Tilling and Planting

Tag: Mercy

  • Atonement for Sin

    Atonement for Sin

    Intro

    We’re at the end! Kind of. Today I’ll be discussing the final Jewish feast that God instituted in the Old Testament. However, I’m aware of a couple of other really well known holidays not instituted by God that I intend to discuss in upcoming posts. So while we’ve reached the end of the Divinely established holidays, the series of Jewish holidays isn’t quite at its end. But getting back to today’s topic, the holiday I’m analyzing today is known as the Day of Atonement – or Yom Kippur. The Day of Atonement is the most holy and solemn day on the Jewish calendar. However, it is also one of the most powerful references to Jesus in all the Jewish feasts. Buckle up, this is going to be fun.

    What is it?

    As I mentioned, the Day of Atonement is the most holy day on the Jewish calendar. This day ends a 10 day period of introspection and repentance by the Jewish people that started with the Feast of Trumpets. On this day, the High Priest makes atonement for all the sins of the entire nation of Israel. That’s a heavy burden. Before diving into the foreshadowing, let’s take a deeper dive at how God ordained this day and how it has evolved.

    As God Ordained

    The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they approached the Lord. 2 The Lord said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die. For I will appear in the cloud over the atonement cover.

    3 “This is how Aaron is to enter the Most Holy Place: He must first bring a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. 4 He is to put on the sacred linen tunic, with linen undergarments next to his body; he is to tie the linen sash around him and put on the linen turban. These are sacred garments; so he must bathe himself with water before he puts them on. 5 From the Israelite community he is to take two male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.

    6 “Aaron is to offer the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household. 7 Then he is to take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 8 He is to cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat. 9 Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the Lord and sacrifice it for a sin offering. 10 But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used for making atonement by sending it into the wilderness as a scapegoat.

    11 “Aaron shall bring the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household, and he is to slaughter the bull for his own sin offering. 12 He is to take a censer full of burning coals from the altar before the Lord and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense and take them behind the curtain. 13 He is to put the incense on the fire before the Lord, and the smoke of the incense will conceal the atonement cover above the tablets of the covenant law, so that he will not die. 14 He is to take some of the bull’s blood and with his finger sprinkle it on the front of the atonement cover; then he shall sprinkle some of it with his finger seven times before the atonement cover.

    15 “He shall then slaughter the goat for the sin offering for the people and take its blood behind the curtain and do with it as he did with the bull’s blood: He shall sprinkle it on the atonement cover and in front of it. 16 In this way he will make atonement for the Most Holy Place because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites, whatever their sins have been. He is to do the same for the tent of meeting, which is among them in the midst of their uncleanness. 17 No one is to be in the tent of meeting from the time Aaron goes in to make atonement in the Most Holy Place until he comes out, having made atonement for himself, his household and the whole community of Israel.

    18 “Then he shall come out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it. He shall take some of the bull’s blood and some of the goat’s blood and put it on all the horns of the altar. 19 He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times to cleanse it and to consecrate it from the uncleanness of the Israelites.

    20 “When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat. 21 He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task. 22 The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness.

    23 “Then Aaron is to go into the tent of meeting and take off the linen garments he put on before he entered the Most Holy Place, and he is to leave them there. 24 He shall bathe himself with water in the sanctuary area and put on his regular garments. Then he shall come out and sacrifice the burnt offering for himself and the burnt offering for the people, to make atonement for himself and for the people. 25 He shall also burn the fat of the sin offering on the altar.

    26 “The man who releases the goat as a scapegoat must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water; afterward he may come into the camp. 27 The bull and the goat for the sin offerings, whose blood was brought into the Most Holy Place to make atonement, must be taken outside the camp; their hides, flesh and intestines are to be burned up. 28 The man who burns them must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water; afterward he may come into the camp.

    29 “This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work—whether native-born or a foreigner residing among you— 30 because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins. 31 It is a day of sabbath rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance. 32 The priest who is anointed and ordained to succeed his father as high priest is to make atonement. He is to put on the sacred linen garments 33 and make atonement for the Most Holy Place, for the tent of meeting and the altar, and for the priests and all the members of the community.

    34 “This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: Atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of the Israelites.”

    And it was done, as the Lord commanded Moses.

    Leviticus 16 (NIV)

    Hoo boy. The instructions for this holiday come immediately after the deaths of two of Aaron’s sons who tried to offer incense in a manner that they weren’t supposed to. And the instructions takes an entire chapter to describe! In addition, there’s a little snippet in Leviticus 23 to give a few more instructions specifically for the people.

    26 The Lord said to Moses, 27 “The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves, and present a food offering to the Lord. 28 Do not do any work on that day, because it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the Lord your God. 29 Those who do not deny themselves on that day must be cut off from their people. 30 I will destroy from among their people anyone who does any work on that day. 31 You shall do no work at all. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live. 32 It is a day of sabbath rest for you, and you must deny yourselves. From the evening of the ninth day of the month until the following evening you are to observe your sabbath.”

    Leviticus 23:26-32 (NIV)

    This was a day of enormous magnitude. For on this day the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies (the only time he could) and offered atonement for the sins of the entire nation. And if he didn’t do things just right, he would be struck dead. No pressure. Can you see why this became the most holy and solemn day of the year for the Jewish people?

    Perhaps the most interesting part about these instructions is the two goats. One to serve as the sin offering for the nation and the other to serve as the scapegoat and be released into the wilderness – where it would die. I’ll discuss these goats more throughout the different sections, so keep them in mind.

    As Observed

    Over the years, the Jews developed different observances for this day. As well as some additional beliefs that aren’t outlined in Scripture. One such belief is that on this day, the Book of Life is opened, names written in it and then sealed again until next year. God never said that.

    Second, at some point, the man responsible for leading the scapegoat out into the wilderness started leading the goat up to a cliff and pushing it off. Again, God did not command this. In fact, He specifically states to release the goat into the wild – to die, yes, but not by the hands of the Israelites. I believe this is meant to symbolize that God takes care of the sins of the people. I imagine that at some point, however, people started wondering (and worrying) what it might mean if the scapegoat came back into the camp. So they figured they’d make sure it never did. I can see the logic there, but it is at the expense of obedience to the Lord. We’re not much different today.

    Another unusual custom was the tying of a scarlet ribbon around the scapegoat and a matching one in the temple. The idea being that when God accepted the sacrifices and the scapegoat offering, the ribbon in the temple turned white. This might be the strangest belief of them all. Some blending of mysticism with Judaism.

    In more modern times, we see such practices as increased charitable giving. Weeks of introspection and repentance. Asking God and others for forgiveness, and forgiving others. Praying special prayers, giving food to others, having special meals, giving special blessings, etc. There’s quite a bit. After Yom Kippur is over, there’s also a lot of celebration with even more joy than the observances leading up to it.

    Where is Jesus?

    I mentioned that this holiday foreshadows Jesus more powerfully than many of the others – and that’s saying something! And like the Feast of Tabernacles, the Day of Atonement contains elements of Jesus’ First and Second Comings. Take a look.

    First Coming

    First of all, the obvious. Hebrews makes the case that Jesus is our High Priest. But in addition to being our High Priest, He also serves as the blood sacrifice (Hebrews 9:7-14). So not only does Jesus fulfill the High Priestly role found in the Day of Atonement, He also fulfills the twin roles of the bull offering and the goat offering – both of which were sin offerings.

    Another piece is the Mercy Seat. The High Priest had to sprinkle the blood on the Mercy Seat. God – through Jesus – offered Mercy to all mankind. Furthermore, the word for Mercy Seat in Leviticus means “propitiation”, and the New Testament says in multiple places that Jesus is the propitiation for our sins (translated in some English Bibles as “atoning sacrifice”) – see 1 John 4:10 and 1 John 2:2.

    Lastly, Jesus fulfilled the scapegoat requirement as well since God placed all of mankind’s sin upon Jesus and He took them away forever!

    Second Coming

    I don’t have a whole lot to say about this. The biggest things to note is that Yom Kippur points to a future redemption of all of Israel. And this won’t happen until Jesus comes back. The Jews also associate the Day of Atonement with judgment – which points to the great and terrible Day of the Lord at the Second Coming.

    Another interesting connection comes from the word translated as “scapegoat”. The Hebrew word used here is Azazel. This word is also associated with the devil. Which points to the final judgment of the devil himself.

    The Scarlet Ribbon

    Remember the scarlet ribbon I referenced earlier? The mystic-type belief that when God accepted the sacrifices the one tied around a door handle in the temple turned white? Even though God did not give this instruction to the people, it seems like there was something to it. Ancient literature gives accounts of this actually happening during the Second Temple period. I’d be more skeptical of the whole ordeal if not for the fact that all of a sudden, the literature records the color change ceasing. You read that right, they say it just stopped for the last 40ish years before the destruction of the Second Temple. What happened 40ish years prior to the temple’s destruction? The Crucifixion.

    While I’m not totally on board with the miraculous color turning of the ribbon, I have to admit that the timing of it ending makes sense. With the death of Jesus, God stopped accepting animal sacrifices for sin.

    I don’t know the truth behind this, but I’m not going to rule out anything here. God may have honored the ribbon for His own reasons – if only to use it as another pointer to Jesus’.

    Wrapping Up

    And there we go. All seven God-ordained Jewish holidays wrapped up. For this last one, I wish for you to remember the seriousness of sin, the holiness of God, the sacrifice of Jesus, and the coming hope of His return.

    Next time I’m going to give a summary outline of all seven festivals and how they point to Jesus. After that, I’ll move to one of the two well-known holidays that God did not ordain – but make an appearance in the Bible. Stay tuned!

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!

  • Sin: What’s the Big Deal?

    Sin: What’s the Big Deal?

    Intro

    Everyone knows what the church preaches against. Sin. Traditional churches especially have this reputation of talking more about the “don’ts” of the Bible than anything else. They make sin out to be this really big deal. And you know something, they’re right. It is a big deal. And while I don’t think the church should be known more for what it’s against than what it’s for, we also need to remind people that sin is sin and it really is a big deal to God.

    That being said, we probably need a good definition of what sin is and why it’s such a big deal.

    Sin Defined

    To understand why sin is such a big deal, we first need to have a good, working definition of sin. People will frivolously throw out a really simple, basic definition of “whatever the Bible says don’t do” or “bad things you’ve done” or “anything that displeases God” or even “disobeying the laws of the land”. And while these are all technically true, they still don’t tell you much. After all, what defines “bad things”? And different countries have different laws that might actually contradict each other, so that’s a problem. And how do you know what “displeases God”? Ultimately, we need to come back to the Bible’s definition of sin. So that’s where we’ll start.

    The Biblical Definition

    There are a couple of good passages that define sin as rebellion against God (see Deuteronomy 9:7) and lawlessness.

    Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.

    1 John 3:4

    So, sin is equivalent to lawlessness. What is lawlessness? Lawlessness is continually breaking the law without any regard for it. However, this begs the question, who’s law? The answer is God’s law. For the Jews that meant the Mosaic law. And while we as Christians do not need to follow all the religious laws (the purity rituals and sacrifices to name a couple), there are plenty of moral laws found in the Mosaic law that we are still to follow, such as the Ten Commandments.

    So, yes, the definition of “whatever the Bible defines as sin” is true. But it’s a matter of knowing where to look. The letters of Paul are really good for calling out different kinds of sin and showing what parts of the Mosaic law are not necessary for the Christian. In addition, the Sermon on the Mount also contains teachings on the standard of living God calls us to (Matthew 5-7 can also read my posts all about these chapters here).

    To dig a little bit deeper, the Greek word for sin is “harmatia” and means “to miss the mark”, that mark being perfection. So, sin is breaking God’s law and not reaching His standards of perfection. That’s a pretty tall order. And in a later section I’ll discuss just how serious sin is in God’s eyes. But first – to clear up any potential confusion that might be out there – I want to address a couple of synonyms the Bible uses for sin and how they are similar, while also being distinct.

    Some Other Words

    The Bible doesn’t just use the word “sin” when talking about sin. You’ll also see words like “trespass”, “transgress”, and “iniquity” – along with different forms of these words. So to provide a bit of clarity, trespass and transgress are equivalent in their meaning. I think most of us know what it means to trespass (hint: ever see a “No Trespassing” sign?) and to transgress means the same thing. They’re crossing a boundary you are not supposed to cross. Iniquity is making a premeditated choice to sin and then continue in that sin without repentance. For this one you can think of a serial killer. Just over and over choosing to commit the same sin (murder in this case) without remorse and without repentance.

    Different for Different People

    Now all this is great, but doesn’t constitute a list of all possible sins. And it’s not supposed to. My intention is not to tell you what all possible sins are. Because frankly, that’s not possible for me to do (especially in a roughly 2,000 word blog!). I already mentioned the letters of Paul are really good for these since he constantly had to deal with sin in the Church. And to make it more interesting, James and Paul both have some fascinating things to say about what constitutes sin. And spoiler alert, it can be different for different people.

    If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

    James 4:17

    In this passage, James challenges believers that if they know they should be doing something good, and they don’t do it, then it is sin for them. I want to point out the phrase “sin for them”. This means that James is not talking about blanket “do good deeds” for all people. He’s referring to specific deeds that Christians feel called to do. He’s saying if God tells you (specifically you) to do this good deed, and you do not do it, that is sin. Because that is in direct disobedience to what God has told you to do. This passage comes at the tail end of rebuking people for arrogantly going about doing things without consulting the Lord and trying to live life on their own terms. James also calls this out as wrong. Now let’s turn to Paul’s statement in Romans.

    Eating Food?

    Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.

    One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.

    Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died.

    Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.

    So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.

    Romans 14:1-2, 5-6, 13-15, 20-23

    Okay, there’s a lot to unpack here. First off, Paul is addressing Jewish believers who say that because of Christ, there is no unclean food and they can eat it all. And even Paul says that he is of that mindset. However, there were Jewish believers who still believed that they couldn’t (shouldn’t) eat unclean foods. And Paul tells those who are okay with eating anything that they should not condemn or judge those who refuse to eat them. Everyone is in a different place and Paul tells those that are okay with it that it would be sinful for those who aren’t to eat unclean food while they still struggle with the idea of eating it. Notice that it’s not sinful for those who think it’s okay, just for those who think it’s not okay.

    For us today, that would be like Christians drinking alcohol. Is it sinful? That depends on who you ask. I know plenty of Christians who have no problem with drinking a beer every now and again. They don’t get drunk, because the Bible explicitly calls that out as sinful. However, there are also Christians (myself included) who won’t touch it at all because for them it would be wrong.

    Notice what is wrong for those who are okay with it. I already referenced the judging and condemning – which are wrong – but Paul also says that being a stumbling block is wrong. To be a stumbling block would be to cause another believer to sin. In Paul’s day that would be pressuring others to eat unclean food, for today it would be pressuring someone into trying a beer when they are convicted that they shouldn’t.

    From Faith

    Paul also says that anything not done from faith is sin. What does that mean? Well without faith it is impossible to please God. And I’ve already defined sin as anything that breaks God’s law – which displeases him. So breaking God’s law is equivalent to doing anything not done from faith.

    Oof. That was a lot. Now let’s turn to the seriousness of sin and why it’s such a big deal.

    Seriousness of Sin

    So now that I’ve defined sin, what’s the big deal? Let me go back to my statement that sin breaks God’s law. As well as my statement that sin is missing the mark of perfection. Why is that a problem? Well, the only way to be in God’s presence is to be perfect. Sin cannot enter His presence. In fact, Jesus commands us to “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48 NIV).

    Okay, so sin is big deal because we can’t live with God for all of eternity because of it. Well, yes, but it’s goes further in that we can’t even have a relationship with God because of sin. The Bible indicates that sin creates a barrier between God and humans (Isaiah 59:2). It’s kind of like when someone you trust lies to you and breaks that trust. It damages the relationship and can be difficult to mend it again. In a similar way, the sin of Adam and Eve broke the relationship between God and mankind. And all mankind has inherited that tendency toward sin ever since. Consequently, our sin dooms us to Hell and the Lake of Fire for all of eternity – totally separated from God. It’s pretty messed up. So what can be done?

    The Solution

    Hebrews 9:22 says that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness”. That’s why the animal sacrifices were instituted in the Old Testament. The shedding of the blood of animals temporarily covered and forgave the people’s sin. It was a brutal, bloody, way to receive forgiveness, but it was what God required of them. However, if you read through the entirety of Hebrews 9, you’ll see that while those could cover the sin temporarily, it could do nothing for the guilty conscience or give people the strength to overcome their natural tendencies to sin. And God knew that. That’s why the entire Old Testament points to a newer and better covenant where God would totally forgive all sins and cleanse people’s hearts and minds of sin.

    The Old Covenant was sealed in blood sacrifices. A lot of them. The New Covenant was also sealed in a blood sacrifice. Notice I made that singular? Because only one was needed. Because the one who sacrificed Himself was Jesus Christ – God in the flesh. Jesus never sinned and never inherited the sinful nature from Adam. Therefore, He had no sin of His own to die for. God actually took all the sins of all the people for all time (past, present, and future) and laid them upon Jesus when He hung on the cross. And Jesus bore the sins and then bore the wrath of God so that you and I don’t have to experience God’s judgment upon our sin (I cover this more in one of my Easter Posts).

    How Serious?

    So how serious is sin to God? Serious enough to send His only Son, Jesus, down to die the most brutal type of death found in human history and bear the weight of all sins from all time and bear the entirety of God’s wrath and judgment upon sin – all so you and I can have a relationship with God. Wow. That’s intense. So, yes, sin is a very big deal to God. However, if you are saved and have a relationship with Him, He no longer sees your sin, He sees the righteousness of Jesus which covers your sin. Now that’s incredible. God transferred your sin to Jesus, in order to transfer Jesus’ righteousness to you.

    Wrapping Up

    I hope this post gave you a bit of clarity when it comes to sin and what it is. As well as why God sees it as such a big deal. God longs for us to be in relationship with Him and He fought for us to be able to have the opportunity to be in right standing with Him. And He still fights for us today. Let us praise and worship our God who loves us so unconditionally even when we mess up. All He asks is for us to come to Him and repent and He will restore our relationship with Him.

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!

  • Beatitudes of Jesus

    Beatitudes of Jesus

    Intro

    When I say “The Beatitudes”, I think you all know what I’m talking about. They are the opening statements of Jesus’ most famous sermon, the Sermon on the Mount. They have been immortalized in so many different ways that I couldn’t count them if I tried. The number of sermons preached about them and in so many different ways is only known by God. Even in our culture that wants nothing to do with God, a few of these can still be found in some form. And yet, despite all this, many people don’t fully understand what Jesus was telling the people of His day – much less what He’s telling us today. And as my pattern has been for all my posts, I aim to bridge the gap between knowing about Biblical truths and understanding Biblical truths.

    Just to give you a heads up, this post is the opening to a series of posts on the Sermon on the Mount. Stay tuned! There’s going to be quite a few, so subscribe if you haven’t so you don’t miss a single one (it’s free!).

    The Beatitudes

    First of all, some review. What exactly are the Beatitudes? They were a series of blessings that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 5 – the opening to His Sermon on the Mount I referenced. Jesus gives these as a roadmap to living a God-pleasing life. They are also promises of values that lead to prosperity and salvation. By following the principles laid out in the Beatitudes, Christians can live a life pleasing to God and positively impact the world around them.

    However, it is worth noting that many of these would have shocked Jesus’ listeners as they go against what they had been taught in Synagogue. One person I read describes them as “laser-guided bombs” and “grenades”. Which is pretty heavy stuff. As I go through, I’ll point out any I can find that differ from what the culture expected.

    Oh, by the way, I’ll be posting snippets of the passages as I go, but if you want to follow along with the entire thing, here’s a link to the whole passage: Matthew 5:1-12. All of these will be in the NIV.

    The Poor in Spirit

    Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (V3)

    I mentioned that when Jesus spoke these, they were not what His listeners expected. Here’s a great example of one. The Jews believed that because they were descendants of Abraham, they had the Kingdom of God. But Jesus didn’t say that. He also didn’t say Jews or Pharisees, or even good, moral people. He said the poor in spirit, that’s who inherits the Kingdom of God.

    And just what does it mean to be “poor in spirit”? It means humility. Specifically people who admit their fragile nature and choose to lean on God and let Him change their lives. It’s those who recognize that they have a spiritual need that the law – or their own good deeds – cannot fulfill and cannot save. When you humble yourself before God and admit your need for Him, you will see His Kingdom manifest in and through your life.

    The Mourning

    Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. (V4)

    The mourning described here isn’t necessarily a grieving over someone (or something) you’ve lost. The type of mourning Jesus describes here is a mourning over sin. God promises His people in the Old Testament that anyone who mourns over the sins of Israel will be comforted. I think Jesus echoes that here, but for those of us Gentiles (and in light of the new covenant), Jesus is also calling out those who mourn over their own sinful state.

    But it can also be applied to those who mourn for other people in our lives. That kind of mourning leads to us reaching out to others to provide encouragement. Or even to bring witness to them about the love of God.

    I don’t think this one shocked the listeners so much – just because of the Old Testament parallels.

    The Meek

    Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. (V5)

    All too often people associate meekness with weakness. But that’s just not the case. I actually covered this definition in my post on the Fruit of the Spirit. Here’s what I had to say about meekness there.

    When applied to wild animals, the Greek word actually means “tame”. In other words, the wild animal has not lost any strength. But it knows how to control it and when to use that strength….And we must be like that. Humble, knowing our strength, but not lording it over people.

    Those who choose to be meek and submit to God’s will can expect peace and tranquility in the next life when the earth is remade.

    I could see some people being shocked by this one. After all, the religious leaders tended to lord their authority over the common people. And that’s nothing compared to how the Romans lorded their authority and strength over the conquered people. Furthermore, the people at this time were looking for a conquering Messiah to rescue them from oppression. So the idea of being meek and inheriting the earth likely sounded foreign to many of those listening.

    The Hungry

    Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (V6)

    In our next of the Beatitudes, we have the people who hunger and thirst after righteousness. These people long for virtue in their lives. They recognize that they have no righteousness of their own and need to rely on God’s righteousness. People who hunger after this rely on God’s righteousness for salvation, for transformation, etc.

    Pharisees and other religious leaders likely felt stung by this one. Jesus tells them here that their self-proclaimed-righteousness does not make them blessed.

    The Merciful

    Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. (V7)

    Luke writes that we must “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). Jesus tells us by showing mercy to others, we ourselves will be shown mercy. Mercy from others and mercy from God Himself. How do you show mercy? By caring and acting for the good of others, especially when they don’t deserve it nor can repay it. After all, God in His mercy sent His Son to die for our sins. How can we repay such an act? And if we are to be merciful as He is, then we should perform acts of service towards others when they can’t repay us.

    Taking it a step deeper, this includes forgiving others even when they aren’t sorry for whatever they did to you. And I think this is one of the things that would have made it difficult for those listening to Jesus to accept this statement. After all, the Law of Moses allowed for retribution in different ways – depending on the offense. This will actually come up in a later post, Jesus addresses this more directly later on in the Sermon on the Mount.

    The Pure in Heart

    Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. (V8)

    The pure in heart. First thing to say about this is that it does not mean free of all wrong thinking or sin. Which is good, because otherwise this blessing would be next to impossible to receive. Rather to be pure of heart means you are free of selfish purposes and self-seeking motivations. It means your heart is undivided, you’re going after one thing and one thing alone. And when you are free of selfish ambitions and are in genuine pursuit of God, you will find Him. And He will cleanse your heart and will fashion His righteousness and character in you.

    It’s pretty easy to have a divided heart. Just look at all the stuff around us to distract us. All in pursuit of “The American Dream”, whatever that is. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day certainly had divided hearts. They loved attention, wealth, power, etc. And they desired to be perfect in the Law and obtain salvation to be with God forever. I imagine there might have been some who felt like Jesus targeted them with this one. Some might have even felt a tug of conviction on their hearts.

    The Peacemakers

    Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. (V9)

    I like this one a lot. Mostly because I feel like I am one of these peacemakers. As a kid/teenager, I mediated arguments and debates between my sister and her friend. It seemed all my sisters would come to me to vent any frustrations they had with any of the other sisters. And that continued for a long time. And I’ve taken different types of personality tests, and if any of the defined ones included something about striving for peace and harmony or had the label “Peacemaker”, I always got it at the top. Never failed. I always seek to live a peaceful life. Peace between me and everyone around me. And I want others to live in that as well, so I’ll do what I can to help others achieve that. And this is what Jesus is talking about here.

    However, in order to do this we need to cultivate peace within ourselves. We can’t give to others what we do not possess. And this has been an up and down in my life. I don’t always have the peace I need and desire in my life. But I continue to strive for it and pray for more of God’s peace in my life.

    The other thing that falls in this one is sharing the truth of God’s peace and love with other people so they can achieve peace in their own lives. And peace does not mean perfect lives with no conflicts, but it does come with it a sense of “Everything will be okay” as God spoke to me.

    Jesus’ use of the phrase “children of God” likely caused a stir. After all, as children of Abraham they’re also children of God. Right? Not according to Jesus.

    And now we turn to the last of the Beatitudes.

    The Persecuted

    Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (V10-12)

    The last of the Beatitudes is one of the hardest to swallow. After all no one wants to be persecuted, right? No one wants people jeering them or hating them simply because of their beliefs. But Jesus promised that we would face persecution in this world. He never said it would be easy, in fact He said the opposite multiple times (John 15:20-21; John 16:33). Of all the Beatitudes, this one probably makes the least sense in terms of being blessed. But rest assured that in the end, we will receive great reward for enduring such persecutions. And in the short term, the Spirit of God remains with us and draws us closer to Him in those moments of trial. That’s a blessing in and of itself. Praise God!

    And for the Jews, persecution was normal from the Romans. So this one for sure would have stung. As I said, it makes no sense that there could be blessing in persecution. And then His statement that it would be on His account. Not because of being Jewish, but because of being followers of Jesus. That’s radical, unless of course you intend to revolt against the social norms. Which is precisely what Jesus did. And what He expects us to do. Don’t follow society, follow Jesus. Expect ridicule and other forms of persecution, but hold steady. You are and will be blessed.

    And that’s the Beatitudes in a nutshell. Peace be upon you all and stay tuned for my next post on the Sermon on the Mount.

    Wrapping Up

    By taking to heart all that Jesus said here in these Beatitudes, we can find peace, comfort, and a practical guide on what Jesus looks for in His followers. I hope that you all will seek after God and submit to Him that way you can see all these things manifest in your own life. God bless!

    Outro

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