Jesus chose with great care
which attitudes and in which order.
The Beatitudes (Matt. 5:3-12) are the basic foundational principles and attitudes of the Kingdom of God. The Festivals of God (Lev. 23) reveal the plan of salvation for becoming part of the Family in the Kingdom of God.
Lo and behold, the Beatitudes match up with God’s Festivals in perfect order. And most likely each particular attitude is the one most needed for what that Festival foreshadows.
Poor in Spirit … theirs is the kingdom of heaven = Passover
Bible lingo is sometimes “Greek to me” and results in just skipping the whole idea. “Suffer the children?” Why would Jesus want children to suffer? “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Why wouldn’t David want Him?
That’s why I would pass the Beatitudes by, without really intending to: Why would anyone want to be poor in spirit? Wouldn’t we want to have oodles of the Holy Spirit!
Yes, and to have that we need a broken and contrite heart, where we are not only sorry for what we have done against God and man but also sorry for what we are in rotten human nature that rebels against God. God will be near to any who have such a repentant attitude (Psa. 34:18, Isa. 66:2).
Poor in spirit is better expressed as “realize their need for” (New Living Translation). These will not be like Laodicea, the last of the Seven Churches of Revelation which, unfortunately, is so characteristic of our day. They deceive themselves by boasting “I am rich … and have need of nothing” (Rev. 3:17). Little do they know spiritually they are really “wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked”!
Passover represents repenting and receiving forgiveness through the shed blood of the Lamb of God and being healed by His stripes. It’s the first attitude and first Festival on the way to becoming Family in the Kingdom of God.
Mourn … comforted = Days of Unleavened Bread
Mourn because you have to eat matzos?
No, we must mourn because of sin. “Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up” (James 4:9-10).
We must be sighing and crying for all the abominations abounding (Ezek. 9:4). Today that could make for very morose brethren! It really seems that people look into the Bible to see what God says is an abomination to Him—and then go deliberately do that!
Jesus promises to comfort those who mourn for self, others or nation. The Comforter is the Holy Spirit (John 14:26).
The Days of Unleavened Bread picture Jesus Christ, the sinless Bread of Life, living in us—through the Holy Spirit—to put away the old man of sin and put on the new man of sincerity and truth (1 Cor. 5:8).
Sin, which causes mourning, is too comfortable. The Holy Spirit brings true comfort.
Meek … inherit the earth = Pentecost
“What on earth! Then we’d better not be meek! I don’t want to go down but I do want to go up.”
Have you ever considered who it was who wanted to go to heaven and knock God off His throne (Isa. 14:13)? Whose reward for his rebellion will be gehenna hell fire for eternity. Should that be a red flag if you believe traditional ideas about our eternal destiny!
And meekness gets discredited by passing it off as weakness. Meekness means submissive to God and teachable by Him.
In Psa. 26:2 David asked God to try his reins. Think of the world-famous white Lipizzaner stallions which are powerful beasts but are so one with their riders that they instantly respond. Does God have to yank us? Hopefully just some gentle nudges, we so eager to do His will!
Pentecost pictures God’s plan to so far only call a small harvest of people—His first fruits—to be His leaders in His Kingdom which will be on this earth. If you are reading and understanding this, you are being called to this mission. Hope you’ll meekly comply!
Hunger & Thirst after Righteousness … filled = Feast of Trumpets
God reserves the right to define righteousness that we are to passionately pursue (Psa. 119:172). His 10 Commandments and His law will be the standard for His Kingdom on earth that you can inherit. The only thing done away would be us if we don’t love and obey His law from the heart!
“My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?” (Psa. 42:2).
That will take place at the seventh trumpet when the first fruits are resurrected and changed to be filled 100% with all the fullness of Christ! (Eph. 4:13).
Merciful … mercy = Day of Atonement
Every year on the Day of Atonement the High Priest appeared before the mercy seat and God granted mercy to the nation.
“The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy… For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him” (Psa. 103:8, 11).
At the beginning of the Millennium, likely 10 days in on the first Day of Atonement, the deceiver of the whole earth will be put away. Those of us who received personal mercy through Christ’s sacrifice and His living in us through the Comforter will then bring mercy to the masses of the whole earth!
Pure … shall see God = Feast of Tabernacles
Pure can be defined as clean, without false ingredients, and free from discord.
David cried out to God, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psa. 51:10). The heart represents the center of one’s being including emotions, will and mind.
Hopefully you yearn to help Jesus Christ purify and clean the earth and restore all things! (Acts 3:17). “Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:3).
Beginning with the Millennium, all will see God—Jesus Christ ruling as King of kings and Lord of lords, and you can be one of the kings and lords!—one of the teachers (Isa. 30:20-21)!
Peacemakers … sons of God = Eighth Day
The Eighth Day pictures the Great White Throne Judgment following the Millennium when all people who have ever lived without receiving their opportunity for salvation will be resurrected back to physical life. They will have a lifetime to have the books (the Bible) opened to them and be judged by it.
Imagine the challenge of having all those people suddenly resurrected back to physical life! The Hatfields and McCoys. Hitler and all the Jews he burned. Divorcees and resulting family members affected. People who thought they’d never run into each other again. Ordinary people facing people they’ve rubbed shoulders with during their life.
You get the idea! Sparks could fly! It’s pretty obvious that the number one attitude needed will be: “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men” (Rom. 12:18). All 50 to 140 billion of them!
And when the Eighth Day is done, what will be the result of all the peace-making: untold sons and daughters of God!
That should put you in one fine beautiful attitude! But wait,
You might wonder:
Why are there one or two more Beatitudes about persecution, that don’t match up with God’s festivals? Does that negate this idea that the Beatitudes match up with God’s Festivals?
Commentators note that the two warnings about persecution are different from the first seven blessings. Secondly, the reward for persecution is also the kingdom of heaven, tying right back into the first Beatitude and completing the package. Some Christians note that the six-month time between the Eighth Day and the next year’s Passover, when Holy Day keepers tend to most examine themselves—can be a very trying time and sometimes seems like satan has the whole world coming at you.
And we must remember: Beatitudes are more than just beautiful attitudes. They must
Beactions!
Jesus personally spoke the second and sixth of the seven Beatitudes of Revelation. He commanded action (16:15 and 22:7)
As Jesus told His disciples He had just called, the Kingdom is at hand!
URGENT—the time is NOW!
Those in His Kingdom and Family will live these beautiful attitudes forever!
Robert Curry
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