Holy Boldness

and suddenly realized that he was a man of “unclean lips living among of people of unclean lips.” (Isaiah 6:5). The poor in spirit see the utter need for a savior. When people of this age think that they are adequate in themselves to accomplish deliverance for the earth, then they have not seen the problem sufficiently. Those who are poor in spirit are those who have recognized that they must have a miracle to proceed. The fear of the Lord is rooted in this clear appraisal of the plight of mankind in conjunction with the high call of God. When a person fears the Lord they stop entertaining illusions of their own greatness and instead become fixated upon the perfections of the living God and His call to them to become like Him. The fear of the Lord causes a person to rightly apprehend the high expectations of God as well as the shortfalls of man. This recognition of the gulf between divine expectations and human capacity creates the right posture before the Lord. Jesus’ promise to the “ poor in Spirit” is that “theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.” The Kingdom of Heaven is synonymous with the similar phrase, “the kingdom of God.” Both phrases refer to the power of God’s blessing and favor being manifested in and through a person’s life. The kingdom of heaven is the rule of the Messiah with its blessings. It is the vis ible manifestation of invisible hopes and promises. It is God’s will being done on the earth. It is interesting that, in this beatitude, Jesus described the kingdom as a present reality, not just something in the future. “their’s is the kingdom of heaven,” for those who are poor in spirit already enjoy and experience the Kingdom of Heaven. It is also significant that the first and last beatitude in the list of eight both identify access to the kingdom of God as the specific reward. Thus the eight statements begin and end with the blessing of being given the kingdom of heaven. “ This literary structure establishes that everything included within it concerns the kingdom; I.e., the blessings of the intervening beatitudes are kingdom blessings and the beatitudes themselves are kingdom norms.” 13 In other words, all the beatitudes are intimately related to the Kingdom of God. The beatitudes are Kingdom attitudes! The Kingdom of Heaven as a reward

13

Carson, D. A. Matthew, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary,

Zondervon, p. 132

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