The Beatitudes - Thomas Watson
The godly are in some sense already blessed
I proceed now
to the second aphorism or conclusion, that the godly are in some sense already
blessed. The saints are blessed not only when they are apprehended by God, but
while they are travellers to glory. They are blessed
before they are crowned. This seems a paradox to flesh and blood. What,
reproached and maligned, yet blessed! A man that looks upon the children of God
with a carnal eye and sees how they are afflicted, and like the ship in the
gospel which was `covered with waves', {Mt
8:24} would think they were far from blessedness. St Paul brings a
catalogue of his sufferings: `Thrice was I beaten with rods; once I was stoned,
thrice I suffered shipwreck...'. {2Co
11:24-26} And those Christians of the first magnitude, of whom the
world was not worthy, `had trial of cruel mockings
and scourgings; they were sawn asunder; they were
slain with the sword'. {Heb 11:36,Heb
11:37} What? And were all these during the time of their sufferings
blessed? A carnal man would think, If this be to be
blessed, God deliver him from it.
But, however
sense and reason give their vote, our Saviour Christ pronounces the godly man
blessed; though a mourner, though a martyr, yet blessed. Job on the dunghill
was blessed Job. The saints are blessed when they are cursed. Shimei cursed
David. `He came forth and cursed him'. {2Sa
16:5} Yet when he was cursed David, he was blessed David. The
saints, though they are bruised, yet they are blessed. Not only shall they be
blessed, they are so. `Blessed are the undefiled'. {Ps
19:1} `Thy blessing is upon thy people'. {Ps
3:8}
(1) How are
the saints already blessed? In that they are enriched with heavenly blessings.
{Eph 1:3} They are `partakers of the
divine nature', {2Pe 1:4} not by an incorporation into
the divine essence, but by transformation into the divine likeness. This is
blessedness begun. As the new-born babe is said to
have life in it as well as he who is fully grown, so the saints, who are
partakers of the divine nature, have an inchoate blessedness, though they have
not arrived yet at perfection. Believers have the seed of God abiding in them.
{1Jo 3:9} And this is a seed of
blessedness. The flower of glory grows out of the seed of grace. Grace and
glory differ not in kind but degree. The one is the root, the other the fruit.
Grace is glory in the dawning; glory is grace in the meridian. And in this
sense that assertion of Augustine is true, `Blessed are we in faith and in
hope., Grace is the first link in the chain of blessedness. Now he that has the
first link of the chain in his hand, has the whole chain. The saints have the
Spirit of God in them, `The Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us'.
{2Ti 1:14} How can the blessed Spirit
be in a man and he not blessed? A godly man's heart is a paradise, planted with
the choicest fruit, and God himself walks in the midst of
this paradise, and must the man not needs be blessed?
(2) The
saints are already blessed because their sins are not imputed to them. `Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity'. {Ps
32:2} God's not imputing iniquity, signifies God's making of sin not
to be. It is as if the man had never sinned. The debt book is cancelled in
Christ's blood, and if the debtor owe never so much,
yet if the creditor cross the book, it is as if he had never owed anything.
God's not imputing sin signifies that God will never call for the debt, or, if
it should be called for, it shall be hid out of sight.
`In those days the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be
none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found'. {Jer 50:20} Now such a man who
has not sin imputed to him, is blessed, and the reason is, because if sin be
not imputed to a man, then the curse is taken away; and if the curse be taken
away, then he must needs be blessed.
(3) The
saints are already blessed because they are in covenant with God. This is clear
by comparing two scriptures: `I will be their God', {Jer 31:33} and `Happy is that
people whose God is the Lord'. {Ps 144:15}
This is the crowning blessing, to have the Lord for our God. Impossible it is
to imagine that God should be our God, and we not be blessed.
This sweet
word, `I will be your God', implies propriety, that all that is in God shall be
ours. His love is ours, his Spirit ours, his mercy ours. It implies all
relations: of a father, `I will be a father unto you'. {2Co
6:18} The sons of a prince are happy. How blessed are the saints who
are of true blood royal? It implies the relation of an
husband: `Thy Maker is thy husband'. {Isa
54:5} The spouse, being contracted to her husband, is happy by
having an interest in all he has. The saints being contracted by faith are
blessed, though the solemnity of the marriage be kept for heaven. It implies
terms of friendship. They who are in covenant with God are favourites
of heaven. `Abraham my friend'. {Isa 41:8}
It is counted a subject's happiness to be in favour
with his prince, though he may live a while from court. How happy must he needs
be who is God's favourite!
(4) The
saints are already blessed because they have a reversion of heaven, as, on the
contrary, he who has hell in reversion is said to be already condemned. `He
that believeth not is condemned already'. {Joh
3:18} He is as sure to be condemned, as if he were condemned
already. So he who has heaven in reversion may be said to be already blessed. A
man that has the reversion of a house, after a short lease is run out, he looks
upon it as his already. This house, says he, is mine. So a believer has a
reversion of heaven after the lease of life is run out, and he can say at
present, Christ is mine and glory is mine. He has a title to heaven, and he is
a blessed man who has a title to show; nay, faith turns the reversion into a
possession.
(5) The
saints are already blessed because they have the first-fruits of blessedness
here. We read of the earnest of the Spirit, and the seal, {2Co
1:22} and the first-fruits. {Ro
8:23} Heaven is already begun in a believer. `The kingdom of God is
peace and joy in the Holy Ghost'. {Ro 14:17}
This kingdom is in a believer's heart. {Lu
17:21} The people of God have a prelibation and taste of blessedness
here. As Israel tasted a bunch of grapes before they were actually
possessed of Canaan, so the children of God have those secret incomes of
the Spirit, those smiles of Christ's face, those kisses of his lips, those
love-tokens that are as bunches of grapes; and they think themselves sometimes
in heaven. `Paul was let down in a basket'. {Ac
9:25} Oftentimes the Comforter is let down to the soul in an
ordinance, and now the soul is in the suburbs of Jerusalem above. A Christian
sees heaven by faith, end testes it by joy; end what is this but blessedness?
(6) The
saints may be said in this life to be blessed, because all things tend to make
them blessed. `All things work together for good to them that love God'. {Ro 8:28} We say to him that has
everything falling out for the best, You are a happy
man. The saints are very happy, for all things have a
tendency to their good. Prosperity does them good; adversity does them
good. Nay, sin turns to their good. Every trip makes them more watchful. Their
maladies are their medicines. Are not they happy persons that have every wind
blowing them to the right port?
(7) A saint
may be said to be blessed, because part of him is already blessed. He is blessed
in his head; Christ, his head, is in glory; Christ and believers make one body
mystical; their head is gotten into heaven.
See the
difference between a wicked man and a godly. Let a wicked man have never so
many comforts, still he is cursed; let a godly man have never so many crosses,
still he is blessed. Let a wicked man have the `candle of God shining' on him,
{Job 29:3} let his way be so smooth
that he meets with no rubs; let him have success; yet still there is a curse
entailed upon him. You may read the sinner's inventory. {De
28:16,De 28:17,De
28:18} He is not more full of sin than he is of a curse. Though
perhaps he blesses himself in his wickedness, yet he is heir to God's curse.
All the curses of the Bible are his portion, and at the day of death this
portion is sure to be paid. But a godly man in the midst of
all his miseries is blessed. He may be under the cross, but not under a curse.
It shows the
privilege of a believer. He not only shall be blessed, but he is blessed.
Blessedness is begun in him. `You are blessed of the Lord'. {Ps
115:15} Let the condition of the righteous be never so sad, yet it
is blessed; he is blessed in affliction. `Blessed is he whom thou chastenest'; {Ps 94:12}
blessed in poverty, `poor in the world, rich in faith'; {Jas
2:5} blessed in disgrace, `The spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you'. {1Pe
4:14} This may be a cordial to the fainting Christian; he is blessed
in life and death! Satan cannot supplant him of the blessing.
How may this
take away murmuring and melancholy from a child of God? Will you repine and be
sad when you are blessed? Esau wept because he wanted the blessing. `Bless me,
even me also, O my father, and Esau lifted up his voice and wept'. {Ge 27:38} But shall a child of God be
immoderately cast down when he has the blessing? Adam sinned in
the midst of paradise. How evil it is to be blessed, and yet murmur!
What an
encouragement is this to godliness! We are all ambitious of a blessing, then
let us espouse religion: `Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord'. {Ps 112:1} But you will say, This way is every where spoken
against. It is no matter, seeing this is the way to get a blessing. Suppose a
rich man should adopt another for his heir, and others should reproach him, he
does not care as long as he is heir to the estate. So,
what though others may reproach you for your religion, as
long as it entails a blessing on you; the same day you become godly, you
become blessed.