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"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." ~ Matthew 5:10
In our last study the Lord Jesus Christ noted the blessings of those who have recognized their bankrupt spiritual state before God and have entered into a personal relationship with Him through believing the death of His Son on the cross paid the penalty that our sin created for us before God. Of course, it is only in the presence of God that we experience this type of bankruptcy because He is the arbiter of truth and what is right and it is in His presence it is easy to recognize our wretchedness. Today, we come to the eighth beatitude.
The "persecuted" in today's verse are those who have experienced God's mercy and peace and now they desire to see others at peace with Him. The problem is, most do not recognize the fact that it is only through the Lord Jesus Christ that we are pronounced forgiven by God and have therefore entered into a personal relationship with Him. And, due to the myopic nature of the gospel message that the Lord Jesus is the only way to God's forgiveness, many do not trust the message or the messenger.
In 2 Timothy 3:12 we read, "All who will live godly in this present age will suffer persecution."
This serves as a reminder that believers in Christ Jesus share in His reproach. We should expect to be persecuted by those who do not know the Lord Jesus as their Savior, especially if we are increasing in Christlikeness. Christianity was never intended to be merely a creed that we recite on Sunday morning in the safety of the church building. Christianity is a person whom we relate to, rely upon and walk with day-by-day. Christianity is counter-cultural and it will often be against the grain of the norm in society. We who believe in the Lord Jesus enough to be defined by Him will be misunderstood, marginalized and persecuted. And, God knows this world is getting worse but He has seen fit for us to be on this earth at this moment to make a difference for His glory.
Throughout the Bible we see that those who represent the God of the Bible in this world will suffer in various ways. In many ways, persecution is a token of our relationship with God. In Philippians 1:29 we read, "For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear to be in me." Since God has granted us the ability to believe in Him, we are grateful. Such gratitude causes us to be faithful to Him. This kind of grateful faithfulness will always be misunderstood by the world and we mustn't be surprised by their fear expressed in their persecution of us and the gospel message. We must never take the world's persecution personally for God has been known to use such to draw unbelievers to Himself.
In John 15:18 we read, "If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you’re not of the world but I chose you out of the world, therefore, the world hates you." The world hates our association with the Lord Jesus because they live under the control of the evil one. When we are being defined by God, indirectly we will aggravate the world because God's righteousness will be seen in and through our yielded lives. Note that it's God's righteousness, not ours.
In today's verse the Lord Jesus wasn't describing those who are persecuted for being arrogantly offensive to others. He was describing those who have entered into a personal relationship with the true and living God. He spoke of those who have experienced poverty of spirit for themselves which leads to mourning over their sin. He spoke of those who were being changed from the inside out, those who have come to appreciate meekness and righteousness. These are those who hunger and thirst for the God and His righteousness.
The word "persecuted" literally means "to pursue." The phrase, "Blessed are those who are persecuted," is a passive participle which gives the idea of permissiveness. Literally, it reads, "Blessed are those who have allowed themselves to be persecuted." The structure of these words clearly indicate the idea that these willingly endure persecution as their persecutors pursue them. This means they don’t run from the persecution, they accept it when it comes.
In addition to being a passive participle, this word translated "persecuted" is written in the perfect tense indicating continuous persecution. "Blessed are those who have willingly allowed themselves to suffer continuously." You see, willingness is the issue here. We could say, "blessed are the willing." Persecution isn’t always going to be there to the same degree, but these are those who are willing to take the persecution for the sake of righteousness or the right way of doing something. The right way is realized in our lives when God is defining us and we know that God is defining us when we are obeying His Word. This is what the Lord Jesus meant when He ended this verse with "for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." To be given the kingdom of heaven is to be defined by the King of heaven.
