SotM: The Beatitudes Pt. 2

Matthew 5:7-12

"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive 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 others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on My account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in Heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

• Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Honestly, mercy is not my strong suit. When someone has wronged me, the last thing I want to do is say, "It's all good man!" No, the first thing I want to do is say a mama joke or something.

But you know what? In the common realm, retaliation is perfectly justified. Now, don't go nuts; killing someone because they kicked you off the bus and made you cuss is not justified at all. I'm talking about punishment that fits the crime. That's why we carry out the death penalty or even a life sentence of jail time. That person took someone's life, therefore, we take away their life. This is something we naturally believe in. That's why when a kid steals another kid's toy, that kid will usually retaliate by stealing another toy from the first kid! It's instinctual.

However, God calls us to be merciful to others. Why? Well, because it's not natural! It's not something that those in the world do! God calls us to go against the grain and do things that don't make sense to the world so that we can give glory to His name.

Also, He calls us to be merciful because He show us the most mercy anyone could dream of! I'd ask you to imagine someone else sinning against you as much as you have against God, but it's impossible. Sorry. You stink.

Check this out:

Psalm 103:8-12

"The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always chide, nor will He keep His anger forever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the Heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us."

God calls us to love because He first loved us and that includes being merciful to people. After all, "If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you." (Matt. 6:14)

• Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Interesting that I was just pointing to the passage in 1 John where it says to love because He loved us, because right after that, it says, "No on has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us."

I've always thought it was odd how John just threw that in there about no one ever seeing God. And if this is true, then no one has ever been pure in heart! Which...is the point!

Have you ever dieted before? I haven't. But if I ever had, I would imagine that it wouldn't last very long. I have tried to cut down on how much I watch TV though. That never works. I once went three days without drinking a soda!

Humans are incapable of purity. Now, I know people who paleo like Daniel did! But, do you think they never have a thought about how great it would be to go eat some froyo or nutella? Or nutella froyo? (Is that a thing yet? Needs to be. Money money.)

No human, bar Jesus the Nazarene, has ever been completely pure. We know this because no one has ever seen God. No one has ever seen God because He doesn't allow sin into His presence. But one day, we will!!

1 Corinthians 13:12 says, "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall fully, even as I have been fully known."

1 John 3:2,3 says, "Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure."

• Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

So, other translations say, "peacekeepers" instead of "peacemakers."

C'mon. You know you did. You thought of the Hunger Games.

As tempting as it is to draw some kind of illustration from that, I'd rather not. I'll probably say something inaccurate and then get shot down for it. No, thanks.

First, let's think of some times when others (or ourselves) are without peace:
1. Stress situations
2. Times of mourning
3. In our sin
4. When we aren't one with the body of Christ

So how do we make peace? Well, how about Philippians 4:6,7!

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

I don't really see how I could add anything else to that. God says, "You want peace? Tell me your problems. Yeah? Hm-mm? Okay. I got this."

Easy as that.

Check this out:


Romans 8:14 "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God."


Whoa! So, since being led by the Spirit of God makes us sons of God and so does being peacemakers, that means that being led by the Spirit of God is what makes us peacemakers! After all, "the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words!" (Rom. 8:26)


How neat is that! Even at our weakest, in our times of chaos, the Spirit speaks up for us as we make known our requests to God and ultimately, we receive peace that know one can comprehend! That's pretty neat!

• Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

When it says, "for righteousness' sake," it means for the sake of any of the qualities He just got done talking about. They are all qualities of righteousness and those who carry out these qualities will be persecuted.

Notice that those who are persecuted and those who are poor in spirit (v. 2) are both said to receive the kingdom of heaven. Coincidence? I think not.

Like I said in the first part of the beatitudes blog, "It's the people who see their massive shortage in the Spirit and therefore constantly long for it that will receive the kingdom of heaven."


We cannot be any of these happy people Jesus has been talking about unless we are living for the sake of righteousness and that means constantly longing for more of God! It's the only way we will ever obtain happiness. It's the only way we will ever see the kingdom of God or God Himself. It's the only way we will be comforted or satisfied. It's the only way we will ever inherit the earth or be called children of God.

• Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter al kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

I think most people notice right off the bat that Jesus switches gears a little. He says, "Blessed are you when others revile you." 

It's certain! Some of us may never be those who bring peace to people's lives. Some may never find themselves to be very humble in Christ. Not everyone can live out all of these characteristics. I'd venture to say that no one ever will! But one thing is for sure: if you are speaking the Word of God in truth like the prophets did, you WILL be hated for it.


1 Peter 4:14 says, "If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you."


Check this out:


Hebrews 11:24-26
"By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward."


Also, in John's account of the Sermon on the Mount (John 6:23), Jesus says, "rejoice in that day, and leap for joy!" 



So, wait. When we share the Gospel with people and they turn it down, we're supposed to rejoice?

Well. In a sense. It's heartbreaking when someone turns down the love of God and we are definitely supposed to mourn their decision, but what we are rejoicing is that they have seen the power of the Truth!

That may seem a bit of a stretch. But think about this: when someone tries to give you a free sample of something you don't like, you don't get in their face about it and call them ignorant for not knowing that you don't like what they're giving to you! But that's exactly what people are doing when they revile you for proclaiming God's Word. When someone comes at you like that, it's because they feel conviction. Praise God for that! It's the first step to salvation!


All in all, the Beatitudes are a great way for us to see what God wants and expects from us. Jesus wasn't kidding about any of these things. And He wasn't just talking about people who don't exist. He was commanding us to be these people!