The Benefits of God's Approval.

And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
“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 meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
“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.” – Matthew 5:1-12 ESV

What most people tend to notice when they read The Beatitudes are the nine descriptors of those who are blessed or approved by God: The poor in spirit, the mournful, the meek, those who thirst and hunger for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and the persecuted and reviled. But we spend little time looking at the benefits that come with God’s approval.
…the poor in spirit have the kingdom of heaven right here, right now
…those who mourn will receive comfort
…the meek will inherit the earth
…those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will get what they desire, in full
…the merciful will receive mercy from God
…the pure in heart will get to see God
…the peacemakers will be recognized as the children of God
…those persecuted for their righteousness are part of the kingdom of God right here, right now
…those reviled, persecuted and slandered because of their association with Jesus will be able to rejoice in this life because of their reward in the next life is great

Whether we fully understand them or not, those are some pretty amazing benefits that come as a result of God’s approval. One of the first things Jesus mentions in the way of benefits is the kingdom of heaven. The first and last beatitudes both mention it. This is what is often referred to as an inclusio. It is a literary device designed to act as a set of brackets that bookend what is found in-between. As has been the case throughout the book of Matthew up to this point, the emphasis has been on the kingdom of heaven, or what is sometimes referred to as the kingdom of God. By beginning and ending His list of beatitudes with the mention of the kingdom of heaven, Jesus is saying that every one of the beatitudes is about the very same thing. And He makes it clear that there is a now-not-yet aspect to the God’s kingdom. Those are who are approved by God are part of that kingdom right here, right now. They become citizens of God’s kingdom the minute they place their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior. Paul would later write to the believers in Ephesus:

He [God] brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us. So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. – Ephesians 2:17-19 NLT

He told the same thing to the believers in Philippi:

But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. – Philippians 3:20 NLT

We have a new home. We don’t belong here anymore. Our citizenship has been transferred to our future home: Heaven. And Peter reminds us:

Dear friends, I warn you as "temporary residents and foreigners" to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. – 1 Peter 2:11 NLT

And Paul tells us that we are to live in this life as if we are already there with Him in the next one:

For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. – Ephesians 2:6 NLT

But in the meantime, we have to live on this earth and experience the pain and suffering that comes with a fallen, sinful world. We still have to do battle with our own sin nature. We will face attack, rejection, ridicule and resistance for our faith. Yet, because we are citizens of another kingdom, we are to react in a completely different manner than those around us. We are to marked by poverty of spirit, not pridefulness. We are to recognize our sin and our constant need of the Savior’s assistance in putting to death those things associated with our old way of life. And we are to mourn over those things that used to bring us joy, pleasure, and satisfaction. Like Paul, we are to see the former pleasures and achievements associated with our old way of life as “worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” And our attitude, like his, should be: “For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8 NLT). And when we mourn over the way we used to seek and find joy in the things of this earth, we will be comforted by God. There is a sense in which we receive comfort now, but its complete fulfillment will come with Christ’s return.

Jesus says that the meek will inherit the earth. While in this earth we are called by God to give up our rights and place the needs of others ahead of our own, there is a day coming when His children will inherit the earth. This is a blatantly Messianic statement speaking of Jesus’ future reign on earth during the Millennial Kingdom. And this particular message was directed at the Jews in Jesus’ audience that day. While they were currently living under Roman rule and subject to oppression, those who placed their faith in Jesus as their Messiah and gained God’s approval, would someday inherit His earthly kingdom alongside Him. The meek focus on God’s future rewards, instead of demanding them here and now.

What about those who hunger and thirst after righteousness in this life? Jesus promises that they will receive exactly what they crave, in full. They will be completely satisfied and satiated. There is a now-not-yet aspect to this promise as well. When we hunger for the righteousness of Christ in this life, we receive satisfaction. When we deeply desire to be conformed to God’s will and experience the spiritual growth He has planned for us, we receive the satisfaction of experiencing it in this life. But, of course, this will not be fully accomplished until we see Jesus face to face in eternity. There is a day coming when the sin-free life we long for will be ours, completely and fully. And we will be satisfied.

When we live with a spirit of mercy, extending to others what we have received from God, we will continue to enjoy His undeserved mercy in our own lives. Jesus was not teaching that we must extend mercy to others before we can receive it from God. He was saying that showing mercy is the natural response of one who has received it. We were undeserving. So are those around us. And like so many of these beatitudes, this one has a future fulfillment associated with it. There is a day coming when God’s mercy will be fully realized when we stand before Him in His kingdom, having fully received what we never could have earned on our own.

There is a degree to which we can enjoy purity of heart in this life. We have been made new. We have a new nature. But we also have our old sin natures living within us and doing battle with the indwelling Spirit of God. But when we listen to the Spirit and walk according to His will, we can know what it means to live with a pure heart, a heart conformed to the will of God, and characterized by the very nature of God. Paul tells us that when we are led by the Spirit of God, our lives will produce the fruit of the Spirit of God: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23 NLT). But the day is coming when our sinful natures will be done away with once and for all and we will experience what it means to be completely, wholly dedicated to God. To a certain degree, we get to see God in this life, but we will see Him face to face in the next. Right now, He is invisible to our eyes, but that will not always be the case. Peter reminds us, “You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy” (1 Peter 1:8 NLT). And the apostle John adds, “we are already God's children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is” (1 John 3:2 NLT).

Peacemakers will be recognized as God’s children. Those who live their lives on this earth focused on reconciling lost men to God, will be see for who they are: God’s representatives. And they will experience both rejection and acceptance for their efforts. Living in a sin-torn world, point people to Christ, will make it obvious that we are sons and daughters of God. But we will not always be accepted and our efforts will not always be appreciated. But when we act as His representatives, we bring glory to His name and make it clear that we belong to Him. And, once again, the day is coming when our status as His children will be confirmed in full when His Son returns.

Finally, those are experience persecution in this life because of their status as the children of God, have the joy of knowing that they are already part of His kingdom. There place is reserved. They cannot lose their inheritance. And Paul would have us remember:

Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8:31-39 NLT

Approval by God comes with some significant benefits. And it produces some remarkable character changes in the life of each and every Christ-follower. As Jesus spoke these words to the crowd that day on the hillside, He was attempting to get them to understand that He had come to bring radical change and all that He was going to offer them was freely available to them, but it was going to require repentance, a complete change of mind regarding what they thought about God, His kingdom, salvation, sin, and the Messiah, their long-awaited Savior.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Ken Miller