The Beatitudes

Among the sermons recorded in the Bible, the Sermon on the Mount is perhaps the best known. Jesus’ hearers literally were astonished when they heard Jesus’ words for the first time. Gently, yet forcefully Jesus expounded the Old Testament with a New Testament focus. It is aptly called the Constitution of the Kingdom of God. In this series we will limit our study to the opening passage of the sermon, commonly known as the Beatitudes. No Scripture equals the description of the citizens of Jesus’ Kingdom than the elementary yet comprehensive sketch of His genuine subjects.

This session is devoted to the exposition of the seventh Beatitude, “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” I hope and pray that at the end of our series, we may share something of what the original hearers of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount experienced, for we read that they were astonished. Why did it have this effect on them? It is not just because Jesus’ teaching was just novel or new, though it was in some ways definitely that also; but His teaching was so entirely opposed to how we are used to think or trained to think.

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Rev. A.T. Vergunst is minister of the Gospel in the Reformed Congregation of Carterton, New Zealand.