Blessings

     The "beatitudes" are the blessings Jesus preached about - blessed are: (1) the poor in spirit, (2) they that mourn, (3) the meek, (4) those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, (5) the peacemakers, (6) the merciful, (7) the pure in heart, (8) the persecuted for righteousness sake, (9) when men revile you, (10) those who are not offended in Jesus, and (11) those whose eyes see and ears hear. (Mat 5, 11, &13).
      "Blessed" is from the Greek makarioj which means "supremely blest" (Strong's Dictionary). Theologically, blest is "enjoying the bliss of heaven," and bliss is "complete happiness in Heaven" (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). The beatitudes are a promised existence in Heaven.
      The "poor in spirit" are those who are servants to and dependent on the Holy Spirit. Those that "mourn" ate they that grieve for the hardness of people's hearts (Mark 3:5) and for their own sorry state (John 21:17); grieved enough to preach to the lost (Acts 4:2).
     The "meek" are those who diminish themselves and elevate God (James 4:7-10). Those who "hunger and thirst after righteousness" are they that crave acceptability to God; the willingness to do what God wills rather than their own will.
     The "merciful" are those who would do unto others what God did for them (Mat 7:12). What is it that God does for everyone: love them so much that He wants that "none should perish" (John 3:16). The "merciful" are those who love others so much that they want that none of them to perish. Mercy is loving everyone that intensely.
     "Persecution for righteousness sake" is identified with Peter's denial of Jesus. As Jesus was about to die for Peter's and everyone else's sakes, Peter denied Jesus thrice to avoid persecution (Mat 26). Jesus was about to justify Peter by paying the ransom for Peter's eternal life, and Peter denied Jesus. That was Peter's failure not to stand persecution of right reasons. The reason Jesus came was to die for mankind.
     To be blessed is to stand up for righteousness sake. Later on, Peter did just that; he refused to be crucified as Jesus was, out of respect for Jesus's type of death. He was then crucified upside down (Foxe's Book of Martyrs). The soldiers took a knee for Jesus when the King was suffering death. They did that not to honor Jesus, but to persecute him. When people fail to stand up for Jesus, they fail on that point. Many keep quiet as Peter originally did. Peter was likely not ashamed of Jesus but feared for his own safety, notwithstanding that Jesus was about to die for his eternal safety. Peter had trouble understanding death just as Adam long before him.
     "Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels" (Mark 8:38). People will mock Christians because they believe in things not seen and that God is the Creator. Denying that God did the undoable is ashamed of God's claim to Godhood. Christians must stand up for the Creator and the creation!
     Christians will be reviled - verbally abused. Christians were always hated by the world and will be hated ever more intensely as time progresses. If Christians are not persecuted for trusting Christ, perhaps the intensity of their trust is in question; perhaps, as Peter, weak people will deny Jesus when reviled. Christianity, even today, is under attack. The world hates Christianity. The life of Christians is tribulation as the world verbally abuses those who claim the Doctrine of Christ. A crescendo will be reached at the Great Tribulation when most of Christianity will be beheaded for Jesus's Name (Rev 20:4). Christians must be true throughout the reviling, and the Great Reviling when that occurs.
     Blessed are those who are not offended by Jesus. Already mentioned, is that Christians are never to be ashamed of Jesus, but neither are they to offend Jesus by being ashamed of their own faithfulness to him. The reviling which Christians endure is shaming Christians of their belief in the unseen. Science is the greatest revilers of all, operationalizing their reviling and shaming creation scientists who understand that there is more to the universe than that which can be measured.
     God's first claim was that, "In the beginning (I) created the heaven and the earth" (Gen 1:1). Never be ashamed to believe God's identity because that's what gods do, and if truly a god, then it only takes one God to create. Never be ashamed that you believe in a True God who is capable of creating.
     "Seeing and hearing" means so much more than sensing visual and audible things. Moses explained that to the Hebrews who after forty-years their shoes had not even worn out: "The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles: 'Yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day'" (Deut 29:4).
     Blessed are those who understand God. Life itself is a miracle, yet people take living for granted. Living here is a miracle when there is likely no life anywhere else. Nourishment is a miracle when God provides our daily bread. Like the Hebrews, most people never consider that the mundane things of daily living may not be there tomorrow (Prov 27:1). Also, the reader might want to study Hebrews chapter three because it explains Moses and the Hebrews actions in the wilderness; why they did not understand that they were kept safe by God but yet as unbelievers, were not saved in the end. They yielded to temptation, and that's what the Tempter does as a vocation!
     "Blessed are the peacemakers"was discussed in my blog at https://kentuckyherrin.blogspot.com/2017/03/beatitude-peacemakers.html.
     The blessings which Jesus bestowed was a promise of bliss in Heaven for those who lived according to the precepts in the beatitudes - the beatific (making happy). Is it not ironic that the beatitudes are blessings because of attitudes? The be blissed are ameliorating  attitudes about God, not just tolerating, but willingly accepting what God desires for everyone.