Matthew 5:1-16
Part 4
The Third Beatitude
“Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.” Verse 5.
In our meditations on the third beatitude, we find ourselves in happy company with that blessed one who was “meek and lowly in heart.” There is evidently, in this third class, a great advance in the soul’s blessedness. The heir of glory has been learning in the school of Christ how to meet the troubles of this life, as He met them. This is a great lesson, and greatly needed. Let us see that we master it.
In our first lesson we were shown the true condition of every soul that really knows God and is conformed to the character of Christ— “poor in spirit.” This condition being the result of what the soul sees itself to be in the divine presence, it is chiefly a question between the soul and God. All is blessed and happy there.
But in going forth into the world, and attending to the various duties of this life, so many causes of trouble come in our way, that we groan in spirit. This is our second lesson. It is one of daily experience.
The great advance in the third class seems to be this: the soul has so grown in grace, that now, in place of a questioning, reasoning, self-willed spirit being manifested in this scene of trial, the disciple meekly bows his head in submission to the Father’s will, and learns of Jesus to be meek and lowly in heart; for, after all, in these circumstances it is a question of either self-will or submission.
The lowly in heart begins to see more clearly that, in spite of everything around him, God is accomplishing the counsels of His own will, and making all things work together for good to them that love Him, and are the called according to His purpose. This fuller knowledge of God and His ways produces a deeply chastened state of mind.
Though groaning in spirit, and mourning over the wickedness of man, the rejection of Christ by those we love, and the failure of those who bear His name, the man of faith is quiet and humble! He walks with God in the midst of it all, and refers everything to Him. In the lowest murmur of the enemy, or in his loudest roar, he hears his Father’s voice; in the smallest injury or in the greatest outrage, he owns His hand; he envies not the world its pleasures, or the wicked their prosperity; all his resources are in the living God; and he can turn to Him, rest in Him, rejoice in Him, and walk with Him, above the conflicts of this troubled scene.
But rest assured, my soul, that this state of blessedness is only enjoyed by those who thus know God, and believe that He is accomplishing the hidden purposes of His love, in spite of the abounding evil and wicked purposes of man. A Father’s voice, a Father’s hand, a Father’s will, a Father’s purpose, cannot fail to create and sustain a meek and lowly spirit. Faith has thus forcibly expressed itself in one of our finest songs:
“Is God for me? I’ll fear not, though all against me rise;
When I call on Christ, my Saviour, the host of evil flies.
My Friend, the Lord Almighty, and He who loves me, God!
What enemy shall harm me, though coming as a flood?
I know it, I believe it, I say it fearlessly,
That God, the highest, mightiest, forever loveth me.
At all times, in all places, He standeth at my side;
He rules the battle’s fury, the tempest, and the tide.
No angel and no heaven, no throne, nor power, nor might,
No love, no tribulation, no danger, fear, nor fight;
No height, nor depth, no creature that has been or can be,
Can drive me from Thy bosom, can sever me from Thee.
My heart in joy upleapeth, grief cannot linger there;
She singeth high in glory, amid the sunshine fair;
The sun that shines upon me is Jesus and His love,
The fountain of my singing is deep in heaven above.”
But if thou wouldst see, my soul, in absolute perfection, the meekness of which we speak, thou must turn in thy meditations to Him who knew deeper sorrow here, and deeper communion above, than any of His people can ever know. While discoursing to the people of the kingdom, and answering their questions, He has the sense of the true state of the people, and of His own rejection as the Messiah, the King of the Jews. What sorrow must have filled His heart! What relief and rest He ever found in His Father’s bosom!
We will now turn for a little to Matthew 11:20-30. Here we have the distinct expression, and the perfect combination of these two things in Jesus—groaning in spirit because of surrounding evil, and entire submission to His Father’s will, with praise and thanksgiving. Scarcely had “Woe, woe,” fallen from His lips, when He looked up to heaven, and said,
“I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth.”
With the growing, deepening sense of the unbelief of the people whom He loved, and their blinded rejection of Himself as Emmanuel in their midst, He meekly bows to His Father’s sovereign will, sees only perfection in it here, and the glory that would follow it hereafter.
“Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in Thy sight.”
As it then was, so has it been ever since, and so is it now. Mark well, my soul, what thou art now writing. Thou hast Jesus before thee as the obedient Man, and the Father’s ways in grace with the meek and lowly. He shields the person of His beloved Son from the unholy gaze of unbelief, and hides His glory from the pride of man.
“No man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him.”
All who have dared to penetrate, in the pride of intellect, into the deep mysteries of His person, have but revealed their own blindness and folly, and exposed themselves to the snares of the enemy. But to the lowly in heart—the worshipping heart—the full blessedness of the knowledge of Jesus and His ways is made known.
“The meek will He guide in judgment, and the meek will He teach His way” (Psa. 25:9). “The meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace” (Psa. 37:11).
These passages no doubt refer to the Millennial earth, when the God-fearing remnant shall possess it, in association with Christ as their King of glory. It is not said, observe, that they shall inherit heaven, but the earth. The place of their trial and sorrow will one day be the scene of their rest, their glory, and blessedness. The Christian will possess it in a higher way—as one with Christ, who will then feed the poor with bread, and, like the disciples of old, the heavenly saints may be privileged to distribute it.
(Continued from page 183)
(To be continued)