Introduction

For someone to say that the beatitudes are preached wrongly in our mother church is an understatement. The amount of confusion that surrounds the preaching of the beatitudes is exemplary of a greater issue in the ministers’ preaching of much of the sacred scriptures. Whereas the beatitudes ought to be blessed comfort for the people of God, the beatitudes become a series of virtues in scripture, which when one compares himself to them, he can be assured of his own salvation and blessedness. Some preach that the beatitudes are meant merely to encourage the church to pattern herself after a set of virtues, while others make the “doing” of these spiritual virtues the way in which the church experiences the blessing of God, so that the blessing becomes a mere possibility. The gospel of the beatitudes is altogether cast aside in favor of a doctrine of man and his experience.

Surely, the beatitudes have something to say about the believer’s experience. The beatitudes are not abstract statements of fact devoid of any practical significance. However, the beatitudes are also meant to teach us something about our salvation. In the beatitudes God is everything, and man is nothing. This must be determinative for a proper understanding of the beatitudes, as well as for any other passage in scripture. That God is everything and man is nothing is the essence of all pure religion, and it stands at the heart of God’s sovereignty in salvation. Therefore, when the text proclaims blessing upon the poor in spirit, we may not understand that as a mere possibility for the church to be blessed when she first does something or adheres to some spiritual virtue. Nowhere in the beatitudes in either the King James Version or in the original Greek is there the slightest hint of a potentiality or a conditional statement. Blessed are the poor in spirit—period. Blessed are the meek—period. There is absolute certainty of blessing upon those who are poor in spirit, the meek, those who mourn, and the others mentioned in the beatitudes.

Neither may the beatitudes be treated as individual statements lacking any logical connection between themselves. The citizens of the kingdom who are poor in spirit also mourn and are meek. The citizens of the kingdom hunger and thirst after righteousness. It is utterly impossible, then, for a citizen of the kingdom to possess one spiritual virtue and not another. All of these things are true of a citizen of the kingdom. And those who do not possess these spiritual virtues cannot be called citizens of the kingdom. It is that simple. Those whom God blesses he also makes poor in spirit, meek, and all the rest.

Last time we considered the first beatitude. In the first beatitude Jesus preached to his disciples the most basic principle of the citizens of the kingdom: they are poor in spirit. “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” That is striking. It is blessed, happy even, to be poor? And yet those were the words of the Lord Jesus on the mount. A carnally minded person would perhaps expect Jesus to say, “Blessed are the rich.” The carnally minded would wrap the blessing of God in a neat little package that takes the form of the earthly. Earthly riches and earthly prestige, honor, and glory are the blessedness of the carnally minded person. That all goes well for a man is esteemed greater riches than the treasures of the kingdom of heaven. However, the blessing of God is not in things. Instead, to be blessed is to be a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. And those who are the proper citizens of that kingdom and the objects of the blessing of that kingdom are the poor in spirit.

Not all are poor in spirit. Many are rich in spirit, supposing to themselves that they are something and have whereof to merit with the just and holy God. However, the poor in spirit have been made to stand before the very presence of God and to confess about themselves that they are nothing but debtors with an insurmountable debt that they cannot even begin to repay. The poor in spirit are blessed not because they worked for their blessedness, but they are blessed because for their sakes Christ became poor and suffered the penalty that was due to them for all their indebtedness to God. Those God has redeemed. It is those whom God blesses.

And now we read the words of the Lord Jesus: “Blessed are those who mourn.”

Blessed are those who mourn? Again we are faced with an almost unbelievable statement by the Lord that the world cannot receive. The world madly rushes from experience to experience, seeking all the thrills and pleasures of this life, supposing that an outwardly happy life is a blessed life. But notice that is not at all what the Lord says. Blessed are those who mourn. The citizens of the kingdom and thus the proper objects of the blessing of God are mourners. This is the reality concerning them.

This beatitude as such is not an encouragement for us to mourn. The beatitude is not a call to action. Many break the passage down that way. The gospel of the passage is not “Mourn; and in the way of mourning, you will be comforted.” This beatitude is not an encouragement for us to confess our sins before God, so that in the way of our mourning, we shall know and experience the blessedness of comfort. Neither does this beatitude establish the possibility of comfort through mourning. If there may be comfort only in the way of our mourning, then there never will be any certainty of comfort or blessing. Comfort will be a mere pipedream. However, that is not at all the meaning of the text.

Instead, the text is a pronouncement of blessing upon those who mourn. Unto them the Lord Jesus declares that they shall be comforted. This beatitude is a promise that is Jehovah God’s holy oath concerning those who mourn. It is as if God had said, “Let me be destroyed as God if I fail to perform that which I have promised, to bless all those who mourn.”

The Blessed Mourning

What, then, is this blessed mourning that we read about in the second beatitude? By the very fact that some mourners are blessed, the text implies that there is a certain mourning that is not blessed. The mourning that the passage speaks of is the exact opposite of its antithesis, which is the sorrow of the world that works death. The world may mourn over many things. The world may mourn over regrettable decisions, undesirable consequences, or unplanned catastrophes. The mourning of this beatitude is not the mourning of guilt, nor is it the mourning of despair. These forms of mourning all have their end in death. There is no blessing in these sorts of mourning, but there is only cursing. Rather, the blessed mourning of the passage is that which is deep and profoundly spiritual, involving the inward manner of the heart. The blessed mourning is not the sorrow of the world that works death, but it is that godly sorrow that works repentance.

The living reality of the man and woman whom God has made poor in spirit is that God makes them to sorrow over their sins. For Jesus does not speak to those who are already in the kingdom of heaven in its final state of perfection, but he speaks to those who yet dwell upon this earth. In this world there are pain and suffering, as they are the grave effects of the curse of God against sin. Sin has broken through this present world and makes life in this world a source of constant pain and struggle for the citizens of the kingdom of heaven. For the sin that plagues this present world is in their very natures, is always working in them, and is a continual source of grief of mind to them.

The sure sign of the man and woman who have been made poor in spirit is that they sorrow over their sins. A greater knowledge of one’s sin and the greatness of its offense necessarily produces within the heart a greater sorrow over sin. This is the truth concerning these mourners. There is a profound change of mind concerning sin that takes place. There is a turning from sin and a fleeing from sin. This mourning proceeds out of a heart that has been broken on account of sin.

What, then, is determinative for this blessed mourning? The blessing of God stands behind this blessed mourning as the source or origin of this mourning. The eternal will and good pleasure of God for these mourners is to bless them. Therefore, they mourn. For who in all the world truly mourns over sin? Indeed, if the question ever came to man whether he could sin freely without any consequences or whether he could mourn over sin, then man would always choose to sin. Man by nature always chooses sin because man by nature is the servant of sin and the enemy of God. Man by nature holds the truth that may be known of God under in unrighteousness and would rather perish in his sins than turn from his sins unto the Lord his God. For this reason the world does not mourn. Instead, the world celebrates sin. The world laughs at sin and parades about sin in a maniacal frenzy. The people of the world scoff at the very thought that they should sorrow over sin. By their lack of concern over sin, they would even imply that God approves of their sins or, at the very least, turns a blind eye to them. According to the judgment of God, all whom God has not eternally willed to bless shall perish in their maniacal laughter, so that they no longer laugh but mourn and weep.

However, the mourner is blessed in his mourning. The blessed mourner sees his sins as offenses to God. Since those sins are offenses to God, those sins are also offenses to the blessed mourner. He sees both his original sin and actual transgressions. The blessed mourner trembles and is wearied at the feeling of his infirmities, the pull of his natural disposition to commit sin, and the weight of the curse of God against sin in the world, as that world continues under the grips of the prince of the power of the air. The blessed mourner notices how easily he is tempted and how easily he falls into sin. The blessed mourner is a broken-hearted person. The evil that he wishes to avoid, he does; and the good that he wishes to perform, he does not accomplish, so that even the very best of his works become unrecognizable to him because they are covered in sin. In the night watches one can often find this blessed mourner exclaiming alongside the apostle, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:24).

The Cause of This Mourning

What, then, explains the mourning of these blessed mourners? We are not now discussing the occasion for their mourning or the reason for their mourning. For their mourning is occasioned by sin. On account of their indwelling sin and their actual thoughts, words, and deeds, they mourn, sometimes very grievously. However, sin is not the cause of their blessed mourning. While the cause is not so clearly stated in Matthew 5:4, we must understand the close connection between this verse and its preceding context. Those who are poor in spirit are such because the kingdom of God has reached down to them and caused them to know and confess the weight of their debts that they owe to God and their own absolute inability to repay those debts. Such is the effect of God’s gracious rule in the hearts of his people by his word and Spirit. It is therefore the most basic principle of those who are the citizens of that kingdom that they are poor in spirit.

Similarly, it is whenever the kingdom of heaven comes in all its power to those who are poor in spirit that they also mourn. Because the king of the kingdom of heaven reached down in grace unto them and laid hold upon them, they were also translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. This same gracious rule of God, whereby he caused them to stand before his presence and to confess their own nothingness also then causes them to sorrow over their sins.

There can be no explanation concerning the mourning of these blessed mourners other than that the kingdom of heaven has confronted them. Unless the kingdom of heaven reaches down and causes a man to mourn, he will perish in all his laughter and in his maniacal giggles over sin, by which man makes an open mockery of God. However, it is at this point that we must be very clear on what the relationship is between this blessed mourning and the mourner’s name and place in the kingdom. Establishing this relationship in the clearest possible way is necessary considering many who make man’s repentance a prerequisite for entrance into the kingdom of heaven. Not only is man’s repentance not a prerequisite or a condition that man must fulfill to enter the kingdom, but man’s repentance is also not the way unto the conscious enjoyment or experience of covenant fellowship with God in that kingdom.

Rather, this blessed mourning is a gift of the kingdom. Those who are members of the kingdom of heaven through faith in Jesus Christ have been made to partake of all the gifts and riches of that kingdom in Jesus Christ. How, then, can one know that the kingdom has come to a man or a woman? Simply stated, that man and woman to whom the kingdom of God has come mourn for their sins. That is really the first sign or proof that the kingdom has come and laid hold upon a person. For it is impossible that those who have been brought into that kingdom do not mourn. This blessed mourning is the powerful and efficacious work of God in Jesus Christ by the operation of the Holy Spirit.

Furthermore, this mourning is the life of the citizens of the kingdom of heaven. When the kingdom of heaven reaches down and confronts man in his sins, the mourning that takes place is not merely a one-time event. When the text mentions the blessedness of those who “mourn,” it is not referring to a single event but to ongoing activities of the citizens of the kingdom. The reality of indwelling sin, their ever-increasing debt, and their utter lack of any goodness in themselves is a constant source of sorrow for the citizens of the kingdom of heaven.

This life of mourning is not primarily outward, although there may be an outward expression of sorrow. Rather, this life is primarily inward. It is a profoundly spiritual life. Surely, there may have been a time in the life of the blessed mourner in which he or she can remember being first arrested by God and caused to mourn over his or her sins. There are certainly moments throughout the lives of the blessed mourners in which they wander in the way of sin for a time and are returned to the way of serious repentance. And their mourning is not paralyzing. Blessed mourners live as citizens of the kingdom. As citizens of the kingdom, they continue to mourn all their lives. From an outward point of view, these mourners appear just like everyone else. They are husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, children, teachers, and students. However, in all their lives they live out of the principle of broken-heartedness over their sins, a genuine turning from their sins, a sincere sorrow over their sins, and a profound change of mind concerning their sins.

The Blessed Comfort of the Blessed Mourner

Blessed be those who mourn. Sometimes it does not seem that way. Oftentimes we can become so consumed by our grief that we may foolishly wonder whether the Lord truly does bless those who mourn. However, it is with the word of this passage that Jesus dissuades all our sinful doubts and fears. The word of this text comes and calls us not to be faithless but believing. For God promises that those who mourn shall be blessed.

Over against this stands a sharp antithesis. Cursed shall be those who laugh at sin and maniacally mock God in their sins. While those maniacal giggles are still on their tongues, they are being cursed by God. There is no blessing for them but only cursing and bitterness, whereunto they were appointed. Now they laugh, but their end shall be weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth.

The blessedness of those who mourn is given in the words “for they shall be comforted.” The form that the blessing of God takes in the hearts and lives of those who mourn is that of comfort. Truly, the mourning itself is a blessing from God. However, the text gives us even more. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

Here in Matthew 5:4 we have clearly demonstrated the blessedness of those who mourn. They shall be comforted. The tense of the verb does not strictly relegate the blessedness of those who mourn to the future, even to the absolute future. Surely, in the absolute future when there shall be no more sin and no more death in the new and everlasting age, then all tears shall be wiped from their eyes. In the absolute future, then, this present, sin-cursed world shall be taken up into the new and everlasting kingdom of God in Jesus Christ. Our glory shall be fully manifested when the tabernacle of God shall be with men. Then shall we see God face to face in Jesus Christ and shall know even as we are known.

However, the meaning is more this: blessed are those who mourn; for according as they are certainly blessed, they certainly shall be comforted. There is an infallible connection between those who mourn and their being comforted. The blessedness of those mourners is that they shall be comforted. This comfort shall be theirs infallibly. We know and taste that comfort now in no small measure in the preaching of the gospel. While we yet are in this world and have yet to deal with the sinful lusts of our flesh, God uses means whereby he bestows such comfort upon us, who are aggrieved because of our sins.

What does it mean to be comforted? Literally, it means to call to the side of. How often do we not walk into church grieving and distressed over our sins? Having fought the battle of faith the whole week long, we come battered and bruised into the pews. Our eyes are weary with tearful anguish over our sinful thoughts, words, and deeds. And then—wonder of wonders—we are comforted. By the preaching of the gospel, God comes and calls us by his sovereign and efficacious voice. When God speaks, he calls into existence the things that are not as though they were, and he raises the dead. Whenever God calls unto sinful men and women whom he has willed to bless, he breaks through to their hard hearts, softening them from their impenitency, and creates in them true godly sorrow over their sins. When God calls them, he binds their wounds and gently heals the broken-hearted ones with the balm of Gilead: Jesus Christ.

What is the only comfort of these blessed mourners? Their comfort is that they with body and soul, both in life and in death, are not their own, but they belong unto their faithful savior, Jesus Christ. The comfort of the blessed mourners is in the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ, whereby Christ bore the penalty of all their sins on account of which they ought to have remained comfortless and wallowing in their sins and despair. The comfort of the blessed mourners is that, through every fiery trial and temptation in this vale of tears, the Lord Jesus preserves them by his strength and power, keeping them in communion with him, so that they are at no time separated from him. The comfort of the blessed mourners is that the Spirit, who is himself called the Comforter, witnesses internally to the truth of the gospel in their hearts, so that they are constantly assured of their salvation and their blessedness in Jesus Christ. This comfort is sure and steadfast unto those who mourn.