Matthew 5:10-12 Beatitudes Part 3

Matthew 5:10-12

The Beatitudes Part 3

10 Blessed and those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

1. Matt 5:10-12 all constitute the 8th beatitude, but it is probably the most significant when you consider its ramifications on a Christian’s life. The second part of verse 10, could be placed at the end of verse 12, and that is how I will treat it. So first I will deal with the persecution and reviling
   (Matthew 5:10-a ) Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake

1. Matt 5:10 May be regarded as permissive because the tense and voice of the verb “persecuted”(passive perfect)

1. Who have allowed themselves to be persecuted, or have endured persecution

2. The idea is that they did not flee from it but willingly submitted to when it came to them

2. (Matthew 5:11)Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake

1. This explains in what way they are persecuted, Christ gets more specific in (Luke 21:12-15)

1. Reviled or reproached (Verbal insults and public rejection)

2. Persecuted (Personal and Physical abuse), including the murder of 11 of the 12 disciples

3. Slandered falsely-- All for Jesus' sake (False accusations about one's character and beliefs)

1. When some Jewish heretics infiltrated the Corinthian church, Paul defended his right to represent God as an apostle of Christ. These Jews claimed to be above Paul and that he was a phony, so Paul decided to boast little. In (2 Corinthians 11:22-28)Paulinforms the Corinthians of his credentials and the persecutions he has for Christ.

2. Then we have the ultimate persecution and execution all but one of Jesus’ disciples

4. In (Luke 12:4-9) Christ tells us not to fear such persecution

5. Paul learned that, like Lot, sometimes the LORD allows persecution, 

1. Thorn in Paul’s side (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

6. Tertullian, who lived around 250 AD, called the blood of the martyrs the seed of the church and that the more persecution there is the more the church will always grow.

7. Then we have John Foxes “The Book of Martyrs” the book of the martyrs

John Foxe was an English exile who lived during the reign of Mary Queen of Scott, better known as “Bloody Mary” the Queen of England. In 1571 he wrote an account of every martyr known up until and including many Protestants persecuted by the Queen of England. Along with the account of these martyrs Foxe wrote of his belief that God's people spanned the centuries and led to the shores of England and the reign of “Bloody Mary”. Foxe believed that God had a special place for the English people in his worldwide plan of redemption for mankind. For several generations Englishmen saw history and read their Bible through John Foxe’s eyes. Less than half a century after Foxes death, Puritans were carrying his book and his philosophy of history across the Atlantic into the American wilderness. Among these Puritans, his book was read second only to the Bible as many considered themselves to be God's new Israel.

3. (Matthew 5:12)Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

1. We are told of our reward for enduring such persecution as the prophets had in times past

1. In Hebrews we learn a little about the persecution suffered by the prophets (Hebrews 11:33-40)

4. Matthew 5:10-b “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”

1. Now we go back to the second part of verse 10 and our ultimate reward for enduring persecution 

2. This form of expression goes back to the wisdom literature of the OT, particularly the Psalms

THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
What it means to be a King in the biblical tradition has been made clear. What follows from this is what a Kingdom – the Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God – should be. It is the actuality of God’s love, of his justice, and of his peace. “Thy Kingdom come; thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven” Jesus taught his disciples to pray. That is the nature of God’s Kingdom; ‘Heaven’ is the locality, the site, indeed realm, of its actuality whereas earth is only that of its potential. But the day is coming when this distinction between “heaven and earth shall pass away”. That is what we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer; and that was what Jesus was proclaiming as a possibility for those people out there below him – the Blessed, the Happy, and the Fortunate.

3. Throughout the Scriptures, those martyred have been promised a place for eternity with God

4. A promise of a threefold blessing

1. Present ---------------------------- Mark 10:29-30

2. Millennial -------------------------- Revelation 20:4

3. Eternal --------------------------- James 1:12

5. We should love those who curse us and mistreat us

1. They make us to be millionaires in the Lord... on earth

5. (Matthew 5:3-12) A review of the Beatitudes and how they relate to each other

1. The first four deal with the heart and mind, the way we present our inner self to God, who searches the heart

1. First you are poor in spirit (1)

2. Then you are morning over your sin (2)

3. Then you find yourself meek and humble (3)

4. Then when you are emptied of the filth and junk you find your self hungering and thirsting (4)

2. The last four beatitudes display certain character traits other men can see in us

1. Being merciful (5)

2. Having a pure heart (6)

3. Being a peacemaker (7)

4. Being righteous and getting persecuted for it (8)

3. The first four go hand in hand with the last by showing the outward manifestations of the first four

1. The poor in spirit (1) recognize their need for mercy and show mercy to others (5)

2. Those who mourn (2) are lead to pure hearts (6)

3. Those who are meek (3) will always seek to make peace (7)

4. Those who hunger for righteousness (4) will be persecuted (8)

4. The eight Beatitudes have continuity with the first four progressing with the believer as their faith grows

1. (1) “The poor in spirit” denotes the fact of sin

2. (2) “They that mourn” means to repent of sin

3. (3) “The meek” describes not the weak, but rather strength that is surrendered to God in a new birth experience

4. (4) To “hunger and thirst after righteousness” signifies the strong desire to become more Christ-like

5. (5) “The merciful” show an attitude of forgiveness

6. (6) “The pure in heart” strive daily for clean living

7. (7) “The peacemakers” exert a calming influence in the storms of life

8. (8) “They which are persecuted” denotes faithfulness under stress

5. Finally, each Beatitude carries with it a strong promise of ultimate good for those who develop the blessed life