Page 16 - October 2026 - Truth & Tidings

Perhaps part of the power and nastiness The Consequence of the
of “execrable” lies in the word's similar- Beatitudes
ity to excrement – waste matter separated
from the body. To be cursed by God is to Our Lord was not always happy. He
be abhorred and cast out from His holy wept, expressed sorrow and disappoint-
presence. ment, and even displayed righteous anger,
With this in mind, the writer shrinks but He always possessed the true joy of
from attempting to communicate what the Lord. It was with this deep-seated joy
comes next. Maybe the only sensible that He climbed the mountain to pray
thing is to quote God’s Word, allowing all night to His God (Luk 6:12). With
the Holy Spirit to convict our hearts. the same calm delight He selected His
“For He made Him who knew no sin to disciples, knowing one would ultimately
be sin for us, that we might become the betray Him (vv13-16). Sleep deprived and
righteousness of God in Him” (2Co 5:21 undoubtedly physically exhausted, our
NKJV). “Christ hath redeemed us from Master made Himself available for the
the curse of the law, being made a curse multitudes who trekked up the mount to
for us: for it is written, Cursed is every hear Him. Descending to the plain among
one that hangeth on a tree” (Gal 3:13). Can the people, He selected a place to sit in
we therefore understand in a measure the order to teach. Any man who has had the
terrifying cry of our sinless Saviour: “My divine responsibility to teach on God’s
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken behalf understands the solemn weight of
me? Why art thou so far from helping such a task.
me, and from the words of my roaring? The audience was mixed; some would
O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou go away “supremely blessed” but others
hearest not; and in the night season, and only came to find fault. Nothing deterred
am not silent. But thou art holy …” (Psa Him. The one who could provide people
22:1-3, emphasis mine). We borrow Jo- with “the perpetual state of happiness”
nah’s words here: “For thou hadst cast me was one who lived in the good of it Him-
into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and self – the joy of the Lord was His strength
the floods compassed me about: all thy (Neh 8:10). The similarity between Ne-
billows and thy waves passed over me. hemiah 8 and Matthew 5 is striking. On
Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I both occasions the Word of the Lord was
will look again toward thy holy temple” spoken, its sense distinctly given, with the
(Jon 2:3-4, emphasis mine). Before eternal intended outcome that the people would
blessing could ever be received by us, enter into supreme blessing. Nehemiah
Christ must undertake baptism in all its 8 was the feast of tabernacles looking
dreadful fulness. forward to the coming Kingdom, and in
Thirteen times in the Bible we read the Matthew, the King Himself was present,
statement “Blessed is the man …” Only depicting the day when He will dwell in
one of these is repeated, and unsurpris- the midst of a people most blessed.
ingly it is, “Blessed is the man to whom In the next article, we begin to focus
the Lord will not impute sin” (Rom 4:8; cf. on each of the eight beatitudes, through
Psa 32:2). An appreciation of the cost will which we too may experience the joy of
elevate our hearts to grasp our blessings. the Lord!

304 TRUTH kTidings October 2026