The Beatitudes give us a picture of true blessedness, and it differs a lot from what we see in movies or read in romance novels. True blessedness is not measured the size of your house or the top speed of your car. Instead, it is that happy state in which the believer experiences God’s favour. Blessedness is about our character, not our circumstances.

In the fourth beatitude, Jesus explains that the blessed “hunger and thirst”. We’ve all felt hungry and thirsty, but chances are we are only vaguely familiar with the kind of hunger and thirst Jesus describes in this beatitude. In the ancient Near East, the average working man would only eat meat once a week. Many people lived on the border of starvation. Water was even more precious than food, with most settlements built around or near a reliable water supply. It is said that a person can survive for 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food.

Have you ever experienced that kind of hunger or thirst? Jesus is talking about a strong, passionate spiritual desire – a need that must be satisfied. Psalm 42:1-2 famously captures this kind of spiritual longing in its opening verses: “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” David had a similar longing for God: “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” (Psalm 63:1). They longed for God’s presence as a dying man would long for food or water.

John Blanchard highlights a particular danger in modern Christianity. Many professing believers are like cars that are running on empty. From the outside there seems to be nothing wrong with the car, but the fuel light is on, and the driver isn’t paying attention. Suddenly the car starts to sputter and then it stops. Outwardly, many professing believers live respectable lives, attending church and using religious words, but they are empty. They have no sense of urgency or need. They do not hunger or thirst for God. Most dangerous of all, they may not even be aware of it (like the church of Laodicea; see Rev. 3:17).

Martyn Lloyd-Jones gives us a timely reminder: “I do not know of a better test that anyone can apply to himself or herself in this while matter of the Christian profession than a verse like this. If this verse is to you one of the most blessed statements of the whole of Scripture you can be quite certain that you are a Christian; if it is not, then you had better examine the foundations again.” Hunger and thirst are signs of life and indicators of health (see 1 Pet. 2:2). A loss of appetite is usually not a good sign.

What does a loss of spiritual hunger look like? Thomas Watson gives several examples.
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• First, those who do not hunger for righteousness do not feel their emptiness. In other words, he lacks the awareness of the first beatitude. He writes: “None so empty of grace as he that thinks himself full. He has most need of righteousness that least wants it.”
• Second, those who do not hunger for righteousness do not feel a need for it. Related to the first, but here the professing believer thinks he or she can go without it for a season.
• Third, those who do not hunger for righteousness “desire rather sleep than food. They are more drowsy than hungry.” They are in a spiritual stupor and don’t want to wake up from it.
• Fourth, those who do not hunger for righteousness “refuse their food… Such are your fanatics and enthusiasts who put away the blessed ordinances and pretend to revelations… They live on airy notions”.
• Fifth, those who do not hunger for righteousness “delight more in the garnishing of the dish than the food.” They are more interested in the eloquence of the preaching than its content.
• Sixth, those who do not hunger for righteousness “prefer other things before it, namely, their profits and recreations.” 
• Seventh, those who do not hunger for righteousness “are more for disputes in religion than practice.”

Thomas Guthrie, a Scottish preacher, wrote: “If you find yourself loving any pleasure better than your prayers, any book better than the Bible, any house better than the house of God, any table better than the Lord’s table, any person better than Christ, any indulgence better than the hope of heaven – take alarm!”
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Because of Christ,
Pieter

Our relationship with God has a profound impact on our relationship with others. Those who are meek toward God, will also be meek in their relationships with others. We know what meekness toward God looks like. It means submitting to God’s providence and obeying his Word. What does meekness toward others look like?

This is an important question, and one that we must answer if we are to live spiritually fruitful lives. Consider Moses, who led the people of Israel out of Egypt. He put up with their constant complaining, frequent rebellion, and even their rejection. Numbers 12:3 gives us a remarkable description of his character: “Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth.” There is no doubt that much of his impact can be traced back to this trait.

Consider Christ, who dealt so gently with the broken and endured so much hostility from his enemies. He described himself as “gentle and lowly in heart” (Matt. 11:29). Paul would later appeal to the Corinthian believers “by the meekness and gentleness of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:1). Jesus exemplified what he commended in the third beatitude.
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When we consider their example, we learn that meekness toward man means bearing injuries. A meek spirit is not easily provoked. Thomas Watson likened it to wet tinder which does not easily catch fire. In Psalm 38:12-13 David writes about the traps that were set for him and the treachery of his enemies. He, however, was “like a deaf man; I do not hear, like a mute man who does not open his mouth.” A meek man knows how to take a proverbial punch and not punch back.

Meekness means not being hasty or short-tempered. Eccl. 7:9 warns us not to be “quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the bosom of fools.” A fool is like gunpower which lights at the slightest spark and explodes to the hurt and harm of all around. The meek are not prone to anger or resentment. This does not mean that they cannot experience anger, or that they don’t experience holy anger. The meek know that even our righteous anger quickly turns into sinful rage when we let it run riot.

Meekness toward man means we aren’t malicious. Malice is mental murder (1 John 3:15: “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”). Jesus taught his disciples to pray: “and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” (Matt. 6:12).

Meekness toward man means letting go of revenge. If malice is the scum of anger, revenge is what happens when malice boils over. When this happens, malice seeks to harm and ruin another. We want to hurt them. We want them to suffer. This is so foreign to the character of Christ that those who pursue revenge have reason to doubt their faith. The meek trust in a righteous God; they know God will deal righteously with those who harm his people (see Rom. 12:19). 

Meekness is also opposed to gossip. This is one of the most destructive forms of character assassination and one that has only gotten worse with the advent of social media. Eph. 4:31 is clear: “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.” Notice how slander is linked to malice. Our words reveal what is in our heart (Matt. 12:34). James 3:6 warned that the tongue (and we should add the keyboard) can be a terribly destructive force. 

We need to grow in meekness, but how? If we would grow in meekness, we must meditate on the gospel daily. We ought to look to Jesus. He is the perfect example of meekness. One of the ways in which Christ exemplified meekness, was in his readiness to forgive. He taught his disciples the importance of forgiveness: “And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” (Matt. 11:25). Being forgiven means that we ought to forgive as well (Eph. 4:32).

Another way in which Jesus exemplified meekness, was in returning good for evil (see Matt. 5:43-48). When we feed our enemies or give them something to drink (Rom. 12:20), we are following the example of Christ. I’ve been reading 1 & 2 Samuel in my quiet-time and I’ve been amazed at the meekness of David even as Saul pursued him. He constantly gave Saul what he did not deserve, and ultimately his meekness won the day, not Saul’s anger.

Which brings us to the blessing associated with meekness: “they shall inherit the earth.” (Matt. 5:5). The victory is not achieved through power, oppression, or might. Christ conquered through the cross. In a similar way, our inheritance is secured by the strength of meekness – the same meekness we see in our Saviour.

Because of Christ,
Pieter

Jesus commends meekness in his third beatitude: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matt. 5:5). Meekness is often mistaken for weakness, but nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus was meek, yet we do not find him afflicted by the same moral weakness or cowardice that seems to affect so much of our modern society. Jesus stood firm against hypocrites, yet he also dealt gently with the broken.

How, then, should we define meekness? Much like love, we recognize meekness by what it does. Thomas Watson helpfully points to two essential features of meekness, especially as it relates to God. First, it implies submission to God’s will and second, conformity to God’s Word.

How do we submit to God’s will? We see this particularly in how the Christian submits to God’s providence in his or her life. Providence, according to the Westminster shorter catechism, is God’s “most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures and all their actions.” Providence means that God is active in his world and in our lives. He preserves, guides, and provides. As Martyn Lloyd-Jones explains, God’s providence “is a description of His continuing activity, of what He does in the world, and what He has continued to do since He made the world at the very beginning.”

Submitting to providence is not always easy. Job understood this better than most. He faced soul-crushing calamity, but his response was surprisingly meek. He said: “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1:21). And again, after receiving more bad news, he said: “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:10). On both occasions we are told that “Job did not sin with his lips.”

Jesus Christ is the supreme example of meek submission to providence. Before Jesus was arrested, we are told that he prayed, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” (Matt. 26:39). Christ submitted to his Father’s providence, even as he wrestled with its frightening implications.
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This wasn’t fatalistic resignation but trusting submission. Meekness says “not as I will, but as you will” because it trusts that God is in control and that he is good. We might not be able to make sense of God’s providence, or see God’s good purposes, but we trust him. Why can we trust him? Because he “did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all” (Rom. 8:32). Such a God has earned my trust.

In the same way, meekness does not just submit to God’s providence but also seeks to conform to God’s revealed will. This means that we don’t oppose, argue with, or resist the Word, but conform our thinking to God’s. James 1:21 captures this beautifully: “Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”

There may be passages of Scripture that we find difficult to understand or hard to apply. We wrestle, ask questions, and search, but the goal should never be to “get around” the text. Our aim is to understand and obey. Meekness not only trusts God’s providence but also his commands. He is good in what he does and in what he requires.

Such is meekness toward God. That meekness then overflows in our relationships with others, which we’ll explore next.

Because of Christ,
Pieter

In the Beatitudes, Jesus explains the way to true blessedness. True blessedness refers to that happy state in which the believer is at rest in his God. It implies a peace with God and an experience of God’s gracious favour. By now you have probably noticed that the path of true blessedness is surprising, different, and varied.
 
As the Holy Spirit guides us on the path of true blessedness, he helps us understand our lack and our desperate need (Matt. 5:3). Realizing just how poor in spirit we truly are, we mourn (v. 4). This might not sound all that pleasant, but the same Spirit assures us of the Father’s precious promises: a heavenly kingdom and divine comfort.

The third work of grace in the life of a true child of God is meekness. The third beatitude reads: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” (v. 5). What is meekness? The term that Jesus used is translated in several ways. The NASB translates it as “gentle”. The Good News Bible translates it as “humble”. The Amplified explains meek as “mild, patient, long-suffering”.

Translators struggle with the word, because like so many other concepts, it is something that we recognize but we find difficult to describe. In 1964 someone asked United States supreme court justice Potter Stewart to describe his test for obscenity. He simply answered: “I know it when I see it.” In much the same way, we know meekness when we see it. 

However, sometimes it is helpful to state what it isn’t, which might help us more clearly understand what it is. For starters, meekness is not being too submissive. Someone told the story of a domineering wife who shouted at her hen-pecked husband: “Are you a man or a mouse? Come on, squeak up!” Jesus is not commending that kind of attitude. Even as Jesus was being led to the cross, he was meek but not defeated.
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Meekness is also not being spineless. There seems to be a serious spine shortage in modern society, but don’t mistake spinelessness for meekness. Jesus was meek, yet we find him standing up to the Pharisees, clearing out the temple, and meeting his would-be captors with great bravery. It shouldn’t surprise us, because meekness is not weakness. Being so timid that a light breeze can blow you over, is not a sign of Christian virtue.
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Finally, meekness is not niceness. Modern society seems to have added an eleventh commandment: “Thou shalt be nice.” While we would not encourage meanness, we should be careful not to confuse niceness with meekness. Some people are more agreeable, pleasant, or easy-going than others. That does not mean that they are meek.

Meekness is more than a personality trait. I trust that you are familiar with the fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Gal. 5:22-23: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”. The word for gentleness is very similar to the one that Jesus used in Matt. 5:5. The KJV even translates it as “meekness”.

In other words, this is not a natural timidity or niceness, but a Spirit-wrought part of godly character in the life of the believer. This also means that it isn’t an optional trait. This is something that should be present and growing in every believer’s life.

Now that we know what meekness isn’t, we are better positioned to explore what meekness truly is. But more on that next week.

Because of Christ,
Pieter

In the second beatitude Jesus again subverts our expectations. He said: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matt. 5:4). Jesus reminds us that even his disciples mourn. Following Jesus does not spare us the pain of living in a fallen world. Yet Jesus assures us that there is comfort.

This promise of comfort, it should be noted, is not given indiscriminately to anyone who mourns. Not all grief is godly. Consider Cain, who lamented the severity of God’s punishment for his sin (Gen. 4:13-14). He was more concerned about the pain that his sin caused him than the pain it caused his parents, not to mention his brother!

King Ahab is another example of ungodly grief. In 1 Kings 21:1-4 Ahab sulked because he could not get Naboth’s vineyard. He was angry and sullen because he could not have his way. He mourned, but it was motivated by greed and selfishness.

The most striking example of ungodly grief has to be Judas, Christ’s betrayer. According to Matt. 27:3-5 he acknowledged his sin and even tried to give back the money he was paid. Yet he never confessed his sin to God or sought his forgiveness. Overwhelmed by his guilt, he sought to rid himself of his accusing conscience by taking his own life. JC Ryle explains that it “is possible for a man to feel his sins, and be sorry for them, pricked in conscience, and exhibit much distress of mind, and yet, for all this, not repent with his heart. Present danger, or the fear of death, may account for his feelings, and the Holy Ghost may have done no work whatever in his soul.”

If we want to be comforted, we must grieve in a godly way. 2 Corinthians 7:10-11 describes godly grief. It produces “a repentance that leads to salvation without regret”. It leads to earnest change, a hatred of sin, the fear of the Lord, and a longing and zeal for godliness.

Ungodly sorrow produces death. Godly sorrow, by contrast, is life-giving. John Blanchard put it well: “Nobody ever regrets godly, spiritual sorrow; instead, he rejoices at God’s gracious dealings with him and at the blessings he receives by his hand.” In the words of Psalm 34:18, “The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”

In the previous beatitude we were told that the “poor in spirit” are blessed. We saw that their poverty is not material or intellectual, but spiritual – they know their spiritual need. This leads naturally into the next beatitude: “those who mourn”. We cannot separate the two, or any of the beatitudes, because they aren’t electives that we can opt out of, but describe the whole tapestry of Christian character. These are the characteristics of those who belong to the kingdom of Jesus Christ
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Christians will experience godly grief, not just once but often. John Stott rejected the giddy faux-spirituality that fills so many of our churches today. He warned: “Some Christians seem to imagine that, especially if they are filled with the Spirit, they must wear a perpetual grin on their face and be continually boisterous and bubbly. How unbiblical can one become?”

A Christian knows how to mourn over sin, brokenness, and how far we fall short of the perfection of Christ. “For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me… I confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin.” (Psalm 38:4, 18). Yet it is for such people that the Lord reserves his comfort.
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When the believer runs to the Father, instead of from him, he finds Him to be “the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort” (2 Cor. 1:3). He finds Jesus Christ the righteous, standing beside him as his advocate (1 John 2:1-2). And he will find that the Spirit truly is a help and comfort to God’s children.

No wonder Jesus calls them blessed.

Because of Christ,
Pieter