the beatitudes of Christ,
rest from our duties,
the days of creation,
the miracle of the loaves,
the truth of the Gospels,
prayers at Gethsemane,
the veil torn in two,
and His Son to save us from our sins.
In the Gospels, we are given a teaching of Christ in which He described eight different blessings for us. We call them the beatitudes because that means "supreme blessedness" or "exalted happiness".
Matthew 5:1-12 NASB -- The Beatitudes
5 When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. 2 He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying,
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
10 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
There are generally considered to be eight beatitudes. The ones listed in verses 10 and 11 are considered to reference the same thing.
After Benjamin's passing, I would often ask the LORD what verse 4 would look like for me. I asked Him to show me Himself during this comforting so that I would not miss His hand on my life. He was very faithful to do so and I recounted my experience in the blog post entitled The Empty Chair. In short, the LORD's comfort came to me through the hands and feet of His beloved children.
I am not theologically instructed, so I cannot take each beatitude and dissect it to help you (and I) gain understanding. I found a nice in-depth study of the beatitudes here, which gave me better insight on verse 4. Dr. Allan Ross, of the website just linked, summed up the beatitudes as the following:
The sermon begins with the beatitudes. These qualities give a picture of the character of the true people of God, those who are a part of his kingdom and have the full blessings of the kingdom to look forward to. Taken together they give the picture of the perfect disciple of Christ who is the heir of the promises. Jesus does not here tell people how to become like this; that will come in subsequent teachings.When I look at the beatitudes, I see things that are, potentially, difficult to do. For example, verse 7 says to be merciful. Is it easy for you to be constantly merciful? I know it's not for me. I often find myself struggling to show grace and mercy, instead of jumping to wild conclusions. But here, Jesus says, "it's worth it to be merciful because there's a reward for you -- you shall receive mercy."
And looking at the beatitudes, they seem to challenge the children of God to do things that aren't particularly easy. But each time, Jesus says, "this is worth it for you to strive to accomplish." And even now, as I look at them, I feel like there's a *lot* of striving ahead of me! But the promises of Jesus are true. You can rely on them. And He says it's worth it, and I trust that.
Abba Father, thank You for the words of Your Son at the sermon on the mount that included these wonderful beatitudes. Thank You that You promise us that if we strive to overcome the difficult things in our lives, that You not only promise to be there, but You promise that there is a reward for trying so. Thank You, Father, that Your word is always true. Thank You, that we can trust in You. We love You! <3
*Graphic at beginning of page is from the website The Graphics Fairy. All credit for the lovely image belongs to them.
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