Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Mathew 5:4
In my childish college years, I read a book about Rosa Luxemburg and it had a profound impact on me. Rosa Luxemburg was a Polish philosopher who was a socialist revolutionary. She was a female fighter who strongly criticized Lenin’s dictatorial actions even when she was a socialism activist and attempted the Berlin Revolution to bring social democracy. At that time, I thought the proper Christian life was living like Rosa Luxemburg or even Karl Marx because I never really learned properly about Christian faith, even though I had been attending church for a long time. So I did not have the slightest doubt that acting like her and dying like her was the proper way of living for a person of faith.
The truth is, until I seriously read Karl Marx, I assumed Marxism to be an original version of Kim Jung-Il’s ideology and thought Stalin and Lenin were the same, until I studied Art History of Russia. But when I studied their achievements and ideology thoroughly, there were some differences. So I placed Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Marx at the top of the list of people I should model after and diligently read their books. I wrote my dream at that time on the wall above my desk in big letters and it was “Act like Rosa Luxemburg and write like Kathe Kollwitz”. Kathe Kollwitz was a female German writer I liked. Anyhow, I never doubted even once that acting like that and writing like that was the path a believer should take.
The world treats the poor and powerless like leeches that live in sewage water. They are being accused of polluting the world. But did the leeches really make the pollution in the water because they live in it? That sewage water is produced by human beings. In that sense, the leeches are victims. Look at the weak and powerless people who are being treated like leeches in sewage water. Of course there are those who brought poverty and weakness upon themselves by living their lives with a helplessly lazy and irresponsible attitude. But, many cannot get out of the sewage water despite working to the point of wearing out their fingerprints because of the economical and social structure which makes the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And they are being treated like sewage water. I think I defined the kind of things Christians must do as solving social inequality or realization of a fair society owned by democracy. So I fought hard for it. When I think about it now, it was not about sincere humanism for the rights of others or acting out on my great willpower as a fighter to devote my life to establish a fair society. It was a wrong diligence to secure my future in eternity by faithfully living out the life a religious person should obviously live. While I was living like that, I was often exposed to strong persecution, but whenever I was persecuted, I felt a great sense of accomplishment. I was impressed at myself thinking “I am contributing something to the establishment of a healthy and sound society.”
Around that time, I came to read Luke 6 and the Sermon on the Mount in Mathew 5 diligently, but I just could not agree with it. The life of a blessed man was written in exactly the opposite way from the kind of life I was pursuing in my mind. I thought Heaven was where all people are freed from poverty and every one becomes wealthy. So as a social education major, I planned a rural illumination movement by focusing on rural social education and taught at a night school to teach children about the irrationalities of the society. But, Jesus is declaring that the poor are blessed. It is written as “who are poor in spirit” in Mathew but it is just written as “who are poor” in Luke. And this is referring to socio-economical poverty. So it means those who are “just poor” are blessed. Of course, the poverty Jesus is talking about is not more or less of one’s possession but it is about all emotional states and conditions including deprivation, disqualification, shame, etc. He is peripherally expressing that the saints are not created to live pursuing “my happiness”, “my security”, or “my wealth” in this world. Even more, He insists those who mourn are blessed. Isn’t Christianity something that delivers those who mourn from their mourning and makes them happy and joyous people? Isn’t solving all your problem by the help of God, accomplishing your dreams, being ever-advancing, victorious, and prosperous, and a bright future the final goal of Christianity? Then, what does he mean by “those who mourn are blessed”? I could not get out of that dilemma for a long time. This is what we will be studying today. Have you resolved this dilemma through the gospel?
Last week, we contemplated a long time upon why a man poor in spirit is a blessed man. The spiritual poverty that comes out in Mathew is different from the poverty in Luke and it refers to a spiritual bankruptcy and not a socio economical poverty or neediness. They are essentially the same thing but it can be said that the spiritual poverty Jesus talks about in Mathew is more of a detailed analysis of the poverty in Luke. We learned about Laodiceanism, which is the pride of thinking that “my spiritual condition is good so I am not in need of anyone else’s help”, and of the exact opposite, a man poor in spirit is the one who can realize and confess “I am the most wretched of all sinners”. Spiritual poverty is admitting and confessing one’s spiritual bankruptcy. It is knowing that his/her spirit is empty when God’s grace is not added.
For evils have encompassed me
beyond number;
my iniquities have overtaken me,
and I cannot see;
they are more than the hairs of my head;
my heart fails me. Psalm 40:12
I have said that the condition of spiritual poverty is not completed at once at one point in time but it is a continuous and directional tendency. This directionality is manifested clearly in the progress of the Apostle Paul’s self-awareness. In Galatians, which Paul wrote around AD48, he recognized himself as a proud “apostle”.
Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2 and all the brothers[a] who are with me, Galatians 1:1
Paul is introducing himself as an apostle chosen and established by God. Galatians is a letter he wrote around AD48 in the beginning of his ministry. Please note what he calls himself 7 years later in 1Corinthians, which he wrote in AD55.
For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 1Corinthians 15:9
After exactly 7 years, he realizes that he is not equal to the task of the apostleship. He is saying he does not qualify to be an apostle. Look how his self-awareness changes 8 years from this. Let’s go to Ephesians, which he wrote in AD63.
To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, Ephesians 3:8
Paul is calling himself the very least of all the saints. It is an expression of him admitting that he is not qualified to be a believer. Then, he describes himself like this in 1Timothy, which he wrote one year before he died in Rome:
The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 1Timothy 1:15
Apostle Paul’s self-awareness hits the very bottom. He is realizing that he is not qualified to be called a believer, even more an apostle, and on top of all this, he is the worst of all sinners. This kind of directionality and tendency is spiritual poverty.
When we come to truly believe in Jesus, our standard of self-awareness changes from other people to Jesus. When a believer shows off his religiosity with a clumsy diligence, the standard of judging his self-awareness is other comparable people around him. So he compares and competes for a superior ranking with others around him until he meets the true standard. That can be manifested in the appearance of keeping morality, ethical performance, or competing for a righteous life style.
It is like a child who is the best soccer player in his countryside village, running daily on a ridge between rice paddies, with the illusion that he could be the best soccer player in the world as long as he is the best in his village. Having played diligently, there are no better soccer players in the village than him. But one day, Ji-sung Park shows up before him. The real soccer appears before a child who only has played around on a ridge between rice paddies. How would the child feel? He now realizes that “I don’t even know soccer compared to this man!” Jesus is the standard of self-awareness for the saints. God only brings into His kingdom those who are like Jesus. However, the more you know Jesus through the word and through grace, you realize that’s a standard you cannot reach. It is like a torch called Jesus from afar coming closer and closer to you and fully exposing your real identity so that you can face the real you. What kind of confession would come out from this?
You will confess “God, I am rightly the worst of all sinners. I need your grace”. This is called spiritual poverty and the emotion that is evoked from this spiritual poverty is “mourning”. Dr. Pierson, whom the Rev. Arthur Pink greatly admired, explained “mourning” like this: “It is mourning over the felt destitution of our spiritual state, and over the iniquities that have separated us and God; mourning over the very morality in which we have boasted, and the self-righteousness in which we have trusted; sorrow for rebellion against God, and hostility to His will; and such mourning always goes side by side with conscious poverty of spirit.”
Among the nine words used in the Bible to describe sadness, the Greek word pentheo, used here for “mourning”, is a word used for the most desperate, severe, and strong sadness and sorrow. This word was used in Mark 16, where the people who were with Jesus were mourning for His death and in Revelation 18:15, where the merchants were crying and wailing when they saw their livelihood, the big city of Babylon, being burned down and destroyed along with all of their merchandise. Thus, the “mourning” Jesus used in His sermon on the mount is used to express the extreme sadness in the most extremely tragic situation. It is a word to describe such strong sadness and pain. So the sadness and sorrow that result from the saints’ correct self-awareness is not just being sad but it is a heart-breaking gut-wrenching sadness. But only those who can be this sad having discovered their true self are blessed men. Luke describes this reality a little differently.
“Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.
“Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. Luke 6:21
Jesus is saying those who weep are blessed. The word klaivw, used for “weep”, is a cry when one’s most beloved someone dies. Mary cries outside of the tomb when Jesus died and was buried in John 20:11, right? That cry is klaivw. In their own powerlessness and impossibility, saints get to taste and see the death of their self-ego of flesh which they relied on and were proud of. And the sadness and sorrowful cry that comes out from it is mourning. Therefore, the mourning of the saints is not a curse but a blessing. The painful cry of “Am I really a Christian being like this?” that results from the awareness of one’s powerlessness, impossibility, and being a sinner is not a cry of despair but a self-denying cry that must come out in the life of someone who is blessed by God. So the tears that come out in the life of a saint are not harmful but beneficial.
Those who sow in tears
shall reap with shouts of joy!
6 He who goes out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
bringing his sheaves with him. Psalm 126:5-6
Only those who sow in tears can reap with joy. What do they reap? It is well explained in 2 Corinthians what the saints’ sadness and mourning would reap.
Nevertheless God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us through the coming of Titus, 7 and not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you, when he told us about your sincere desire, your mourning, and your zeal toward me, so that I rejoiced even more.
8Though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it. For I perceive that this same letter has caused you sorrow, though only for a while. 9 Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorrowful in a godly way, that you might not suffer loss in any way through us. 10 Godly sorrow produces repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but the sorrow of the world produces death. 11 For observe this very thing, which you sorrowed in a godly way: What carefulness it produced in you, what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what intense desire, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In all things you have proven yourselves to be innocent in this matter. (Modern English Version)
2 Corinthians 7:6-11
Apostle Paul wrote a total of 4 letters to the Corinthian church and only two are remaining. The letter the apostle is talking about is a letter he wrote between 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians. It seems that he dreadfully rebuked the sins of the Corinthian church members. So he is clearly explaining the reason why he wrote that letter in 2 Corinthians 2:4. He clarifies that he wrote that letter crying from the love for the Corinthian church and it is not to make them sad. He must have been very determined to write that letter to the point of having to explain why. Sure enough, the reaction of the Corinthian church members delivered by Titus was their sorrowful self-awareness. The apostle summarizes that in words like “mourning” and “sorrow”. He was concerned about that so he wrote his third letter to the church, which is 2 Corinthians. But what benefit did their sorrowful awareness to their sin bring? It brought a benefit of repentance, which leads to salvation.
The people of God, who received salvation by the covenant before the creation, would ascend into the kingdom of God after facing their sin and the sin of the world, mourning because of that, and confirming the necessity of God’s grace and the cross of Jesus Christ in this world. Therefore, mourning is a blessing from God and not something we should evade.
You have fed them with the bread of tears
and given them tears to drink in full measure. Psalm 80:5
Look at this. God gifts His people with tears. Mourning is a naturally occurring response to clearly seeing oneself and the world by the work of God, pouring His Spirit into the saints. That is why many prophets in the Old Testament and the people of God lived a mournful life.
“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. 11 On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. 12 The land shall mourn, each family[a] by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; 13 the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the Shimeites by itself, and their wives by themselves; 14 and all the families that are left, each by itself, and their wives by themselves. Zechariah 12:10-14
What happens when God pours out grace and mercy on the house of David? They mourn and confess “Yes I pierced Jesus”.
What response did David have when he saw himself as a sin-factory?
I am weary with my moaning;
every night I flood my bed with tears;
I drench my couch with my weeping.
7 My eye wastes away because of grief;
it grows weak because of all my foes.
8 Depart from me, all you workers of evil,
for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. Psalm 6:6-8
It is not just David. Look at how the people of God respond to facing themselves only being able to produce sins.
For I said, “Only let them not rejoice over me,
who boast against me when my foot slips!”
17 For I am ready to fall,
and my pain is ever before me.
18 I confess my iniquity;
I am sorry for my sin. Psalm 38:16-18
They prayed so that others may not rejoice when they saw their weakness, impossibilities, failures. But when they fall and sin, the pain (sadness) is ever before them and they beat their chest in mourning.
My eyes shed streams of tears,
because people do not keep your law. Psalm 119:136
But if you will not listen,
my soul will weep in secret for your pride;
my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears,
because the Lord's flock has been taken captive. Jeremiah 13:17
Let’s look into the New Testament.
And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment,38 and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” Luke 7:37-39
Acknowledged by the public and herself as a sinner, Mary the prostitute is washing the feet of Jesus with her tears. What does Jesus say to such a sinner?
Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”48 And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Luke 7:47-48
Jesus declares to Mary, who is mourning and washing His feet with her tears, that her sins are forgiven. It is not saying that Mary’s act of mourning because of her sins and going down to the feet of Jesus is the basis of her salvation, but it is saying that this kind of mourning, resulting from their sins, most definitely comes out from those who are forgiven of their sins. How about in the case of the prodigal son who was let go into the world by his Father?
I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ Luke 15:18-19
He wakes up one day and realizes where he is living is a pigsty and what he is fighting hard for is food for pigs. He is mourning at this moment. How about the tax collectors and the prostitutes?
But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 18:13-14
The Pharisee, looking at the tax collector, prayed in thanksgiving, “Thank you for not making me live like that sinner” but the tax collector mourned, beating his chest. He is saying he is a sinner and that is why he needs God’s grace and for God to be merciful to him. Also in the book of Acts, there are people who mourn facing their sins:
Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Acts 2:36-37
Receiving the tongue of the Holy Spirit, Peter preached about Jesus. He said, “You are the foremost sinners who killed Jesus,” and the people were able to see themselves as sinners. And their response was “what shall we do?” This is mourning. Therefore, those who are without mourning are not saints and they are not church. That is why God ordered to kill all those who are not mourning over themselves and the world.
And the Lord said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan (sigh and cry, NKJV) over all the abominations that are committed in it.”5 And to the others he said in my hearing, “Pass through the city after him, and strike. Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity.6 Kill old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women, but touch no one on whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the house.
Ezekiel 9:4-6
Look at this. It is said to show no pity and kill all those who do not mourn for all the abominations of the world and themselves who are living like the world. Therefore, mourning is a necessity for the saints to the point that it is described as a mark of God on their forehead. Only to them, salvation comes.
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;[a]
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;[b]
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. Isaiah 61:1-3
This mourning is in present continuous tense and is continuously with the saints. The word, “pentheo (mourn)” used in the main text is in present continuous verb tense. This means that the mourning of the blessed men is not the kind that comes at one point and disappears but it is continuously present in the life of the saints. This means that coming to correctly learning that he is a sinner is the purpose of a saint’s life.
If the life of a saint is correctly knowing that he is a sinner like this, wouldn’t his life be very tastelessly dry and only painful? Not so. Doesn’t’ it say those who mourn shall be comforted? The Greek word translated as “comfort” is “parakaleo”. This word shares the same word root as “parakletos”, which is the word for the helper, the Holy Spirit, who came as a comforter. The Hebrew word for “parakaleo” is “naham”. The Hebrew language has a progression of verb tenses like qal, piel, pual, hiphil, hophal, niphal, hitpael, and as the word “naham”, which means comfort, changes its tenses, its meaning becomes “groaning”, or “being sad”. Thus, to the Hebrews, mourning and comfort cannot be separated from one another. Two meanings are in one word.
Consider it like this. Telling someone who is facing a sad reality to “go in peace, warm yourself, be full” is not going to be comforting. To comfort that person’s sadness, one has to go down with him to the place of sadness. So to the Hebrews, comfort means going down to the place of mourning with the one who mourns when he sees someone mourning. The phrase “Mourn with those who mourn and laugh with those who laugh”, which repeatedly comes out in the Bible, reflects well the Hebrew way of thinking. But it doesn’t work well like this in human relationships, does it? Who can really be somebody’s comfort by going down to the place of sadness that is equal to the sadness of others?
Then in what way does comfort come to us when we mourn because of the sin inside us and the world? Someone has to come to that place of mourning and mourn with us. Who is that someone? It is Jesus Christ.
“You shall say to them this word:
‘Let my eyes run down with tears night and day,
and let them not cease,
for the virgin daughter of my people is shattered with a great wound,
with a very grievous blow. Jeremiah 14:17
The Lord is weeping tears night and day, seeing the reality of destruction and the grave wounds of His people. But the tears of God are also the promise of restoration. From there the cross began. That is called comfort.
And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it,42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” Luke 19:41-44
Jesus wept, seeing the city of Jerusalem. Those who should mourn looking at themselves did not mourn but Jesus mourned first. When Jesus did so, they became the holy city of the New Jerusalem in Revelation. Otherwise, why would he weep for the dead dust that should be abandoned? Of course, it is symbolic. It is not to say that all who live in Jerusalem are saved, but it means that Jerusalem of God will never be a failure because of God’s mourning and it will come out of that mourning.
Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved[a] in his spirit and greatly troubled. 34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. John 11:32-35
Lazarus, a close friend of Jesus, died. Jesus came as a king of Heaven who rules over death. People of God become a living people only when they are delivered from death. But people are mourning over the death of the flesh. The death of the flesh is the entrance to eternal life and Jesus Christ came as the owner of eternal life but rather, people are resenting Jesus and mourning over the death of the flesh. That is sin. But Jesus is taking away their mourning. Jesus wept, being greatly moved in His spirit and the doors of death which locked them up opened up. This is the incident of Lazarus’ resurrection. The mourning of Jesus is the cross. The mourning, which is the cross of Jesus, breaks down the grave of mourning of His people. This was already prophesied in Isaiah:
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted. Isaiah 53:4
As you can see, His tears, His sadness, and His mourning was all ours. But Jesus came to our place and took away all our mourning to become our comfort. Those who know this reality are comforted. But how is this story of the good news delivered to us? It is delivered by the Word. Therefore, we must cross over the bridge called the word of God in order for our mourning to turn into comfort and joy.
For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus,6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 15:4-6
The word “encouragement” here is “paraklesis”, which means “comfort”. Thus, the only possible way for the saints to receive true comfort is by the word and by faith. Like this, the saints get to mourn by the word, and reach to comfort by the word. The word with its frightfully sharp double edges exposes the sins of the saints in every detail and drives them out to the place of mourning. And this word lets them know the redemption of Jesus, the mourning of Jesus in our place. There the saints are comforted. That is why “mourning” and “comfort” is contained in one word in Hebrew. There needs to be mourning in order for comfort to be. It may seem like mourning and comfort are ideas that will never be reconciled but it can be understood in faith. This is a necessary process for the history and eternity converging and being united.
There is comfort for those who firmly believe the reality of the gospel that “even though I am the worst of all sinners who should just die like this, Jesus took all my sin and my mourning by His mourning of the cross.” Please do not forget this is your life time work. This mourning is attached to you as a continuous present tense.
Therefore, primarily, a correct sermon should be the one that makes the saints mourn. The heart of the saints should be torn as they find themselves worthless, their pride broken down, their numerous camouflages and masks to defend themselves taken off by the word of God. Even more, they should sometimes hate the preacher who is exposing them like this. The ones who truly mourn would do this. And at the site of mourning, they should cling onto the cross of Jesus. Therefore, sermons should not be mixed with things other than exposing of sin and the cross. Apart from these, everything else is just human flattery and coaxing. Let’s take a look at where such mourning and comfort is well pictured. These are the verses we looked at in the first lesson of the Sermon on the Mount.
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. Romans 7:18-25
This is the mourning of the Apostle Paul. Rev. Lloyd-Jones concluded that this is Paul writing before he was saved but I do not think so. Rev. Lloyd-Jones attaches great importance to sanctification. He is convinced that sanctification is something that can advance and be built up and it will not retrograde. So for him, such a great apostle like Paul would never still make a weak confession like “Wretched man that I am!” If so, how should we interpret the verse 22, “For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being”? Can a person not born again also rejoice in the law of God? It is not so. This is a description of the apostle’s self-awareness during his apostleship. As more clearly he came to know the standard of Jesus Christ, the apostle had come to a deep realization of his own impossibility and powerlessness. He finally reaches to the point of calling himself a body of death. A dead body. This is mourning. This is groaning. Then it should end in despair, right? But all of sudden there is thanksgiving. For what? It is because of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Then why is God making His people whom He divinely blessed before the creation complete this required course called mourning? God’s primary purpose of creating His people is not about them enjoying the reality of being blessed by Him. His purpose of creating His people is to make them praise God. Thus, the confirmation of their original place is a must for His people. They must know that their original place is nothing but a lump of blood in the mother’s womb in order for them to accept the reality of being called upon as a living being and praise God who has allowed that reality.
For his anger is but for a moment,
and his favor is for a lifetime.[c]
Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning…
To you, O Lord, I cry,
and to the Lord I plead for mercy:
9 “What profit is there in my death,[d]
if I go down to the pit?[e]
Will the dust praise you?
Will it tell of your faithfulness?
10 Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me!
O Lord, be my helper!”
11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
you have loosed my sackcloth
and clothed me with gladness,
12 that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever! Psalms 30:5, 8-12
Look at this. We abide with “weeping” while we live through the night called the history. But this weeping is a weeping with a promise of joy of the morning. There is nothing but a cry of “Lord, please help!” from the mouth of those who well know the mechanism of such salvation and new creation. Look at verse 9. “What profit is there in my death if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness? This is not a persuasion of “God please do not kill me because if you do, you cannot use me." This is something that comes out from the mouth of the saints when they realize their uselessness before God, having come face to face with the impossibility and powerlessness of their own being. We too often and too confidently pray in determination that “I will give my life to the Lord”.
Do you really think that our lives are worthy enough to be offered up to the Lord? Before God, our lives are nothing. Please do not ever forget that we are measured worthy because of the worth of Jesus in us. Then why do you often offer up your life like that? Some people clench their teeth saying they will suffer for the Lord. They think that our suffering will be good for the Lord. What good is our suffering for the Lord when even our blood is no benefit to the Lord? Despite this, we receive in thankfulness if God allows us to suffer for the Lord. That is why Jesus’ disciples thanked God for considering them worthy of suffering for the Lord when coming out of the prison after being badly beat up. Commitment? It is the same. Please do not even think that our body, ability, and talent are useful before God. If God uses us, be thankful and be used, and God does not use you, then, be still.
I will end this sermon after looking at a few more places in the scriptures how the reality of the Heaven completed by the cross of Jesus is like:
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Isaiah 35:10
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
12 “I, I am he who comforts you;
who are you that you are afraid of man who dies,
of the son of man who is made like grass, Isaiah 51:11-12
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place[a] of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people,[b] and God himself will be with them as their God.[c]4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:3-4
This reality in eternity has already come to you. As you live your life and this history which is confirming your original place, you must learn in mourning how thankful and undeserving this reality in eternity is. Do not try to camouflage or cover up yourself. Mourn. Be sad. But be comforted for your mourning has been taken care of at the cross already. God makes His people mourn with the law, the Old Testament and comforts them with grace, the New Testament. In that sense, the entire history of the humanity of the Old and New Testament is in the single verse of “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
The directionality of wanting not to grieve and make sad the Spirit of God comes out in the life of those people. Mourning itself is a transformation, isn’t it? Saints can never live the same as the people in the world. Mourning may turn into a struggle and a struggle into mourning, but in such process, the reality of comfort will overtake the saints.
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Ephesians 4:30