The Beatitudes by Arthur W. Pink
The Third Beatitude
"Blessed
are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth"
There have
been considerable differences of opinion as to the precise significance of the
word meek. Some regard its meaning as patience, a spirit of resignation; some
as unselfishness, a spirit of self-abnegation; others as gentleness, a spirit
of non-retaliation, bearing afflictions quietly. Doubtless, there is a measure
of truth in each of these definitions. Yet it appears to the writer that they
hardly go deep enough, for they fail to take note of the order of this third
Beatitude. Personally, we would define meekness as humility. "Blessed are
the meek," that is, the humble, the lowly. Let us see if other passages
bear this out.
The first
time the word meek occurs in Scripture is in Nu
12:3. Here the Spirit of God has pointed out a contrast from that
which is recorded in the previous verses. There we read of Miriam and Aaron
speaking against Moses: "Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath
He not spoken also by us?" Such language betrayed the pride and haughtiness
of their hearts, their self-seeking and craving for honor. As the antithesis of
this we read, "Now the man Moses was very meek." This must mean that
he was actuated by a spirit the very opposite of the spirit of his brother and
sister.
Moses was
humble, lowly, and self-renouncing. This is recorded for our admiration and
instruction in Heb 11:24-26. Moses turned his back on
worldly honors and earthly riches, deliberately choosing the life of a pilgrim
rather than that of a courtier. He chose the wilderness in preference to the
palace. The humbleness of Moses is seen again when Jehovah first appeared to
him in Midian and commissioned him to lead His people out of Egypt. "Who
am I," he said, "that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring
forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?" (Ex
3:11). What lowliness these words breathe! Yes, Moses was very meek.
Other
Scripture texts bear out, and seem to necessitate, the definition suggested
above. "The meek will He guide in judgment: and the meek will He teach His
way" (Ps 25:9). What can this mean but that
the humble and lowly-hearted are the ones whom God promises to counsel and
instruct? "Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an
ass" (Mt 21:5). Here is meekness or
lowliness incarnate. "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which
are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering
thyself, lest thou also be tempted" (Ga
6:1). Is it not plain that this means that a spirit of humility is
required in him who would be used of God in restoring an erring brother? We are
to learn of Christ, who was "meek and lowly in heart." The latter
term explains the former. Note that they are linked together again in Eph 4:2, where the order is
"lowliness and meekness." Here the order is deliberately reversed
from that in Mt 11:29. This shows us that they are
synonymous terms.
Having thus
sought to establish that meekness, in the Scriptures, signified humility and
lowliness, let us now note how this is further borne out by the context and
then endeavor to determine the manner in which such meekness finds expression.
It must be steadily kept in mind that in these Beatitudes our Lord is
describing the orderly development of God's work of grace as it is
experientially realized in the soul. First, there is poverty of spirit: a sense
of my insufficiency and nothingness. Next, there is mourning over my lost
condition and sorrowing over the awfulness of my sins against God. Following
this, in order of spiritual experience, is humbleness of soul.
The one in
whom the Spirit of God has worked, producing a sense of nothingness and of
need, is now brought into the dust before God. Speaking as one whom God used in
the ministry of the Gospel, the Apostle Paul said, "The weapons of our
warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong
holds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself
against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the
obedience of Christ" (2Co 10:4-5).
The weapons that the apostles used were the searching, condemning, humbling
truths of Scripture. These, as applied effectually by the Spirit, were mighty
to the pulling down of strongholds, that is, the powerful prejudices and
self-righteous defenses within which sinful men took refuge. The results are
the same today: proud imaginations or reasonings - the enmity of the carnal
mind and the opposition of the newly regenerate mind concerning salvation is
now brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
By nature
every sinner is Pharisaical, desiring to be justified by the works of the Law.
By nature we all inherit from our first parents the tendency to manufacture for
ourselves a covering to hide our shame. By nature every member of the human
race walks in the way of Cain, who sought to find acceptance with God on the
ground of an offering produced by his own labors. In a word, we desire to gain
a standing before God on the basis of personal merits; we wish to purchase
salvation by our good deeds; we are anxious to win heaven by our own doings.
God's way of salvation is too humbling to suit the carnal mind, for it removes
all ground for boasting. It is therefore unacceptable to the proud heart of the
unregenerate.
Man wants to
have a hand in his salvation. To be told that God will receive nought from him,
that salvation is solely a matter of Divine mercy, that eternal life is only
for those who come empty-handed to receive it solely as a matter of charity, is
offensive to the self- righteous religionist. But not so to the one who is poor
in spirit and who mourns over his vile and wretched state. The very word mercy
is music to his ears. Eternal life as God's free gift suits his
poverty-stricken condition. Grace-the sovereign favor of God to the
hell-deserving-is just what he feels he must have! Such a one no longer has any
thought of justifying himself in his own eyes; all his haughty objections
against God's benevolence are now silenced. He is glad to own himself a beggar
and bow in the dust before God. Once, like Naaman, he rebelled against the
humbling terms announced by God's servant; but now, like Naaman at the end, he
is glad to dismount from his chariot of pride and take his place in the dust
before the Lord.
It was when
Naaman bowed before the humbling word of God's servant that he was healed of
his leprosy. In the same way, when the sinner owns his worthlessness, Divine
favor is shown to him. Such a one receives the Divine benediction:
"Blessed are the meek." Speaking anticipatively through Isaiah, the
Savior said, "The Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the
meek" (Isa 61:1). And again it is written,
"For the Lord taketh pleasure in His people: He will beautify the meek
with salvation" (Ps 149:4).
While
humility of soul in bowing to God's way of salvation is the primary application
of the third Beatitude, it must not be limited to that. Meekness is also an
intrinsic aspect of the "fruit of the Spirit" that is wrought in and
produced through the Christian (Ga 5:22-23).
It is that quality of spirit that is found in one who has been schooled to
mildness by discipline and suffering and brought into sweet resignation to the
will of God. When in exercise, it is that grace in the believer that causes him
to bear patiently insults and injuries, that makes him ready to be instructed
and admonished by the least eminent of saints, that leads him to esteem others
more highly than himself (Php 2:3), and that teaches him to
ascribe all that is good in himself to the sovereign grace of God.
On the other
hand, true meekness is not weakness. A striking proof of this is furnished in Ac 16:35-37. The apostles had been
wrongfully beaten and cast into prison. On the next day the magistrates gave
orders for their release, but Paul said to their agents, "Let them come
themselves and fetch us out." God-given meekness can stand up for
God-given rights. When one of the officers smote our Lord, He answered,
"If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest
thou Me?" (Joh 18:23).
The spirit of
meekness was perfectly exemplified only by the Lord Jesus Christ, who was
"meek and lowly in heart." In His people this blessed spirit
fluctuates, oftentimes beclouded by risings up of the flesh. Of Moses it is
said, "They provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his
lips" (Ps 106:33). Ezekiel says of himself:
"I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the Lord
was strong upon me" (Eze 3:14). Of Jonah, after his
miraculous deliverance, we read: "It displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he
was very angry" (Jon 4:1). Even the humble Barnabas
parted from Paul in a bitter temper (Ac
15:37-39). What warnings are these! How much we need to learn of
Christ!
"Blessed
are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth." Our Lord was alluding to,
and applying, Ps 37:11. The promise seems to have
both a literal and spiritual meaning: "The meek shall inherit the earth;
and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace." The meek are
those who have the greatest enjoyment of the good things of the present life.
Delivered from a greedy and grasping spirit, they are content with such things
as they have. "A little that a righteous man hath is better than the
riches of many wicked" (Ps 37:16).
Contentment of mind is one of the fruits of meekness of spirit. The proud and
restless do not "inherit the earth," though they may own many acres
of it. The humble Christian has far more enjoyment in a cottage than the wicked
has in a palace. "Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great
treasure and trouble therewith" (Pr
15:16).
"The
meek shall inherit the earth." As we have said, this third Beatitude is an
allusion to Ps 37:11. Most probably the Lord
Jesus was using Old Testament language to express New Covenant truth. The flesh
and blood of Joh 6:50-58 and the water of Joh 3:5 have, to the regenerate, a
spiritual meaning; so here with the word earth or land. Both in Hebrew and in
Creek, the principal terms rendered by our English words earth and land may be
translated either literally or spiritually, depending upon the context.
His words,
literally understood, are, "they shall inherit the land," i.e.,
Canaan, "the land of promise." He speaks of the blessings of the new
economy in the language of Old Testament prophecy. Israel according to the
flesh (the external people of God under the former economy) were a figure of
Israel according to the spirit (the spiritual people of God under the new
economy); and Canaan, the {earthly} inheritance of the former, is the
type of that aggregate of heavenly and spiritual blessings which form the
inheritance of the latter. To "inherit the land" is to enjoy the
peculiar blessings of the people of God under the new economy; it is to become
heirs of the world, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ {Ro 8:17}. It is to be
"blessed.., with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ"
{Eph 1:3}, to enjoy that true peace
and rest of which Israel's in Canaan was a figure (Dr. John Brown).
No doubt
there is also reference to the fact that the meek shall ultimately inherit the
"new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness" (2Pe
3:13).