9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. 10 Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

        Peacemaking is a commodity of rare species, yet should be held at a high premium today. Wars abound around the world and things are just not getting better. Conflicts between individuals continue unabated in this broken, fallen world. Despite advances in the social sciences and the abundance of self-help gurus, most people, it seems, live with considerable inter-personal conflict and tension. Daily news tells of famous couples divorcing, the morbid interest in which reflects the desperate desire for “average” people to see their own struggles as normal.

        Peacemaking is the territory of kingdom living, for it is the providence of none other than God Himself – He is a peace-making God. The greatest need, of course, is to restore peace between Himself and us humans, who were created in His image. Ever since the fall, His passionate desire has been to win back His image-bearers. Followers of Christ who work at bringing peace show themselves to be related to God, thus their description as “sons of God” (a figure of speech used to picture a person as being like the Divine).

        Let there be no doubt, though, that following Christ is not a peaceful cake-walk. The last beatitude implies there will be persecution (incidentally, this infers that the Sermon on the Mount is not just to be applied to the future millennial reign of Christ, when “the wolf will dwell with the lamb … and the calf with the young lion” Isaiah 11:6). When Christians are persecuted, they can find blessedness in the midst of it. They can truly be happy (in the contented sense) even when being treated badly because of their faith. When they live that way by faith, they fully experience the kingdom of heaven. In fact, they own it. That is kingdom living at its finest!

        So strong is the sentiment here that the Lord expounds it more directly by changing from “those” to “you.” When persecution comes to you as a follower of Christ, you are in good company, namely that of the prophets. You should rejoice, for your reward will be great!

Lord, I gladly accept the persecution, the insults, the evil treatment that comes my way from following You. This is only temporary, but the kingdom of heaven is eternal.