Matthew 5:5-12

For Reading and Meditation:     Matthew 6:19-34

We turn now to the next of our Lord's Beatitudes: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled" (Matthew 5:6). One of the axioms of life is this: everyone thirsts after something. Some thirst for success, some thirst for fame, some...

For Reading and Meditation:     Psalm 149:1-9

We come now to Christ's third prescription for happiness: "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5). How we have shied away from that word "meek". We have thought of meekness as weakness and thus have a totally wrong concept of what Jesus meant....

For Reading and Meditation:     Matthew 5:1-11

Today we begin a study of one of the most powerful and profound passages in Scripture - the Beatitudes. They form the first part of the Lord's teaching in what is known as the Sermon on the Mount and were addressed to His disciples. My hope is that our study of the Beatitudes will have a great impact on our spiritual...

"Blessed are the are pure in heart: for they shall see God." Matthew 5:8

Purity, even purity of heart, is the main thing to be aimed at. We need to be made clean within through the Spirit and the Word, and then we shall be clean without by consecration and obedience. There is a close connection between the affections and the understanding: if we love evil we cannot understand that which is good. If the heart is foul, the eye will be...

"Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy." Matthew 5:7

It is not meet that the man who will not forgive should be forgiven, nor shall he who will not give to the poor have his own wants relieved. God will measure to us with our own bushels, and those who have been hard masters and hard creditors will find that the LORD will deal hardly with them. "He shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy."

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This is the seventh of the beatitudes: and seven was the number of perfection among the Hebrews. It may be that the Saviour placed the peacemaker the seventh upon the list because he most nearly approaches the perfect man in Christ Jesus. He who would have perfect blessedness, so far as it can be enjoyed on earth, must attain to this seventh benediction, and become a peacemaker. There is a significance also in the position of the text. The verse which precedes it speaks of the blessedness...

Man never finds real joy till he finds the Lord. Then he enters in to what Peter calls "joy unspeakable and full of glory" (1 Peter 1:8).

Anyone can rejoice when circumstances are favorable, but the joy which is the fruit of the Spirit is not the result of earthly circumstances. It springs from our relationship to the Lord and from the precious promises He has given to us. Christ would have to be dethroned before the Church could be finally...

The mercy of God is His pity, lovingkindness and compassion on those who are guilty, failing, distressed or needy. The Scriptures emphasize that God is rich in mercy (Ephesians 2:4) and plenteous in mercy (Psalms 86:5). His mercy is abundant (1 Peter 1:3); it is great unto the heavens (Psalms 57:10). "For as the...

We should realize first of all that the dog mentioned in this verse is not the friendly, gentle, Irish setter that probably wouldn't mind at all if you held him by his ears. This is the wild, snarling, alley dog with a mean disposition and bared fangs. It would be improbable that you can get close enough to him to grab him by the ears in the first place. But if you could, you'd face a desperate dilemma; you'd be afraid to Hold on and afraid to let go.

Well, it's a graphic illustration...

Man is without God. He walks in the mansion of the King of kings, wondering who contrived it, and what has be come of its royal owner; sometimes even doubting if it ever had a contriver, a proprietor. To his mind, God, if he is at all, is an absentee. He examines the treasures around him studies them, weighs them, grasps them, and speculates of the Creator as of one who may be or may not be. Generally, in deed, he speculates not at all. In his conception, God is so remote that it is idle to...