Yours Is The Kingdom Of Heaven - Matthew 5:3b Series

Review

Last week I told you the humble are more blessed and have more reason to rejoice than the proud, because there is more joy in being the subject than in being the object. When there is a great unveiling, and the sheet is pulled off to reveal the glory of something, it feels good to be the object under the sheet and to receive everyone’s applause. Pride feels good, but it is a shallow, fleeting kind of joy. A much deeper joy come from being the subject who sees what is unveiled (if the thing being unveiled is truly glorious).

So what is being unveiled here? Last time I compared it to the TV show where they build a new house and then they move the bus out of the way so the family can see it for the first time and they are overcome with joy. So here we are, the poor in spirit, and Jesus says, “Blessed are you because you get what’s behind that bus.” So now the bus is moving, and we peek around and what do we see? What we see is not a new house, but a kingdom.

3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Theirs is the Kingdom

Now, what does that mean exactly? What does it mean in practical, everyday terms to possess the kingdom of heaven? To answer that question we need to know exactly what the kingdom of heaven is. What is it? The phrase “of heaven” means it is God’s kingdom – “kingdom of heaven” and “kingdom of God” are interchangeable phrases in Scripture. Matthew has a Jewish audience and so he prefers the phrase “kingdom of heaven, which is a more Jewish way of speaking. And it may also be that Matthew used that phrase because he wanted to remind his readers that this kingdom is not of this world.

John 18:36 Jesus said, "My kingdom is not from this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."

This is not a kingdom that is advanced through earthly means like the sword or by political power. It exists in this world, but it is operated through spiritual means.

The word “kingdom” can refer to the territory controlled by a certain king, or it can refer to the citizens who live there, or it can refer to the king’s activity of ruling and I think the main idea here is that third one. The kingdom of heaven is God’s activity of reigning over His creation. That is why Jesus taught us to pray for the kingdom to come, and people were told to repent because the kingdom was near at hand – it is not a territory; it is an activity. It is the activity of God as He reigns over His creation.

The King reigns for You

So what does it mean that it belongs to the poor in spirit? In what sense does God’s activity belong to you? As I studied this the past few weeks there are at least three parts to what it means to have or possess God’s activity of reigning. The first is that God’s activity of reigning is yours in the sense that it is for your benefit. God is a King whose reign benefits the poor and destitute and lowly in spirit.

Remember the prototype of this kingdom (David’s kingdom)? What was David’s reign like? He brought about righteousness and justice for the lowly and weak and oppressed and needy. Remember Mephibosheth? A helpless cripple - and David gave him riches and servants and he ate at the king’s table as his son. That is the sort of thing that happens to the destitute in this kingdom.