Matthew 5:6-7

 

The B-Attitudes Matthew 5:6-7

 

:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” Luke 6:21a “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be filled (satisfied).” This is not the hunger and filling that comes from eating natural food, but spiritual food. Isaiah said in 55:1-5, “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the Waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for what is not Bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is Good, and let your soul delight itself in Abundance…” He is not talking about the body and natural food he is talking about the soul and the soul eats spiritual food! John 6:11, “Give us this day our daily Bread.” Again, this is not just about natural food, in just a few sentences JESUS tells us not to worry about natural food, this is about spiritual food.  6:25-34 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not Life more than food and the body more than clothing?...For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first The Kingdom of GOD and His Righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”

JESUS told the devil when tempted, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of GOD.” which is a quote from Deuteronomy 8:3.

JESUS asks us to let Him come into our life so we can sup together, Revelation 3:20, “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” In his letter to the lukewarm Church, those who know about JESUS but have not yielded their life to Him, He is knocking and calling out. Today’s Church is lukewarm to cold, many who say they love GOD and give their life to Him really have not, they continue to practice sin in their lives.

JESUS is The Bread of Life, John 6:48 “I Am The Bread of Life.” Study 6:22-59 This is a hard text for Christians even today, but JESUS is clear, we must abide in Him or we can do nothing, John 15:10“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My Love, just as I kept My Father’s Commandments and abide in his Love.” Study John 15:1-17, again this is a hard passage for many Christians. GOD did not call us to the good life here on the earth, He called us to the Eternal Good Life that comes after this difficult way and narrow gate life (Matthew 7:13-14).

JESUS is The Living Water, John 4:4-14, “JESUS answered and said to her, ‘If you knew The Gift of God, and Who it is Who says to you, “Give Me a drink,” you would have asked Him, and He would have given you Living Water.’” John 7:37-39 “On the last day, that great day of the feast, JESUS stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of Living Water.’ But this He spoke concerning The SPIRIT, Whom those believing in Him would receive; for The Holy SPIRIT was not yet given, because JESUS was not yet Glorified.”

Paul talks about the fact that the Hebrews in the wilderness all ate the same spiritual food (manna) and drank the same spiritual water (CHRIST) 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 (Study Exodus 16 and 17).

In Hebrews 5:12-14, Paul admonishes the Believes that they are living on the milk of The Word like babies when they should be mature eating the solid food of The Word of GOD.

In 1 Corinthians 11:23-34 Paul teaches about taking communion based on JESUS’ instructions to the twelve during the Passover Sader on the night He was arrested. Where we eat His body represented by unleavened bread and drink his blood represented by grape wine (or juice).

In Revelation 22:1-2, all who are allowed into GOD’s Eternal Kingdom’s New Jerusalem can drink Water from The River of Life and eat Fruit from The Tree of Life that grows on each side of the River of Life.

Do you get the point? “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be filled.”

 

:7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain Mercy.” We all want mercy, even in entertainment the villain about to be dispatched, the one who has shown no mercy to his victims, usually begs for mercy.

What is mercy? “Kindness and love. In the Old Testament, mercy was used to describe GOD’s Faithfulness within the Covenant relationship. GOD showed Mercy even to those who broke the law (Daniel 9:9). In the New Testament the word typically referred to the fulfillment of GOD’s promised Kindness through JESUS CHRIST (Luke 1:54; Titus 3:5-6). Many Christian benedictions mention mercy (1 Timothy 1:2).” Bible Dictionary, Publications International, Ltd., 1999; That seems like a fair description.

So to be merciful we must give mercy to others, this is tricky for many people, even Christians; if you have anger, resentment, jealousy, envy or hatred toward other people you will not be able to show mercy very easily. To receive mercy we have to give mercy, study Psalm 41, David recognizes what mercy is, asks GOD to be merciful to him, speaks of others unkindness to him, then again asks GOD to be merciful to him so he can repay those who were not merciful to him, but JESUS corrected that attitude!

JESUS told us to forgive others their sins against us or our Father in Heaven would not forgive us our sins (Matthew 6:14-15); JESUS told to us do good (be merciful) to those who hate us and mistreat us (Matthew 5:21-26, 43-48); no anger, no hatred, no revenge! Paul reminds of this in Romans 12:17-21, where he quotes from Deuteronomy 32:35 and Proverbs 25:21-22.

So mercy is an act of kindness whether the person is deserving or not. Proverbs 12:10, “A righteous man regards the life of his animal, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.” A righteous man treats his animals better than a man whose mercies are based on requirement and not love, (see Matthew 5:43-48).

 

https://youtu.be/4jGkduSJg30