(69) Jesus said: Blessed are those who have been persecuted in their heart; these are they who have known the Father in truth. Blessed are the hungry, for the belly of him who desires will be filled.
This saying, 67, and 68 should be viewed together saying 68 Jesus is speaking about external persecution and in this saying and 67 Jesus is speaking about internal persecutions
"Blessed are those who are persecuted in their hearts.” Here Jesus is speaking about those who have the victory over oneself and the victory over the world; now to achieve the victory over oneself is to conquer the devil the thinking of the flesh. and the victory over the world; is the external devil which some times can move the internal devil within us that is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. And this is what Jesus means in the book of Revelation “He who overcomes” will have everlasting life that is those who have the victory over oneself and the victory over the world, cp. Jn 16:33 1Jo 5:4 1Jo 5:5 Rev 2:7,11,17,26-28 3:5,12,21; 12:10,11 15:2; 21:7
Having gained the victory over themselves the 144,000 "by the power of God through faith," and over the world's corruptions, they are accounted worthy of standing with the Lamb on Zion. The victory over the world shall receive the Morning Star; that they shall be clothed in white garments, and their names openly confessed by the Life-imparting Spirit in the presence of his Father and his angels; that they shall be eternal pillars in the temple of Deity; that the Quickening Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:17) shall engrave them with the name of his Deity, and the name of the city of his Deity, the New Jerusalem, which descendeth out of the heaven from his Deity, even his new name; and that they shall sit with him in his throne after the example of what shall obtain in relation to himself and his Father’s throne.
Be alienated from them in your mind, allowing none of them to cling to you, standing above them all; (8) they are your subjects, use them not as your rulers; since you are a king, learn to govern and not to be governed; know yourself all your life, Philo
The most painful persecution is internal persecution which proceeds from each man’s own soul or heat being vexed by lust and disers pleasures, and base hopes and destructive dreams (plans). And this is always with a man and which the persecute cannot escape, for he carries the enemy about everywhere in himself. This persecution comes from things in the world tempting us?????
Or the persecution is cause by us when we bind the devil we are persecuting our old self by not allowing our old way of life to operate in us anymore. The Christ-self persecuting the thinking of the flesh. That is you (your new self) are persecuting yourself (your old self) Jesus is speaking of an inward conscious struggle for growth and refinement of oneself on moral and spiritual levels. Likewise, every aspirant must cultivate and heed his conscience and seek to live in such a way as to have a good and clear conscience. During periods of our early development on the path, our conscience is very likely to persecute us, convicting us of our ignorance and missing the mark, so that we are not satisfied to remain in darkness but are compelled to seek the light.. One who is ripe and matured for the way must be able to live by the voice of the spirit-word and one’s own conscience speaking in oneself. Only those person who willing to pass through ordeals of spiritual growth and advancement will come to a full and conscious unity with Yahweh and Christ Jesus and have communion with them both.
Now the second part of this saying is about those who maintain righteousness shall be satisfied with meet and drink that is they shall be filled with the spirit in the age to come. So Jesus promises that the hungry and thirsty should be satisfied with eternal blessings of righteousness, by bearing poverty and not be led by led by it to undertake any unrighteousness work.
Has I have said before At baptism, we experience a new birth. " If any man (become) in Christ, he is a new creation" (2 Cor. 5:17). We are born "out of" (Jn. 3:5 Gk.) the water as we emerge from the river, swimming pool or bath. Something was created at baptism in the sense that something was born. "Christ is [created in] all [who believe] and in all [places of the world]" (Col. 3:11 Bullinger). It is the common experience of this new creation which binds us together as one body and spiritual nation world-wide. That thing which was created and born at baptism, the Bible calls " Christ", or " the Spirit". If we are in Christ, He must be in us; it's a mutual relationship. We are not in the flesh now, but in the Spirit (Rom. 7:5), in the sense that the new Spirit-man has been created in us, even though we are still " in the flesh" .
We are familiar with the idea of "the devil" being a personification for the evil man of the flesh which is within us. Yet there is an even larger personification to be found in the pages of the New Testament; that of the man of the Spirit, "the man Christ Jesus" which is within us. It is this figurative "man" which was born at baptism. At baptism, we are saved in prospect, just as Israel were when they crossed the Red Sea (Jude 5). We are saved in prospect in the sense that God now looks upon us as if we are Christ. He looks at that new man Christ Jesus within us, and relates to that, instead of to our man of the flesh. These two 'men' within us will naturally become locked in mortal conflict. Ultimately, the 'devil' man will only be destroyed by death (Rom. 6:23). Yet 'he' can overpower and destroy the spiritual man within us, unless we feed and cultivate the man Christ Jesus within us. This had clearly happened to some in the Galatian ecclesias. Thus Paul speaks of travailing in birth again " until Christ be formed (again) in you" (Gal. 4:19). His converts had to " learn Christ" (Eph. 4:20); thus he speaks of " Christ" as meaning the Christ-like attitude of mind which is personified as Christ.
The Old Testament frequently speaks of man as having two "sides" to his character; one that wished to serve God, and the other which was rebellious. Ecc. 10:2 shows how that the spiritual man is not only aware of this, but he consciously acts to control these two sides: " A wise man's heart is at his right hand; but a fool's heart at his left". This kind of self-knowledge is sadly lacking in most human beings. Proverbs 7,8 likewise has the picture of two women, personifying the flesh and spirit (7:12 cp. 8:2,3). Against this Old Testament background, there developed a strong Jewish tradition that the right hand side of a man was his spiritual side, and the left hand side was the equivalent of the New Testament 'devil'. The Lord Jesus referred to this understanding when He warned: " Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth" (Mt. 6:3)- implying that the good deeds of the spiritual man would be misused by the 'devil', e.g. in using them as grounds for spiritual pride.
It is worth following through Paul's argument in Romans. Chapters 1-5 convict all of sin, demonstrating that works can in no way save us. Chapter 6 then outlines how we can be saved; through association with Christ through baptism and a life " in Christ", which will result in God seeing us in the exalted way He does. Chapter 7 basically goes on to say 'But, of course, you'll still sin, even though chapter 6 has explained how God doesn't look at that side of you if you truly try to live " in Christ" '. Paul says many things about his life in Rom. 7 which seem to consciously connect with his description of life before baptism in Chapter 6 (e.g. 7:13 = 6:23; 7:14 = 6:17; 7:23 = 6:12,13; 7:24 = 6:6; 7:25 = 6:16,17). The reason for this is that after baptism, we have two people within us; the man of the flesh, who totally dominated our pre-baptismal life, is still within us; but (as Chapter 7 so graphically shows) he is now in mortal conflict with the man of the Spirit, with whom we identify our real selves. Chapter 8 then goes on to encourage us that despite this conflict, sin is dead in Christ, and if we are in Him, then this is really how God sees us. Therefore Rom. 8 stresses that our state of mind is so crucial; if we are led of the Spirit-man, then we are assured of salvation at that point in time. Rom. 9-11 then appeals specifically to Israel to accept the glorious truth of all this, and then Chapters 12-16 show the practical response we should all make. Recognizing the existence of the new and old men within him, Paul can speak in Rom. 7 as if he is two different people; “I myself serve the law of God”, but “my flesh” serves sin. Likewise David asked God not to hide his face from him, David personally, (Ps. 27:9; 69:17; 102:2; 143:7), but to hide His face from David’s sins (Ps. 51:9). And one wonders whether the way the records of the Lord’s temptations are written implies some similar recognition by the Spirit of the two ‘men’ within the Lord.
Their real self and their shadow self are in conflict deep within their minds, in their own self-perceptions they act one way when their real self is something different. And this all goes on within the human mind. Hence Paul speaks of hypocrisy being essentially a lie which is told within the mind, and parallels it with a conscience which no longer functions properly (1 Tim. 4:2). The Lord's definition of hypocrisy therefore concerned an internal state of mind- and He warned that this is a yeast which inevitably spreads to others (Lk. 12:1). Thus Barnabas was carried away into hypocrisy by the hypocrisy of others (Gal. 2:13). Although it's so deeply internal, the dissonance between the real self and the portrayed self that goes on within human minds somehow becomes a spirit which influences others. And that's how society has become so desperately hypocritical. James 5:12 gives some good practical advice in all this- our yes should mean yes and our no should be no, or else we will fall into hypocrisy (Gk.- AV "condemnation" is a terribly misleading translation). James seems to be saying that we can guard against falling into the hypocritical life and mindset by ensuring that our words, feeling and intentions are directly and simply stated, with meaning to the words, with congruence between our real self and the words we speak.
1 Pet. 3:4 speaks of the spiritual man within us as " the hidden man of the heart...a meek and quiet spirit". This confirms that this " man" is the personification of a spirit, or attitude of mind.
The inward man of Rom. 7:22 is what is so important; yet the LXX in Lev. 3:14-16 uses the same word to describe the fat surrounding the intestines, which God appeared to so value in the sacrifices. It was not that He wanted that fat in itself; but rather He saw that fat as representing a man's essential spirituality, that which is developed close to the heart, unseen by others, but revealed after death.
If the spiritual man is within us, we must surely win our spiritual conflict, ultimately!
Jn 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
1Jo 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
1Jo 5:5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God
Rev 2:7#11,17,26-28 3:5,12,21 12:10,11 15:2 21:7
69) #Jesus said, "Blessed are they who have been persecuted within themselves [this come from "judging thyself" and crucifying the flesh as you grow in spiritual stature and wisdom]. It is they who have truly come to know the Father [these do not "put their trust in the arm of flesh" to save them but the Word within]. ##Blessed are the hungry [for spiritual food], for the belly of him who desires [enough to obey the Father and to keep asking, seeking and knocking to know Him and His will] will be filled [with the knowledge of the truth (the mystery) and the fruits of righteousness it bears]."
