Matthew 5:1-12 Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them, saying: 3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Introduction
When the Messiah arrived and began to gather the subjects of His eternal kingdom it was very much like the way David’s kingdom started out. Remember how he got his people at the beginning in the cave of Adullam?
1 Samuel 22:2 All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader.
David’s glorious reign began not in a palace but in a hole in the ground and his “kingdom” was made up of misfits, drop-outs, odd-balls, outcasts, has-beens – people in debt, in trouble, in crisis; down-and-outers, and losers. The only thing they had in common is they did not want to be part of that other kingdom. They would rather be in a hole in the ground with David than remain in that other kingdom. And it is very much the same for the Son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:26-29 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him.
It is the people at the bottom who are admitted into the kingdom, and so Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount by saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs alone is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed Are the Mourners
The second beatitude is similar.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Questions
Once again Jesus leaves a lot of questions unanswered. Blessed are those who mourn about what? All mourners? Everyone who has ever been sad goes to heaven? What kind of mourning is this talking about?
And why are they blessed? And what kind of comfort is He talking about? And when will the comfort come – in this life or the next? And how is the promise of future comfort supposed to encourage me if I am mourning now? Why is that blessedness? Wouldn’t it be more blessed not to be mourning in the first place? Isn’t this like saying, “Blessed are those who are in pain, because in the future they will feel better”? Wouldn’t it be more blessed to just not be in pain in the first place? And how does this beatitude square with the countless places in Scripture that speak about our joy?
Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Philippians 3:1 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord!
1 Thessalonians 5:16 Be joyful always
Even in the beatitudes – in verse 12 Jesus says, Rejoice and be glad. So which is it? Are we supposed to be mourning or are we supposed to be rejoicing?
Who are the Mourners? The Repentant
So let’s begin by figuring out what kind of mourning Jesus has in mind. Who, exactly are these blessed mourners? It is fairly obvious that Jesus does not mean everyone who has ever been sad. The construction here is the same as in verse 3, so that it has the meaning, “Blessed are the mourners for they and they alone will be comforted.” Clearly Jesus is not saying, “Blessed is absolutely everyone because they and they alone will be comforted – no one else.” So just from the way Jesus says it you can tell He is referring to a specific kind of mourner. And if you want to know what Jesus has in mind the answer is in the Old Testament background.
And the Old Testament background of the first two beatitudes is Isaiah 61.
Isaiah 61:1-4 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. 2 … to comfort all who mourn, 3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion-- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
That is where the second beatitude comes from.
If you just read that passage in isolation, without any regard at all for the context, you might think it supports liberation theology. Liberation theology is the idea that when the Bible talks about salvation it is not spiritual salvation – it is just deliverance from economic poverty. Christianity is nothing more than helping out poor and disadvantaged people. People just need to be saved from poverty – not from sin or from God’s wrath or from hell or anything like that. That is liberation theology, and it is heresy.
But if you ignore the context Isaiah 1 might sound like it supports that idea. So let’s take a look at the context so we can make sure we understand exactly what this passage is referring to. The book of Isaiah is a collection of warnings and promises that God gave His people through the prophet Isaiah. The people at that time were continuing in unrepentant sin, and so God sent Isaiah to tell them, “Look, you need to repent; otherwise God is going to punish you severely by allowing another nation to come defeat you and carry you into captivity.” That was half of Isaiah’s message. The other half was about restoration. Isaiah told them, “After your punishment finally makes you repent and turn back to God, then you will be restored in spectacular, glorious fashion.” And when Isaiah describes that restoration it really is spectacular because he moves beyond the time when they come back from exile and looks ahead to the much greater restoration in the time of the Messiah and His great kingdom. That is the book of Isaiah in a nutshell. Punishment is coming, then when you repent – glorious restoration in the Messiah’s kingdom.
And Isaiah wasn’t the only prophet who had that message. You see the same thing in all the prophets. The people of God turn away from God and plunge into sin and rebellion, and instead of punishing them God opts for patience and gentleness. And He does that for years and years until it becomes clear that more patience will do nothing put increase their complacency and rebellion. And so in His great mercy, instead of letting them destroy themselves, God brings some suffering designed to bring them to repentance. Repentance is the kind of mourning and grieving that turns the heart back to God.
The purpose of hardship is to turn the heart to God
That is the purpose of hardship. All hardship is designed to drive us to God. If you are in sin hardship should drive you to repentance. If you are not in sin hardship should drive you to seek God as your refuge. But all hardship is a gift of mercy designed to drive you to God.
One of the clearest examples of that is in the book of Amos.
Amos 4:1 Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, "Bring us some drinks!"
The people have become complacent, the women are ordering their husbands around, they are oppressing the poor, and they will not repent so God brought them punishment after punishment in order to bring about the mourning of repentance.
6 "I gave you empty stomachs in every city and lack of bread in every town, yet you have not returned to me," declares the Lord.
He sent famine. And when that happened, and they were starving, no doubt they mourned with a natural mourning – unhappy about the lack of food. But it was not the mourning of repentance. They did not return to God. God’s chastisement is a great gift, because it is designed to drive us to God. But they squandered that gift and refused to repent, so He moved to another punishment – one after another, and each time the purpose is to drive them to God.
7 "I also withheld rain from you … 8 People staggered from town to town for water but did not get enough to drink, yet you have not returned to me," declares the Lord. 9 "Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards, I struck them with blight and mildew. Locusts devoured your fig and olive trees, yet you have not returned to me," declares the Lord. 10 "I sent plagues among you as I did to Egypt. I killed your young men with the sword, along with your captured horses. I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps, yet you have not returned to me," declares the Lord. 11 "I overthrew some of you as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. You were like a burning stick snatched from the fire, yet you have not returned to me," declares the Lord. 12 "Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel, and because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel." 13 He who forms the mountains, creates the wind, and reveals his thoughts to man, he who turns dawn to darkness, and treads the high places of the earth-- the Lord God Almighty is his name.
God sent them one calamity after another designed to bring about the mourning of repentance, but in their stiff-necked rebellion they refused to return to God. So finally God says, “OK, prepare to meet your Maker. Get ready to receive some real punishment from the hand of the One who created the mountains.” In other words, the kid gloves are about to come off. No more little, small punishments. Things are about to get serious. God is so merciful that instead of just leaving them in their rebellion He keeps ramping up the suffering until it finally brings about repentance so they can be restored.
The next chapter describes the unimaginable devastation of the exile. Why? Why did it have to come to that?
Amos 6:1 Woe to you who are complacent in Zion… 6 You drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest lotions, but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.
You refuse to grieve and mourn in repentance. Instead you just try to sidestep the suffering with wine and fine lotions and luxury. Rather than let the suffering have its effect so God could bring it to an end, they looked to earthly pleasures to get them by.
So the pattern we see throughout the Old Testament is that those who will allow suffering to drive them to the mourning and sorrow of repentance are blessed – and no one else. That kind of mourning is the mark of godliness. And that mark exempts you from future judgment. You are all familiar with the 144,000 in Revelation 7. God is about to bring judgment on the earth, but first He puts a mark on the foreheads of the people who are exempted from the judgment. That whole procedure comes from Ezekiel 9. Exactly the same thing happens. God commands His servants to go through Jerusalem, starting at the Temple, and slaughter everyone – old men, young men, women, children – everyone… except those who have the mark on their forehead. And who gets the mark? Who are the godly who are exempted from judgment?
Ezekiel 9:4 and said to him, "Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it."
Not just any mourning – mourning over sin – their own sin and the sin of others.
We see the same thing in Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 31:13-19 I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow. … 15 This is what the Lord says: "A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more." 16 This is what the Lord says: "Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears … 18 "I have surely heard Ephraim's moaning: 'You disciplined me like an unruly calf, … 19 After I strayed, I repented; after I came to understand, I beat my breast. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.'
They sinned, God punished, they mourned and grieved and repented, and then God said, “OK, you do not have to grieve anymore. I will restore your joy.”
12 They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will rejoice in the bounty of the Lord-- the grain, the new wine and the oil, the young of the flocks and herds. They will be like a well-watered garden, and they will sorrow no more.
So that is the pattern in the prophets, and it is no different in Isaiah. Isaiah has used this same terminology previously in his book referring to the sorrow and mourning of repentance.
In Isaiah 57:19 God promises to create praise on the lips of the mourners in Israel. What kind of mourners? Just back up to verse 15.
Isaiah 57:15 For this is what the high and lofty One says-- he who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.
17 I was enraged by his sinful greed; I punished him, and hid my face in anger, yet he kept on in his willful ways. 18 I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will guide him and restore comfort to him, 19 creating praise on the lips of the mourners in Israel.
It is pretty clear what kind of mourners he is talking about. They persisted in their sinful greed, God was enraged and punished them severely, and it brought about the sorrow and mourning of repentance. And when that happened God moved in to heal and guide and restore comfort to those mourners. So when Jesus let everyone know that Isaiah 61 was all about His kingdom, and then He borrows the language of Isaiah 61 for the first two beatitudes, when He says, “Blessed are those who mourn” there is no question what He means. He is talking about the kind of mourning described in Isaiah 61 – the mourning of repentance.
Jesus is not pronouncing a blessing on all sad people. Not all sorrow is good sorrow. The only good sorrow is sorrow that turns your heart toward God.
2 Corinthians 7:9-10 I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. 10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
Good sorrow turns your heart toward God; evil sorrow turns your heart away from God. If your sorrow and grieving and mourning and groaning do not drive you to God then it is not blessed at all – it is evil. The people in Hosea 7 were mourning, but God did not pronounce any blessings on them. Instead He pronounced a curse – a woe.
Hosea 7:13 Woe to them! … 14 They do not cry out to me from their hearts but wail upon their beds.
“They are mourning and wailing, but it’s not directed to Me, so they are cursed rather than blessed.”
The sorrow of repentance is sorrow over God’s displeasure
So when Jesus refers to Isaiah 61 and pronounces a blessing on those who mourn He is talking about the mourning of repentance. Blessed are those whose grief and sorrow drives them to God in repentance because they and they alone will be comforted. But before we move on to talk about that comfort, I need to say one more thing about the nature of the sorrow. The grief of true repentance is not just feeling sad about your failure. Everybody feels bad about their failures. On January 1st they resolve to turn over a new leaf, they try, they fail, and they are unhappy with themselves for their failure. The other night there was a TV show that had some famous guy who was getting out of jail. (I don’t know what show it was – I was just flipping through the channels and so I only saw this one scene.) The press was interviewing him and they asked, “What do you have to say about the fact that you solicited a prostitute?” And the guy said, “I’ve looked in the mirror and I don’t like what I see. And I’m going to change!”
That was a TV drama but it very well could have been a news program. That sort of thing happens all the time. There is nothing distinctly Christian about that. Everyone has some standard of right and wrong, and everybody falls short. They not only fall short of God’s standard; they even fall short of their own cheesy little standard. And when they do, it bothers them. That is not the sorrow of repentance – in most cases it is the sorrow of pride.
Godly sorrow is not sorrow over my displeasure with myself; Godly sorrow is sorrow over God’s displeasure with me. You see most people are their own god. They are the ultimate lawmakers and determiners of what is right and wrong for themselves. So when they resolve to do something and fall short of it, they feel sadness because they fell short of their own standard.
Or maybe they have someone else as their god. They are distressed not because they fell short of their own standard, but because they disappointed their father – or spouse, or society in general.
But Godly sorrow is sorrow over the displeasure of God. You can tell who the god of your life is by whose disapproval you will do anything to avoid. A Christian is someone who would rather live with anyone else’s displeasure than have God unhappy with them, because the heart of faith sees reality. And the reality is that only God’s standards matter. Only the Creator’s ideas of right and wrong are valid. And only His assessment of a person matters. And so the greatest calamity in life is to have Him angry with you.
For the true Christian there is a night and day difference between suffering when God has turned His face against you or withdrawn His presence because of sin on the one hand, and suffering with a clear conscience on the other hand. The heart of faith says, “God, I can handle any suffering if I have Your approval. But Your disapproval is an agony I can not bear.”
When Peter went out and wept bitterly after denying Christ it was not because he fell short of his own standard. He was not out there saying, “Man, I made a New Year’s resolution to get better in the area of courage, and now this is a setback.” His bitter weeping did not come until Jesus looked directly at him and he remembered Jesus’ words. It was not the sorrow of disappointment in himself for failure, it was the agony of a soul that sinned against the Lord he dearly loved. The mourning and grieving of repentance is not just personal – between you and you; it is relational – between you and God. And that is why when it is genuine godly sorrow it always turns you toward God and never away from Him.
When we sin and feel overcome with guilt, and that drives us away from God – you don’t want to pray, you don’t want to go to church, you don’t want to open your Bible until you can get yourself straightened out – when guilt has that effect on you, that is a sign that you are relying on yourself and not on God for sanctification. If your only hope of righteousness and holiness is to receive it from God then every sin will drive you to God all the more.
For They Will Be Comforted
And if that is you – if sorrow drives you to God - blessed are you! You have got it made, because you will be comforted!
Only the repentant can be saved
It is the same structure as verse 3. The word “they” is in the emphatic position, so the meaning is, “They and they alone will be comforted.” The comforts of heaven belong only to the repentant. There is a very popular teaching that has infected the Church that says it is possible to be saved without repentance. They say, “If you require repentance, then that is salvation by works. Salvation is by grace alone, and so you can become a Christian just by accepting the gift of salvation even if there is no repentance in your heart.” There are many churches where you will never hear the word “repent” used in their gospel presentation. It is always, “Come to Christ, accept Jesus, receive Jesus,” but never the message that Jesus Himself preached: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Those who teach that repentance is not required because it is somehow opposed to grace do not understand grace. The person who is unrepentant – has no sorrow over sin, no remorse for having offended God, no grief, no brokenness before God, no desire to turn his back on sin and turn toward God, no intention of bowing his knee to Christ – that person has never experienced grace. Because grace is a gift that opens your eyes to the truth about God and about yourself and that always results in repentance.
And if you think, “OK, but maybe we should wait until after the person becomes a Christian before we say anything about repentance” – think again. Jesus called unbelievers to repent.
Luke 13:3 unless you repent, you will all perish.
So did Peter.
Acts 3:19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out
So did Paul.
Acts 17:30 God commands all people everywhere to repent.
That is always been God’s way of calling sinners to salvation – by calling them to repent.
Ezekiel 18:31-32 … Why will you die, O house of Israel? 32 For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!
This half-truth “gospel” we hear preached today – “Just accept Jesus, just acknowledge that Jesus died on the cross and admit you are not perfect and receive the gift of salvation” – that is a partial gospel. And it is not enough of the gospel to save anyone. But it is plenty to fool millions of people into thinking they are going to heaven when they are not. Only those who pass through the excruciating gate of the sorrows of repentance can ever enter the kingdom of heaven.
But for those who do enter Jesus promises comfort. What kind of comfort? Two kinds. The most obvious is the comfort of forgiveness.
The comfort of forgiveness
If the mourning is the mourning of repentance – grief and sorrow and sadness over God’s anger and displeasure with you because of your sin, then the comfort must be the comfort of forgiveness.
Now, there are two kinds of forgiveness that we need – one is legal and the other is relational. We need both from God because God is both our Judge and our Father. Think of it this way: Suppose you had a really good buddy who happens to be a judge and you get into some legal trouble and end up having to appear in court, and the judge in the case is your friend. And the crime you committed was something you did that was not only illegal, but it also hurt this judge friend of yours personally.
At the end of the trial, just before the sentence is about to be delivered, you bump into him in the hallway. And you pull him aside and say, “Look, you and I both know I’m guilty of this crime. That’s obvious – I’ve confessed to it, and I know you can’t let our friendship get in the way of justice. You have a responsibility to society to find me guilty and impose the fine – I understand all that. But what I want to know is this – is everything OK between me and you? Are you still angry with me, or are we OK?” And he smiles and says, “Don’t worry, we’re good. I forgive you.” And he gives you a big hug. Then you go into the courtroom and he finds you guilty, imposes a fine, and then takes you out to lunch afterward.
That would be an example of relational forgiveness, but not legal forgiveness. Now, if he let you off the hook and found you not guilty and let you go free without any fine or penalty, but he was still angry with you for what you did to him, that would be legal forgiveness but not relational forgiveness.
God is our Judge, and so we need legal forgiveness from Him in order to avoid being sentenced to hell for our sin. And He is also our Father and so we need relational forgiveness from Him in order to restore closeness of fellowship. But if all you care about is the legal part and not the relational part then you show that He is your Judge but not your Father. When people say, “I don’t want to go to hell. I don’t want to suffer consequences for my sin. I would love to go to a place of paradise when I die and not a place of torment,” that in itself is no evidence of saving faith. Those are the people who love that half-gospel that rips repentance out of the picture. When a preacher preaches that half-gospel and the people crowd into his church by the thousands – these are the kinds of people that go to churches like that. They love that message because it offers them a get out of jail free card – fire insurance – exemption from having to go to hell, but it doesn’t impose on their lives. They do not have to give up their sin or let go of any of their treasured idols. They can keep right on living the way they have been and still go to heaven.
If that kind of “gospel” appeals to you, that is evidence that God is your judge but not your father. If you do not even care about His pleasure or displeasure with you, then you do not love Him or even know Him and you are not a real Christian, which means you do not have relational or legal forgiveness, and when you die you will go to hell.
But if you do care about relational forgiveness – if your sorrow really is sorrow over God’s displeasure and not just over your failure – then blessed are you because you will be comforted.
And what form will that comfort take? If your sorrow is over distance from God, then your comfort will come in the form of nearness to God. If someone is distressed because you have withdrawn from them and are angry at them, how do you comfort them? By putting away your anger and drawing near to them in love and relational forgiveness. And that is what will make heaven heaven.
There are some people who have a hard time imagining being happy even in heaven because their sorrows run so deep that it seems to them that they would still be miserable even in happy, pleasant surroundings. What they do not understand is the fact that nobody is going to be happy in heaven because of the surroundings. Surroundings alone could never keep anyone happy for very long. You are going to be happy there because of the interactions you have with God. God is not going to just throw you into a paradise and say, “Have fun.” He is going to comfort you. This word for comfort means to approach or be near. It will be a direct, personal interaction with God Himself that will bring comfort and joy to your soul.
Isaiah 66:10 Rejoice with Jerusalem … rejoice greatly with her, all you who mourn over her. … 13 As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem." 14 When you see this, your heart will rejoice and you will flourish
Can you see that this is not going to be a distant, indirect process? God wants us to picture a mother comforting a baby. God Himself will rise from His great throne, walk over to the spot where you are standing, come right up beside you, and three different times Scripture says He will wipe away every tear. Have you ever had someone you love reach out and wipe a tear from your eye? That great hand that created the universe, that hand that destroyed the wicked and defeated Satan and his armies, that great hand that holds all the oceans and all the mountains and the galaxies – that same hand will touch your face, and wipe away every tear – and wipe them away forever. They will never return because He will always be with you bringing joy to your soul.
The comfort of restoration and blessing
Although that is not to say there will be no other delights in heaven – love has lots of expressions. When the closeness of a broken relationship is restored, there are some expressions of love that go along with that- just as there are expressions of displeasure that go along with an un-reconciled relationship. If your spouse is angry with you, that anger is not invisible. There are some outward expressions of that displeasure. Maybe it is a cold expression, or a lack of normal affection, or the silent treatment. And when the relationship is reconciled and love is restored, there are some clear expressions that go along with that too.
It is the same way with God. There are symbols and expressions of His displeasure and symbols and expressions of His favor. For Israel the symbol of His displeasure was the exile. They were savaged by an invading army, their city was destroyed, and they were taken off to Babylon and lived the rest of their lives in captivity. And believe me, when that happened they wept and grieved and mourned. But that kind of mourning brought no comfort from God at all. Later on, however, when that mourning turned into the mourning of repentance, it brought God’s favor and that was expressed in very tangible ways. God brought them back home and gave them their freedom back and their city back and He blessed them.
And so when Jesus said, Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted, that includes the comfort of restored intimacy and favor with God as well as the comfort of all the various symbols of God’s favor.
More blessed than if you never had cause to mourn
But we are still left with one question. At the beginning I asked why it is a blessing to mourn and then be comforted. Wouldn’t it be more blessed to never have had to mourn at all? The answer to that is no – the greatest blessedness is for those who have experienced the sorrow of brokenness over their own sin, because Jesus taught that our love for God is limited by our experience of forgiveness.
Luke 7:47 he who has been forgiven little loves little.
And she who was forgiven much loved much. Jesus said that in the context of explaining why that woman who poured out her expensive perfume and washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and her hair was so profuse in her worship. Her worship was profuse because she loved Him so much, and she loved Him so much because she had been forgiven so much. Whoever has experienced the greatest agony of guilt will be the one with the greatest love for God.
Tracy has done a lot of things over the past twenty years that make me love her. But nothing she has done has increased my love for her more than when she has forgiven me when I have hurt her in a terrible way. Nothing causes love to swell more than knowing you deserve wrath and anger and punishment and instead receive forgiveness and love. Blessed are those who have gone through the agony of the sorrows of repentance because they will be forgiven and restored and comforted and that will cause them to love God more, which is the source of the greatest joy.
The age to come here and now
And if all that is not enough great news, let me give you another little piece of great news. I also asked the question at the beginning about when we get this comfort. Is it now or later? In this age or in the age to come? And by now you have probably picked up on the fact that I believe this promise (along with the rest of the promises in the beatitudes) is for the age to come. Like Lazarus the beggar, we grieve and mourn now in this present age and we will be comforted by God someday in the age to come.
But here is the amazing news. This present age is the age of suffering and sin and death prior to the coming of the Messiah – prior to the establishment of His kingdom. The age to come is the time when suffering and sin and death are eliminated and we reign with Christ forever. But what about this time period we are living in? The Messiah has come. And He has inaugurated His kingdom. It is not in its final, ultimate form yet, but it is here in a preliminary form. So which age are we in? The kingdom is here, the Messiah has come, and yet suffering and sin and death still exist. The answer is this: the period between Jesus’ first and second comings, the Church age, is a period in which the age to come is breaking in upon this present age. Like I told you a few weeks ago – it is like that time in a relay during the passing of the baton when both runners are running together. The old runner has not stopped yet, and the new runner has already started. We are living in a period of overlap between the present evil age and the glorious age to come.
So while we wait for the Second Coming to receive the full, complete form of this comfort, there is a degree to which we can experience it in part even now. If you have no anguish for having sinned against God – no sense of deserving condemnation and wrath from Him, then Christ does not really have anything to offer you. But if you are staggering under crushing guilt, and you have a deep sorrow in your heart because of God’s displeasure on your life, you can be comforted this very morning. Let your sorrow drive you to Christ. Entrust your life completely into His hands.
That is called faith, and if you approach Him that way He will not only cancel your eternal death sentence in hell, but He will lift the weight of guilt form your back even now. It will be transferred to the back of Jesus Christ and His righteousness will be credited to your account. And God will draw near to you, and He will allow you to succeed in drawing near to Him. So when you open your Bible, instead of it being dry, unintelligible, just print on a page, it comes alive and it fills you with peace or joy or God uses it to show you wisdom in some hard decision you are making. When you go to pray instead of it being just a boring, distracted, empty recitation of words it becomes a time of sweet communion with God in which time flies. Your ministry in your small group goes from being uncomfortable work to satisfying, encouraging ministry. The worship service goes from being just a lot of singing and sitting to a joyful, delightful, soul-satisfying interchange of love between you and God. God will be your Father and will come alongside you and comfort you.
Benediction: 1 Thessalonians 5:23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
