The Beatitudes: 13 Messages to Help You Reach Your Greatest Fulfillment as a Child of God

The beatitudes are a set of assertions that Jesus gave for all believers. They are actually the preamble to a larger message known as the Sermon on the Mount. The Beatitudes are the seven declarations of blessedness spoken by Jesus at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3-12), each beginning with "Blessed are..." It is debated as to exactly how many beatitudes there are. Some speak of seven, nine, or ten beatitudes, but I am convinced that the number appears to be seven (a number of perfection) and that the last "blessed" that deals with persecution is the result of what happens when we allow the seven beatitudes to become operational in our life. The Greek word translated "blessed" is the Greek word "macarios" and it means "happy, blissful" or, literally, "to be stress free." In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus uses the word to refer to more than a superficial happiness; in this context, blessed refers to a state of spiritual well-being and stress-free life. The happiness is a deep joy of the soul. Those who experience the first aspect of a beatitude (poor, mourn, meek, hungry for righteousness, merciful, pure, and peacemakers) will also experience the second aspect of the beatitude (kingdom of heaven, comfort, inherit the earth, filled, mercy, see God, called sons of God, inherit the kingdom of heaven). The blessed have a share in salvation and have entered the kingdom of God, experiencing a foretaste of heaven. The Beatitudes describe the ideal disciple and his rewards, both present and future. The person whom Jesus describes in this passage has a different quality of character and lifestyle than those still "outside the kingdom." As a literary form, the beatitude is also found often in the Old Testament, especially in the Psalms (1:1; 34:8; 65:4; 128:1) and in the New Testament as well (John 20:29; 14:22; James 1:12; and Revelation 14:13).