The Beatitudes by Arthur W. Pink
The Second Beatitude
"Blessed
are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted"
Mourning is
hateful and irksome to poor human nature. From suffering and sadness our
spirits instinctively shrink. By nature we seek the society of the cheerful and
joyous. Our text presents an anomaly to the unregenerate, yet it is sweet music
to the ears of God's elect. If "blessed," why do they
"mourn"? If they "mourn," how can they be
"blessed"? Only the child of God has the key to this paradox. The
more we ponder our text the more we are constrained to exclaim, "Never man
spake like this Man!" "Blessed" {happy} are they that
mourn is an aphorism that is at complete variance with the world's logic. Men
have in all places and in all ages regarded the prosperous and gay as the happy
ones, but Christ pronounces happy those who are poor in spirit and who mourn.
Now it is
obvious that it is not every species of mourning that is here referred to.
There is a "sorrow of the world that worketh death" (2Co 7:10). The mourning for which
Christ promises comfort must be restricted to that which is spiritual. The
mourning that is blessed is the result of a realization of God's holiness and
goodness that issues in a sense of the depravity of our natures and the
enormous guilt of our conduct. The mourning for which Christ promises Divine
comfort is a sorrowing over our sins with a godly sorrow.
The eight
Beatitudes are arranged in four pairs. Proof of this will be furnished as we
proceed. The first of the series is the blessing that Christ pronounced upon
those who are poor in spirit, which we took as a description of those who have
been awakened to a sense of their own nothingness and emptiness. Now the
transition from such poverty to mourning is easy to follow. In fact, mourning
follows so closely that it is in reality poverty's
companion.
The mourning
that is here referred to is manifestly more than that of bereavement,
affliction, or loss. It is mourning for sin.
It is
mourning over the felt destitution of our spiritual state, and over the
iniquities that have separated us and God; mourning over the very morality in
which we have boasted, and the self-righteousness in which we have trusted;
sorrow for rebellion against God, and hostility to His will; and such mourning
always goes side by side with conscious poverty of spirit (Dr. Pierson).
A striking
illustration and exemplification of the spirit upon which the Savior here
pronounced His benediction is to be found in Lu
18:9-14. There a vivid contrast is presented to our view. First, we
are shown a self-righteous Pharisee looking up toward God and saying,
"God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust,
adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes
of all that I possess." This may all have been true as he looked at it,
yet this man went down to his house in a state of condemnation. His fine
garments were rags, his white robes were filthy, though he knew it not. Then we
are shown the publican, standing afar off, who, in the language of the
Psalmist, was so troubled by his iniquities that he was not able to look up (Ps 40:12). He dared not so much as
lift up his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast.
Conscious of the fountain of corruption within, he cried, "God be merciful
to me a sinner." That man went down to his house justified, because he was
poor in spirit and mourned for sin.
Here, then,
are the first birthmarks of the children of God. He who has never come to be
poor in spirit and has never known what it is to really mourn for sin, though
he belong to a church or be an office-bearer in it,
has neither seen nor entered the Kingdom of God. How thankful the Christian
reader ought to be that the great God condescends to dwell in the humble and
contrite heart! This is the wonderful promise made by God even in the Old
Testament (by Him in whose sight the heavens are not clean, who cannot find in
any temple that man has ever built for Him, however magnificent, a proper
dwelling place see Isa 57:15; 66:2)!
"Blessed
are they that mourn." Though the primary reference is to that initial
mourning commonly called conviction of sin, it is by no means to be limited to
that. Mourning is ever a characteristic of the normal Christian state. There is
much that the believer has to mourn over. The plague
of his own heart makes him cry, "O wretched man that I am" (Ro 7:24). The unbelief that
"doth so easily beset us" (Heb
12:1) and sins that we commit, which are more in number than the
hairs of our head, are a continual grief to us. The barrenness and unprofitableness of our lives make us sigh and cry. Our
propensity to wander from Christ, our lack of communion with Him, and the
shallowness of our love for Him cause us to hang our harps upon the willows. But
there are many other causes for mourning that assail Christian hearts: on every
hand hypocritical religion that has a form of godliness while denying the power
thereof (2Ti 3:5); the awful dishonor done to
the truth of God by the false doctrines taught in countless pulpits; the
divisions among the Lord's people; and strife between brethren. The combination
of these provides occasion for continual sorrow of heart. The awful wickedness
in the world, the despising of Christ, and untold human sufferings make us
groan within ourselves. The closer the Christian lives to God, the more he will
mourn over all that dishonors Him. This is the common experience of God's true
people (Ps 119:53; Jer 13:17; 14:17; Eze 9:4).
"They
shall be comforted." By these words Christ refers primarily to the removal
of the guilt that burdens the conscience. This is accomplished by the Spirit's
application of the Gospel of God's grace to one whom He has convicted of his
dire need of a Savior. The result is a sense of free and full forgiveness
through the merits of the atoning blood of Christ. This Divine comfort is
"the peace of God, which passeth all understanding" (Php
4:7), filling the heart of the one who is now assured that he is
"accepted in the Beloved" (Eph
1:6). God wounds before healing, and abases
before He exalts. First there is a revelation of His justice and holiness, then
the making known of His mercy and grace.
The words
"they shall be comforted" also receive a constant fulfillment in the
experience of the Christian. Though he mourns his excuseless failures and
confesses them to God, yet he is comforted by the assurance that the blood of
Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses him from all sin (1Jo
1:7). Though he groans over the dishonor done to God on every side,
yet is he comforted by the knowledge that the day is rapidly approaching when
Satan shall be cast into hell forever and when the saints shall reign with the
Lord Jesus in "new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness" (2Pe 3:13). Though the chastening hand
of the Lord is often laid upon him and though "no chastening for the
present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous" (Heb 12:11), nevertheless, he is
consoled by the realization that this is all working out for him "a far
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2Co
4:17). Like the Apostle Paul, the believer who is in communion with
his Lord can say, "As sorrowful, yet alway
rejoicing" (2Co 6:10). He may often be called upon
to drink of the bitter waters of Marah, but God has planted nearby a tree to
sweeten them. Yes, mourning Christians are comforted even now by the Divine
Comforter: by the ministrations of His servants, by encouraging words from
fellow Christians, and (when these are not to hand) by the precious promises of
the Word being brought home in power by the Spirit to their hearts out of the
storehouse of their memories.
"They
shall be comforted." The best wine is reserved for the last. "Weeping
may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the
morning" (Ps 30:5). During the long night of
His absence, believers have been called to fellowship with Him who was the Man
of Sorrows. But it is written, "If...we suffer with Him..,
we {shall} be also glorified together" (Ro
8:17). What comfort and joy will be ours when shall dawn the morning
without clouds! Then "sorrow and sighing shall flee away" (Isa 35:10). Then shall be fulfilled
the words of the great heavenly voice in Re
21:3-4: Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell
with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them,
and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there
shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any
more pain: for the former things are passed away.