SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/22/2020
9:45 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Results
of Meekness
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt. 5:5
Message of the
verse: “5 God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth” (NLT).
This beatitude is no
different than the others and that is the result is being blessed, being made
divinely happy. God gives the meek His
own joy and gladness.
MacArthur writes “More
specifically, however, the ‘gentle…shall inherit the earth.’ After creating man in His own image, God gave
man dominion over the whole earth (Gen. 1:28).
The subjects of His kingdom are going to come someday into that promised
inheritance, largely lost and perverted after the Fall. Theirs will be paradise regained.”
In our study of the book
of Revelation we learned that at the first part of the book, chapter four, we
saw the rapture of the church, that is all believers from the time that the
church began until the event called the rapture went to be with the Lord as
described in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, and eluted to in Revelation 4: After
these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and
the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking
with me, said, "Come
up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.’” Then we learned after the event called the “Tribulation”
ends, and it ends with the Lord Jesus Christ returning to planet earth will all
of His raptured saints to end the last battle of the tribulation period. He will then separate the sheep from the
goats, that is the believers from the unbelievers soon after His return, and
then will make the earth very similar to what it was when He created it at the
beginning of Genesis. All the believers
will then go into what is called the Millennial Kingdom which is the promised
kingdom that God made to Israel, and here is where those who are gentle, those
who are meek, will abide on the earth.
The reason is because they understand their unworthiness and sinfulness
and cast themselves on the mercy of God.
MacArthur adds “The emphatic pronoun autos
(‘they’) is again used (see vv. 3, 4), indicating that only those who are meek ‘shall inherit the earth.’”
For the most part many of the Jews
believed that the kingdom given to them by the Messiah would be given to the
strong, of whom the Jews would be the strongest. However the Messiah Himself said that it would
belong to the meek, ad to Jew and to Gentile alike.
MacArthur explains “Kleronomeo (to ‘inherit’) refers to the
receiving of one’s allotted portion, one’s rightful inheritance. This beatitude is almost a direct quotation
of Psalm 37:11—‘But the humble will inherit the land.’ For many generations
faithful Jews had wondered, as God’s people today sometimes wonder, why the
wicked and godless seem to prosper and the righteous and godly seem to
suffer. Through David, God assured His
people, ‘Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more; and you will
look carefully for his place, and he will not be there’ (v. 10). The wicked person’s time of judgment was
coming, as was the righteous person’s
time of blessing.”
What are we to do then? Well are
responsibility is to trust the Lord and obey His will. There will be a settling of accounts, whether
in judgment or in blessing, and it is in His hands and will be accomplished
exactly in the right time and in the right way.
Now in the meantime, God’s children live in faith and hoep which is
based on the certain promise, the divine pronouncement that “they shall inherit
the earth.”
In
his letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 3:21-23) Paul both warns and assures them
as he writes 21 So then let no one boast in men. For
all things belong to you, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or
life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, 23
and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.”
There
is another certainty and Paul writes about this in 1 Cor. 6:9a “Or do you not
know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?” There is coming a day when the Lord will take
the earth from the hands of the wicked and will give it to His righteous
people, those whom He will use, as seen in Psalm 149:7-9 “7 To execute
vengeance on the nations And punishment on the peoples, 8 To bind their kings
with chains And their nobles with fetters of iron, 9 To execute on them the
judgment written; This is an honor for all His godly ones. Praise the LORD!”
The
inheritance we are talking about for believers is not only for the future
however. This promise of future
inheritance itself gives us hope and happiness now. We are able to appreciate many things, even
things on earth in ways that only those who know and love the Creator can
experience. John MacArthur quotes the
following words written by Wade Robinson:
“Heav’n
above is softer blue,
Earth around
is sweeter green;
Sometime
lives in ev’ry hue
Christless
eyes have never seen!
Birds with
gladder songs o’erflow,
Flow’rs
with deeper beauties shine,
Since I
know, as now I know,
I am his
and He is mine.”
He
gives another quote from a century ago when George MacDonald wrote, ‘We cannot
see the world as God means it in the future, save as our souls are
characterized by meekness. In meekness
we are its only inheritors. Meekness
alone make the spiritual retina pure to receive God’s things as they are,
mingling with them neither imperfection nor impurity.’
Lord
willing, we will finish up our study of Matthew 5:5 in our next SD as it will
be a fairly short one.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I know that I live on a cursed earth, but
even so the earth is beautiful and it is my desire to appreciate it more than I
have.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I trust that the Lord will continue to work
on my heart and life as He continues to give me contentment, humility, and joy
in studying His Word each day. 4/22/2020
10:31 AM
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