Blessed are the meek,

for they shall inherit the earth.

Are you meek?

These meek, what do they do?

They endure.

Endure what?

Trouble.

Without complaint. With patience.

What if we believe this?

What if we believe we will inherit?

Inherit what?

Everything.

If we know that we will among those who inherit all things, then what?

We worry that we will run out of things.

I think he is talking about the new earth.

It will not have vast oceans.

There may be new kinds of animals.

Put this kind of thinking in your mind.

You will be among those who inherit everything.

In a sense, all is yours now. You are an heir.

Jesus Christ himself has not received all of his inheritance, yet.

Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger. Zephaniah 2:3

Now this is Old Testament stuff.

But remember, that statement is from God, too.

But Jesus gave a promise.

He said the meek will inherit the earth.

Meekness means strength under control. Imagine a soldier. He has weapons. He is well-trained to fight. Yet, he waits for orders. This is a definition of meekness.

The meek shall inherit the earth.

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Blessed are those who mourn,

for they shall be comforted.

Do you mourn?

You are sad because you have lost something or someone.

Someone died. You can’t get them back.

The door of death is a closed door.

And so we mourn.

We know one thing: they are not here.

We can’t talk to them.

We can’t go see them.

We can’t discuss our thoughts with them.

But Jesus says, “they shall be comforted.”

But how? When?

Let’s look in the bible.

It was said to Adam by God that if he did this thing, there would be death.

He did exactly that thing, and he eventually died.

And all since him either die of old age, or disease, or are killed somehow.

But Jesus says, “they shall be comforted.”

By who? It must be God or Jesus could not be so sure about this.

So how are we mourners comforted?

If your relative or friend loved Jesus, they are somewhere good.

Why? Because God is good and he sends angels to take them into the next life.

But what if they did not follow Jesus?

We know this: God is fair. That is some comfort.

That person had some opportunity to call on God in their life.

We can leave them to God for fair treatment.

He knows all things.

The story of Lazarus who was raised from the dead is interesting.

Did anyone ask him where he was for four days?

I would have.

I can tell you what he might have said.

Things were so different. I don’t have words to relate to you sitting here at this table what it was like. I can tell you this. I heard a voice calling me. It turned out to be Jesus, outside my grave. They came and got me out of the wrappings. And I was healthy and whole. Here I am talking to you. All I can tell you is this: I was somewhere very different from here. Four days, you say, they don’t have days there.

Am I guessing? Not really. I have read several accounts of people who seemed dead for days who returned to life.

They are unable to relate their experiences in any way we can appreciate.

So we are comforted now by trusting our good God.

What about the future?

Lazarus had a sister named Martha.

She said she knew her brother would come alive in “the resurrection”.

Let’s go to the back of the book.

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

  And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

God never wanted people to have sorrow.

Tears were not made for sadness.

This will happen because God said it would to a trustworthy man who wrote it down because the Lord said to write it.

Will your tears be wiped away? Will mine?

We can be sure of this if we trust God and his son, Jesus with our lives.

 

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