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.

9264. 'For I will not justify the wicked' means that such malevolence is contrary to Divine righteousness. This is clear from the meaning of 'justifying' as declaring innocent and acquitting, but in this instance not acquitting since it says 'I will not justify' (that 'justifying' can also mean declaring innocent and acquitting is evident from the legal meaning of the word, as well as from the following in Matthew,

By your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. Matthew 12:37.

And in Luke,

You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. Luke 16:15); and from the meaning of 'the wicked' as malevolence, dealt with above in 9249. Malevolence, which is spoken of here as being contrary to Divine righteousness, consists in destroying good, interior and exterior, meant by 'killing the innocent and the righteous', who are the subject just above in 9262, 9263. Such good is destroyed when Divine Truth and Good received from the Lord are disowned. When a person disowns them they are annihilated, and so is the Lord Himself, the Source from whom all good that is good comes and all truth that is true. When they have been annihilated the person no longer has any spiritual life or consequently any salvation. They - truth and good - are annihilated when people disown what is Divine and the Lord's, and also when they disown the Word since this is Divine Truth received from the Lord and concerning the Lord. Disowning this, when one has previously acknowledged it and accepted it in faith, and so annihilating it, is the sin against the Holy Spirit which is not forgiven, Matthew 12:31. For the Holy Spirit is Divine Truth and Good, being the Holiness which emanates from the Lord, 9229. The same thing is also meant by 'shedding innocent blood', dealt with just above. The truth that such malevolence is not forgiven because it is contrary to Divine righteousness is meant by 'I will not justify the wicked'.