Beatitudes of Christ

QUALI TIES OF THE BLESSED LIFE

Once a person has entered God’s kingdom through the new birth, then the believer is to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in the development of the qualities of being described in the Beatitudes. Philippians 2:12–13 presents both the divine and human sides of this development. Writing to believers, Paul says, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” The divine participation is stated in verse 13: “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” Without that activity of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life, progress is impossible. It is God working in the believer that makes sanctification possible. But God calls on believers to cooperate with his will. “Without faith it is impossible to please Him [God].” So, Philippians 2:12 states the human responsibility this way: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” God is working in Christians the qualities of character described in the Beatitudes. Believers are to cooperate with that process. That is one reason Christians need to understand the Beatitudes.

The Beatitudes present a beautiful portrait of perfected humanity. This is a revelation of what God wants believers to become as a result of his grace working in their lives. Oswald Chambers wrote, “The Sermon on the Mount is a statement of the life we will live when the Holy Spirit is having His way with us.”

Jesus personified these beatitudes, and the Holy Spirit is developing these characteristics in Christians as they yield themselves to him (Rom. 8:29). The goal is that all these qualities would mature in the child of God. God does not want some of his children to be meek and others to be merciful. He wants all his children to manifest all these qualities. Believers will differ in their growth patterns. They will advance in each quality at different rates. But the one goal is that all be conformed to the image of Christ. And that involves the development of all these characteristics in the individual.

These qualities are an expression of the life of God in the person. Eternal life is not just everlasting life or life that goes on forever. God’s life has a certain quality about it, a quality of humility, love, joy, peace, righteousness, etc. As the believer yields to the life of God, which has been planted in him through regeneration, he bears the fruit of “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22–23). He is changed to the image of Christ. He is living in accord with the moral, ethical, and spiritual nature of God and enjoying the benefits of doing so. He is becoming the kind of person God designed him to be.

THE BLESSINGS PROCLAIMED

The blessings described in the Beatitudes naturally proceed out of the condition of “being” (poor in spirit, meek, merciful, etc.) As God works these qualities into a person’s character, the blessed life is experienced. Being “pure in heart” is a condition in which the person can “see God.” It is not just that God rewards the person by giving a revelation of himself. That is true; he does that. But the reward requires the ontological condition of purity. The reward does not come apart from who the person is at his core.

The blessings experienced are not dependent on external circumstances. They depend on relationship with God and the transformation he works in the person’s heart. God will provide the external circumstances that are in the best interest of his people, and those circumstances will be perfect in heaven. The world seeks a blessed lifestyle through material possessions, positions of power, and other earthly advantages. But God’s approach is to work blessedness from the inside out.

The Beatitudes are first and foremost about what you will “BE” when all is said and done in this life. What kind of being will you become as a result of God’s work in you during this life? How brightly will God’s attributes of righteousness shine through you throughout eternity? In his book Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis talked about the process of becoming. He wrote:

I would much rather say that every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a heavenly creature or into a hellish creature: either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow-creatures, and with itself. To be the one kind of creature is heaven: that is, it is joy and peace and knowledge and power. To be the other means madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness.

As we yield to the transforming work of the Holy Spirit, we move from one level of glory to the next (2 Cor. 3:18). We are being conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29). The Beatitudes provide revelation of that image. At the new birth, the seed of righteousness is planted in the believer, but that seed must be watered with the Spirit and the word to mature into its full potential. Nothing is more important for the Christian’s eternity than what he is when he takes his last breath in this life.