INTRODUCTION
Opinion has been much divided concerning the design, scope, and application of the Sermon on the Mount. Most commentators have seen in it an exposition of Christian ethics. Men such as the late Count Tolstoi have regarded it as the setting forth of a “golden rule” for all men to live by. Others have dwelt upon its dispensational bearings, insisting that it belongs not to the saints of the present dispensation but to believers within a future millennium. Two inspired statements, however, reveal its true scope. In Matthew 5:1,2, we learn that Christ was here teaching His disciples. From Matthew 7:28,29, it is clear that He was also addressing a great multitude of the people. Thus it is evident that this address of our Lord contains instruction both for believers and unbelievers alike.
It needs to be borne in mind that this sermon was Christ’s first utterance to the general public, who had been reared in a defective Judaism. It was possibly His first discourse to the disciples, too. His design was not only to teach Christian ethics but to expose the errors of Pharisaism and to awaken the consciences of His legalistic hearers. In Matthew 5:20 He said, “Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of heaven.”
Then, to the end of the chapter, He expounded the spirituality of the Law so as to arouse His hearers to see their need of His own perfect righteousness. It was their ignorance of the spirituality of the Law that was the real source of Pharisaism, for its leaders claimed to fulfill the Law in the outward letter. It was therefore our Lord’s good purpose to awaken their consciences by enforcing the Law’s true inner import and requirement.
It is to be noted that this Sermon on the Mount is recorded only in Matthew’s Gospel. The differences between it and the Sermon on the Plain in Luke 6 are pronounced and numerous. While it is true that Matthew is by far the most Jewish of the four Gospels, yet we believe it is a serious mistake to limit its application to godly Jews, either of the past or the future. The opening verse of the Gospel, where Christ is presented in a twofold way, should warn us against such a restriction. There He is presented as Son of David and as Son of Abraham, “the father of all them that believe” ( Romans 4:11). Therefore, we are fully assured that this sermon enunciates spiritual principles that obtain in every age, and on this basis we shall proceed.
Christ’s first preaching seems to have been summarized in one short but crucial sentence, like that of John the Baptist before Him: “Repent ye: for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand” ( Matthew 3:2; 4:17).
It is not appropriate in a brief study such as this to discuss that most interesting topic, the Kingdom of heaven—what it is and what the various periods of its development are—but these Beatitudes teach us much about those who belong to that Kingdom, and upon whom Christ pronounced its highest forms of benediction.
Christ came once in the flesh, and He is coming yet again. Each advent has a special object as connected with the Kingdom of heaven. The first advent of our Lord was for the purpose of establishing an empire among men and over men, by laying the foundations of that empire within individual souls.
His second coming will be for the purpose of setting up that empire in glory. It is therefore vitally important that we understand what the character of the subjects in that Kingdom is, so that we may know whether we belong to the Kingdom ourselves, and whether its privileges, immunities, and future rewards are a part of our present and future inheritance. Thus one may grasp the importance of a devout and careful study of these Beatitudes. We must examine them as a whole; we cannot take one alone without losing a part of the lesson they jointly teach. These Beatitudes form one portrait. When an artist draws a picture, each line may be graceful and masterful, but it is the union of the lines that reveals their mutual relation; it is the combination of the various artistic delineations and minute touches that gives us the complete portrait. So here, though each separate aspect has its own peculiar beauty and grace and shows the hand of a master, it is only when we take all the lines in combination that we get the full portrait of a true subject and citizen in the Kingdom of God (Dr. A.
T. Pierson paraphrased).
God’s great salvation is free, “without money and without price” ( Isaiah 55:1).
This is a most merciful provision of Divine grace, for were God to offer salvation for sale no poor sinner could secure it, seeing that he has nothing with which to purchase it. But the vast majority are insensible of this; yea, all of us are until the Holy Spirit opens our sin-blinded eyes. It is only those who have passed from death to life who become conscious of their poverty, take the place of beggars, are glad to receive Divine charity, and begin to seek the true riches. Thus “the poor have the Gospel preached to them” ( Matthew 11:5), preached not only to their ears, but to their hearts!
Thus poverty of spirit, a consciousness of one’s emptiness and need, results from the work of the Holy Spirit within the human heart. It issues from the painful discovery that all my righteousnesses are as filthy rags ( Isaiah 64:6). It follows my being awakened to the fact that my very best performances are unacceptable (yea, an abomination) to the thrice Holy One. Thus one who is poor in spirit realizes that he is a hell deserving sinner.
Poverty of spirit may be viewed as the negative side of faith. It is that realization of one’s utter worthlessness that precedes a laying hold of Christ by faith, a spiritual eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood ( John 6:48-58). It is the work of the Spirit emptying the heart of self, that Christ may fill it. It is a sense of need and destitution. This first Beatitude, then, is foundational, describing a fundamental trait that is found in every regenerated soul. The one who is poor in spirit is nothing in his own eyes, and feels that his proper place is in the dust before God. He may, through false teaching or worldliness, leave that place, but God knows how to bring him back. And in His faithfulness and love He will do so, for the place of humble self-abasement before God is the place of blessing for His children. How to cultivate this God-honoring spirit is revealed by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 11:29.
He who is in possession of this poverty of spirit is pronounced blessed: because he now has a disposition that is the very reverse of that which was his by nature; because he possesses the first sure evidence that a Divine work of grace has been wrought within him; because such a spirit causes him to look outside of himself for true enrichment; because he is an heir of the Kingdom of heaven.
THE FIRST BEATITUDE “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3).
It is indeed blessed to mark how this sermon opens. Christ began not by pronouncing maledictions on the wicked, but by pronouncing benedictions on His people. How like Him was this, to whom judgment is a strange work ( Isaiah 28:21,22; cf. John 1:17). But how strange is the next word: “blessed” or “happy” are the poor— “the poor in spirit.” Who, previously, had ever regarded them as the blessed ones of earth? And who, outside believers, does so today? And how these opening words strike the keynote of all Christ’s subsequent teaching: it is not what a man does but what he is that is most important. “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” What is poverty of spirit? It is the opposite of that haughty, self-assertive, and self-sufficient disposition that the world so much admires and praises. It is the very reverse of that independent and defiant attitude that refuses to bow to God, that determines to brave things out, and that says with Pharaoh, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice?” ( Exodus 5:2).
To be poor in spirit is to realize that I have nothing, am nothing, and can do nothing, and have need of all things. Poverty of spirit is evident in a person when he is brought into the dust before God to acknowledge his utter helplessness. It is the first experiential evidence of a Divine work of grace within the soul, and corresponds to the initial awakening of the prodigal in the far country when he “began to be in want ” ( Luke 15:14).
THE SECOND BEATITUDE “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4).
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” ( Corinthians 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 Luke 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 ( Psalm 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 Isaiah 57:15 and 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” ( Romans 7:24).
The unbelief that “doth so easily beset us” ( Hebrews 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 ( 2 Timothy 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 ( <19B953> Psalm 119:53; Jeremiah 13:17; 14:17; Ezekiel 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” ( Philippians 4:7), filling the heart of the one who is now assured that he is “accepted in the Beloved” ( Ephesians 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 ( 1 John 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” ( 2 Peter 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” ( Hebrews 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” ( 2 Corinthians 4:17).
Like the Apostle Paul, the believer who is in communion with his Lord can say, “As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing” ( 2 Corinthians 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” ( Psalm 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” ( Romans 8:17).
What comfort and joy will be ours when shall dawn the morning without clouds! Then “sorrow and sighing shall flee away” ( Isaiah 35:10).
Then shall be fulfilled the words of the great heavenly voice in Revelation 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.
THE THIRD BEATITUDE “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5).
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 Numbers 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 Hebrews 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?” ( Exodus 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” ( Psalm 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” ( Matthew 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” ( Galatians 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 Ephesians 4:2, where the order is “lowliness and meekness.” Here the order is deliberately reversed from that in Matthew 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 Godto 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” ( 2 Corinthians 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” ( Isaiah 61:1).
And again it is written, “For the Lord taketh pleasure in His people: He will beautify the meek with salvation” ( <19E904> Psalm 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 ( Galatians 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 ( Philippians 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 Acts 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?” ( John 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” ( <19A633> Psalm 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” ( Ezekiel 3:14).
Of Jonah, after his miraculous deliverance, we read: “It displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry ( Jonah 4:1). Even the humble Barnabas parted from Paul in a bitter temper ( Acts 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, Psalm 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” ( Psalm 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” ( Proverbs 15:16). “The meek shall inherit the earth.” As we have said, this third Beatitude is an allusion to Psalm 37:11. Most probably the Lord Jesus was using Old Testament language to express New Covenant truth. The flesh and blood of John 6:50-58 and the water of John 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 [ Romans 8:17].
It is to be “blessed.., with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ” [ Ephesians 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” ( 2 Peter 3:13).
THE FOURTH BEATITUDE “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6).
In the first three Beatitudes we are called upon to witness the heart exercises of one who has been awakened by the Spirit of God. First, there is a sense of need, a realization of my nothingness and emptiness. Second, there is a judging of self, a consciousness of my guilt, and a sorrowing over my lost condition. Third, there is a cessation of seeking to justify myself before God, an abandonment of all pretenses to personal merit, and a taking of my place in the dust before God. Here, in the fourth Beatitude, the eye of the soul is turned away from self toward God for a very special reason: there is a longing after a righteousness that I urgently need but know that I do not possess.
There has been much needless quibbling as to the precise import of the word righteousness in our present text. The best way to ascertain its significance is to go back to the Old Testament Scriptures where this term is used, and then to shine upon these the brighter light furnished by the New Testament Epistles. “Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the Lord have created it” ( Isaiah 45:8).
The first half of this verse refers, in figurative language, to the advent of Christ to this earth; the second half to His resurrection, when He was “raised again for our justification” ( Romans 4:25). “Hearken unto Me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness: I bring near My righteousness; it shall not be far off, and My salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel My glory” ( Isaiah 46:12,13). “My righteousness is near; My salvation is gone forth, and Mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon Me, and on Mine arm shall they trust” ( Isaiah 51:5). “Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed” ( Isaiah 56:1). “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness ” ( Isaiah 61:10a).
These passages make it clear that God’s righteousness is synonymous with God’s salvation.
The Scriptures cited above are unfolded in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, where the Gospel receives its fullest exposition. In Romans 1:16, 17a, Paul says, “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.”
In Romans 3:22-24 we read, “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
In Romans 5:19, this blessed declaration is made: “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made [legally constituted] sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made [legally constituted] righteous.”
In Romans 10:4, we learn that “Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”
The sinner is destitute of righteousness, for “there is none righteous, no, not one” ( Romans 3:10).
God has, therefore, provided in Christ a perfect righteousness for each and all of His people. This righteousness, this satisfying of all the demands of God’s holy Law against us, was worked out by our Substitute and Surety.
This righteousness is now imputed to (that is, legally credited to the account of) the believing sinner. Just as the sins of God’s people were all transferred to Christ, so His righteousness is placed upon them ( Corinthians 5:21). These few words are but a brief summary of the teaching of Scripture on this vital and blessed subject of the perfect righteousness that God requires of us and that is ours by faith in the Lord Christ. “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness.”
Hungering and thirsting expresses vehement desire, of which the soul is acutely conscious. First, the Holy Spirit brings before the heart the holy requirements of God. He reveals to us His perfect standard, which He can never lower. He reminds us that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of heaven” ( Matthew 5:20). Second, the trembling soul, conscious of his own abject poverty and realizing his utter inability to measure up to God’s requirements, sees no help in himself. This painful discovery causes him to mourn and groan. Have you done so? Third, the Holy Spirit then creates in the heart a deep “hunger and thirst” that causes the convicted sinner to look for relief and to seek a supply outside of himself. The believing eye is then directed to Christ, who is “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” ( Jeremiah 23:6).
Like the previous ones, this fourth Beatitude describes a twofold experience. It obviously refers to the initial hungering and thirsting that occurs before a sinner turns to Christ by faith. But it also refers to the continual longing that is perpetuated in the heart of every saved sinner until his dying day. Repeated exercises of this grace are felt at varying intervals.
The one who longed to be saved by Christ, now yearns to be made like Him. Looked at in its widest aspect, this hungering and thirsting refers to a panting of the renewed heart after God ( Psalm 42:1), a yearning for a closer walk with Him, and a longing for more perfect conformity to the image of His Son. It tells of those aspirations of the new nature for Divine blessing that alone can strengthen, sustain, and satisfy.
Our text presents such a paradox that it is evident that no carnal mind ever invented it. Can one who has been brought into vital union with Him who is the Bread of Life and in whom all fullness dwells be found still hungering and thirsting? Yes, such is the experience of the renewed heart. Mark carefully the tense of the verb: it is not “Blessed are they which have hungered and thirsted,” but “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst.”
Do you, dear reader? Or are you content with your attainments and satisfied with your condition? Hungering and thirsting after righteousness has always been the experience of God’s true saints ( Philippians 3:8-14). “They shall be filled.” Like the first part of our text, this also has a double fulfillment, both initial and continuous. When God creates a hunger and a thirst in the soul, it is so that He may satisfy them. When the poor sinner is made to feel his need for Christ, it is to the end that he may be drawn to Christ and led to embrace Him as his only righteousness before a holy God.
He is delighted to confess Christ as his new-found righteousness and to glory in Him alone ( 1 Corinthians 1:30,31). Such a one, whom God now calls a “saint” ( 1 Corinthians 1:2; 2 Corinthians 1:1; Ephesians 1:1; Philippians 1:1), is to experience an ongoing filling: not with wine, wherein is excess, but with the Spirit ( Ephesians 5:18).
He is to be filled with the peace of God that passeth all understanding ( Philippians 4:7). We who are trusting in the righteousness of Christ shall one day be filled with Divine blessing without any admixture of sorrow; we shall be filled with praise and thanksgiving to Him who wrought every work of love and obedience in us ( Philippians 2:12,13) as the visible fruit of His saving work in and for us. In this world, “He hath filled the hungry with good things” ( Luke 1:53) such as this world can neither give to nor withhold from those who “seek the Lord ( Psalm 34:10). He bestows such goodness and mercy upon us, who are the sheep of His pasture, that our cups run over ( Psalm 23:5,6). Yet all that we presently enjoy is but a mere foretaste of all that our “God hath prepared for them that love Him” ( 1 Corinthians 2:9). In the eternal state, we will be filled with perfect holiness, for “we shall be like Him” ( 1 John 3:2). Then we shall be done with sin forever. Then we shall “hunger no more, neither thirst any more.
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