Life of Christ #4 – The Beatitudes Explained: What It Really Means to Follow Jesus

Well, for all of those of you out there watching this video, these are the Beatitudes. I hope you see them a little differently than you have before. There have been so many messages and sermons about all of these things; it’s mind-boggling—an entire series of messages on each one of them. I’m going to pass over them very quickly. I’m not going to try to make any application. I would rather seek to discover with you what really happened. In a way, they speak for themselves when that takes place. And what’s here is very pertinent.

I’d like for you to forget the Beatitudes, if you can, for a minute, and drop all your preconceived notions about this whole thing. I think there’s a totally new discovery to make here that might help you. In fact, I can almost wish we could go back there when these simple statements were made.  We’d be shocked. I’m going to try to rebuild the historical setting of what took place, and it will not be like anything you recall or have heard of in the past.

I want you to begin by seeing the Lord Jesus. He is very busy. He is now in his popularity. In my judgment, He is about to begin His three years. Everything that’s happened up till now has been a beginning year. I hold to the theory that He ministered four years, rather than three and a half. There was a very, not a slow beginning, but perhaps an almost undefined beginning. Now He’s very popular.

I want you to see Him having picked up approximately a hundred very determined fans. Now, whether the word fan or disciple should be used here, I’m not sure, because I’m not sure how many of those people He actually turned around and said, “Follow me.” I cannot believe it was to all 80 or 90 or 100 of them. He has definitely said this to a large group of people numbering 25, 30, 40, 50- I don’t know- but for sure at least 20. Of that, we are certain. Come follow me. But He has picked up about 80 to 100 people who follow Him all the time. Some have left their homes because He said, “Come.” Others are simply determined to follow Him wherever he goes. And they literally do this from town to town, place to place.

He is very burdened today. He knows He’s about to do the most important thing He will ever do this side of the cross. A heavy burden, perhaps even distracted, sad, and dreading. I think all those things are true. And He gets alone. He probably has fasted all day. He goes out alone to pray. Be careful. Don’t look at that picture on the wall: the Lord Jesus with His hands folded, a big rock in front of Him, and a stained-glass window-type light casting down from heaven on His face while He looks up so godly. Remember that He lived all eternity in heavenly realms, and that He has a direct line to that place constantly.

I think that there is a good possibility that in His spirit…and His spirit is not like my spirit… He can do things I can’t do. It may be that He revisits that very realm, within His being. He is praying. The hours go on and on. It is midnight, it is one, it is two. His praying becomes more intense. He has spent the entire night in prayer. It may be that He has not only visited the other realm, but it may also be that He has visited other places in time and space, and outside of time and space. Maybe He has even visited eternity future. He has had one of the most momentous experiences or encounters of His time here on earth. Perhaps nothing except Gethsemane.

Why has He spent a whole night in laborious prayer? Why has He done this thing? And boy, this speaks volumes. He did it in order to know which men to pick to be the twelve. The twelve. Upon them, the new Jerusalem will be built. Upon them, the house of God, the church of God, the Christian faith, Christendom. Everything! He has somewhere between 80 and 100 people to pick from now. “Where did you come up with this 80 or 100? Because a little bit later, He sends out seventy men in 35 groups of two, so He has got at least 70 people following Him, and He has a number of women, at least 10, around 10; that’s 80. So if we say 80, I would round it off to 100.  There may be some others following Him, too. I do not know, but a minimum of 80 people are following Him all the time. Some have sold everything and go with Him, and they have nothing.

There’s a possibility that others are well off enough to just tour with Him. Others may have mothers and daddies sending them money, and they just go out and follow Him. Some may fall in for a week or two, go home to fish or plow or beg money from mother and daddy, then come back and follow Him some more. But He’s a spectacle. He is spectacular, and they are following Him. And out of this menagerie of 80 people, He must pick twelve upon whom He will lay everything. They will be the ones He spends the most time with, although He will spend time with all. I’m going to call it 80 from now on, okay?

All 80 of them, and they are a varied group of people, and you need to get to know them – at least 12 of them. You need to get to know them really well, because even the twelve are a varied group of people. Here are 80 people; I have no question in my mind: some very wealthy people are following Him around. There are some women. There are probably some married couples. A lot of young men. Some young women. All sorts of backgrounds. Some of them can barely get a meal a day because they’re following Him. I wouldn’t even call that blind faith. Just sheer determination. They’d rather starve than miss this. They follow Him, and don’t tell me people won’t do things like this. I’ve seen people do things like this, and for men less than Jesus Christ.

The dawn comes, and He calls them together, and He says I’m going to take twelve of you, and you’re going to be special. And all 80 of them grabbed their hearts. Every one of them wants to be one of the twelve.  He picks them. Twelve men who are going to be very, very close to Him: Simon Peter, who will run around with Andrew; James, who will run around with John; Philip, who will run around with Bartholomew; Thomas, who will run around with Matthew; James, who will run around with Jude Thaddeus; and Simon the Zealot, who is so zealous for the Lord, he doesn’t care who he runs around with. So the Lord has Him run around with Judas of the land of Iscariot. He picks them, and the others are disappointed, but they are glad for the ones who were picked.

Now, we didn’t just learn that the Lord is pressed for time; we learned this recently: that, from His viewpoint, He has no time to become a disturbing, controversial person while He’s here on earth. He will become one, but He won’t do it deliberately. He’s going to be like the smoking reed, a broken piece of flax, smoking flax, a broken piece of reed. He will not cause problems. He’s got to spend three years with 80-100 people, and especially He’s got to spend time with about twelve people. He’s going to need every moment He can get His hands to live with these men.