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In order to have a good nation or kingdom, there must be good people. A proper country needs proper people. Thus, in the constitution of the heavenly kingdom, the Lord Jesus firstly reveals the kind of people who live in the kingdom of the heavens.
The nine blessings in Matt. 5:3-12 are all related to the nature of the kingdom people. The kind of people we are depends upon our nature. Every aspect of these nine blessings deals mainly with our inward being, not with outward material things. Along with our inward being, these verses also deal somewhat with the outward expression. Take the example of righteousness. If you read these verses carefully, you will see that righteousness here is not merely a matter of outward behavior. Rather, it is the outflow of our inner being, the expression of what we are within. Thus, the first section of the constitution (Matt. 5:1-12) deals with the inward being of the kingdom people.
In considering the nature of the kingdom people as revealed in these verses, we need to remember nine crucial words, one for each of the nine blessings: poor in spirit, mourning, meek, hungry and thirsty for righteousness, merciful, pure, peaceful, persecuted, and reproached. These words reveal what kind of people the kingdom people should be. They should always be poor in spirit, mournful over the present situation, meek in facing opposition, righteous toward themselves, merciful toward others, pure toward God, peaceful toward all men, persecuted for righteousness, and reproached for the sake of Christ. The totality of these nine words is the nature of the kingdom people.
The sequence of these verses is very significant. Firstly we must be poor in spirit, and then we can mourn. If we are not poor in our spirit, we do not have the capacity for the King to come in to establish His kingdom within our being. If we do not have the heavenly kingdom established within us, we cannot realize how negative and pitiful the whole world is. However, when the Lord Jesus is able to set up His kingdom within us and when the full capacity of our whole being, even the depths of our being, our spirit, is available to Him, we shall realize that the earth is dark, corrupt, and filled with sin. Spontaneously we shall mourn for this sad situation. For this reason, the Lord Jesus did not speak first of mourning and then of being poor in spirit. He put the matter of being poor in our spirit first. Only when we are poor in spirit can we mourn.
If we are poor in spirit and mourn for the pitiful situation of others, spontaneously we shall be meek. Even if your mother-in-law is in a pitiful condition, do not tell her so. Even the condition of your dear wife may not be very positive in the eyes of the Lord. If her heart and her interests are not for the Lord, and she does not care for the Lord’s kingdom, her situation is pitiful. You have the Lord Jesus with the heavenly kingdom in your spirit, but what about your wife? You may be in the highest heaven, but she may be in the lowest hell. Furthermore, consider your children. You may love the Lord to the uttermost, but they may not love Him at all. Therefore, you must mourn for your mother-in-law, your wife, and your children. You must also mourn for your relatives, your colleagues, and your neighbors. Where is one who is truly for the Lord? Look at the deplorable condition of the world today, including that of Christianity. The merchants care only for money, the students care only for their education, and the working people care only for promotions and positions. When we are poor in spirit, we shall surely mourn for the whole situation. We shall mourn for our environment and for the people around us.
Because we mourn for others, we would never fight against them. Instead of fighting them, spontaneously we shall be meek toward them. If you are not yet meek with your wife, it reveals that you have not been possessed by the kingdom of the heavens. This indicates that other things are still occupying you. If you have been fully occupied within by the heavenly kingdom, you will mourn for your wife and be meek with her. You will be meek toward every pitiful person. If you are a student, you will be meek toward your teachers and classmates. You will be meek toward others because you have a deep feeling within about their pitiful situation. Because you have been praying for them in the way of mourning, whenever you contact them, you will be meek.
Let me say a further word about meekness. The New Testament tells us that we do not fight against flesh and blood, but against the Devil, against the enemy of God. We must fight against the Devil, God’s enemy, day and night. However, we are not to fight against people, not even against those who oppose us. Toward all men, including the adversaries and opposers, we must be meek. Although we fight Satan and the principalities in the air, we do not fight people. Instead, we love them all. Young people, do not go to the campuses to fight with the students. Never say, “We shall defeat the students and take the earth!” Do not go to the campuses to fight — go there to be meek. We need to be so meek that, even if a persecutor hits us on the right cheek, we would turn to him the left cheek. To be meek means not to resist or to fight back. However, as we turn our left cheek to the persecutor, we should pray, “Lord, bind the powers of darkness!” While we are being meek toward other people, we must fight against the powers of darkness. The enemy is not the people; it is Satan and his angels, the evil powers in the air.
As we are being meek toward others, we must hunger and thirst for righteousness. We ourselves must be right with everyone. We must be right with our parents, our husband or wife, our children, our in-laws, our relatives, and our neighbors. The people of the heavenly kingdom are righteous in this way. Do not think that, if we are mournful and meek, we can afford to be loose. No, we must hunger and thirst for the highest righteousness.
Although we must be strict with ourselves in righteousness, we must learn to be merciful to others and not to place demands on them. It is wrong for any Christian to place demands on others. If you are truly strict with yourself, then you will know how to be merciful to others. But do not try to be merciful to others without first being righteous with yourself. Every sloppy person is merciful to others because he has already been merciful to himself. If he sleeps late every morning, he will be very merciful to others who sleep late. This kind of mercy is not mercy at all; it is absolutely wrong. No one who is sloppy knows how to be merciful to others. Only a strict person, a righteous person, knows how to be merciful. If you would be merciful to others according to the fifth blessing, you must first be righteous toward yourself according to the fourth blessing.
We must be righteous and strict with ourselves, never making excuses for ourselves. But when others offend us, thereby exposing their shortage, we must be merciful toward them. All those who are self-righteous condemn others and never let them go. The word spoken by the Lord on the mount is completely different from this. To ourselves, we must be righteous and strict, serious and sober. But toward others we must be merciful. In Himself God is righteous. However, if He were righteous to the uttermost in dealing with us, we would all be killed. Although God is righteous in relation to Himself, He is full of mercy in dealing with us. As fallen sinners, we surely need God’s mercy. We also must learn to be righteous with ourselves, and merciful toward others. This matter of being righteous toward ourselves and merciful toward others is not firstly a matter of outward behavior; it is firstly a matter of our inward attitude, of our inward being.
As a brother taking the lead, either as an elder in the church or as a brother in the brothers’ house, you may find it difficult to be strict with yourself and yet be merciful toward others. Suppose everyone is supposed to be home by a certain time. To come home later than that time is not righteous. Likewise, it is not right to inconvenience others. However, when some young people come home, they like to throw their shoes anywhere they please. I knew of one co-worker, a preacher and teacher of the Bible, who used to throw his socks without any concern for where they landed around the room. One time this brother and I were guests in a certain home. The hostess, quite concerned, spoke to me about this brother’s sloppiness. What a shame that was to me! Some of the brothers living in the brothers’ houses may act the same way.
Other brothers may be unhappy about being required to wash dishes; therefore, they may not clean them thoroughly. This is not righteous. It is never righteous to take advantage of others, to invade their rights. Not doing an adequate job in washing dishes is taking advantage of others. If you are such a one, you are not a righteous person. If you are a leader in the brothers’ house, you must be strict with yourself about the time, about excessive talking, about noise, about washing dishes, and about many other things. Do not say this is too much. It may seem too much to you, but it is not too much to Christ who lives within you. In everything you do, you must be strict with yourself.
However, as one taking the lead in the brothers’ house or in any aspect of the church life, you must also be merciful. Sometimes a leader may warn a sloppy one about his dishwashing, saying, “This is your first warning about the way you wash the dishes. After two more warnings, you will have to move out.” Remember the word of the Lord Jesus about how many times you must forgive your brother (18:21-22). Even if a certain brother does not clean the dishes thoroughly after you have spoken to him a number of times, you must still be merciful to him. Do not drive away even such a sloppy and pitiful brother. Instead, be merciful to him. This does not mean that you go to the opposite extreme and say, “I have learned that I must be merciful toward this brother. Therefore, from now on, I will never talk to him about the way he does the dishes. Let him do the dishes any way he wants. We’ll just have to tolerate it in order to keep him.” This attitude is not right either. You need to take care of such a sloppy brother day after day. Let him have a turn at washing the dishes. But each time he does so, you must be patient and merciful toward him.
It is easy for us to be either strict or sloppy. But we must learn to be strict on the one hand and merciful on the other. If we give others a strict dealing, we must immediately be merciful toward them. This is an important lesson for elders to learn. The kingdom people are both righteous and merciful. When you are righteous, you must be absolutely righteous; and when you are merciful, you must be very merciful. Although righteousness and mercy are two opposite poles, they must meet in your experience. Your righteousness must come together with your mercy.
According to the sequence of the blessings in Matthew 5, being pure in heart comes after the showing of mercy to others. This also corresponds to our experience. If you are not righteous with yourself and merciful to others, you will find it difficult to be pure in heart toward God. In order to be pure in heart toward God, you must be strict in dealing with yourself and merciful in dealing with others. As far as logic is concerned, there seems to be no reason for this. But our practical experience proves that it is so. If you are not right with yourself and merciful with others, you will never be pure with God. I believe that at least some of those among us in the churches have the experience of what I am speaking about here. Throughout the years, we have learned the lesson of being strict with ourselves and of not making excuses for ourselves. But we have also learned to be merciful to others, especially to those who are weaker. As a result, our heart is pure in seeking God. When we are righteous with ourselves and merciful with others, we see God. But when we are loose with ourselves and condemn others, our eyes are absolutely blind, and we cannot see God. If you excuse yourself, yet make demands of others, your heart is not pure. A pure heart toward God comes only from strict dealings with yourself and merciful dealings with others.
Even in the churches, a number of saints always excuse themselves and place demands on others. For example, they may excuse their sleeping late in the morning by saying that last night they received a long distance call. But if they hear that a certain brother did not come to morning watch, they would say, “Why didn’t he come? As a leader in the brothers’ house, he should rise up early in the morning.” The eyes of such a person are blind, indicating that his heart is not pure. We must be strict toward ourselves and merciful toward others. If others are loose, idle, or sloppy, we may have to warn them in a proper way. Nevertheless, we must still be merciful toward them. No matter how strict we may need to be at times in dealing with others, mercy must still be shown to them. If we are strict with ourselves and merciful to others, we shall have a pure heart, a heart single toward God. The reward of having a pure heart is seeing God. I can assure you that if you will practice being strict with yourself and merciful with others, you will see God.
You will also be a peaceful person. Those who are strict with themselves, merciful to others, and pure toward God are peacemakers. They do not like to offend, hurt, or damage anyone. Rather, they like to make peace with everyone. To be a peacemaker does not mean to be political. To be political is falsehood and hypocrisy. We must be righteously square, not politically round. Remember, the New Jerusalem is square, not round. We Christians must be like this. Although we are righteously square, we are still merciful toward others. This enables us to be pure toward God and to see Him. If we are such a person, spontaneously we shall be peacemakers. Instead of fighting with others and hurting them, we shall always maintain peace with those with whom we are involved. This is what it means to be a peacemaker.
Those who are peacemakers will be called sons of God. This means that those around us will say, “These people are not only the sons of men, but the sons of God.” All the sons of men fight against one another, but the sons of God, like their heavenly Father, are peaceful and always make peace with others. Romans 12:18 says, “If possible, as far as it depends on you, living in peace with all men.” However, this keeping of peace should not be merely an outward behavior. That is politics. Our peace must issue out of our nature. We have a nature that makes us strict with ourselves, merciful with others, and pure with God. Because we have this nature, we spontaneously keep the peace with others. This is not political peacemaking; it is the spontaneous issue of our nature. This will cause others to say, “These are truly the sons of God.”
If we have a nature corresponding to what is revealed in these verses, some in society will persecute us. This persecution will be for two reasons: for righteousness and for the sake of Christ. The eighth blessing concerns the persecution for righteousness (v. 10), and the ninth, the persecution for Christ (vv. 11-12). Why would others persecute us for righteousness and for Christ? Simply because we are poor in spirit, concerned for the negative situation of today’s world and mourning about it, meek toward attackers and opposers, righteous with ourselves, merciful toward others, pure with God, and making peace with all. Therefore, the evil society will not agree with us. Because we desire to be righteous, they will persecute us for the sake of righteousness. Because we want to be truthfully and honestly right, they will persecute us.
If we suffer persecution for the sake of righteousness, ours is the kingdom of the heavens. Suffering for the sake of righteousness is a condition for participation in the kingdom of the heavens. If we do not remain in righteousness, we are outside the kingdom. But if we stay in righteousness, we are in the kingdom because the kingdom is absolutely a matter of righteousness. In the kingdom there is nothing wrong, unjust, or dark; everything is righteous and light. This is the nature of the kingdom. When we are poor in spirit, the kingdom of the heavens comes into us. But when we stay in righteousness, the kingdom of the heavens remains in us. In both cases, ours is the kingdom of the heavens. If we would receive the kingdom of the heavens, we must be poor in our spirit, and if we would have the kingdom of the heavens remain in us, we must stay in righteousness. But if you would stay in righteousness, be prepared to confront persecution. You will be persecuted for the sake of righteousness.
The entire world, whether it is the political, religious, educational, commercial, or industrial world, is against Christ. Therefore, if you live by Christ, for Christ, and with Christ, you will surely be reproached and evil spoken of. People will circulate many rumors about you. You may work in the educational sphere, but sometimes you may refuse to cooperate with certain things that take place there, preferring to follow the way of Christ. Some may be in the economic field or in the commercial realm. But while they work in these realms, they live by Christ and for Christ and move with Christ. The others in your field will rise up and persecute you, speaking lies and falsehoods concerning you. Nevertheless, you must suffer this for the sake of Christ.
Each of the nine blessings has a reward. The reward of the first is the kingdom of the heavens; of the second, comfort; of the third, the earth; of the fourth, satisfaction; of the fifth, mercy; of the sixth, seeing God; of the seventh, being called the sons of God; of the eighth, the kingdom of the heavens; and of the ninth, Christ. If we have Christ, we have the kingdom of the heavens. But if we do not have Him, we do not have the kingdom of the heavens. Thus, the real blessing is Christ with His kingdom. In order to share this blessing, we need to be poor in spirit, mournful over the negative situation, meek in facing opposition, righteous with ourselves, merciful to others, pure in heart toward God, making peace with all, suffering persecution for righteousness, and suffering reproach for Christ. This is the nature of the kingdom people. Eventually, the kingdom people are the very reality of the kingdom. This is the kingdom, which is the church life today. The church today is the reality of the kingdom.
