Those Who God Makes Right in Jesus He Will Also Glorify with Jesus
Click Here to Read the Texts (Revelation 7:9–17; Psalm 149; 1 John 3:1–3; Matthew 5:1–12)
Our readings for this week start at the end. The Day of the Lord has come and we see the beginning of the beauty of God’s Kingdom come. Every kind of person that has ever been and ever will be, who trusted in Jesus alone for their salvation, is finally brought together in the peace, security, and abundance of the sacrificed lamb, our chief shepherd, Jesus.
The final picture of Jesus’ blood making his people pure has been made real. You will have no more need and no more struggle. Every tear is wiped away and your life is forever and forever found in and with Jesus.
To which we can certainly respond with Psalm 149 except we can do so in the truest way. In Revelation 7 we just heard and saw the whole “assembly of godly” from all time and all places singing and praising. In this Psalm we see that our maker is our King and that he finds enjoyment in his people. He clothes those who have been humbled by his Word in salvation. This is our God who has made his people godly, or holy, and should be praised.
The Apostle John in his first letter now wants to show us something. From our other readings this language of “seeing” is very important. In Revelation there are clear and important differences between hearing and seeing. For instance, at the beginning of Revelation 7 John hears something that sounds like a number of people. The when he sees what is going on he notices that it is a great number than no one can count. Just like the promise given to Abraham.
Psalm 149 is a walking song as it were, being sung by a group of God’s first people as they make the hike up to Jerusalem. This hike is always a picture of that final day when God’s brings his people into “the land” and his presence forever. This is what the writer of the Psalm is seeing, the promises of God fulfilled.
So back to John, he starts 1 John 3.1-3 by inviting us to “see” the kind of love the Father has shown to us. Namely we know that his Son’s blood shed for us on the Cross is the visible picture of that love. And so He is also inviting us to “see” ourselves as a part of Christ, as one of his children and therefore pure. If your hope, your fear love and trust, your faith is placed upon Jesus’ person and work for you, then you are pure. You have been made right and you are one of his children.
Our final passage is a very famous one, commonly know as The Beatitudes. Understand, this is not a set of attitudes for you to have. It is not a set of virtues or good habits that you must work toward and get in order to be blessed.
So is Jesus saying just go be poor in spirit, sad, meek, hungry and thirsty, merciful, pure, a peacemaker, persecuted and reviled…then you will know what blessing is.
By no means. We all know how someone is blessed, by faith alone in Christ alone. We know from David in Psalm 51 how our hearts are made pure, not by something we are doing, God has to do it. We all know that we can not earn an inheritance through meekness, it has to be given to us. We all know that mourning does not automatically lead to comfort. We all know that being a peacemaker is hard and that is why we like division, it is easier. And we certainly all know too many people that are persecuted Christian’s because of their own arrogance and stubbornness instead of on account of their being made one with Christ.
So what is Jesus telling us? He is telling us the most unlikely of things. That he is there with us entering into our brokenness, our sadness and loss, our meekness, into a people starving and dehydrated of righteousness–a need that is killing them, he is bringing mercy too so that vengeance is does not need to be the way we operate, he is going to make filthy stained hearts pure, he is going to step into chaos and bring peace, he is going to be tortured, persecuted, and killed to make our reward great.
Jesus is saying to the crowd gathered and to you and me (a bunch of losers), “I know what you think it means to be blessed. All is well, God is showing his love for you in material ways, everyone is happy, healthy, and wise. But that is not what blessing is according to God. To be blessed means to receive mercy, have your heart made clean, and to have your greatest need met–righteousness gifted to you.”
This crowd is already made up of followers of Jesus, we read that back in chapter 4. He is saying to this crowd, I know it seems hard to believe but you are blessed because of the faith you have been given to follow me.
If we read these sayings from Jesus as law then they are damning. If we read them as the way God desires us to live in a world that he is saving through his Son who is calling us blessed, then we are hitting closer what this passage is meant for.
Jesus purifies you, makes you a child of God, brings you into his people that a will one day be brought together in peace forever in Kingdom. He is merciful to you and gives you his righteousness.
Praise the Lord, Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb whose blood was shed for you. Amen.