R.C. Sproul

And then he goes on and blasts them, as it were, for their sinfulness.

Even in the

book of Revelation where the great time of judgment comes, you see the angel flying over the earth singing, woe, woe, woe.

When God announces woe in the third degree, there is no worse calamity one can ever imagine.

But the good news here is that here in the Beatitudes, it's not oracles of doom that are being announced, but rather oracles of weal or of well-being.

And the literary form that the prophets used to describe this divine favoring of individuals was by the word blessed.

Think of all the times you see that in sacred Scripture.

The book of Psalms begins with the beatitude.

Blessed is the man who walketh not in the way of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but his delight…

is in the law of the Lord, and in that law does he meditate day and night.

That is the consequences of his behavior.

The consequences are not something that he merits or earns, but they are something that flow out of his devotion to the Word of God, and it is the consequence of blessedness.

We think also in the New Testament when Gabriel comes to Mary and announces to her that she will be the mother of the Son of God, that when he greets her, he says to her, blessed are you among women.

Later on, when Mary visits Elizabeth,

and Elizabeth experiences the quickening of her son, who would be John the Baptist, in her womb, jumping for joy at the approach of Jesus, who was still in the womb of Mary.

Elizabeth says to Mary, again, blessed are you among women.

Those of you who have been or perhaps still are

Roman Catholic know that that is integral to the Rosary, where the recitation goes something like this, Hail Mary.

full of grace.

Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.