The Beatitudes in the Old and New Testaments

The Beatitudes in the Old and New Testaments

Copyright 2015, 2019 Zion S. Kwok

Published by Zion S. Kwok at Smashwords

Cover Photo: Yellow Tulips and Sky by Petr Kratochvil is in the Public Domain.

Quotations from the World English Bible (WEB) are in the Public Domain.

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Understanding the Beatitudes

Chapter 3: Poor in Spirit

Chapter 4: Mourn

Chapter 5: Gentle and Meek

Chapter 6: Hunger and Thirst after Righteousness

Chapter 7: Merciful

Chapter 8: Pure in Heart

Chapter 9: Peacemakers

Chapter 10: Persecution (1)

Chapter 11: Persecution (2)

Chapter 12: Persecution (3)

Chapter 13: An Outline of Jesus’ Life

Chapter 14: Hope in the Midst of Suffering

Chapter 1: Introduction

Jesus Christ was a great teacher. He taught the poor and uneducated, while astonishing the wise and learned. He taught the Golden Rule, to do unto others as you would have them do unto you, as well as parables about the Kingdom of Heaven. Perhaps His most famous teaching is the Sermon on the Mount. It begins like this:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

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

Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

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

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

Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are you when people reproach you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

These teachings are special, because they assign value and blessedness to characteristics we often consider weak. Instead of the strong and powerful being blessed, it is those who are in great need. This was a major theme in Jesus’ message: that we need God. Indeed, none of these statements would make sense in the real world if God were not in the picture.

Overview of the Beatitudes

Let us look at these eight blessings, or beatitudes, as a group. Two key ideas that are mentioned more than once are righteousness and the Kingdom of Heaven. These remind us of Jesus’ words:

Matthew 6:33 But seek first God’s Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well.

When we consider the beatitudes in pairs, we see the following: to be poor in spirit and to mourn are to realize our needy condition; to be meek and to hunger and thirst after righteousness are to be dependent on God; to be merciful and pure in heart are to have a heart for men and for God; to be peacemakers and persecuted for righteousness’ sake are to work for men and for God. And the result in every case is to receive something from God.

We can also see that the first four beatitudes speak of a sense of need that leads us to seek God’s Kingdom and His righteousness, while the last four beatitudes speak of living out this righteousness because we belong to God’s Kingdom. But the main message of the beatitudes seems to be hope in the midst of suffering. You may have a difficult life now, but if you trust in God and live for righteousness, He will bring you into His Heavenly Kingdom to spend all of eternity with Him.

One Essential Quality

Besides teaching these qualities, Jesus also role modeled them. There is one quality that especially characterized Jesus’ life. Jesus said:

Matthew 11:28 Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Humility is the key to being poor in spirit. It is the vulnerable ones who mourn. The humble are gentle and meek. They may hunger and thirst. People who fear God will be pure in heart. The humble will be merciful to others, as they too depend on the mercy of others. They would rather see peace and not war. And the humble may be persecuted and insulted. So the humility we see modeled in Jesus’ life is required to live out the beatitudes. Consider these words:

Matthew 18:1 In that hour the disciples came to Jesus, saying, Who then is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven? 2 Jesus called a little child to himself, and set him in the middle of them, 3 and said, Most certainly I tell you, unless you turn, and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. 4 Whoever therefore humbles himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Without humility, you cannot even enter the Kingdom of Heaven! If you are outside the Kingdom of Heaven, you are lost and you will not experience even one of the blessings of the beatitudes. This is awful. But if you humble yourself like a little child, then you will be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. God desires to show mercy to those who are in need, who are humble, and who fear Him. Oh, that you would experience the blessings of the humble!

Matthew 9:13 But you go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

James 4:6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

Psalm 103:13 Like a father has compassion on his children, so Yahweh has compassion on those who fear him.

Psalm 103:17 But Yahweh’s loving kindness is from everlasting to everlasting with those who fear him, his righteousness to children’s children;

Note that a psalm is a poem that is set to music and Yahweh is one of God’s names in the Hebrew language.

Overview of the Book

Having taken a brief look at the beatitudes, we will delve deeper into its truths in the subsequent chapters. God has graciously provided examples in the Bible that we can learn from. And when we look for practical examples in the Old Testament portion of the Bible, we find stories of real people that follow a chronological sequence through Biblical history.

In particular, Adam and Eve were poor in spirit when they were first created. They didn’t even have clothes on their back! But they were given dominion over the earth. Lamech named his son Noah, because he would comfort them. While Lamech mourned his hard labour of farming on cursed ground, God also mourned the sins that multiplied on the earth. Abraham and Isaac were gentle and meek, and God promised them the land of Canaan. Moses and the Israelites hungered and thirsted in the wilderness, and they were given God’s commandments, which embody righteousness. Rahab and Ruth showed mercy, and also obtained mercy. Samuel had a pure heart in a day when the priests were impure and visions were rare, and then God appeared to him. Solomon was a man of peace, and he was called God’s son. And prophets too numerous to mention here were persecuted for righteousness’ sake, but God promised them a great reward. We will read these and other stories from both the Old Testament and the New Testament from the World English Bible (WEB) translation of the Holy Bible.

After that, we will see how these beatitudes relate to Jesus’ own life and ministry. While Jesus modeled these qualities that He taught, these eight beatitudes also trace a sequence of significant events in His life. Finally, we will take another look at the glorious blessings that Jesus promised.

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Chapter 2: Understanding the Beatitudes

We find the beatitudes in the fifth chapter of the Gospel According to Matthew. On what occasion were they announced?

Matthew 5:1 Seeing the multitudes, he went up onto the mountain. When he had sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 He opened his mouth and taught them, saying, 3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven…

There were many people who were sick, demon-possessed, oppressed, or guilty with sin who wanted to listen to Jesus. Jesus was approachable, so people came to Him. He sat down like a teacher, at the same time lowering himself to the height of a child.

Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven…

Jesus came to preach to the poor, just as the Scriptures prophesied:

Luke 4:18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to heal the broken hearted,

to proclaim release to the captives,

recovering of sight to the blind,

to deliver those who are crushed,

19 and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."

Many people in the audience knew the Law of Moses, but wanted to know God’s way better. Jesus began His sermon with blessings, in contrast to the proclamation of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, where the message was accompanied by thunder and lightning. Now was the time for good news.

The Sermon on the Mount

The Sermon on the Mount, as it has been called, continues from Chapter 5 to Chapter 7 in the Gospel According to Matthew. It was near the beginning of Jesus’ public preaching ministry, when He was growing in popularity. As the Kingdom of Heaven is a major theme in the sermon, Bible scholars have considered this sermon to be a declaration of the laws of Jesus as the king: this is what He expects in His kingdom.

The Sermon on the Mount includes clarifications of the law of Moses, saying that just as murder is unlawful, being angry without a cause will also be judged. And just as adultery is sinful, committing adultery in the heart is also condemned. Jesus also emphasizes living to please the Father who is in heaven. The Father is always watching, and He will reward you. The sermon also teaches us to love our enemies, to be merciful, and to forgive one another. And after the sermon ends, a note is added about Jesus’ authority as He taught.

Matthew 7:28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the multitudes were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he taught them with authority, and not like the scribes.

The Sermon on the Plain

On another occasion, Jesus spoke words similar to the beatitudes in what is known as the Sermon on the Plain.

Luke 6:17 He came down with them, and stood on a level place, with a crowd of his disciples, and a great number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; 18 as well as those who were troubled by unclean spirits, and they were being healed. 19 All the multitude sought to touch him, for power came out of him and healed them all. 20 He lifted up his eyes to his disciples, and said,

"Blessed are you who are poor, God’s Kingdom is yours.

21 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be filled.

Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.

22 Blessed are you when men shall hate you, and when they shall exclude and mock you, and throw out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake. 23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven, for their fathers did the same thing to the prophets.

24 "But woe to you who are rich! For you have received your consolation.

25 Woe to you, you who are full now, for you will be hungry.

Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.

26 Woe, when men speak well of you, for their fathers did the same thing to the false prophets.

Jesus tells us that we may not enjoy a good life now as His disciples, but we will be blessed in the future. It also warns us that if we are too comfortable today, we need to ask ourselves if we are like the false prophets, who tried to please men. Do you want to please God or men?

The Beatitudes Explained

Let us go over a brief explanation of each of the beatitudes from the fifth chapter of the Gospel According to Matthew.

Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

The poor in spirit are those who sense their need for God. The rich and the educated often think that they do not need God, but those who are poor in spirit know that they are dependent on God. The poor in spirit are blessed because God is ready to give them a place in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Matthew 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

When we experience sorrow and mourn, we have the opportunity