. Specifically, life in the Kingdom of Heaven vs life in the kingdom of this world.

2 Notes About This Passage:

First Note: Blessed are the… or in Greek, Makarios

The hearer of His day would have immediately heard this introduction and it would have been like a hyperlink in their minds back to what is known as Wisdom Literature.

Jesus is teaching using a very common teaching structure from the Psalms, Proverbs, and the Prophets. You can think of Psalm 1&2 for just one of dozens of examples.

This is important to know for our interpretation and understanding of what to do with Jesus’ teaching here.

Biblical Wisdom

What is Biblical Wisdom?

Biblical Wisdom: Living a Life with Undivided Trust in God and His Order of All Things.

READ Proverbs 3 Passage

Proverbs 3:5–8 NIV

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.

Second Note: What does Blessed mean?

‘Blessed’ is a misleading translation of makarios, which does not denote one whom God blesses (which would be eulogētos, reflecting Heb. bārûk), but represents the Hebrew ’ašrê, ‘fortunate’, and is used, like ’ašrê, almost entirely in the formal setting of a beatitude. It introduces someone who is to be congratulated, someone whose place in life is an enviable one. ‘Happy’ is better than ‘blessed’, but only if used not of a mental state but of a condition of life. ‘Fortunate’ or ‘well off’ is less ambiguous. It is not a psychological description, but a recommendation.

France, R. T. (1985). Matthew: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 1, p. 114). InterVarsity Press.

I will keep using the word Blessed, but I want you to have the definition “Fortunate” or “Happy/Fulfilled” in your mind as we read these sayings.

READ MATTHEW 5:3-10

Matthew 5:3–10 NIV

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The Kingdom of Heaven

The teaching begins and ends with the phrase: “for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Heaven is where God abides. So, what is the Kingdom of Heaven?

The Garden of Eden

The Tabernacle/ Temple

The New Jerusalem

The Garden

In summary, it’s where it all began.

God created everything and ordered it and called it good. God ruled from this place where Heaven and Earth overlapped.

Everything God placed and ordered in that Garden is Happy/Fulfilled/Fortunate

God made everything to live in His presence but very soon we would see both humanity and even spiritual beings choosing to be divided in their trust of God. They became unwise.

God doesn’t destroy humanity, rather He lets them know He’s going to redeem them.

The next time we are going to see humanity living in the Kingdom of Heaven is the Tabernacle/The Temple.

The Tabernacle/Temple

Both the Tabernacle and the Temple had Garden imagery. It was a replica or a stand in for Eden.

God gives the priests a means or a concession if you will for Israel to live encamped around the place where God’s Presence stood. A pillar of cloud by day and a fire by night.

Ritual purity was not about appeasing God, but rather approaching God as He is. God is holy, therefore be holy.

Take a look at Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.

This is a picture God seated on His throne and His people drawing near. Think of Psalm 27 or Songs of Ascent. Pure in heart wasn’t someone who was innocent necessarily. It was someone who wasn’t divided in their loyalty. Pure gold is gold that has no filler. It is solid gold and nothing else. Pure.

Even with this concession, even with a way to live in His presence in our divided state, the people of God turned from Him!

What about Jesus, God the Son walking with humanity? Good point! John 1 tells us that He was the Word and the Word became flesh and “dwelt” among us. That word dwelt literally means tabernacled among us.

Jesus was the embodiment of the Kingdom of Heaven.

This leads us to where we are now and have been since Jesus resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit.

The New Jerusalem

HOW DOES ALL OF THIS COME FROM 7 VERSES???

For Jesus’ audience, they were expecting a Messiah who would restore God’s order on the Earth.

The Messiah they were looking for would be a Servant (poor in spirit/meek)(Isaiah 53:2-3) a Comforter (Isaiah 61:2), He would suffer and be vindicated (Isaiah 53) and He would restore peace to the Earth.

Jesus became all of these teachings so that we may be invited into the Kingdom of Heaven.

It was His example of these things that brought about His persecution yet through His way our way was made.

READ Isaiah 53:10-12:

Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,

and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,

he will see his offspring and prolong his days,

and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

11 After he has suffered,

he will see the light of life and be satisfied;

by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,

and he will bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, n

and he will divide the spoils with the strong,

because he poured out his life unto death,

and was numbered with the transgressors.

For he bore the sin of many,

and made intercession for the transgressors.

The New International Version (Is 53:10–12). (2011). Zondervan.

Right now, it is by grace through faith in Jesus that you and I have been invited into the Kingdom of Heaven. The Holy Spirit indwells all who surrender their lives into His Kingdom, and for now in this life we may know suffering, but our hope is not in this life or this Kingdom, but in the One that is and is coming.

We join with the crowds on that hillside today when we draw near to God, listening to His teaching, expecting His Messiah to come.

We are expecting the New Jerusalem.

A Kingdom Without End

I want you to think back to where we started with the carnival games. Which Kingdom are you partnering with today?

Let’s make it more real, for us, our oversized prize looks like selfish ambition, it looks like nice cars and big trucks, it looks like cheating on our spouse, it looks like partying, it looks like living for what feels good right now, but we all know when we can’t afford the payments on those cars, when we get caught in the affair, when the partying turns into addiction, we lose way more than we ever imagined.

Jesus would go on in this same teaching and conclude with this: The wise person builds their house upon the Rock (That is, The Kingdom of Heaven) while the foolish person builds their house upon the sand (The kingdom of this world). Jesus tells that winds and rain come against both houses, but the one built on the sand falls and falls hard.

Partnering with the Kingdom of this world isn’t bad, it’s deadly. The sin in the Garden of Eden was wanting to define good and evil for themselves. They wanted to bring a list of improvements to God’s ordered world.

According to this teaching, are you living wise or is your heart divided? Be honest with yourself before God, what is your “house” built on?

I urge you today if you’re listening and your heart is pierced then listen to this Good News (Colossians 1:13):

The New International Version Chapter 1

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Invitation to receive Jesus

Invitation to walk in Light

Do you feel your faith? What kind of opposition are you facing right now BECAUSE of your faith in Jesus?

We need our homes being built by some “wise” people. We need “wise” medical professionals. We need “wise” teachers. We need “wise” parents. The world begins to grow in anticipation as the people of God live as the light of the world.

Is your life as a follower of Jesus marked by your anticipation of His return?

READ Isaiah 9:6-7

The New International Version Chapter 9

6 For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7 Of the greatness of his government and peace

there will be no end.

Pray and Dismiss