The Beatitudes: The Biblical Pattern of Christian Experience

Introduction

Thus far we have observed that the citizens of Cod’s kingdom are the poor in spirit and the mourners in Zion. They are sinners who by the discovering ministry of the Holy Spirit have been made experientially conscious of their spiritual poverty, and are painfully aware that they are without God and without hope in the world. This experiential awareness will inevitably result in the spiritual mourning of a sinner who, by the regenerating work of God’s Spirit, loves God and yearns for Him with an unspeakable yearning. It is the mourning of a sinner who realizes that by his sins he has offended His Maker and is separated from the God he loves with his whole being. This experiential mourning is the fruit of the saving operation of God’s Spirit whereby He makes room in the heart of that sinner for divine comfort, to be found in Jesus Christ and His mediatorial work.

Thus we observe that the Holy Spirit first of all focusses the attention of the elect sinner upon God Himself, for as we have observed previously, the essence of our spiritual poverty consists in having lost God Himself in our deep fall. Secondly, the Holy Spirit holds before the elect sinner the mirror of the law of God, thus revealing to him the cause of his spiritual poverty, namely sin. This also causes the poor sinner to become a mourning sinner.

However, this is not where the preparatory and discovering work of the Holy Spirit ends. Considering the sequential, cumulative, and progressive nature of the Beatitudes, we of necessity must now consider the third spiritual mark in the life of the citizens of God’s kingdom, the third aspect of the internal dimension of Christian experience. It is this third essential aspect of the Spirit’s preparatory work which inevitably will result in that exercise of faith identified in the fourth Beatitude as “hungering and thirsting after righteousness.”

The third element in Christ’s description of His people and their experience is meekness. As we consider the meaning of this profound characteristic, it will by renewal become evident that this description of the Christian is of divine origin. For not only will the Holy Spirit convince the elect sinner of his poverty by focussing upon God Himself, causing him to mourn by holding before him the mirror of the law of God, but He will also experientially confront this poor, mourning sinner with the attributes of God. It is this essential confrontation with God’s attributes which is the focus of this Beatitude. It is the final step along the pathway by which the Spirit leads all the elect to the feet of Christ, a way in which He teaches them to hunger and thirst for Jesus’ righteousness only. Since this experience is such a crucial element in saving conviction—an element entirely absent in the man-made experience of superficial Christianity—it behooves us to carefully define the meaning of this Spirit-wrought meekness.

Definition of Terms

The need for careful definition is underscored by the fact that this Beatitude is probably misinterpreted more than any other Beatitude. The prevailing opinion is that “meekness” is descriptive of a person who has a passive, docile, non-aggressive, and weak disposition—qualities which are generally not admired in our society. It must at once be obvious that such cannot be the meaning of the word “meek” here. Within the context of the Beatitudes meekness must necessarily be one of the spiritual qualities of the citizens of God’s kingdom, and thus a fruit of the Holy Spirit’s saving work. Therefore, before we proceed, it must be clear that Christ is making no reference whatsoever to a natural disposition. This meekness, as Thomas Scott puts it, “is not constitutional but gracious.”

To properly define meekness is a very difficult task, as there is not one single English word which fully expresses the profound depth of meaning concealed in the Greek word. This is verified by the fact that the English, Dutch, and German Bibles each use a different word in their translations. The translations in these respective Bibles are as follows: “meek” (English), “gentle-” or “tender-hearted” (Dutch), and “humble” (German). These words obviously all have a common denominator, and yet they merely describe the fruits of the disposition to which Christ is referring.

After consulting numerous sources, I believe that the following description approaches the correct meaning of this word. Meekness is a teachable disposition of heart which is the result of being fully conscious of the presence of God and the majesty of His attributes. Let me complement this definition by also sharing with you part of the description found in Vine’s Dictionary of New Testament Words. He states the following, “It is an inwrought grace of the soul and the exercises are first and chiefly towards God. It is that temper of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting. It is a temper of spirit which is not occupied with self at all.”

From all this we can distil that meekness is the disposition of men or women who are acquainted with the very presence of God, who, in some measure, have been made experientially conscious of His infinite and magnificent attributes, who have learned to bow and surrender before the majesty of His Being, and who are experientially acquainted with His holy character. The significance of all this will soon become evident when we seek to determine how this meaning functions within the experiential structure of the Beatitudes.

In view of the aforementioned, it should be clear why Paul, inspired by the Spirit, states, “But the fruit of the Spirit is… meekness.. .”(Galatians 5:22,23). In other words, by nature no man possesses this virtue, for the natural man is blind for God and therefore blind for His attributes and the majesty of His Being. This humble, tenderhearted, meek, and teachable disposition can only be the fruit of personal, experiential acquaintance with God Himself. Such acquaintance alone will humble a proud sinner who by nature loves his own attributes, and will bring forth surrender and submission to God’s will. This explains why a man as Moses, who naturally was a man mighty in words and in deeds and with a short temper, is described as follows, “Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth” (Num. 12:3). The mighty grace of God made this mighty man a meek man, for he was a man who saw God face to face at the burning bush, who saw the majestic display of God’s attributes at the Red Sea, and who spoke face to face with Him on Mt. Sinai. Even though Moses’ encounters with God were of a special nature and therefore not normative, all God’s children are, in some measure, made acquainted with God and His attributes by His Spirit, an acquaintance which cannot but yield meekness. This is why Paul lists meekness as one of the marks of God’s elect. “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering” (Col. 3:12).

All God’s children are, in some measure, made acquainted with God and His attributes by His Spirit, an acquaintance which cannot but yield meekness.

The meekness of Moses and other biblical saints pales, however, in comparison with the meekness of Him who said, “Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matt. 11:29). How intimate was Christ’s acquaintance with His Father! How complete and perfect therefore was His submission and surrender to Him in His human nature, even when drops of blood were pressed from His body! When the infinite wrath of God bore down upon Him; when He knew that the demands of His Father’s attributes upon Him—the Substitute of His guilty people—necessitated the pathway of indescribable suffering before Him; precisely then we have the most profound evidence of the meekness of His heart when the words are pressed from His lips, “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” He knew that there was no other way in which His Father’s justice could be satisfied, and in which His guilty, hell-worthy people could be reconciled with God. On Calvary’s cross His confrontation with the attributes of God on behalf of His elect resulted in His death. And yet it was precisely in this way whereby God, without compromise and in full harmony with all His attributes, could open the way whereby He can again be the God of fallen sinners, and they can again be His people.

However, shall we ever value and need a Savior who has fully met all the demands of the offended attributes of God, shall there ever be room in our hearts for Jesus Christ and Him crucified, then there must come a time in our life that we become experientially acquainted with God and His attributes, a time that we must learn that such a God can by no means clear the guilty. Only then shall we become completely guilty before God, and as a completely hell-worthy sinner stand in need of a complete Savior who saves to the uttermost.

He Gives Me Grace

My heart rejoices in God’s will,
‘Tis ever best—J do not doubt;
He may not give me what I want,
But gives me grace to do without.

I blindly ask for what 1 crave,
With haughty heart and will so stout;
He oft denies me what I seek
But gives me grace to do without.

He makes me love the way He leads,
And fear is put to rout;
With my fondest wish denied.
He gives me grace to do without.

Oh, blessed, hallowed will of God,
To it I bow with heart devout;
1 will abide in all God’s will,
His way is best, 1 do not doubt,
He may not give me what I ask,
But gives me grace to do without.

Battel Elshout is presently on leave of absence as evangelist, and is translating W. Brakel’s The Christian’s Reasonable Service (Redelijke Codsdienst).

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