In the book of Matthew, we see the beginning of Jesus' public ministry, his grand reveal so to speak, as he addresses a crowd at the Sermon on the Mount. And the first words that He uses when addressing the many people gathered on the hillside was "Blessed."
Not a command. Not even a calling to perform a duty of some sort, and definitely not a condemnation of choices, but the word Jesus chose was "Blessed".
What I find interesting also is the group of people that Jesus addressed, these were not the type of people that you would ideally want to gather for your grand opening event. Most of these people were desperate, they were not affluent, they were not men and women of great power and influence, they were poor physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
So what did Jesus say to this group of people? He started off with the first four beatitudes which consist of blessings for those who were in need. And the next four beatitudes addressed those who help those people in need.
So, at the risk of drawing an obvious conclusion, Jesus first sermon divided the world into two groups. People who were in great need and those people who helped those in need. Just like in our world today, the ancient world was full of factions, Jew and Greek, slave and free, rich and poor, powerful and the weak, male and female, and so on.
Sound familiar?
And yet Jesus said there is only one division in His eyes, those who were in need and those who helped them. And out of this divide arose one unmistakeable fact, that no matter are physical environments, we are all sinners in need of God's grace.
Which is precisely why Jesus came to rescue, not to condemn. His whole plan revolved around trading places with each of us, at the place and time where it would matter the most, before the throne of Almighty God. There Jesus gently touched our shoulders, instructed us to stand behind Him, and then He absorbed the full wrath of our sins, the entire, eternal punishment from a Holy God.
You see, the Bible tells us that there were two amazing transactions that took place when we trusted in Christ as our Savior.
In the first transaction, God gave Christ our sin. In other words, Jesus assumed the obligation for our sin when He died on the cross. Jesus didn’t become a sinner, but He took responsibility for our sin. Some years ago, there was a movie “The Last Emperor” which told the story of a young emperor in China. In one scene, the emperor’s brother approached him and asked, “What happens when you do wrong?” The young emperor said, “When the emperor does wrong, one of his servants suffers.” To illustrate he took a vase and smashed it on the floor, and then he ordered that one of his slaves be beaten.
Jesus Christ, God Himself, chose to reverse that dynamic. When one of the king’s servants does wrong, it is the King of kings who suffers. And that is exactly what happened when Christ died on the cross. He took our sin. He took the punishment we deserve. We broke the vase and He paid the price.
There is a second transaction that took place when we became Christians. God gave us Christ’s righteousness. Not only did He take our sin and place it on Jesus Christ, but He took Christ’s righteousness and credited us for that. The moment you trusted in Christ as your Savior, He not only took your sin and placed it on Jesus, but He took Jesus’s righteousness and credited it to you. In the great accounting room of heaven, your faith was exchanged for Christ’s righteousness.
"For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16 - 17)
What's so crazy to me is this appears to be God's plan all along.
To bless His creation . . .
"So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so." (Genesis 1:28-30)
“Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city." (Revelation 22: 12-14)
So lets examine the evidence, we have blessings from God from the first book of the Bible, (Genesis), then blessings from the first public ministry of Jesus Christ, (recorded in the book of Matthew - which is the first book of the New Testament), and finally, blessings from the last chapter, of the last book in the Bible, Revelation.
I think it's probably safe to assume that the heart and mind of Almighty God seeks to bless His creation in all facets of their lives. From the beginning, in the middle, and finally, at the end.
"Now if we are (His) children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory." (Romans 8:17)
All that He has, He shares with all of His children, to the glory of the Father.
Amen.
