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 6
The Fourth Beatitude
“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.” Verse 6.
The perfect answer of the Father’s love to the various spiritual feelings and conditions of the children is most interesting and instructive. The riches of the kingdom are promised to the poor in spirit— “Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Divine comfort is the sure portion, in due time, of those who mourn— “They shall be comforted.” And, as saith the prophet,
The coming possession of the land of Israel is the promise held out to those who meekly bow to the will of God in the land of their strangership, and leave all their interests in His hands— “They shall inherit the earth.”
And to the fourth class, who hunger and thirst after righteousness, full satisfaction of soul is promised— “They shall be filled.”
This is grace, and like the ways of the Lord in grace, from the beginning. This answer meets the felt need of the soul. He creates the desire that He may satisfy it. When the heart desires that which is good, we may be sure that His grace is there. As there is nothing spiritually good in the natural heart, the first, as every good desire after, must come from God.
“I will arise, and go to my father,” was the effect of grace working in the heart of the prodigal; and he was then as safe as when he was in his father’s arms, though he did not know it. So that a good desire is the fruit of grace, and, in a certain sense, the possession of all that is desired. It is like the earnest of the inheritance.
Surely there is great encouragement in these facts to those who are earnestly seeking the Lord, as they say, but who are fearful and doubting as to whether they have found Him; whereas it is just the opposite; Christ has sought and found them, and is causing the heart to feel that nothing can ever satisfy it but Himself. The world, its pleasures, its riches, its society, are all too small to fill it.
Even a Solomon found that all under the sun could not fill his heart. At the same time he is made to tell us, in his beautiful song, that a poor outdoor slave finding the Messiah, or rather found of Him, her heart overflows with His love. “Thy love,” she says, “is better than wine” —better to me now than all the social joys of earth. This must be the work of His grace.
No true desire, we know, for the Christ of God, can ever spring from our depraved hearts; and sure we are that neither the world nor Satan has put it there: from whence, then, must it come? From the grace of God alone. And the longing desires and expectations He has awakened He waits to fulfill. But He would have us to say with the Psalmist,
“My soul, wait thou only upon God: for my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation: He is my defense: I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.” Psalm 62. It is the word “only” in this beautiful psalm that so searches and tries our hearts. The Lord give us to weigh it up in His presence.
We conclude, then, from these reflections—and reflections they are, for very little is said about pardon, salvation, or redemption, in the Beatitudes—that every desire of the heart after Christ shall be satisfied forever. So far this is true now.
May the Lord awaken and draw forth many deep, earnest, longing desires after Himself, in these last and closing days. We will now return to our Beatitude.
As we are all well acquainted with the force of the figure, we can easily see its spiritual application. To hunger and thirst after righteousness, evidently means an earnest desire of the renewed mind to do the will of God in this world; and this desire is increased from finding the world opposed to what is right in the sight of God—to righteousness. Hence the intensified feeling of hungering and thirsting. The effect of thus seeking to maintain that which is according to the will of God is great blessedness to the soul.
But though blessedness is the sure reward of righteousness, the righteous path will be one of great trial and many difficulties. The maxim of the world is, not what is right before God, but what is convenient, profitable, or suitable to self. What the mind of God may be on the subject is never thought of, and he who would suggest the inquiry would be set down as unfit for the practical realities of this life.
But this looseness of principle is not confined to the world; we find it in the professing church. How many things are introduced and practiced there, with all the show of divine authority, and made terms of membership, which have no sanction in the Word of God? So that he who would seek to maintain the authority and the glory of God, or, in other words, to walk in the paths of righteousness, either in the church or in the world, must meet with trial at every step. Grace must mourn when the will of man is in the place of the righteousness of God. The meekness, also, of the divine life will be in exercise, as looking up, and leaving all to God.
But whatever others may do, the maxim of the man of God must ever be, Is it right?
Is it in harmony with the revealed will of God? Not merely is it most practical, most likely to gain the end in view, but is it right?
Righteousness, we admit, had a special place with the Jew who was under law, and who was to see that all things were done according to the letter of the law; but surely in the New Testament we have both deeper and higher principles than in the Old, and which were brought out, not so much in the Sermon on the mount, as after the death and resurrection of Christ; and a broader righteousness is looked for, just because we are to reckon ourselves as dead and risen in Him, and not under law, but under grace. Hence the Apostle says,
As a test of the real character of much that we allow and do, it would be impossible to overestimate the value of this short and simple question,
Is it right?
Not that we are to expect an express passage of Scripture for everything we do or allow; but we may seriously inquire, Is this in accordance with the revealed will of God in Christ? Are we sure that it has His approval? If not, what is it worth? it is worse than useless, it is wrong. It may be a religious observance, or an acknowledged principle in the affairs of this life, but if it has not the sanction of God, better give it up. To hunger and thirst after righteousness, is the earnest desire to maintain what is right in the sight of God, though it may expose us to the opposition and oppression of the world, or to that of worldly-minded Christians.
(Continued from page 237)
(To be continued)