The Sermon on the Mount of Jesus (1)

『And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. 』 (Matthew 5: 1-12)

You should be familiar with Blessed. The law (the law of wrath) tells all humans that they are sinners. If people do not find Christ in the law, they are still sinners. Blessed are those who find Christ in the law. The source of blessing is Jesus Christ. The Bible says in Romans (3: 19-20).

『Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 』

Those who realize that they are sinners are poor in spirit. What the law tells us is that your souls are poor. In Israel, “poor” refers to a state in which there is no land to eat and live. When the Israelites came out of Egypt and entered Canaan, God divided the land by tribe. However, over time, changes occurred. The land is sold for a variety of reasons, leaving no land for cultivation. Thus, God set up a jubilee system to get it back.

However, the jubilee system was not well maintained because the people did not keep the law. The poor who have no land are deprived of it. Poor spirit means that the spirit has been taken away from home. Unless someone gives home to the Spirit, he can never escape poverty. But those who realize the meaning of the spirit in poverty can be blessed, because those who realize can repent to God and put on the body of the spirit.

The Bible says in Leviticus (25:23).『The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me. 』The Hebrew word for resident is the word ger. Moses' name is Gershom. It means being a foreigner. Precisely speaking, a foreigner comes to live in another country. Israel received land as an inheritance, which is a promise. The promise means giving God's kingdom as an inheritance. That is, in this land (material world), humans are strangers. It is a stranger from God's kingdom. Residents are the same as permanent residence, while those living in a dwelling are temporary residence. Residents represent Israel, and dwellers symbolize Gentiles.

In Hebrews 11:13『These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 』 So, the place where people go back is the kingdom of God. We cannot go back on our own. So we plead with Jesus. Jesus allows those who died together on the cross to return to the kingdom of God. So we must repent of our departure from God and cry out.『Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. 』 To mourn means to feel overwhelmed. The spirit in men was with God in the kingdom of God. By the way, when he realized that the spirit was deceived by Satan and robbed the tabernacle of God and was trapped in the dust of the material world, he was so cylindrical.

The Bible says in Luke (18: 7).『And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 』 Those who have been brought to the temptations of Satan to cry out for the night and day to restore the body of spirit that has been taken away. The chosen must pray like this. The way they can be comforted by God is to return to the Father as dead, like the parable of the prodigal son.

In Psalm 135: 14『For the LORD will judge his people, and he will repent himself concerning his servants. 』 Here, the word comfort is expressed in Exodus 32:14 as the word “repent”.『And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. 』 In the case of the golden calf of the Israelites, it is God's turning to hear Moses' earnest prayer.

The Greek word for "turn around" means "call back", a compound word for "para" (towards) and "careo" (call back).『Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. 』 The word meek is the same word ana in Hebrew as the word poor in spirit. The word ana in Hebrew means a poor state without the ability to save oneself from the economic exploitation and social oppression of the rich and powerful. They can't do anything, so they become humble. The Bible says in Numbers (in 12: 3).『(Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.) 』 Moses was proud when he was the prince of Egypt, but after 40 years of fled to Midian, he became insignificant. God promises to those who do not have a stranger on earth and are ready to leave. The land is the land of Canaan. The inheritance is the word of God's promise.

To receive the land as an inheritance is a promise to inherit the kingdom of God in the future. When people realize that they are deceived by Satan in God's kingdom and are driven to live on this earth, they are meek by the humility of nothing on earth. Thus, the meek repent and enter into Christ. The kingdom of God is promised.

『Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. 』 Blessing becomes full. In the which which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, righteousness is the righteousness that God requires. People can enter the kingdom of God only when they receive the righteousness that God acknowledges. No one can attain God's righteousness by his own efforts. The way to get right from God is to deny self. When we die on the cross with Jesus, God gives righteousness. The meaning of “hunger” is what Joseph said when he became prime minister in Genesis, when the people of Egypt had no food for famine.

Thirsty, the Israelites blamed Moses for lack of water in Meriva. The Bible says in Exodus (17: 3).『And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? 』 God commanded Moses to water him out of the rock, which Moses struck twice with his staff. The rock represents Jesus Christ.

God gave the law to the Israelites. Thus, the people would keep the law and do right. But God gave the law to realize that it was a sinner who could not achieve righteousness, and the people did not understand it. The meaning of “do hunger and thirst”, which Jesus speaks of, refers to a time when the people keep trying to do righteousness by keeping the law and realize that they can hardly achieve it.