The promises of Christ are not earthly but heavenly. He promises His servants evils here below; so true is it that “prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament, adversity of the New.” Yet in the midst of all this lowliness and evil, they are blessed. As heaven is higher than earth so high is their blessedness above any earthly success or glory or delight. Though they see their earthly house of this tabernacle being literally worn away, then, by afflictions oft and endurances many they need not faint; for even this affliction is light in comparison with the weight of yonder glory. More, they may rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is their reward in heaven. The more suffering for Christ here, the more glory with Christ there. As an old writer has it, the more the vessels of mercy are scoured here, the more may they be assured that God wants them to shine there; the more clear it is that we are being preserved not in sugar but in brine, the more clear that God is preserving us not for a season but for eternity. The last of the beatitudes thus pronounces blessed those who suffer affliction for Christ’s sake and bids them rejoice and be exceeding glad, because their reward shall be great.

Warfield, B. B. (1916). Faith and life (pp. 34–35). Bellingham, WA: Longmans, Green, & Co.