Who is the blessed of the Lord? The materially blessed? Is it possible to be the blessed of the Lord and not have material blessings? Is it possible to have material blessings and not be the blessed of the Lord? The blessed of the Lord is the one that the Lord has blessed, he knows the Lord and the Lord knows him. More succinctly put, the blessed of the Lord is one that has a personal relationship with God.
Luke 16:19-31 tells a parable of three characters; a certain rich man, Lazarus and Abraham. As far as the Lord was concerned, though the rich man had material blessings, he could not be called the blessed of the Lord. His name was not recognized. He had no personal relationship with God. Lazarus, on the other hand, had little or no material blessings but he was recognized by the Lord and therefore we could see him as one blessed of the Lord. Though he carried the Blessing, he was still poor. Therefore material blessings are never an indicator of who the blessed of the Lord is.
In the Blessing, however, is everything we need to live a successful life. We just need to activate or take responsibility for our own parts so that the material blessings which are just additions will become reality. This was depicted by father Abraham because he was blessed of the Lord and he was rich while on the earth. The Blessing referred to here, is recognizable (Gen 24:11-31), transferable and transgenerational.
God created man for fellowship. Man carried the Blessing but lost it. Since then God sought for the restoration of humanity back to divinity but no man was qualified for this redemptive task. Only Jesus Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Lamb of God, prevailed to open the scroll (Rev 5:1-9). In conclusion, one can only truly be called the blessed of the Lord when he or she has a personal relationship with the Lord.
The sermon, The Blessed of the Lord, by Brother Ephraim Okolo, was delivered on the 21st of October 2018 at the Special Youth Service.