Matthew 5:5

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

From Background Notes [BN] for October 20^th & 21^st written by Pastor Bob Brown:

At the heart of the sayings at the beginning of the Sermon in Matthew 5:1-16 is the notion that the blessings of God are greater than status above others. These verses are called the "beatitudes" for a reason! Derived from the Latin, beatitude and beatus, the idea forms the root meaning of our English word "happy.” Further…

… the notion of beare, "to bless,” points to an even more settled condition, in the future, of those who have been exalted by God in the afterlife. Medieval writers, such as Augustine and Aquinas, spoke of the "beatific vision of God,” referring to heaven and the final state of those who are "blessed" by God. Matthew wrote in Greek, and his Gospel uses the Greek word makarios, which has an interesting history in the language.

Lutheran scholar Stoffregen notes that in ancient Greek times, makarios referred to the gods. "The blessed ones" were the gods. They had achieved a state of happiness and contentment in life that was beyond all cares, labors, and even death. The blessed ones were beings who lived in some other world away from the cares and problems and worries of ordinary people. To be blessed, you had to be a god. Makarios took on a second meaning. It referred to the "dead.” [BN, 4]

Join us this week in Study, Worship, Praise and Celebration at Chicago First Church of the Nazarene:

* Saturday 6:00pm
* Sunday 8:30am & 11:00am, 5:30pm