Training for disciples begins with a right perspective on blessing. In the time of the new covenant, the time following the work of God’s King, blessing must not be measured by what you can see with your eyes.

Under the old covenant, blessing, that is God’s favour, was often connected with physical health and material prosperity (see Deuteronomy 28:1–14). The kind of prosperity that Jesus has just demonstrated in Galilee (Matthew 4:21–24). There was an expectation that if you obeyed God and followed his commandments, you could expect to realize something of the peace and joy that Adam and Eve knew in the garden. Just think of all those promises back in Deuteronomy 28:1–68, or the encouragements we find in many of the Psalms. Life in the land of Israel with God in your midst was meant to be a life accompanied by blessing in response to obedience.

Of course, there was never quite a like for like relationship because God treated the people of Israel as a whole and not just as individuals. You may very well have done your best to keep God’s commandments, but if other people in the nation did not, then you would share in some of the covenant curses together with them. And so you would have situations where the righteous suffered unjustly, and the wicked prospered despite their sin. The expectation of prosperity nonetheless remained, and it was heightened when it came to hopes for the Messiah. The prophet Isaiah, for example, testifies to the wonderful changes that he would bring (Isaiah 61:1–3). The kind of works that Jesus demonstrated in his earthly ministry.

Most of the people who came to Jesus would have come to him with old covenant expectations of blessing. They were expecting glory now, confident that Jesus was a new political leader who would get rid of the Romans and restore the kingdom of David. The people were attuned to blessing in terms of what you can see. Then comes Jesus and he says things will be different.

For citizens of the kingdom, blessing is confirmed. Those who belong to Jesus enjoy God’s favour. The righteousness that he has come to fulfil will be imputed to them. Blessing is confirmed, but it is not presently seen. Visual confirmation is more of a promise for the future than a reality for the here and now.

In the present, while you wait for the King to come in glory, you must not connect health and wealth with God’s favour. You must not think that those who belong to God and are part of the kingdom will be spared from the hardships of living in a cursed world. As if that is the mark of a true disciple. No, instead you must look for those who display the fruits of the Spirit. The qualities and actions that Jesus delineates (Matthew 5:3–16). These are the virtues that ought to mark God’s people. These are the kind of activities that we must pursue. Citizens of the kingdom, this is what a life in response to God’s goodness looks like.