Explanation of Matthew 5:12
By Brian David
As we saw in the previous verse, being reviled and persecuted represents temptation, with the hells attacking and challenging our desire to be good and our understanding of what is right. Why would we rejoice? It's a devastating state!
We rejoice because facing temptation is the only way to rid ourselves of evil and false thinking and open ourselves up to the Lord. Those evils are part of us, and we have to push them aside – and pushing them aside is not an easy, painless thing. If we succeed, though, we get the great reward of heaven: The Lord will fill us with the true love of all that is good and great wisdom about what "good" is and how to achieve it. We can then live in blissful harmony with Him, aligned with His love and His wisdom.
And what of "persecuting the prophets"? Prophets represent true ideas and doctrine understood through the Bible – ideas that come to us from the Lord within the Bible. This means the hells will challenge us not only directly in life, but also in terms of the truth we see in the Bible.
(References: Apocalypse Explained 695 [19])
Mark 10:17-22
17
As he was going out into the way, one ran to him, knelt before him, and asked him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?"
18
Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except one--God.
19
You know the commandments: 'Do not murder,' 'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not give false testimony,' 'Do not defraud,' 'Honor your father and mother.'"
20
He said to him, "Teacher, I have observed all these things from my youth."
21
Jesus looking at him loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack. Go, sell whatever you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me, taking up the cross."
22
But his face fell at that saying, and he went away sorrowful, for he was one who had great possessions.
