Matthew 5:12, commentary and pictures

Spoken at the close of the Beatitudes, it blesses those reviled and persecuted and falsely accused for Christ's and righteousness' sake and bids them rejoice and be exceeding glad because great is their reward in heaven and so the prophets before them were persecuted. Their suffering joins them to the prophets persecuted before them, for reproach is the Christian's lot and faithfulness under it places them in the prophets' line and ranks. Those who suffer reproach and sacrifice for God have a great and precious reward in heaven that each suffering increases and that will be realized in the kingdom of glory, where possessors of this character are acknowledged as His peculiar treasure and joint-heirs with Christ. That reward and blessedness begin here and not only in the future life, for the reward is Christ Himself known and possessed, whose presence gives joy in suffering as with Paul and Silas singing at midnight in prison. Only persecution for Christ's sake and truth is blessed, while suffering brought by rude, quarrelsome manners or fanaticism discredits the cause and brings no such blessing.

Sermon Setting and Authority

Christ spoke these words on the mountain as the close of the Beatitudes, teaching His disciples from His longing to fill the world with a peace and joy like that found in heaven. They were addressed especially to the disciples in the inner circle gathered close about Him, yet within hearing of the assembled multitudes of Jews and Gentiles and directed to their hearts and consciences, to be remembered and passed on for the benefit of the world. They belong to His directions describing the blessed and the virtues that mark His followers, calling those insulted and persecuted and falsely accused of evil for His sake to be joyful because their reward in heaven is great, for the prophets before them were persecuted in the same way. They are part of His soul-saving message in Matthew 5:1-20, showing the character of His teaching, to be studied together with His conflicts and victories over temptation in the wilderness, and receiving them with humility leads to conversion.

They state the principles that govern His kingdom of divine grace, not a promise of earthly glory. They disappointed hopes for a display of power to free the Jews from the yoke of bondage and restore ancient glory, because the kingdom they describe is one of divine grace rather than earthly glory. They opposed the self-righteous teachings and practices of the scribes and Pharisees and corrected their misrepresentation of God, explaining His law through the pure gospel and setting a holy standard of character. On the mount the law is presented as far-reaching: it condemns every evil action and demands perfect obedience.

They are His greeting of blessing to the whole human family, blessings flowing from Him like a long-sealed fountain, as a familiar salutation from the world of light. Their principles are for all ages and all classes of people, removing man-made distinctions and widening the vision to include suffering people in distant regions. The persecuted, like the poor in spirit and the sorrowing, are among those He recognizes and blesses, opening His arms to them as a refuge, giving hope and consolation and showing the character traits He blesses. The righteous character they hold up as the standard is attainable through faith in Him, for anyone can live the life of the Life-giver and reach that standard.

Their words come from God and carry heaven's authority, spoken with unlimited divine authority by One who has all heavenly advantages to bestow upon those who receive Him as Saviour. On the mount of blessing the divine nature shone through His humanity as He spoke benedictions on the objects of His mercy and love, with a fullness drawn from the inexhaustible store of the richest treasures, for the treasures of eternity were at His command and the Father had committed the riches of heaven to Him without bounds in their disposal. Those who possess the character named in the Beatitudes become subjects of His heavenly kingdom, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, acknowledged before the heavenly host and before unfallen and fallen worlds as His peculiar treasure, sharing with Him in the blessing and the glory and the honor that belong to Him, and greater joy than that found in Christ cannot be, for those who receive Him as Saviour, Redeemer, and Prince of life never hunger and never thirst. He is the Christ revealed in the Old Testament Scriptures as Captain of the Lord's host, who enshrouded in the pillar of cloud gave His gospel to the children of Israel just as truly as He gave it in these verses, and when He became flesh and dwelt among men full of grace and truth His standard of purity, righteousness and love gave the human race the perfect standard for practice, with the bright prospect of immortal life in the paradise of God. The sermon gives the way to heaven in saving, ennobling truth and assurance of hope, for He came to save souls through His own righteousness, showing He is one with God, in teaching simple enough for a child to study without being misled, unlike human instruction that cannot provide reliable assurance or salvation.

The blessings are full of deep meaning and are wonderful golden treasures of truth and instruction, the sayings from the lips of the great Teacher, the bread of life which came down from heaven, to be read and believed and practiced with preconceived opinions laid aside and with the plain It is written and Thus saith the Lord taken on its own merits. Many who claim to be Christians do not choose to bring this blessing into practical experience, and its value is dimly appreciated, yet messengers of God are to see its real value in order to understand the true position they are called to occupy, and when proved and tried they are to manifest it by working it out in their own lives and experiences. Its lesson is to be cherished and obeyed as divine teaching that transforms character and makes God's people show forth His praise, to be exemplified in life, for living it out can make a deeper and more lasting impression than preaching alone. Incorporated into the life, it gives understanding that is experimental knowledge and knowledge of the highest value, with divine principles inwrought in the heart as if written with the finger of God. This Christlikeness of character developed by practicing these sayings is salvation, so that if there were no other page of the Bible not a soul practicing them would be lost, holding man's reputation as nothingness and refusing to deny and betray the truth for favor, worldly honors, exalted position, or financial standing, gain or loss, even under threat of the gaping lion's den or the fiery furnace, for to live is to obey the word of Christ, and to die for the truth's sake is gain, the spirit of all enlisted to serve under the blood-stained banner of Prince Emmanuel.

They give practical lessons that must be lived to correct false views of God as a despot and to show His true merciful, loving character, breaking down partition walls and shielding from temptation. Safety is found in not being discouraged but in doing right because it is right and walking in all humility before God, with a religion born of love that is simple, kind, courteous, just, pure and uplifting, for true happiness comes from the grace of God in the heart, which bears fruit in good and righteous actions, while worldly possessions, fame, honor, and human praise cannot give this happiness or secure a reward in heaven. Christ lived every phase of the sermon before He spoke it, and the Beatitudes describe His own deeds, while the Jews misunderstood and disobeyed Him and their ruin was the result, and those who claim to believe the truth now are passing over the same ground and will have the same history unless they speedily repent. They are to be kept before the mind and repeated to those in trial and perplexity.

They belong to His teaching about the qualities God esteems, which are not measured by wealth or possessions, for God values people by their moral worth, received day by day into good and honest hearts on the terms He sets.

Command to Rejoice Gladly

Those who are reviled and persecuted and have all manner of evil falsely said against them for Christ's sake and for righteousness' sake are pronounced blessed and are told to rejoice and be exceeding glad, because great is their reward in heaven and because the prophets who were before them were persecuted in the same way. Practicing the truths Christ presents joins His followers with Him in His labors and in their rewards. Their suffering follows the pattern of those prophets and places them in their company.

The command to rejoice is full and broad and deep. Those under reproach and persecution for Christ are not to be amazed or cast down and oppressed, not to be downcast or shaken in faith, not to be discouraged or fearful or distressed, and not to fall into murmuring and complaining, but to remain cheerful and courageous and confident while looking to Jesus their Redeemer. Time and courage and faith are too precious to sacrifice to dejection and mourning, and trials and afflictions are not a reason to abandon confidence or sink into depression. All heaven is watching and ready to help them stand in the conflict, and they are to entrust character and reputation to Christ without losing heart.

This earth is not heaven, and tribulation in the world was foretold by Christ who overcame the world, so believers were told beforehand not to be surprised. Persecution does not mean they have lost God's favor, nor does it separate them from Christ, but it drives them to Him as refuge and consolation and peace. Even the hardest trials to bear, those that come from brethren and familiar friends, if borne with patience will reflect back upon those who caused them.

The reward and blessedness are not all in the future life but begin here below. The reward is Christ Himself, Jehovah Emmanuel in whom are hidden all treasures of wisdom and knowledge and in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, promised as God promised Abraham to be his shield and exceeding great reward. To be brought into sympathy with Him, to know Him and possess Him as the heart opens more and more to receive His attributes, to know His love and power, to possess the unsearchable riches of Christ, to comprehend breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge so as to be filled with all the fullness of God, is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. His presence gives joy in suffering, as it stood beside Paul and Silas when they prayed and sang praises at midnight in the Philippian dungeon and irradiated the gloom with glory, and as Paul rejoiced in his Roman bonds over the spread of the gospel, re-echoing the command to rejoice always in the midst of persecution. Those who teach the far-reaching spiritual principles of the law as Christ taught them therefore have cheerfulness, peace and joy to bring into their work below, sharing His sufferings here in hope of sharing His glory, while He opens His arms of refuge to the disowned who receive His light and life, adds grace upon grace until He looks on them with delight, and withholds nothing that is for their good.

Great Reward in Heaven

Those who suffer reproach, neglect, injustice, hardship, sacrifice and persecution for God and for Christ have a great and precious reward and inheritance in heaven. Each suffering increases that reward and adds to final joy, for the immortal recompense is realized in the coming day and in the kingdom of glory. God sees their sacrifices and sorrows and looks on willing sufferers with approval, and the promise of an appropriate reward is given to those who remain faithful and true. That hope comforts the afflicted, helps them endure cruelty while continuing to trust God, and encourages them to continue to the end even through privation.

Those who possess the character named in the Beatitudes become subjects of His heavenly kingdom, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. Christ's blessings overturn the judgment of the scribes and Pharisees, who would have called such sufferers cursed. Those who receive Him as Saviour, Redeemer and Prince of life never hunger and never thirst, for greater joy than that found in Christ cannot be, and He acknowledges them before the heavenly host and before unfallen and fallen worlds as His peculiar treasure. They share with Him the blessing and the glory and the honor that belong to Him, with all the riches of heaven drawn upon for them and nothing too costly withheld. The promise is spoken with unlimited divine authority by One who has all heavenly advantages to bestow, drawing with fullness from the inexhaustible store of the richest treasures, for the treasures of eternity were at His command and the Father committed the riches of heaven to Him without bounds in their disposal. Those who partake of His humiliation and suffering for the truth's sake and stand under His banner must accept the world's Redeemer and engage in the conflict with Him as faithful soldiers and witnesses for Christ with no neutral ground, that they may inherit the crown of life as adopted sons and daughters of God.

The promise also covers faithful service, humble sacrificial labor even when unappreciated by men, giving means to the Lord's work, and teaching the way of salvation and winning souls to Christ while time remains short. Giving up possessions and accepting personal privation to advance the truth are acts whose motive God knows and for which He will not withhold the reward. God's servants can work humbly and sacrificially rather than seeking selfish gain, trusting Him to reward them as they serve Him, and supporting the sanitarium is such service in the Master's cause for which God rewards them. Women who endure want and persecution alongside their husbands share an equal reward with those directly persecuted for the truth.

Faithful sufferers are counted worthy to suffer for the truth and can rejoice because great is their reward in heaven and so the prophets before them were persecuted. Early Christians applied the promise to their own suffering, counting it an honor, rejoicing amid torture and death, and looking by faith to Christ and angels watching them with approval and deepest interest. Trials and persecutions are steps bringing sufferers nearer their rest and their reward, so loss of every earthly blessing, comfort and freedom cannot force renunciation of belief in Christ. Those who endure keep faith unsullied with patience and hope and triumph even in death, seeing by faith Christ and angels leaning over heaven, and those faithful unto death receive God's promise of the crown of life in hope of a better resurrection. Those who received the light and suffered torture or death for the truth exemplify this sharing of the prophets' experience and great reward in heaven.

Fellowship With Earlier Prophets

Suffering for Christ's sake joins believers to the prophets who were persecuted before them in the very same way, and faithfulness under reproach places them in their line and company and ranks. Reproach and persecution are part of the Christian's lot and legacy and experience, though the form changes with the times, and remembrance that righteous people before them suffered for obedience gives reason to rejoice even while suffering. The apostles remembered this when Jewish opposition turned against them and they were expelled from Antioch and Pisidia, and expulsion did not discourage them. Jesus himself was cruelly slandered, and he counseled followers not to lose heart or be fearful and distressed under false reports and attacks, but to remain confident and faithful in duty and to suffer trials and reproach with meekness while entrusting character and reputation to Christ.

The example to be looked to is the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as a pattern of suffering affliction and of patience, beginning with Abel the first martyr among Adam's children, then Enoch who walked with God unknown by the world, then Noah mocked as a fanatic and alarmist. It continues to those who endured cruel mockings and scourgings, bonds and imprisonment, and torture without accepting deliverance in order to obtain a better resurrection. In every age God's chosen messengers are reviled and persecuted, yet through their very affliction the knowledge of God is spread abroad, so every disciple steps into the ranks to carry forward the same work knowing foes can do nothing against the truth but for the truth. Contempt brings truth to the front as a subject of examination and discussion, and every controversy and reproach and effort to restrict liberty of conscience agitates minds and awakens those who would otherwise slumber.

Practicing the truths Christ presents joins His followers in His labors and in their rewards. As God's teachers, disciples may face rejection and insult and false accusation, slander, torture, imprisonment and death for His sake. When driven from one city they go to another and preach Christ wherever a hearing can be had, in the church, in private houses, or in the open air, so the light penetrates everywhere. Persecution for the truth does not crush God's work but serves only to extend it, and though church and civil powers use imprisonment, torture, fire and sword and thousands seal their faith with their blood, the work goes on. The fanaticism Satan joins to persecution only makes clearer the contrast between the work of Satan and the work of God.

True and False Persecution

True persecution is for Christ's sake, for righteousness and for the truth, when people are reviled and persecuted and have all manner of evil said against them falsely while they are trying to do Christ's works. Because God's truths condemn sin and call people to righteousness, those who follow Christ and uphold truth will be resisted as enthusiasts, fanatics or troublers by a generation that resists reform, and they should be ready to sacrifice anything rather than lose God's favor. This includes faithful Sabbath keepers, against whom hostility will grow when civil protection is withdrawn, as when a converted man firm as a rock to principle sacrificed a good salary and after twenty years of faithful service was refused a pension because he would not work on the Sabbath, though offered his place at three pounds seventeen shillings a week if he would, leaving himself, his wife, seven sons, his married son and wife, and his daughter and husband, fourteen souls in all, homeless living in tents and dependent for bread on what their hands could earn, while father and mother remained brave and courageous.

Suffering brought on by rude or quarrelsome behavior, uncultivated manners, needless quarrels with neighbors, irritating injudicious conduct, inconsistency or fanaticism is not the persecution that brings heaven's reward. Such conduct makes a person a stumbling block, discredits the cause of Christ, brings reproach on the truth, and gives unbelievers grounds to ridicule faith and to hate those who teach it. Christians should not present the Sabbath in a needlessly irritating way nor make themselves more conspicuously odd than faith requires.

Jesus Himself was cruelly slandered, rejected, scoffed at and crucified, and Christ as the Majesty of heaven and the world's Redeemer received the same false treatment as His followers now receive. His cross, though all covered with reproach and stigma, is the hope of life and exaltation, and the blessings He purchased at infinite cost are discerned only by those willing joyfully to sacrifice earthly treasures to become His followers. He showed His followers how to face hostility without losing heart, fainting, wavering, failing or discouragement, holding the truth as it is in Jesus firmly upon a sure anchorage, in view of the end of all things being at hand and the triumph of the third angel's message with which those who hold fast will triumph.

The apostles remembered the promise when Jewish opposition and false reports turned devout women of influence and leading men of influence against them and they were expelled from Antioch, from Pisidia and from those coasts and that district, and expulsion did not discourage them but they rejoiced instead of being discouraged. The same joy upheld them when driven from the district after agitation against them, placing them in the line of the earlier prophets who were persecuted in the same way. Early Christians rejoiced amid torture and death, Luther cheerfully endured trials and sacrifices, sufferers for light endured torture or death rather than yield, and Brother Ralph's patient prayer, forgiveness and dying exhortation to obey truth illustrate the same endurance.

Purposes and Faithful Endurance

Affliction, loss and disappointment for Christ's sake give reason to rejoice even in suffering, for they can loosen attachment to the world and turn desires and hopes toward heaven. They refine faith and patience, deepen trust in God, prepare believers for their work, and add to the great reward in heaven. Trials and persecutions are steps bringing sufferers nearer their rest and reward, enriching those who bear the cross, so that loss of every earthly blessing, comfort and freedom cannot force renunciation of belief. They are not signs of failure nor reason to abandon confidence, sink into depression, sorrow, fear, despair, or be ruled by fear or human approval. The persecuted are therefore to remain confident and faithful in duty, doing it for God's approval and accepting tests of faith and patience cheerfully, since persecution in changing forms belongs to the Christian's experience after the pattern of the righteous and prophets before them.

They are to hold man's reputation as nothingness and refuse to deny and betray the truth for favor, worldly honors, exalted position, financial standing, gain or loss, or worldly prosperity, even under threat of the gaping lion's den or the fiery furnace. To live is to obey the word of Christ, and to die for the truth's sake is gain, depending wholly on Jesus as faithful soldiers and witnesses with no neutral ground to inherit the crown of life. Those who follow Christ and uphold God's truth, whose truths condemn sin and call to righteousness, will be resisted as enthusiasts or fanatics by a generation that resists reform, yet should be ready to sacrifice anything rather than lose God's favor. False accusations for Christ's sake require holding the truth as it is in Jesus firmly without wavering, failing or discouragement, resting on sure anchorage that holds, on the end of all things being at hand, and on the triumph of the third angel's message with which those who hold fast will triumph.

Christ blesses the persecuted and welcomes into His refuge those the world despises who receive His light and life, adding grace upon grace until He looks on them with delight and withholds nothing for their good. His blessing places them among the traits He recognizes, so persecution does not put them outside His care.

Followers must guard words and actions lest they join in persecuting God's servants, for Satan stirs people to speak against the labors of those trying to do Christ's works. Reproach, murmuring, neglect, censure and abuse suffered in the Lord's service are done to the Lord whose instrument the sufferer is, not to the sufferer personally. They must be left with the Lord to fight for him and vindicate his cause instead of being taken as personal wrongs and recounted as past grievances, which is displeasing to God. When borne for Christ's sake without aggrieved feeling they bring a great and precious reward at last, met with prayer and forgiveness as shown in patient endurance under abuse even unto death urging others to obey the truth.

The promise encourages those who endure hardship and sacrifice for God's cause to continue humbly and sacrificially to the end, even through privation, trusting God rather than selfish gain. Since such persecution can bring privation, believers should prepare by learning practical work and trades and useful skills to provide for themselves and their families so they do not suffer from lack of practical knowledge. Being joyful under reviling and persecution is one of the characteristics Christ specifies to be revealed in His workers as the mark of Christian service and of the Holy Spirit's guidance under holy angels, preserving truth in holy dignity and power, requiring workers to consider where they are drifting lest they lose their burden and to keep perception keen to see the Spirit working on hearts. The beatitudes are not only promises but a daily experience taught by Christ Himself to form a character without fault before a pure and holy God and secure the future destiny for which He gave His life, coming by cooperating with Christ, wearing His yoke and not a yoke of human manufacture, and learning His meekness and lowliness, while angels love and minister to such ones in every phase of life. That character determines the sentence when judgment sits and the books are opened and every person is judged according to deeds written in the books, since ambition and desire to supersede will not weigh as divine acquirements when weighed in the balances of the heavenly sanctuary.