Matthew 5:1-161And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: 2And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, 3Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. 5Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. 6Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. 7Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. 8Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. 9Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. 10Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. 13Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. 14Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:1‑16)
Part 5
The Third Beatitude
“Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.” Verse 5.
But, to return, it may be well for the servant—the Christian, especially tried ones—to look more closely into the nature of the discouragements which led the blessed Lord and Master to turn to His Father as His only resource.
He had come to His own, but His own received Him not. The people He loved, and had come to redeem, had no heart for Him. When John the Baptist came with mournful tidings, they refused to lament; when Jesus came with glad tidings, they refused to rejoice. They would not have Him on any terms. This is the secret of the comparatively small success of the gospel in all ages. The natural heart prefers the enjoyment of present things to a rejected Christ, and a heaven that is thought to be far away. The most solemn warnings by John, and the most gracious invitations by Jesus, were alike unheeded by that generation. Enough to break any preacher’s heart.
When the attractions of grace, the appeals of love, the threatenings of justice, the miseries of hell, the glories of heaven, fail to arrest or awaken the careless—when the preacher’s heart is broken because of the hardness of men’s hearts—what is he to do? Retire into the presence of God, and in communion with Him learn his lesson more perfectly, both as to service and submission. This is the only refuge and resting-place for the disappointed workman. Let us now see how the Lord acted.
He knew perfectly the state of the people, and how they had refused the goodness of God, both in His person and ministry. The inevitable result of such unbelief must be judgment. Accordingly, we read,
“Then began He to upbraid the cities wherein most of His mighty works were done, because they repented not. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida!... And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee.”
This is most solemn! A more terrible, a more unsparing judgment is denounced against these highly-favored cities in the land of Israel than on the notorious corruptions of Sodom. But has not this a voice to the highly-privileged gospel-hearer of our own day? Most assuredly it has. No judgment will be so heavy, so unsparing, as that which will ere long fall on apostate Christendom.
The higher the place of privilege, the deeper must be the fall of those who are untrue—who have merely the name of Christ, without the reality. And do not such abound now, as in the days of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum? Alas! the answer need not be given; the question rather is, where are the real, the true, witnesses for the glory of His person and the authority of His Word? The thought is overwhelming. What is to be done? What did the Lord do? He turned to His Father.
“At that time Jesus answered, and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth.”
In a word, in place of complaining of the treatment He received from others, and vindicating Himself, He meekly bows to the sovereign will of His Father, falls into His hands, as Lord of heaven and earth—the wise disposer of all things; and what is the result? Just what it must ever be—He receives the blessing. Not merely a promise, but the possession— “All things are delivered unto Me of My Father.” And this proves to be the occasion, through grace, of a fuller revelation of God, and of a richer blessing to mankind,
How beautiful and precious this is, as an example to us! It is always the way of blessing, both to ourselves and others. When Jesus was despised as a man, rejected as the Messiah, and refused His crown of glory, He did not stand up for His rights, as we would say, but meekly submitted, and looked up to His Father as Lord of heaven and earth. He could leave all in His hands, and wait His sovereign will. In the meantime the blessing flows, like a wave of life, from the ocean of eternal love—it overflows all Jewish limits.
The Gentiles are brought in here. The Father is revealed as the source of all blessing, “Come unto Me... I will give you rest.” The poor Gentile as well as the Jew; are you weary and heavy laden? “Come unto Me.” It is pure grace now. No qualifications required, save that you are weary and heavy laden. Come, just as you are, just now; “I will give you rest.” The blessed Lord does not here say by what means He will give us rest, but we must trust Him. He can no more trust man, man must now trust Him. There is no other way of blessing now. There is only one question: Is He fit to be trusted? This is all. Trust Him.
But this full flowing tide of grace does not lead to carelessness of walk, as man might say it would.
The difference between the two verses is very distinct, and has been often noticed. In verse 28, it is, “Come unto Me... and I will give you rest;” in verse 29 it is, “Take My yoke upon you... and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”
The one is pure, absolute, unconditional grace to the sinner; the other is the yoke of Christ for the believer. The reason why so few have learned to meet the troubles of this life as He met them, is, because they are not under His yoke, and learning of Him. They are thinking of their own character; how much they have been misunderstood, how grossly they have been misrepresented, how falsely accused, and how unjustly or unkindly treated. They have not learned that their own reputation is the last thing they should think about; that now they have only to care for the character of Christ.
Those who are under the same yoke must walk side by side, and step by step. True, the strong one may pull the weak one through, when the chariot wheels sink deep in the sand of the desert; but they must walk together. The Lord give us thus to learn the great truth of our third beatitude,
“Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.”
“Smooth let the waves of life be, Lord, or rough,
Without Thine arm to lean on, I must fail;
But while upheld, by Thy sustaining grace
Calmly I walk, superior to them all.
And as I gaze upon Thee, where Thou art—
The vague, wild tumult of life’s inner sea,
The feverish throbbings of this restless heart,
Are calmed, as, risen Lord! I walk with Thee.
For since I’ve seen Thee seated far above,
At God’s right hand in yonder glorious sphere,
The light which led me to that place of love
Revealed the wreck of everything down here!”
(Continued from page 210)