30 Days On The Mount

4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. (Lk 6:21 “B lessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Lk 6:25 Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.) True happiness is obtained through mourning, ‘happy are those who mourn ’ , or ‘happy are the unhappy!’ In the Kingdom of Heaven Jesus reverses the natural order of experiencing happiness by means of amusement and entertainment. Here he teaches us to obtain happiness by means of godly sorrow that leads to a removal of sin, the cause of human discontent. The Beatitudes are a ‘chain of attitudes’ that build in a divine order. This 2 nd one is a result of the 1 st . “For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.” (2 Cor 7:10 NLT) God meets people in their spiritual brokenness and transforms their sorrows into joy. The first Beatitude of poor in spirit corresponds to Isaiah’s first job description of the Messiah who would ‘bring good news to the poor . ’ Now this second Beatitude is paralleled by Isaiah’s second priority of the Messiah; “He sent me to comfort the brokenhearted … to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord’s favor has come…to all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning …” (Isa 61:1-3) The emphasis is not on the mourning but on the consolation: comfort…favor…beauty…blessing . None of the desired benefits are obtainable without the quality of mourning. In David’s remorse for his own sin and failure he writes: The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God. (Ps 51:17)

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