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.

747. That accuseth them before God day and night, signifies and who have denounced them and disputed with them continually from the Word. This is evident from the signification of "to accuse," as being to assault (See above, n. 746); consequently it means to denounce and to dispute with, for he who accuses also disputes and denounces; also from the signification of "before God," as being from the Word (of which presently); also from the signification of "day and night," as meaning continually and without intermission; for "day and night" signify all states of life, "day" the state of the life when the mind is in clear thought, and "night" when the mind is in obscure thought. These two states of life mean continually, because there is in the spiritual world no division of times into years, months, weeks, days, and hours, but instead of these there are changes of state; for there angels and spirits are sometimes in clear thought and sometimes in obscure thought. That angels and spirits are by turns in a state of clear perception and in a state of obscure perception can be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell 154-161. But in particular their states follow each other variously, as from one affection into another; and it is from these states that angels and spirits number their times; thus these take the place of times in the world, which are years, months, weeks, days, nights, and hours. Because then their states of life in general change as to clearness or obscurity of understanding, and thus are in a continual succession, so "days and nights" signify continually. "To accuse before God" signifies to denounce and to dispute from the Word; because those who are meant by "the dragon," who are those that separate faith from life, argue and dispute from the Word; and to dispute from the Word is to dispute "before God," for God is in the Word, since the Word is from God, and is Divine truth proceeding from the Lord. This is why it is said in John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word (John 1:1).

They dispute in favor of faith separated from a life of charity, because they confirm their heresy from certain passages in the Word understood according to the mere letter, and when they have thus confirmed it they believe it to be the very truth of the church, although it is a falsity. In general, "to accuse day and night" signifies the continual influx of falsity from those who are meant by "the dragon;" and as their falsities are from the Word falsified, therefore this is signified by "accusing before God."