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The kingdom of the heavens is absolutely related to our spirit. The first blessing in chapter five is a blessing in our spirit: “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matt. 5:3). Thus, the first aspect of the kingdom of the heavens covered in this chapter is related to our human spirit.
There are some very poor translations of verse 3, such as, “Happy are the humble minded,” and “Blessed are the humble in heart.” Most Christians do not understand what the Lord Jesus was talking about when He spoke of being poor in spirit. Furthermore, they do not know that the kingdom of the heavens is altogether a matter in our spirit. If we do not know our spirit, we are through with the kingdom of the heavens because the kingdom of the heavens is related to our spirit.
As the Lord Jesus was speaking there on the mountain, He knew the actual situation of His audience, an audience composed of Galileans. Those Galileans were filled with the traditional concepts of religion. Even the immoral Samaritan woman in John chapter four had a number of religious concepts. Her conversation with the Lord Jesus exposed this fact. If even such a woman of low class was filled with religious concepts, certainly the Galilean fishermen were filled also. Three times a year they went up to Jerusalem for the feasts and stayed each time for at least a week. This one fact shows you that the Galilean fishermen were not empty vessels. During the time the Lord Jesus was on earth, all the people, whether they were Jews or Romans or Greeks, were filled up. The Jews were filled with their traditional religious concepts, with their scriptural knowledge, and with the teachings of the law. They knew all about the holy city, the holy temple, and the sacred system of priestly service. They knew about the altar, the sacrifices, the festivals, the ordinances, and the regulations, all of which they considered outward blessings. There is no need to mention the Greeks and the Romans, for even the Jews that stood in front of the Lord Jesus were filled with their traditional concepts.
The Lord Jesus came as the new King to start a new dispensation. With the coming of the new King, God began a new economy. God’s new dispensation is involved with a wonderful Person. Speaking figuratively, this new economy is simply this Person. Do not consider the kingdom of the heavens as something apart from Christ. No, it is Christ Himself. Without the King, we could not have the kingdom. We cannot have the kingdom of the heavens without Christ. When the Pharisees asked the Lord Jesus when the kingdom of God would come, He replied, “Behold, the kingdom of God is among you” (Luke 17:21). The Lord’s word to the Pharisees indicated that He Himself was the kingdom. Where Jesus is, there the kingdom is also. The kingdom is simply the Person of the King. Therefore, when we have the King, we also have the kingdom.
When Peter, Andrew, James, and John went up to Jerusalem to attend the feasts, John the Baptist was ministering in the wilderness outside Jerusalem. No doubt these four were attracted to him. Eventually, they met the Lord Jesus and were saved there by the riverside of the Jordan. The Lord Jesus was baptized in the Jordan, as were these four disciples, and He was anointed there. Following the anointing of the Lord Jesus, there was a period of forty days when He was tested. Those forty days were also a test to these four newly saved disciples. The Lord Jesus passed the test, but the disciples failed it, forgetting their experience of salvation by the riverside of Jordan and returning to the Sea of Galilee to make a living. Two carried on the work of fishing, and two the work of mending the nets. The fact that they returned to the Sea of Galilee to fish and to mend the nets proves that they had been defeated. Although they had been saved, they returned to their old situation. Hence, they were failures.
The new King was led into the wilderness where He gained the victory over the enemy. After winning the battle against Satan, the new King came to the Sea of Galilee, much to the surprise of Peter, Andrew, James, and John. There by the Sea of Galilee the Lord Jesus contacted them the second time. As we saw in message twelve, the first time these four disciples were brought to the Lord, they saw Him as the Lamb of God. But the second time, the Lord paid them a gracious visitation as the great light. The Bible is very economical in its description of the calling of these four disciples. Peter and Andrew were fishing, and James and John were mending their nets. Suddenly, the One whom they had met more than forty days before appeared as a great light shining upon them. They realized that this was the Lamb of God, and they were attracted to Him. However, this time the Lamb of God was the great light shining upon them. After shining upon them, the new King said, “Follow Me,” and these four disciples followed Him. Eventually, these four influenced others to follow the Lord Jesus, and crowds were drawn to Him.
When the Lord Jesus went up to the top of the mountain, His disciples came to Him to be the inner circle, the direct audience, for the decree of the new King. The first thing He said was, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” This word was the continuation of the Lord’s preaching in 4:17, where He had said, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.” In His preaching the Lord dealt with the mind, the thoughts. He seemed to be saying, “You must repent. You must have a change in your thinking, in your mentality. Your mind needs to be turned.” Undoubtedly Peter, Andrew, James, and John all had a genuine turn in their understanding. By the time they were in the inner circle to be the direct audience for the decree of the new King, there was no problem concerning their mind. Their thinking had already undergone a change.
Turning our mind provides a gateway for us to enter into the kingdom and for the kingdom to enter into us. The mind is neither the receiver nor the inner chamber; it is the gateway. The receiver, the inner chamber, is our spirit. Thus, our mind is the gateway, and our spirit is the inner chamber. We must put the Lord’s word in 4:17, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near,” with His word in 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.” The mind that has turned is the gateway through which the kingdom of the heavens comes into us. When the kingdom comes in, it is implanted in our spirit. It enters through the gateway of our mind and it arrives at our spirit. It is our spirit, not our mind, that receives the kingdom and retains it. Therefore, our spirit is the receiver and container of the kingdom of the heavens.
In their preaching, those evangelists who know the secret of the gospel firstly deal with people’s mind. Then they proceed to deal with their spirit. The preaching of the gospel must deal with people’s mind, with their way of thinking. This is to cause them to repent, to have a turn in their thinking and way of life. As soon as someone has repented, the proper preacher of the gospel will ask him to pray and to call on the name of the Lord. This is not the dealing with the mind, but the dealing with the spirit. After a person exercises his spirit to pray and to call on the name of the Lord, the Lord will immediately come into his spirit, passing through the gateway of the mind and arriving at his spirit.
The very Lord Jesus, who has entered our spirit through our mind, is the king. The kingdom is with Him. When the King enters someone’s spirit, this means that the kingdom also enters into his spirit. From that time onward, both the King and the kingdom remain in his spirit. In the teaching of today’s degraded Christianity, very few point out that the Christ who enters into our spirit is the very King with the kingdom. When He comes into your spirit, the kingdom arrives with Him. Now in our spirit not only do we have the Savior; we also have the King with the kingdom.
Throughout the years, we have emphasized the importance of 2 Timothy 4:22: “The Lord be with your spirit.” We have always applied this to the matter of life. However, now we must also see that whenever we say that the Lord Jesus is with our spirit, it means that the kingdom is with our spirit. This Lord Jesus is not only the Savior and the life, but also the King with the kingdom. Today we may declare, “In my spirit I have the Savior, the life, the King, and the kingdom!” When we repented and believed in the Lord Jesus as the Savior, the life, and the King with the kingdom, He entered our spirit and was implanted there. Therefore, in our spirit we now have the Savior, the life, and the King with the kingdom. We received such a One into us by being repentant in our mind and poor in spirit.
When I was walking in my fallen condition far away from God, I was filled with philosophy and religion. Not only was I walking in the wrong direction, but I was also filled with worthless concepts and thoughts. When I heard the preaching of the gospel, I had a turn in my mind; my mind was changed. Nevertheless, I was still full of many philosophical and religious concepts. Thus, I not only needed to have a turn in my mind, but also to become poor in spirit. To be poor in our spirit is to empty our spirit. It is to open up from the depths of our being and to be unloaded of all other things so that the Lord Jesus may be able to enter our spirit. When He came into me, He came as the King with the kingdom. Therefore, if you are poor in spirit, yours is the kingdom of the heavens. Although you may have made an about-face in your life and you may now be standing face to face with the Lord, what about your spirit? Is your spirit open to Him, or is it filled with other things? Are you still filled with philosophical and religious concepts? The Greeks may be filled with the philosophy of Plato, the Chinese with the teachings of Confucius, and the Jews with the teachings of Moses. For the King with the kingdom to come into you, you must be poor in your spirit. This means that you must open up from the depths of your being and cast out all the concepts, opinions, and thoughts that have been filling you. When you have emptied your spirit, the King with the kingdom will come into you. Then yours is the kingdom of the heavens.
Please pay careful attention to the tense of the predicate in verse 3. It is not future tense, but present tense. This verse does not say, “Theirs will be the kingdom of the heavens”; it says, “Theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.” When you open from the depths of your being, that is, from your spirit, and unload yourself and empty your spirit, the King as the life-giving Spirit will enter in through the gateway of your repentant mind and come into your spirit to be your King with the kingdom. From then on, the kingdom is within you, and the kingdom of the heavens is yours. This is salvation according to the New Testament.
However, today’s degraded Christianity has missed this. When you received the Lord Jesus, did you realize that a kind of ruling had come into you? This ruling is the reigning of the kingdom. We have not only the Savior and the life, but also the King. This King exercises His authority from within our spirit. Even if you were just saved today, you already have this kingdom within you. Although I was saved more than fifty years ago, I do not have anything more than someone who has just been saved. The One within us is our Savior, our life, and our King with the kingdom. How rich and how high He is! Because we have received Him into our spirit, ours is the kingdom of the heavens. The kingdom is ours, and the kingdom is in our spirit.
Now we should understand the meaning of verse 3: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.” We need to change the pronoun and say, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for ours is the kingdom of the heavens.” Once we understand the meaning of this verse, we see what a mistake it is to teach that the kingdom has been suspended until the millennium. The word, “is” in this verse proves that the kingdom of the heavens is ours right now. How blessed we are! How blessed it is to be poor in spirit! If we are poor in spirit, ours is the kingdom of the heavens. If you take this word into you, you will never be the same. This one verse is better than a hundred messages. Hallelujah, ours is the kingdom of the heavens! We are truly blessed and happy. Blessed and happy are the poor in spirit, for ours is the kingdom of the heavens.
Although we should be very happy to hear that we are in the kingdom of the heavens today, in the very next verse the Lord Jesus told us to mourn. Verse 4 says, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” It does not seem logical to say that those who mourn are blessed and happy. However, if we pray for a certain period of time, with a spirit filled with the King and the kingdom, we shall begin to mourn over the negative situation of today. The entire situation of the world is negative in relation to God’s economy. Satan, sin, self, darkness, and worldliness predominate among all people on earth. God’s glory is insulted, Christ is rejected, the Holy Spirit is frustrated, the church is desolated, self is corrupted, and the whole world is evil. Hence, God wants us to mourn over such a situation. Because the kingdom is in us, we are subdued, controlled, and ruled by the indwelling King. If, while we are under this rule, we look at the environment and the situation of today’s world, we shall sigh and mourn.
This mourning, however, is a blessing, for the Lord said that those who mourn “shall be comforted.” If we mourn according to God and His economy, we shall be comforted by being rewarded with the kingdom of the heavens. We shall see God’s heavenly ruling over all the negative situation. Many times I have had the experience of mourning and being comforted. Do not be disappointed. We must mourn, yet we are filled with hope. The King is coming, the enemy will be defeated, and the earth will be regained by Christ. Sooner or later, we shall be comforted. Is it not a comfort to see so many in the Lord’s recovery seeking the Lord and His kingdom? What a comfort this is to me! If you have never experienced mourning in your spirit, then you cannot realize how sweet and comforting it is to see so many who care only for the Lord’s kingdom. For this reason, we love all the dear saints in the Lord’s recovery. All the churches with all the seeking saints are a real comfort to every mourning spirit.
The sequence in these verses is very significant. Firstly we are poor in spirit to receive the King with the kingdom and to contain Him. Then we mourn over the pitiful situation and are comforted. Following this, we have a word about the meek. Verse 5 says, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” Some translators have said that the Greek word rendered “earth” should be “land.” But whether we translate this as earth or land, it refers to the coming subdued world. Today the earth is a worldly kingdom under the rule of Satan. But the day is coming when the Lord, the King, will regain this world. Revelation 11:15 says, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.” The world spoken of in Revelation 11:15 is the earth in verse 5.
In Matthew 5:5 the Lord says that the meek will inherit the earth. Those who are poor in spirit in verse 3 and who mourn in verse 4 are now the meek in verse 5. Many Christians do not understand what it means to be meek. It does not mean simply to be gentle, humble, and submissive. To be meek means not to resist the world’s opposition, but to suffer it willingly. To be meek means not to fight or to resist. If we are meek, willing to suffer the world’s opposition in this age, we shall inherit the earth in the coming age, as revealed in Hebrews 2:5-8 and Luke 19:17, 19.
Today, those who fight are those who gain the land. If you do not fight, you will not receive any territory. This is the reason there are so many wars. Nations wage war with one another to gain more territory for themselves. The human way is to obtain the land by fighting for it, but the way of the kingdom of the heavens is to gain it by being meek. There is no need to fight, but there is the need to be meek. Some of the young people have been shouting slogans about taking the earth. The way to take the earth is not by slogans, shouting, or fighting. The way is through meekness. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Are you a fighting one or a meek one? If you would inherit the earth, you must be meek. When the Lord Jesus comes back, He will regain the earth. However, when He was arrested, tried, and crucified at Golgotha, He was meek. As He was nailed to the cross, He did not resist. In every way He was meek, meek to the very end. Eventually, the earth will be gained not by the fighting ones, but by the meek ones. Several weeks ago an opposer told one of our brothers, “We are going to stop you!” Time will tell who will be stopped. The fighting ones will be stopped, but the meek ones will not be stopped. Rather, they will inherit the earth. Satan is always fighting, but the Lord Jesus never fights. Instead, He is meek. In this we see that the economy of God is opposite to the economy of man. If you want to gain the earth, you should be meek. If you have not received any territory, this may indicate that you are not yet meek enough. Young people, you must be meek on the campuses. I realize that this is a heavenly language. But the Lord Jesus did not say, “Blessed are those who fight, for they shall gain the earth. The fighters shall take the earth!” Do not say, “Let’s take the earth by fighting for it.” No, you must say instead, “Let’s take the earth by being meek.” You may think that meekness is related to material things. However, if you consider the matter carefully, you will see that meekness is not related to outward material things. Rather, it is related to something inward, to what we are in our very being.
In verse 6 the Lord said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Righteousness here is to be right in our behavior. This righteousness is related to what we are inwardly. This is indicated by the fact that we are told to hunger and thirst for righteousness so that we might be satisfied.
In order to understand verse 6 we must also consider verse 20. Verse 20 says, “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall by no means enter into the kingdom of the heavens.” In verses 3 and 20 we see two aspects of the kingdom of the heavens. In verse 3 the verb is present tense, and in verse 20 it is future tense. On the one hand, the kingdom of the heavens is ours; on the other hand, we shall enter into the kingdom of the heavens. If we are poor in our spirit, the reality of the kingdom of the heavens is ours today. But we still need to enter into the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens. Remember the two aspects of the kingdom of the heavens: the reality in the church today and the manifestation in the upper part of the millennium in the future. If we are truly poor in our spirit, seeking after Christ, the reality of the kingdom of the heavens is ours. Then at the time of the millennium we shall enter into the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens. However, in order to enter into the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens we need the surpassing righteousness, the righteousness that surpasses that of the scribes and the Pharisees. We need to hunger and thirst for this righteousness, to seek after such righteousness, that we may enter into the kingdom of the heavens (vv. 6, 10, 20). If we hunger and thirst for righteousness, God will grant us to be satisfied with the very righteousness we seek. If we seek this surpassing righteousness, it will be given to us.
Righteousness is to be right not only with God, but also with man. The righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees was rather low because it was the righteousness according to the law. Our righteousness must not be according to the old law, but according to the new law. As we shall see, the new law is much higher than the old. The old law says, “You shall not murder.” But the new law says, “Everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to the judgment” (v. 22). By this one example we see that our righteousness must be on a higher level than the righteousness of the Pharisees. We must take care not only of not murdering, but even of not being angry with our brother. This righteousness is on the highest plane.
Our natural life is not able to attain this righteousness. This inward subjective righteousness must be Christ. Only Christ can fulfill the requirements of the new law. When I read Matthew 5 as a young man, I was disappointed and said, “I simply can’t make it. I’ll just have to quit,” But the more I have grown, the more I have come to realize that I can make it because I have a life within me that can do it. The King with His kingdom within me can make it. However, this King needs our cooperation. We cooperate by being hungry and thirsty. We cooperate by saying, “O Lord Jesus, I hunger and thirst after You. Lord, I want to be filled with You.” If you hunger and thirst in this way, you will be satisfied.
The righteousness in verse 6 is simply Christ. It is the surpassing righteousness, the righteousness on the highest plane, that can only be attained by Christ. Because He is the One who produces this highest righteousness, we must seek after Him. We need to pray, “Lord, make me hungry. Grant me an appetite for Yourself. Grant me the appetite to seek the surpassing righteousness.” If you seek righteousness in this way, you will be satisfied. You will receive what you have been seeking.
Verse 7 says, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” To be righteous is to give one what he deserves, whereas to be merciful is to give someone better than he deserves. For the kingdom of the heavens, we need to be not only righteous, but also merciful. To receive mercy is to get better than we deserve. If we are merciful to others, the Lord will grant us mercy (2 Tim. 1:16, 18), especially at His judgment seat (James 2:12-13).
To be righteous is to deal with yourself in a strict way. We must be righteous in dealing with ourselves. We should not give ourselves any excuse. Toward others, however, we must be merciful. If we are diligent to seek the surpassing righteousness, we shall eventually become merciful toward others. In our seeking we shall find that our natural man is weak and that we are prone to failure. If you do not realize the pitiful condition of your natural man, you will never have mercy on others. Instead of showing mercy to them, you will condemn them when they fail or fall. The reason you condemn them is that you do not know yourself. If you know yourself, whenever someone fails, you will say, “Lord, have mercy on me and on my brother. We all are weak vessels and cannot fulfill Your requirements. Lord, even though my brother has offended me, I would still be merciful toward him.” If you have never failed, you will never be merciful. If you are always successful in your pursuit of holiness and perfection, you will have no sympathy toward others when they fail. You will always condemn them. But if you know how weak you are and how many mistakes you have made, you will be merciful to others.
There is a promise for us in verse 7. The promise is that those who are merciful will receive mercy. If you judge your brother without mercy today, you will not receive any mercy at the judgment seat of Christ. Because you judge others unmercifully, Christ will judge you unmercifully. But if you have mercy on your brother, the Lord will have mercy on you at His judgment seat. Thus, the kingdom people are strict in dealing with themselves, but very merciful in dealing with others. Once again, this is not an outward matter, but a matter related to our inward being.
Verse 8 says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” To be righteous is to deal with ourselves, to be merciful is to deal with others, and to be pure in heart is to deal with God. Toward ourselves, we must be strict and allow no excuses. Toward others, we should be merciful, giving them more than they deserve. But toward God we must be pure in heart, seeking nothing besides Him. The reward for being pure in heart is to see God. God is our reward. No reward is greater than God Himself. We gain this reward by being strict, righteous, with ourselves, by being merciful toward others, and by being pure in heart toward God.
To be pure in heart is to be single in purpose, to have the single goal of accomplishing God’s will for God’s glory (1 Cor. 10:31). This is for the kingdom of the heavens. Our spirit is the organ to receive Christ (John 1:12; 3:6), whereas our heart is the ground where Christ as the seed of life grows (13:19). For the kingdom of the heavens we need to be poor in spirit, empty in our spirit, that we may receive Christ. We also need to be pure in heart, single in our heart, that Christ may grow in us without frustration. If we are pure in heart in seeking God, we shall see God. Seeing God is a reward to the pure in heart. This blessing is both for today and for the coming age.
Verse 9 says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” Satan, the rebellious one, is the instigator of all rebellion. For the kingdom of the heavens, under its heavenly ruling, we must be peacemakers with all men (Heb. 12:14).
In all of the first seven blessings we see that we should not be fighters or troublemakers; rather, we must be peacemakers, always making peace with others. If we are peacemakers, we shall be called the sons of God. The sons of the Devil make trouble, but the sons of God make peace. As the Son of God, the Lord Jesus made peace with God and man. Now, as the sons of God, we must follow Him to make peace. Then we shall be called the sons of God.
Our Father is the God of peace (Rom. 15:33; 16:20), who has a peaceful life with a peaceful nature. As those born of Him, if we would be the peacemakers, we must behave in His divine life, according to His divine nature. Thus, we shall express His life and nature, and we shall be called sons of God.
Verse 10 says, “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.” The whole world lies in the evil one (1 John 5:19) and is filled with unrighteousness. Every aspect of the world is unrighteous. If we hunger and thirst for righteousness, we shall be persecuted for the sake of righteousness. We need to pay a price for the righteousness we seek for the kingdom of the heavens. If we are righteous, we shall be condemned, opposed, and persecuted. Hence, we shall suffer persecution. Many saints who have done their best to be righteous have suffered persecution as a result. In their environment, business, or employment there were many unrighteous things. Because they desired to be righteous in that situation, they suffered persecution from others.
This verse says that those who are persecuted for righteousness are blessed, “for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.” If we seek righteousness at a cost, the kingdom of the heavens becomes ours: we are in its reality now, and we shall be rewarded with its manifestation in the coming age. We have pointed out that, according to verse 20, in order to be in the kingdom of the heavens, we need the surpassing righteousness, the righteousness on the highest plane. To enter the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens we need this kind of righteousness. Therefore, we need to hunger and thirst after it and to suffer persecution for it.
In verse 11 the new King said, “Blessed are you when they reproach and persecute you, and say every evil thing against you, lying, for My sake.” The persecution in verse 10 is for the sake of righteousness, because of our seeking for righteousness; whereas the persecution in verse 11 is directly for the sake of Christ, the new King, because of our following Him.
When we live a life for the kingdom of the heavens in its spiritual nature and according to its heavenly principles, we are reproached, persecuted, and evil spoken of, mostly by the religious people who hold onto their traditional religious concepts. The Jewish religionists did all these things to the Apostles in the early days of the kingdom of the heavens (Acts 5:41; 13:45, 50; 2 Cor. 6:8 Romans 3:8). This is also true today. If you are truly seeking Christ, many in the denominations will rise up against you. This is what we are suffering now. We are suffering reproach, persecution, and evil rumors circulated about us. Recently a reputable publishing firm published a book associating us with Hinduism. What an evil rumor! This reproach and persecution comes to us because we do not care for tradition, but for Christ and the pure word of the Bible.
In verse 12 the Lord Jesus speaks an encouraging word to those who are persecuted for His sake: “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in the heavens; for thus they persecuted the prophets before you.” This reward of the ninth blessing indicates that all the results of the foregoing eight blessings are also rewards. This reward is great and is in the heavens, a heavenly reward, not an earthly one.
