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Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
The Beatitudes
By New Christian Bible Study Staff
These verses, the opening phrases of the Sermon on the Mount, hold some of the Bible’s most beautiful and best-loved poetry. Part of its beauty, though, lies in the fact that the meaning is not quite clear. What does it mean to be “poor in spirit”? What does it mean to “inherit the earth” or to be called “the children of God.” The fact that there are many possibilities causes us to linger over the phrases, pondering them.
Understood in the internal sense, these blessings show the spiritual states of the various people who could be receptive of the Lord and the new church he was launching. On a deeper level it shows that states within ourselves that can lead each of us to the Lord and to a deeper understanding of His truth today.
The “poor in spirit” are those who know little about spiritual things, but want to learn. Those that “mourn” are those who want to be good, but see no desire for good in their church. The “meek” are those who love to care for and serve others. To “hunger and thirst after righteousness” shows a desire to rise up, to learn about what’s good and to come to desire it.
The “merciful” are those who love their fellow people. The “pure in heart” are those who love only what is good. “Peacemakers” are those who are in harmony with the Lord, gaining knowledge from Him and wanting what He wants. And to be “persecuted for righteousness’ sake” means acting out of love and care for others, even though you are condemned by others for it.
There’s something of a progression there, from those who simply want to learn to those who actively want to be good people to those who actually are good and acting out of love for others. None of it, though, describes those who are learned in the Jewish traditions, or even necessarily observant in terms of ritual; they are, rather, those who sense that it is possible to be a good person and are willing to make the effort.
And they are promised their rewards! The “kingdom of heaven” is the understanding the angels have of the Lord; “comfort” represents ideas that lead to the good of life; “inheriting the earth” is a state of loving others and being loved by them in return. The overall message is simple: If we truly wish to be good people, and are willing to let the Lord teach us how to be good people, we will end up filled with love and wisdom from Him. And that’s what we need to focus on: The desire to be good, and openness to ideas from the Lord. It’s not about ritual and intellectual “correctness”; it’s about ideas that lead us to be good.
But what of being reviled and persecuted? This depicts temptation, when the hells attack our newborn good desires and true understanding. They cause us to doubt our ability to be truly good and question the ideas that are leading us. And they can do it in many ways, reminding us of the fun we’ll be missing or reminding us of all the bad things we’ve ever done to render us hopeless. They will even attack the Bible and the ideas that come to us through it from the Lord; that’s represented by the idea that people also attacked the prophets.
These states, however, are blessed in their own way; only by battling these evils, which are rooted inside us, can we finally fully embrace the good life we have been striving for. That’s why it is pictured last, and that's why it leads to the “great reward” in heaven.
Luke 11
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It happened, that when he finished praying in a certain place, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples."
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He said to them, "When you pray, say, 'Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come. May your will be done on Earth, as it is in heaven.
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Give us day by day our daily bread.
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Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'"
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He said to them, "Which of you, if you go to a friend at midnight, and tell him, 'friend, lend me three loaves of bread,
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for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him,'
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and he from within will answer and say, 'Don't bother me. The door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give it to you'?
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I tell you, although he will not rise and give it to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, he will get up and give him as many as he needs.
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"I tell you, keep asking, and it will be given you. Keep seeking, and you will find. Keep knocking, and it will be opened to you.
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For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened.
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"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he won't give him a snake instead of a fish, will he?
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Or if he asks for an egg, he won't give him a scorpion, will he?
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If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?"
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He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. It happened, when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke; and the multitudes marveled.
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But some of them said, "He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons."
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Others, testing him, sought from him a sign from heaven.
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But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation. A house divided against itself falls.
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If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.
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But if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore will they be your judges.
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But if I by the finger of God cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come to you.
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"When the strong man, fully armed, guards his own dwelling, his goods are safe.
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But when someone stronger attacks him and overcomes him, he takes from him his whole armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils.
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"He that is not with me is against me. He who doesn't gather with me scatters.
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The unclean spirit, when he has gone out of the man, passes through dry places, seeking rest, and finding none, he says, 'I will turn back to my house from which I came out.'
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When he returns, he finds it swept and put in order.
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Then he goes, and takes seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and dwell there. The last state of that man becomes worse than the first."
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It came to pass, as he said these things, a certain woman out of the multitude lifted up her voice, and said to him, "Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts which nursed you!"
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But he said, "On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God, and keep it."
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When the multitudes were gathering together to him, he began to say, "This is an evil generation. It seeks after a sign. No sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah, the prophet.
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For even as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will also the Son of Man be to this generation.
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The Queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and will condemn them: for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, one greater than Solomon is here.
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The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, one greater than Jonah is here.
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"No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, that those who come in may see the light.
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The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore when your eye is good, your whole body is also full of light; but when it is evil, your body also is full of darkness.
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Therefore see whether the light that is in you isn't darkness.
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If therefore your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly full of light, as when the lamp with its bright shining gives you light."
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Now as he spoke, a certain Pharisee asked him to dine with him. He went in, and sat at the table.
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When the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that he had not first washed himself before dinner.
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The Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but your inward part is full of extortion and wickedness.
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You foolish ones, didn't he who made the outside make the inside also?
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But give for gifts to the needy those things which are within, and behold, all things will be clean to you.
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But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, but you bypass justice and the love of God. You ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.
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Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues, and the greetings in the marketplaces.
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Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like hidden graves, and the men who walk over them don't know it."
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One of the lawyers answered him, "Teacher, in saying this you insult us also."
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He said, "Woe to you lawyers also! For you load men with burdens that are difficult to carry, and you yourselves won't even lift one finger to help carry those burdens.
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Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.
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So you testify and consent to the works of your fathers. For they killed them, and you build their tombs.
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Therefore also the wisdom of God said, 'I will send to them prophets and apostles; and some of them they will kill and persecute,
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that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;
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from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zachariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary.' Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation.
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Woe to you lawyers! For you took away the key of knowledge. You didn't enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in, you hindered."
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As he said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be terribly angry, and to draw many things out of him;
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lying in wait for him, and seeking to catch him in something he might say, that they might accuse him.
