Four Reasons the Persecuted are Happy
Matthew 5: 10-12
1. If the world counts you worthy to suffer shame for the sake that God has made you to count all your worthiness in Christ alone so that you trust him and proclaim "all flesh is grass--Christ is All" without compromise then you have great reason to rejoice (Acts 5: 41.)
2. Those persecuted for Christ's sake are happy because Christ gives the grace to suffer and our consolation abounds by Christ (Php 1: 29; 2 Cor 1: 5; Dan 3: 25.)
3. Persecution and poorness of spirit are reasons of rejoicing because through persecution Christ makes us to know our weakness so that we trust the sufficiency of God’s grace alone (2 Cor 12: 9, 10.)
4. The Spirit of God bears witness with the Son of God that the reward the prophets received was the reward for which they looked—Christ Jesus in the kingdom of heaven (Heb 11). So the Lord assures those who endure persecution for his sake that the same reward is yours in heaven. This is the joy set before us, even as the glory of God and the Lord’s people were the joy set before him (Heb 12: 1-2.)