1 Feb 2024
We can only rightly understand and interpret the Beatitudes when we relate them to their Old Testament origins, and recognise their fulfilment in Christ and his kingly rule. For eg. in Isaiah 66:2, we read: “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.” Another way of saying this is to say that the kingdom of God is made up of those who know that they have abundantly nothing to offer to God. This is what it means to be poor in spirit in the first Beatitude shared previously. Hence, because we cannot pay for our sin, God sent His Son to die for our sin, to be our substitute and to pay the penalty of sin, to free us from the guilt of sin, and to break the power of sin.
If we truly appreciate this, then we would realise that no truth is more important to understand than the doctrine of the substitutionary atonement. Those who do not uphold this doctrine are in fact saying they do not need God to pay for their sin and to be their substitute – this implies that we are capable of contributing to paying the penalty for our own sin; this smacks of confidence in the self, and it also implies that our ‘works’ have something to do with salvation, contradicting Ephesians 2:8-9 which make it clear that works have nothing to do with our salvation, otherwise we can boast.
The second Beatitude:
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matt. 5:4)
Those who mourn for their sins are the very ones whom God comforts. Entry to the kingdom is by mourning, by grieving that we fall so far short of what God expects of us. When we are on our knees weeping about our sin, that is when we are blessed, that is when God comforts us, that is when we know His strength coming alongside to help. It is the Holy Spirit who convicts us of our sin.
For the follower of Jesus, mourning begins as the sorrow of repentance over the loss of one’s innocence, righteousness, and self-respect. The biblical concept of mourning does not include self-pity. Mourning is also the Christlike response to all arenas of life where sin holds power and results in judgment and death, just as Jesus wept over Jerusalem, sorrowful over their sin and rebellious spirit. Sorrow for the right reason is a godly virtue. The one who mourns sees himself as God sees him/her, and knows that he/she is totally bankrupt spiritually and only can cry out to God for mercy and grace. Such a one is unlikely to grumble, complain at God regarding his/her circumstanaces for he/she knows fully well that there is no merit or right to be claimed, but only the avenue of praying for God’s forgiveness and mercy to be bestowed.