Matthew 5
1 And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him.
2 Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:
3 “ Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.
There is nothing like God’s Word! No mine of gold or diamonds can compare with it. The time alone with God is most precious! God wants us to live close to Him and be spiritually vibrant.
In our text we see Jesus went up a mountain and His disciples came to Him, they drew near unto Him. Even spiritually they drew near unto God, and so it must be with us. We must regularly draw near to Him and live in close fellowship with Him on the mount.
We also see here that Jesus revealed the way of God and He started with His own disciples. When God works He starts to work in His own disciples. Jesus here gives us the secret of living successfully spiritually – to overcome. Jesus here tells us who are truly blessed, the poor in spirit, the meek, and those who mourn. Blessed means to be envied, to be fortunate, and to be happy and joyful.
What does it mean to be poor in spirit? Jesus told the parable about the rich man whose harvest was great and so he tore down his barns and built them bigger, and he said to himself that he has a long time to enjoy life and be happy. But God called him a fool. He was rich in himself and the things of this world but poor towards God and spiritual things.
The poor in spirit realises their spiritual poverty and come to God empty handed for His riches. To be poor in spirit implies humility of spirit. A proud person laughs and is merry and doesn’t see anything wrong in his life.
A person who is poor in spirit is small in his own eyes and regards himself as insignificant, and therefore he truly trusts in the Lord, for Jesus said, “without Me you can do nothing”. The poor in spirit are dependent upon God and realise it.
We read that God, speaking to Paul, said:
2 Corinthians 12
9 My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.
If you want to experience revival, pray that God will make you nothing and that you realise it. God made the earth out of nothing. When you are nothing He can start to use you.
“Blessed are those who mourn” – There are different types of crying. Some cry because their sin has found them out. Others cry because of self-pity. Some cry because their earthly wealth is stolen or they go through financial difficulty etc. There is no blessing in such crying.
But, blessed are those who mourn and cry because of their sin. Godly sorrow leads to repentance, but not the sorrow of this world. You need to go through your life and conduct in the light of God and mourn as you see the great gulf between yourself and God; and the great gulf between who you are and what God expects from you. Such mourning will be accepted of God, like the prodigal son, “Father I am not worthy to be called your son; make me as one of the servants. For I have sinned against heaven and against you.”
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” – Meekness also speaks of humility. It refers to those who can humble themselves and go down. A meek person is patient, mild, longsuffering. Meekness doesn’t only refer to outward behaviour but inner grace of the soul. You must not only appear to be meek and mild, but boil inwardly. No, be meek and mild in the depths of your heart. Those who lack this meekness always fight with people and even find fault with God.
Jesus spoke these words to his disciples, the closest people to Him. If you want to be truly blessed, study this at the feet of Jesus and seek after it.