Jesus said, Blessed are those who mourn…

Today’s article is a look at the second beatitude from Jesus’ teaching in The Sermon On The Mount, found in Matthew 5:4, Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Remember, there are eight beatitudes. The first four focus on our relationship with God. The second four focus on our relationship with our fellow man. They are not a “to-do” list. They are a “to-be” list. The first beatitude is the foundation for the other seven.

Jesus began his sermon by making the startling announcement, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” The “poor in Spirit” are those who will be blessed and will be part of the Kingdom. Who are the poor in spirit? Jesus does not use the word here for financial poverty. The word Jesus uses has the idea of absolute and abject destitution. With the words, “poor in spirit,” He is describing a person that has absolutely nothing to offer spiritually and is totally dependent on God, and knows it. The poor in spirit cry out to God for help, they depend entirely on God’s grace to meet their needs, they have a humble and repentant spirit, they experience God’s deliverance, and they enjoy His totally underserved favor.

Jesus says that the truly blessed are the spiritually poor, because they will receive the kingdom of heaven. That’s verse 3. Verse 4 says, “Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.”

This second beatitude, mourning over our sin, naturally flows from the first, being poor in spirit. Mourning, in this context, is an act of repentance and sorrow over our sin and sinful condition. We see God for who he is and ourselves for who we truly are. We are heartbroken, filled with grief and sorrow. We mourn over our sin.

Jesus is not talking about grieving like mourning over the loss of a loved one. The mourning that Jesus speaks of is described in the book of James. This is from The Passion Translation, James 4:8-10, …

[8] Move your heart closer and closer to God, and he will come even closer to you. But make sure you cleanse your life, you sinners, and keep your heart pure and stop doubting. [9] Feel the pain of your sin, be sorrowful and weep! Let your joking around be turned into mourning and your joy into deep humiliation. [10] Be willing to be made low before the Lord and he will exalt you! You are crushed in your heart and soul over your sin and the price it required in the brutal death of God’s only Son.

This type of mourning requires a change of heart. Jesus’s first concern is not with changing our actions, but with changing our hearts. We need to change internally. It has been said that “the world tries to change a man from the outside in, but Jesus changes a man from the inside out.” The external changes will come only after God has changed us internally. Jesus described his opponents, the Pharisees, as “white-washed tombs.” Clean on the outside. Dead on the inside.

You are a sinner. So am I. … R.C. Sproul said, “We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners.” There is no part of us that is left untouched by sin. Our minds, our wills, and our bodies are all affected. Sin is at the very core of who we are and it permeates our heart.

Sin produces guilt, shame, and, most importantly, death. Spiritual and physical death. Because of sin, we are hopeless and helpless to save ourselves. We don’t have in us what it takes to save ourselves. This is really bad news! We are headed for an eternity without God. If we are going to be saved, it has to come miraculously from somewhere outside of us. But where? How? Repent, ask God to forgive your sins, and put your faith in Jesus Christ and confess Him as Lord and Savior. Our eternal destiny is dependent on our response to Jesus.

The good news, known as the gospel, is that the just and gracious Creator of the universe has looked upon hopelessly sinful men and women and has sent His Son, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, to bear His wrath against sin on the cross and to show His power over sin in the resurrection, so that everyone who turns from their sin and themselves and trusts in Jesus as Savior and Lord will be reconciled to God forever.

Jesus said that those who mourn over their sins would be comforted. Comforted is also a strong word in the Greek. It doesn’t mean a simple pat on the head with an “Oh, that’s okay” attitude. It comes from a compound word that means to “call for” or “to invite.” This is the picture of someone who comes alongside to encourage and console. This is the Holy Spirit.

We are comforted because the Holy Spirit has caused a work of grace within us. We are now aware of our lost condition. This promise, “They shall be comforted,” receives its fulfillment in the consolation of the Holy Spirit which follows our conversion. He removes the conscious load of guilt which lies as an intolerable burden on our conscience and He replaces it with the knowledge of the forgiveness of sins. This “comfort” issues in a sense of a free and full forgiveness through the merits of the blood of Christ. The one who sorrows over his sin is comforted by the assurance that, “if we confess our sins, He (Jesus), is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

This comfort is the peace of God which passes all understanding. We are comforted in our salvation. True comfort is not found in anything naturally within us, but in Christ alone.

By: Greg Snell, Pastor,

First Baptist Church, S

aratoga