Blessed are...

The next couple of days I'm going to go through the Beatitudes found in Matthew 5. I'm going to go verse by verse and quote John MacArthur's study notes from his study Bible.

Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

"Blessed. The word literally means 'happy fortunate, blissful.'
Here it speaks of more than a surface emotion. Jesus was describing the
divinely-bestowed well-being that belongs only to the faithful. The Beatitudes
demonstrate that the way to heavenly blessedness is antithetical to the worldly
path normally followed in pursuit of happiness. The worldly idea is that
happiness is found in riches, merriment, abundance, leisure, and such things.
The real truth is the very opposite. The Beatitudes give Jesus' description of
the character of true faith. poor in spirit. The opposite of
self-sufficiency. This speaks of the deep humility of recognizing one's utter
spiritual bankruptcy apart from God. It describes those who are acutely
conscious of their own lostness and hopelessness apart from divine grace. (cf.
9:12; Lk 18:13). theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Notice that
the truth of salvation by grace is clearly presupposed in this opening verse of
the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus was teaching that the kingdom is a gracious gift
to those who sense their own poverty of spirit."

(MacArthur, John. The MacArthur Study Bible.)

"Poor in spirit" is a lacking of self. It's a humility and an understanding that we are, apart from God, utterly helpless and completely lost in sin. We are "poor in spirit." We must come to the realization that we are sinful and that we are not good people. When it says "theirs is the kingdom of God," it is speaking of salvation here. Salvation can only be obtained through the knowledge that we are helpless wretched sinners that deserve to go to hell. We will only flee to the Savior when we see the need to flee to Him.

So, do you see your need? Or, do you consider yourself to be a good person and think you are good enough to make it to heaven? Are you good enough? Let's see. We'll look at God's standard of justice, the Ten Commandments, and see how you measure up.

The ninth commandment is "you shall not lie." Have you ever told a lie before? What does that make you? A liar. The eighth command is "you shall not steal." Have you ever stolen anything before, no matter the value? What does that make you? A thief. The third commandment is "you shall not take God's Name in vain." Have you ever taken God's name in vain? That's called blasphemy. You are taking the name of the God who gave you life and bringing it down to a lower standard and using it as a four letter filth word. "For the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain." (Exodus 20:7; Deuteronomy 5:11) The seventh commandment is "you shall not commit adultery." But, Jesus Christ, in Matthew 5:27-28 takes that a step farther. He says, "but I say to you that everyone who looks at a women with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Have you ever looked with lust? If so, God considers that as adultery.

Just by looking at these four commandments God sees you as a lying, thieving, blasphemous, adulterer at heart. And, you have to stand before Him like that on Judgment Day. "And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). What's going to happen to you on judgment day? Will you go to Heaven or Hell? The Bible makes it clear where you will go. Revelation 21:8 "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone." (emphasis added) 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God." (emphasis added)

The Bible is clear, Hell is where you are headed. You can't be "good enough" to go to Heaven, because you aren't good. This is where "poor in spirit" comes in. You are completely and totally poor in spirit. You have nothing in you that is going to enable you to get to Heaven. You are poor.

So, how do the "poor in spirit" have any hope. The rest of that Verse says"theirs is the kingdom of God." How is that possible? It's possible because a little over 2000 years ago, God came to this earth and became a man. He was fully God and fully man, the God-man. He was perfect in thought, word, and deed. He died on a cross and paid your fine. Instead of you paying for your sins in hell, Jesus Christ took your sins upon the Cross and bore your wrath and took the punishment. He paid your fine. He paid the fine of a criminal. You.

You can be freed of God's justice based on the grace of another, Christ. Christ paid for your justice. He didn't stay dead though. He rose from the grave, victorious over death, the grave, and hell! He defeated death! He lives! He tells us in His Word that "unless you repent, you will perish" (Luke 13:3,5). "God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead" (Acts 17:30-31). Repent and put your trust in Christ today! You may not have tomorrow. "Now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2).

So, this is how that Verse can say that "theirs is the kingdom of heaven." When we see that we are "poor in spirit" we see the need of a Savior. He is the only way to salvation!

In Christ,
Kirsten