The First Blessing of the Beatitudes: The Kingdom of God (Heaven) Belongs to the Poor in Spirit!

The First Blessing of the Beatitudes:

The Kingdom of God (Heaven)

Belongs to the Poor in Spirit!

 

  

 

 

“With His eyes lifted toward His disciples, Jesus said, ‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God’” (Luke 6:20).

 

 

While meditating on this verse, I would like to receive the teaching it gives:

 

(1)   Luke 6:20 is the first blessing of eight blessings in Jesus’ sermon on the plain (“The Sermon of the Plain”), delivered to His disciples (v.20).  Since this blessing should be considered in relation to the “Sermon on the Mount” (meaning “teaching on the mountain”), which we already know well, I also wish to meditate on Matthew 5:3: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

 

(a)    First, the phrase “Blessed are…” (Lk 6:20; Mt 5:3)

 

(i)               The Korean Bible reads, “You who are poor are blessed” (Lk 6:20), but in the original Greek, the sentence begins with the word “Μακάριοι (makarios)” (“Blessed”).  This term refers to being under God’s gracious favor—a joy that comes from one’s relationship with God rather than from external circumstances (Internet).

 

·        Hebraic and Early Jewish Background: The term derives from the Hebrew word אַשְׁרֵי (’ashrē, “blessed, happy”) found in the Psalms and Wisdom Literature.  In the Septuagint, makarios is commonly used to translate ’ashrē and is associated with covenant faithfulness.  Thus, those who trust, fear, and wait on Yahweh are “blessed.”  By the first century, such “asherisms” were a common Jewish literary form and served as the foundation for Jesus’ Beatitudes (Internet).

 

-        Jesus’ Pronouncements of Blessedness: Both the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5:3–11) and the Sermon on the Plain (Lk 6:20–23) begin with blessings that overturn worldly values.  The poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, the persecuted, and others are called “blessed” because they already possess or will inherit the kingdom of heaven (Internet).

 

n  Christ uses “blessed” relationally: “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it” (Lk 11:28).

 

n  Jesus promises blessing to those who persevere in faith: “Blessed is the one who is not offended because of Me” (Mt 11:6; Lk 7:23).

 

n  Those who are watchful in an eschatological sense are blessed (Internet): “Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes” (Mt 24:46; cf. Lk 12:37–38, 43).

 

-        Paul cites Psalm 32 in Romans 4:7–8 and applies makarios to the gospel of justification (Internet): “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin” (Ps 32:1–2: “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered…”). 

 

n  Paul adds responsibility to ethical freedom (Internet): “The faith you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves” (Rom 14:22).

 

-        Peter and James connect blessing with endurance in trials (Internet): “Even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed…” (1 Pet 3:14), “If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed…” (1 Pet 4:14).

 

n  “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial…” (Jas 1:12).

 

(ii)             What follows is a short devotional I wrote on Oct. 10, 2015, titled “The Blessed Person Is …”:

 

·        “The blessed person meditates on God’s Word day and night (Ps 1:2).  His delight is to hear the Lord’s gracious Word in the morning (Ps 143:8).  Therefore he waits for the Word of the Lord (130:5) and runs toward that Word (119:32).  He obeys the Word, walks in the way of the righteous, trembles, and does not sin (4:4).  He hides God’s Word in his heart so that he may not sin and keeps his way pure (119:9, 11).  By God’s Word he wins spiritual battles.  Thus, he makes God’s Word ‘his own possession’ (v.56).  The blessed person is the one who does the Word of God.

 

The blessed person, in all persecution and hardship, depends not on people but looks only to the Lord.  In fearful situations when no one can help, he silently waits for God alone (62:5).  He casts his burden on the Lord.  He cries out to the God of salvation who delivers him.  He prays, ‘O God, make haste to help me’ (70:12).  He confesses, “But I give myself to prayer” (109:4) and humbly brings his petitions before God.  Saying, “I will awaken the dawn” (57:8; 108:2), he devotes himself to prayer.  He does so because his hope is always in the Lord (39:7), and because he believes that God hears and answers prayer (66:19).  Therefore, he resolves, ‘I will pray all my life.’  Realizing God’s great love through answered prayers and His abundant grace even in great sin, the blessed person dedicates himself to lifelong prayer.

 

The blessed person gives thanks to the Lord with his whole heart (9:1; 11:1; 138:1).  He thanks the Lord who does not reject the desires of his heart and who, hearing his humble request (10:17), delivers him and grants saving grace.  He thanks the Lord who lifts his head (3:3; 110:7) and rewards him according to His righteousness (18:20).  He thanks the Lord for giving him strength and power (68:35).  He does so because of the Lord’s everlasting love (136:8, 9, 14, 15, 16).

 

He knows that God’s thoughts toward him are innumerable (40:5).  Through suffering God brings him good; in weakness he experiences God’s strength.  Because the Lord upholds his soul (54:4; 119:116), he gives thanks.  The blessed person never forgets God’s benefits, nor can he forget them (103:2).  Therefore, he confesses: “I love You, O Lord, my strength” (18:1).

 

The blessed person finds his greatest joy in God.  To him God is “the God of his exceeding joy” (43:4).  He fellowships with this God of joy and dwells in His presence.  He is satisfied with the Lord alone and rejoices that the Lord sets him as the head of nations (18:43).  He gives thanks for God’s unchanging love—His innumerable thoughts toward him, His delight in his prosperity, His establishment of his way, His strengthening hand, and His guidance until death (48:14).  Therefore, he praises God with thanksgiving.  He devotes himself to praising the Lord forever with all his heart.  The blessed person praises God as long as he has breath (150:6).”

 

(b)   Second, the phrase “the poor” or “the poor in spirit” (Lk 6:20; Mt 5:3)

 

(i)               “The poor” (Lk 6:20) or “the poor in spirit” (Mt 5:3) refers to those who—whether materially poor or spiritually poor—always need Jesus and always are the objects of His concern, because their poverty can be solved eternally only by heaven’s blessing (Hochma).

 

·        In the Old Testament, “the poor” also has an eschatological meaning.  Among the Hebrew terms equivalent to Greek ptōchoi (“poor”), the most important is ‘anawim (“poor”), referring to people unable to rescue themselves from economic exploitation and social oppression by the rich and powerful.  Thus, they can depend only on God (Ps 37:14; 40:17; 69:29; Prov 16:19) (Hochma).

-        This term is also connected to passages about humility and repentance of heart (Isa. 57:15; 66:2).  Isaiah 61:1 states that the coming Messiah will come for the poor, showing that this “poverty” goes far beyond material lack (Lk 4:18).  Therefore, being poor in spirit does not mean being timid or simply economically poor; it means acknowledging one’s spiritual ruin, confessing human unworthiness before God, and recognizing that only God can be relied on (Ps. 69:29; 70:5; 74:21; Isa. 61:1; Zeph. 3:12). (Hochma).

 

n  Because they live in a way opposite to the proud, they suffer persecution from them (Ps. 37:14; 86:14).  They grieve and repent of their sins (Ps 34:6, 18; 51:17; Isa 66:2) (Hochma).

 

(ii)             Dr. Yoon-sun Park said that the poor in spirit are “those who feel spiritual poverty in the deepest core of their personality.”  He describes the spiritually poor in three ways (Park):

 

·        First, they are those who know they are helpless and that no one but God can help them (Isa. 61:1; Ps. 69:29; 70:5; 74:21; 86:1–6; Zeph. 3:12).

 

-        Psalm 70:5 says: “I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay.”  This desperate confession reflects true spiritual poverty.

 

·        Second, they are persecuted by the proud because they live in a way opposite to them (Ps. 37:14; 86:14).

 

-        Psalm 37:14: “The wicked draw the sword and bend their bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay the upright.”  The spiritually poor become targets of wicked people because they are upright.

 

·        Third, they are those who are broken over sin and repent (Isa. 66:2; Ps. 34:6,18; 51:17).

 

-        Psalm 34:18: “The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”  Psalm 51:17: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”  These are the poor in spirit.  Such people, unlike the Pharisees of Jesus’ time, know they have no righteousness of their own and therefore seek only God’s help and forgiveness.  Thus, the poor in spirit are not those who display humility merely toward other people, but those who discover they have no righteousness before God (Park).  They know they are spiritually bankrupt without God (MacArthur), and therefore they desperately need God’s righteousness instead of their own.

 

(c)    Finally, the phrase “for yours (theirs) is the kingdom of God (heaven)” (Lk. 6:20; Mt. 5:3).

 

(i)               The first blessing that Jesus taught to His disciples and the gathered crowd is “the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 5:3).  Another way of expressing “the kingdom of heaven” is “the kingdom of God” (Lk. 6:20).  In other words, the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are the same thing.  The reason the author Matthew uses the expression “the kingdom of heaven” instead of “the kingdom of God” in Matthew 5:3 is because he wrote the Gospel of Matthew for the Jews, and Jews tended to avoid directly using the name of God.  But Luke wrote his Gospel for Gentiles rather than Jews; therefore, he wrote “the kingdom of God” (Wood).

 

·        When we think of “the kingdom of God” or “the kingdom of heaven,” we generally think of it as the place we enter after we die.  For example, in Matthew 7:21 Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.”  Jesus teaches that the kingdom of heaven is the very place entered by those who do the will of God the Father in heaven.  The phrase “the one who does the will of My Father in heaven” can be expressed differently as “the one who does the work of God” (Jn. 6:29), for in John 6:29 Jesus says, “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.”  In short, this means that those who believe in Jesus enter the kingdom of heaven.

 

-        Therefore, the “kingdom of heaven,” which Jesus teaches as the first blessing in Matthew 5:3, can be described as the place one enters through faith in Jesus.  Scripture tells us in Revelation 21:4 that this kingdom is a place where there will no longer be tears, mourning, crying, pain, or death.  Moreover, there will no longer be any curse (22:3), no more night, and no need for a lamp or the light of the sun (v.5).  Revelation refers to this kingdom as “a new heaven and a new earth” (21:1) and “the holy city, the new Jerusalem” (v.2).

 

n  When we, who believe in Jesus, enter this kingdom in the future, at that time we will “see the Lord face to face” (1 Cor. 13:12).  Although we now know only in part, then we shall fully know, just as we are fully known (v.12).

 

·        Although we tend to think of “the kingdom of heaven” as the place believers will enter in the future, Scripture does not speak of the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God only as something we will enter someday.  Scripture also teaches that the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God has already come upon us: “But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Lk. 11:20).  Furthermore, Jesus says in Luke 17:21, “The kingdom of God is within you.”

 

-        The background of Jesus’ statement is this: the Pharisees asked Him, “When will the kingdom of God come?” Jesus answered, “The kingdom of God does not come in ways that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ for the kingdom of God is within you.”

 

·        Considering all these statements together, “the kingdom of heaven” or “the kingdom of God” is not only the place believers will enter in the future; it has already come to us, and the kingdom of God is within us.  Therefore, Christians should not think of “the kingdom of heaven” or “the kingdom of God” only in terms of a place or only in a future-oriented sense.  This means that when we speak of the kingdom of heaven, we must consider not only the questions “Where?” or “When?” but also the question “Who?”  The “Who?” refers to Jesus Himself.  That is, whenever we speak of the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God, we must think of Jesus, the King of that kingdom.

 

-        Jesus, whom you and I believe in, already dwells within us through the Holy Spirit who indwells us.  This means that King Jesus is ruling and governing us.  Thus, the kingdom of God (the kingdom of heaven) has already come into us.  In other words, our inner being is the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God.  Likewise, the household of a Christian who believes in Jesus is also the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, because the Lord is present with that household.  The same is true of the church. Ultimately, the kingdom of heaven (the kingdom of God) is our hearts, our homes, and our churches—where the Lord, the King of kings, reigns.

 

n  Such individuals, homes, and churches obey Jesus’ twofold command: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind,” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt. 22:37, 39).  As a result, our hearts, our homes, and our churches grow to reflect the reality of heaven.