Luke 6: 20-36

(Luke 6: 20-36) And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.  Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.  Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets. But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.  Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.  Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets. But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also.  Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.  For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.  And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.  Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

You should be familiar with Blessed. The law (the law of wrath) tells all humans that they are sinners. If people do not find Christ in the law, they are still sinners. Blessed are those who find Christ in the law. The source of blessing is Jesus Christ. The Bible says in Romans (3: 19-20).

『Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 』

Those who realize that they are sinners are poor in spirit. What the law tells us is that your souls are poor. In Israel, “poor” refers to a state in which there is no land to eat and live. When the Israelites came out of Egypt and entered Canaan, God divided the land by tribe. However, over time, changes occurred. The land is sold for a variety of reasons, leaving no land for cultivation. Thus, God set up a jubilee system to get it back.

However, the jubilee system was not well maintained because the people did not keep the law. The poor who have no land are deprived of it. Poor spirit means that the spirit has been taken away from home. Unless someone gives home to the Spirit, he can never escape poverty. But those who realize the meaning of the spirit in poverty can be blessed, because those who realize can repent to God and put on the body of the spirit.

The Bible says in Leviticus (25:23).『The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me. 』The Hebrew word for resident is the word ger. Moses' name is Gershom. It means being a foreigner. Precisely speaking, a foreigner comes to live in another country. Israel received land as an inheritance, which is a promise. The promise means giving God's kingdom as an inheritance. That is, in this land (material world), humans are strangers. It is a stranger from God's kingdom. Residents are the same as permanent residence, while those living in a dwelling are temporary residence. Residents represent Israel, and dwellers symbolize Gentiles.

In Hebrews 11:13『These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 』 So, the place where people go back is the kingdom of God. We cannot go back on our own. So we plead with Jesus. Jesus allows those who died together on the cross to return to the kingdom of God. So we must repent of our departure from God and cry out.『Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. 』 To mourn means to feel overwhelmed. The spirit in men was with God in the kingdom of God. By the way, when he realized that the spirit was deceived by Satan and robbed the tabernacle of God and was trapped in the dust of the material world, he was so cylindrical.

The Bible says in Luke (18: 7).『And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 』 Those who have been brought to the temptations of Satan to cry out for the night and day to restore the body of spirit that has been taken away. The chosen must pray like this. The way they can be comforted by God is to return to the Father as dead, like the parable of the prodigal son.

In Psalm 135: 14『For the LORD will judge his people, and he will repent himself concerning his servants. 』 Here, the word comfort is expressed in Exodus 32:14 as the word “repent”.『And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. 』 In the case of the golden calf of the Israelites, it is God's turning to hear Moses' earnest prayer.

The Greek word for "turn around" means "call back", a compound word for "para" (towards) and "careo" (call back).『Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. 』 The word meek is the same word ana in Hebrew as the word poor in spirit. The word ana in Hebrew means a poor state without the ability to save oneself from the economic exploitation and social oppression of the rich and powerful. They can't do anything, so they become humble. The Bible says in Numbers (in 12: 3).『(Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.) 』 Moses was proud when he was the prince of Egypt, but after 40 years of fled to Midian, he became insignificant. God promises to those who do not have a stranger on earth and are ready to leave. The land is the land of Canaan. The inheritance is the word of God's promise.

To receive the land as an inheritance is a promise to inherit the kingdom of God in the future. When people realize that they are deceived by Satan in God's kingdom and are driven to live on this earth, they are meek by the humility of nothing on earth. Thus, the meek repent and enter into Christ. The kingdom of God is promised.

『Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. 』 Blessing becomes full. In the which which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, righteousness is the righteousness that God requires. People can enter the kingdom of God only when they receive the righteousness that God acknowledges. No one can attain God's righteousness by his own efforts. The way to get right from God is to deny self. When we die on the cross with Jesus, God gives righteousness. The meaning of “hunger” is what Joseph said when he became prime minister in Genesis, when the people of Egypt had no food for famine.

Thirsty, the Israelites blamed Moses for lack of water in Meriva. The Bible says in Exodus (17: 3).『And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? 』 God commanded Moses to water him out of the rock, which Moses struck twice with his staff. The rock represents Jesus Christ.

God gave the law to the Israelites. Thus, the people would keep the law and do right. But God gave the law to realize that it was a sinner who could not achieve righteousness, and the people did not understand it. The meaning of “do hunger and thirst”, which Jesus speaks of, refers to a time when the people keep trying to do righteousness by keeping the law and realize that they can hardly achieve it.

『Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. 』(5:7) Mercy means God's mercy. The object of mercy we can think of is man. To love a brother is to save the brother's dead spirit. A merciful person is merciful from God. The Bible says in Leviticus (19:18).『Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD. 』 Love means saving the spirit. Brother's spirit is in death, and we must give the light of life.

The Bible says in 1 John (3: 14-15).『We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. 』

The Bible says the same thing in 1 John (4:20).『If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? 』

『Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. 』(5:8) The meaning of cleanliness of the heart can be seen in Psalm 24: 4. 『He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. 』

The purity of the heart means "one who does not put his will in vain and does not swear falsely." In Psalm 19: 8『The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. 』 He who is pure in heart brightens his eyes and sees God. The law is pure.

Thus, when they try to keep the law, they realize that they cannot keep it, and they discover the Christ of salvation. To discover Christ is to look to God. For Christ is God. In John 14: 9『Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? 』 Today, those who keeps the law are not pure in heart.

『Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. 』(5:9) Jesus is the reconciler between God and sinners. Sinners cannot come to God. But because of Christ, sinners can reach out to God. When sinners repent and die with Jesus, who died on the cross, all sinners' sins vanish, enter into Christ, and be at peace with God.

Thus, those who are in Christ make other sinners at peace with God. By preaching the word of God, we let other sinners repent and return to God.『Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 』(5:10)

Many church people think that this is "persecuted by the world as they go to church." For in Roman times Christians were persecuted for believing in Jesus.

In "For Righteousness" you should know well that "righteousness". Jesus is telling the Jews who want to realize the meaning of God through the law. The Jews did not even understand the meaning of John the Baptist or Jesus' repentance toward the Jews.

To repent means to find Christ in the law, but not. So Jesus is persecuted by the Jews. Today we are to be freed from the law of the church and to enter into Christ.

Nevertheless, there are many who practice law. Many church people still think that they can only be saved by paying tithing, that the church building is a temple, and that they can only meet God there, and that they can only be saved by repenting their sins every day. All of this comes from legal thinking.

Jesus died on the cross because God is just. Jesus died on behalf of all sinners. But unless sinners repent, God does not forgive sin. Those who repent of their sins that have left God can receive righteousness from God. Repentance is united with the death of Jesus and dying on the cross with Jesus.

There must be judgment in sin. For sin that leaves God, the result is death. Sinners must die with Jesus to be forgiven. The dead with Jesus are forgiven not only of the original sin (the original sin of heaven, the original sin of the earth), but of all the past, present, and future sins of this world. But those who think legally in the Church condemn and persecute these words. What they think is the way to righteousness. They say that they are saved only by faith, but they are not free from legal thought.

『Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 』(5:11) There will be many of these things in the church. As to what happens between the gospel and the law in the church, Jesus spoke in the parable of the ten virgins. The wise five virgins prepared another oil jar, but the foolish five virgins could not prepare another. Another oil barrel means the Holy Spirit.

By dying on the cross with Jesus Christ, we are born again into the body of the Spirit by the power of the Holy Spirit, receiving the filling of the Holy Spirit. But the one who did not prepare for the other oil canisters thought of Jesus as the bridegroom, but still considered the law, saying that there was no holy spirit.

Jesus told the Jews about the eight blessings on the Sermon on the Mount. God gave the people the Law and told them to keep righteousness. The fundamental reason is that you realize that you are sinners who cannot keep the law and are sinners who have left the kingdom of God, and that you cannot be saved unless you find Christ.

So Jesus told the Jews to repent. Blessing is finding Christ in the law, realizing that they are sinners. But the people did not find Christ, and Jesus was crucified.