There is something significant in the Lord going up. to the mountain, and His disciples coming to Him. “The Sermon on the Mount” as it is called is for disciples. The previous chapter shows how His publicity extended, but here and in the next two chapters we have the principles of Messiah's kingdom. He came down from the mountain. It was not to the valley, but He came down to a level place on the mountain side (cf. Luke 6:1717And he came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases; (Luke 6:17)). It is the mountain, in contrast to the valley, not any particular place. The same with the “boat.” He “went on board,” not necessarily any special boat. Language is used metaphorically. You cannot strain it into a cast iron vice; we have to judge by the context, though we ought to be jealous as to the words of holy writ.
Is there any contrast here with Sinai? We have beatitudes, instead of curses. These are divided into twos and three, and the bed-rock is the first: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” There was nothing in the Lord to attract the human eye. His disciples must partake of the character of the King. The “poor in spirit” is one who can say, ‘I am nothing, I have nothing, I deserve nothing.' These traits are the very opposite of what we find in men. The natural man cannot be content to feel he is nothing and that others should think so too.
There are nine beatitudes here, seven positive and two relative. “Blessed are the poor in spirit"; of such was the apostle who could speak of himself as “less than the least of all saints.” We must distinguish between the kingdom of heaven, and heaven itself. In these principles you get that which will have a very blessed place when the kingdom is set up; but it also contemplates what is during the Lord's absence. We do not get redemption here nor conversion; these chapters apply to those already in relationship. The law is filled up here. He is here of Whom the prophet Moses spoke, and that work of the prophets precedes the work of atonement as in Isaiah 53. “He shall instruct the many in righteousness and He shall bear their iniquities.” The A.V. “by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many” is incorrect; it should be “instruct the many in righteousness": here He is doing it. People try to get out of the difficulty by making the “knowledge” apply to the man, but He is the perfect Instructor and then the perfect Redeemer. To be poor in spirit is to have low thoughts of self, to realize that before God I am nothing, I have nothing, I deserve nothing. It would be quite consistent with standing up for what is due to God.
The Lord Jesus took the scourge of small cords and drove them all out of the temple, for “the wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable.” First pure. There is no such thing as peace at any price, in the word of God. Holiness and peace—what God has joined together let not man put asunder.
In the next verse we get a reference to Ezekiel where a mark is put on those that sigh and cry. If not another soul knows it the Lord sees it, but we must not forget that we are also called to quit ourselves like men. The Lord Jesus wept over Jerusalem, that is the thing. There are only two instances of His weeping—one, at the grave of Lazarus, and the other, over Jerusalem. We cannot limit his tears to sympathy: at the grave of Lazarus the past and the present were before Him: over Jerusalem the present and the future. The Lord never put forth His power on behalf of man without His sympathy also. If we could do people good we should be disposed to advertise ourselves. But His miracles were never mere acts of power: “Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses.” This is not atonement; Matthew 8 applies it to His life. He was not bearing sins in His life; He was the spotless Lamb not yet offered. The Lord sighed deeply at Bethsaida. We can hinder by our unbelief as they did there. Isn't it a relief- to unburden the heart to one we can confide in? There is a little difficulty in the hymn
“It tells of sympathy above,
Whatever makes us mourn.”
It means what makes us mourn rightly according to God's word. We ought to be so thoroughly identified with the interests of Christ that nothing affects us but what affects Him. It is sad of a Christian to say, “Am I my brother's keeper?” We should not advertise our brother's faults. The apostle says, Fix your eyes on those who walk even as ye have us for an example; but he wept over those who minded earthly things, etc. Instead of Christ's interests being theirs, many walk after their own selfish gratification: enemies of the cross of Christ. It may perhaps sound a little strange, but I suppose there must be in us a lack of sympathy toward Christ, if we are not affected by His interests. There is no lack on His part of sympathy toward us. It is a wonderful thing when we consider that the Lord in brightest glory above is seeking sympathy with our hearts. He longs (if we may thus speak) for human intercourse; He sought it when below, and He is the same glorified. He had a special delight in gathering His own round Himself. How did Judas know where to find Him in Gethsemane? Because Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with His disciples, Is it not a delight to Him to see us around His word or gathered to His Name? And will He not have us round Himself in glory? If I think of His love toward me it will produce communion: if I think of my love, it is very poor. It is far better to be speaking to the Lord and exposing our ignorance, than to be keeping silence. It is a blessed thing to have earnest desire towards Him, but it is better to be occupied with His desires towards me.
“Blessed are the meek.” “They shall increase their joy in the Lord.” The meek in the Old Testament had a very prominent place. The meek will He guide in judgment and the meek will He teach His way. Speaking of the Messiah in Isaiah 11 we are told He will reprove with equity for the meek of the earth. And again Psalm 37 the meek shall inherit the earth—of which this is a quotation. There is the meekness and gentleness of Christ. Meekness of spirit produces gentleness of action and words. Gentleness would be re-presented by dealing tenderly, not using improper force: whereas the meek will not use force at all. There is no one so unresisting as was the blessed Savior Himself. His “gentleness has made” us “great” (Psalm 18). A verse in the same Psalm says, “With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful, and with the perverse thou wilt show thyself a wrestler.” He has no pleasure in the legs of a man, but He has pleasure in those that hope in His mercy. The meek shall inherit the earth. The possessors of the earth now are generally great conquerors, but here is the very opposite; those whom men tread under foot, these are the ones that God says shall inherit the earth, and in a good time. The great and blessed pattern is the One who when He was reviled, reviled not again, etc. You cannot ignore the unrighteousness that is going on but you can commit yourself to Him that judgeth righteously. These features are not found in the natural man at any time. If we turn to Acts 10 we find Peter saying that of every nation (not only the Jews) he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is acceptable with Him. This shows there was a work of grace in those that had that character. “An honest and good heart” is prepared ground where there has been a work of grace, and the person brought to see he has a very bad heart. It has been said that the first beatitude here is general and the rest alternately toward God and toward man.
“Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness” (ver. 6). This is deeper than what we had before. Here it is what is due to God that the soul is exercised about. It is not the thought of a soul wanting a righteous standing before God, but the display of righteousness upon earth. Righteousness will reign in the coming day, and the soul is exercised about that which is due to God—that which corresponds with the revealed mind of God in the Old Testament. If you want really to please the Lord you will be filled; these things can only be true of the children of God. The words, “except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees” in a later verse do not mean the righteousness of God in contrast to our own righteousness, but that theirs had come to be mostly ceremonial instead of practical.
“Blessed are the merciful” (ver. 7). That is what God is. He delights in mercy, so Micah tells us. Paul, that He is rich in mercy. It is only those who realize that
“Nothing but mercy will do for me,”
who will be merciful. You get a picture of the wonderful mercy that has been shown to Israel in the parable of the man that owed a tremendous debt. He was unconscious of the mercy that had been shown to him. Whatever a person does to us, they can never owe us what we owe to God. If we are conscious of that, it will make us tender towards others. But here we do not get what we find in the epistles; we are on higher ground there. Yet, as a rule, there are comparatively few in whom we see these characteristics, and they are obscure.
There are two thoughts in sonship, position and character; here it is character. John tells us we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren; we don't get that here. This is the pure law of the kingdom, so it is, “Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven,” but we are called to forgive because we are forgiven. “Obtain mercy.” Paul obtained it when he was anything but showing mercy, when like a wild beast; but I obtained mercy “because I did it ignorantly in unbelief” —the city of refuge.
“Blessed are the pure in heart,” etc. (ver. 8). If we love it there is that word in the Proverbs, “He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend.” It will show itself in conversation. The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable. When the kingdom comes a new heart will be given. The Lord referred Nicodemus to Ezek. 36 and 37, born of water in the one, born of the Spirit in the other. He will take away the stony heart that said, “Away with Him"; but the new heart will say, “With His stripes we are healed.” The blessing of the new covenant is not only, “their sins and iniquities will I remember no more,” but “I will put my laws in their heart,” and there will then be a people who shall love the Lord with all their heart. The believer now has a new nature. A new heart is a heart without any reserve. An evil conscience would keep you away. A true heart rests on the knowledge that all is done; so I am able to draw near, not in presumption, but having the heart sprinkled from an evil conscience. Having had that, it corresponds to a true heart, therefore we come. There is a reference here to the consecration of the priests. I suppose “the merciful” in ver. 7 have the sense of mercy shown to them, and that makes them merciful to others. We have seen already how obnoxious to God was the one who had no mercy to others after all the mercy shown to him. Motives are dealt with here and that which is inward.
“Children” of God (ver. 9) should be “sons.” When it is a question of children it is by birth—not natural birth. Man has lost the title to be called a child of God, but John 1:1212But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (John 1:12) shows us how he can be born again. There the word should be “children"; “son” is different. “Child” sometimes means a minor, but mostly it is character—in these chapters always character. For instance, ver. 48, “Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect,” that is, we are to partake of that character. God said to Abraham, “Walk before me and be thou perfect,” meaning sincere. Perfect has different meanings in scripture. We have to read the context and weigh it. When the Lord Jesus was “made perfect through sufferings” it was not a question of moral perfection, nor could be, for He was always perfect. “Perfected the third day,” is in resurrection.
In ver. 10, “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake,” it is a carrying out of the will of God and being persecuted for doing it. We get a higher standard than this for the Christian. Peter says, “If ye do good and suffer for it, and take it patiently,” etc. Nothing but the grace of God can enable us to do that. And I believe that can be shown in little things, in our everyday home life. A meek and quiet spirit is in the sight of God of great price. Why is it “they” in ver. 10, and “ye” in ver. 11? The one is doing the will of God, His revealed will; and the other is suffering for the sake of the Lord Jesus, and that is a gift of God. Every true saint of God suffers with Christ-not to the same extent, but the Lord Jesus necessarily suffered in a sense like this, and so in measure the one who is born from above and has the new nature. And in a thousand ways we suffer with Christ, but it is not everyone who suffers for Him; that is a gift: “to you it is given on the behalf of Christ not only to believe on Him but to suffer for His sake.” In ver. 10 it is suffering for carrying out the revealed will of God, that is the righteousness here; and then suffering for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we are enjoined to go forth to Him without the camp bearing His reproach, We shall not have this privilege long—of suffering as identified with Him; of suffering as a Christian. “Blessed are ye when men shall revile you,” etc., when He was reviled, He reviled not again. That was the Lord's path, and He left us an example that we should follow His steps.
“Falsely,” ah! that's the point. Turn to 1 Peter 4:12-1612Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: 13But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. 14If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. 15But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters. 16Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. (1 Peter 4:12‑16). It is a shame for any of us to suffer as an evil doer.