The Kingdom comes to shake the world and rid it of everything that is contrary to God’s righteousness. Even though God’s people are sent as messengers of peace (shalom), they are persecuted and reviled for the world has chosen to reject God’s word and with his word, God’s blessing. Nevertheless, God promises everlasting joy to those who are sent to shake the world with God’s countercultural message. The world may be able to kill us but it can never take our life away.
In the Kingdom of God being comes before doing. As we saw in the first three beatitudes, God must break our pride before he bestows his blessing and, in it, we discover our true happiness through the new life of his forgiveness. Once our relationship with God is restored, God gives us a new hunger for his life, and a new disposition to bless those who are still hurting. As we are remade in his likeness, we receive a new vision for life springing from a pure heart that sees God and is transformed into his likeness.
God must break us before he can bless us. Coming to him in humility to receive by grace what we cannot earn with our personal effort is the beginning of the gospel and the entryway of the Kingdom. In the first three beatitudes Jesus crushes the pride of this world and replaces it with the all-sufficient provision of God’s grace.
