Matthew 5:3.
Blessed are the poor in spirit:
For theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.
Matthew 13:11.
And He answering said unto them,
Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens,
but to them it is not given.
Matthew 24:42.
Watch therefore: for ye know not on what day your Lord cometh.
Dear Lord, as we continue to worship Thee, we want to praise and thank Thee, knowing that Thou who hast come into this world and offered Thyself as the Lamb of God for the sin of the world, hast risen from the dead, ascended up on high, and art coming back again.
We worship Thee because Thou art the King of kings and the Lord of lords, even though the world does not know Thee. And yet, all by Thy grace, we who are redeemed know that Thou art not only our Savior; Thou art now our King.
Teach us how to serve Thee, how to manifest Thy kingship in our lives, that we may glorify Thee. We commit this time into Thy hands and trust Thy Holy Spirit to guide us in our meditation. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
Last day, we meditated together on that verse of our Lord Jesus, who said, “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of the heavens suffereth violence, and men of violence take it by force.”
The kingdom of the heavens is a very special term in Scripture. It is one section in the kingdom of God, for the kingdom of God is from eternity to eternity.
The kingdom of the heavens is that section in the kingdom of God which runs from the first coming of our Lord Jesus, the King of the heavens, into this earth, and ends with His second coming to set up His kingdom upon the earth.
The kingdom of the heavens has a special relationship with us believers, His disciples, the church. So, brothers and sisters, it is very, very important that we have a clear understanding of what the kingdom of the heavens is and how much it means to each one of us in our daily life as Christians. It determines our future destiny. So it has everything to do with us believers.
I feel that we cannot move on to other things until we have a very clear understanding and appreciation of what the kingdom of the heavens is. So this morning, I feel that we would like to do some more meditation together—not in the sense that I am preaching and you are listening. That is another way.
I want brothers and sisters to join with me together in meditating on what the kingdom of the heavens is to us.
I picked out three verses, but I do not know whether we can cover them all. Anyway, we know that the Gospel according to Matthew is the Gospel of the kingdom.
In Matthew, you have the full scope of what the kingdom of the heavens is. This is a special term used by Matthew. In the book of Matthew, you find there are three peaks concerning the kingdom of the heavens.
In Matthew 5 through 7, you have the revelation of the nature, the reality, and the eternal truth of the kingdom of the heavens—what the kingdom of the heavens really is.
Then, in Matthew 13, you have the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens, spoken by our Lord in parables. Why? Because it tells us of the development, the history, of the kingdom of the heavens as it is in this world.
It is only understood by those who are disciples of our Lord Jesus. It is not meant to be understood by the world. The world looks at the kingdom of the heavens as a mystery; they cannot understand it. But we who are the Lord’s should understand how it develops through history.
Then you find in Matthew 24 and 25 the so-called Olivet Discourse. It is a prophecy our Lord gives as to the coming of the kingdom of the heavens upon this earth—the public manifestation of that kingdom.
So you find in the Gospel of Matthew the whole scope of the kingdom of the heavens.
Now, in Matthew 5 through 7, the so-called Sermon on the Mount, remember that our Lord is not speaking to the multitudes. The Bible says the multitudes came to Him, but He speaks to His disciples. The multitudes overhear it, but it is the disciples whom our Lord addresses.
The Sermon on the Mount is not a new law. Moses gave the law, and people say our Lord Jesus gave a new law. Not at all, because no one can keep such a word.
Our Lord does not expect anyone to be able to keep these words that He speaks in Matthew 5 through 7. The more you try to keep these words, the more you realize it is humanly impossible.
So what is the Sermon on the Mount? The Lord is telling us what the kingdom of the heavens really is, what kingship really is, and how people who are disciples of Him take upon themselves the character of the King of the heavens.
That is what it is. In other words, it is grace; it is not law. No one can do it, but grace is well able to transform us into the likeness of our King. In being that, we become the kingdom of the heavens.
Matthew 5 shows us the product of His grace—what His grace has done in a people. Matthew 6 tells us the process: how does it work? How does it come about that people like we are can be transformed and become like what He is?
Matthew 7 tells us how to possess it. In other words, what is our response and our responsibility to the grace of God? Now, we are not able to deal with this in detail, so out of these three chapters we take only one verse. That is the verse we want to meditate on together.
You know, I looked up the word meditate. The word meditate in Greek surprised me. I always thought of meditation as a matter of the mind. We use our mind to meditate.
But it surprised me. Why? Because the word meditate in Greek first of all means to set your heart on it, and then to practice it. It is more than a matter of the mind; it is a matter of the heart.
That is the reason why you find in Psalm, “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable unto Thee.” Meditation is more than using your mind; it is using your heart. Set your heart upon it, and then ponder over it—not with your natural mind, but with your renewed mind. That is meditation.
Our Lord Jesus said:
Blessed are the poor in spirit:
For theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.
Who does the kingdom of the heavens belong to? Who are the kingdom of the heavens? The kingdom of the heavenly King—what is it? Who are they?
The so-called Beatitudes are actually a picture of what the King of the heavens is. These Beatitudes tell us the character of the King, and that character is to characterize those who are in His kingdom.
Blessed are the poor in spirit.
When you hear of the kingdom of the heavens, probably the impression upon you is that it is not glad tidings at all. It seems hard, difficult, demanding a lot, full of conditions. You have to struggle for it. The violent take it. It does not sound like a gospel, glad tidings.
But, brothers and sisters, it is glad tidings. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.
You know, “blessed,” that word, makes us happy. Happy are those poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens. Now, when you hear the message, you may feel there is not much happiness in it. It seems as if it takes away your happiness. It is so difficult.
But, dear brothers and sisters, this is true happiness. You do not know true joy, true happiness, until you are poor in spirit. It is the blessed position that we are to be put in.
Naturally, we are all proud people. Do not think that you are humble. When people say, “Look how humble I am,” you know that is the expression of extraordinary pride.
What does Isaiah say about that archangel, Lucifer? He began to think of himself. He was created by God in such beauty, so talented, and put in the highest place as a cherub on the throne of God. He was supposed to lead the angels, the angelic host, to worship God and to sing praises unto God. He was given great power and authority.
But instead of being conscious only of God, his Creator, he began to look upon himself: “How beautiful. How talented. How powerful. What position. What authority.” He began to be self-conscious. The more he was conscious of himself, the prouder he became. The more ambitious he became.
He wanted to be equal with God. This brought sin into the world.
The same thing happened to mankind. God created Adam and Eve in His image, according to His likeness, for the glory of God—to obey God, to honor God, and to keep His commandment. And yet man began to think of himself: “I want to be God. I am over all the creatures, but that is not enough. I want to be God.”
Pride, self-consciousness, self-importance, self-glory—that is the root of all sin.
This is the spirit of the world, of the kingdom of this world. They respect; they even worship those who are proud, arrogant, charismatic, able to project themselves above other people—ambitious, seeking for themselves. These are the people respected by the world.
This is the spirit of the kingdom of this world. This is how we are born, which is pride. We think of ourselves more than anything else.
If you think you are humble, wait until someone says something that you think you do not deserve. Why do you think you do not deserve such criticism? Because you are much better than that. Is that not pride?
Why is it we are hurt when people criticize us? There is pride. You know, it is our very constitution; we cannot help it.
But the kingdom of the heavens is entirely different.
Blessed are the poor in spirit.
Not a haughty spirit. Not like the Laodiceans: “We are rich, lacking nothing. We have everything.”
Such character, such a trait, is not earthly. You cannot find it on earth. It comes from heaven. When the King of the heavens visited this earth, He brought that character to this world.
You remember Philippians 2:5-8. He, being equal with God, counted it not a thing to be grasped after. In other words, that was His right. Yet He emptied Himself.
He emptied Himself of all the glory, honor, and worship that were His by right. He could not empty Himself of His deity, because that is what He is. He is God forever. But He put aside everything connected with it. He took up the form of a bondservant. That is the inward feeling: poor in spirit.
And being found in fashion as a man, He was obedient to the Father, even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.
Poor in spirit—you can only find it in Christ Jesus, the King of the heavens.
You would think of a king as riding on a horse, commanding, demanding, “Serve!” But the Lord said, in the kingdom of the heavens it is different. He came to serve, not to be served, and to give His life a ransom for many. Poor in spirit—that is where you can find it.
Brothers and sisters, why is poverty of spirit placed first in the Beatitudes? Of course, when you think of God, probably you would put love first, because God is love. But here you find in the Beatitudes that the poor in spirit is the first blessing. Why? It is because it concerns us.
So far as we are concerned, this is where it must begin. All the other qualities of Christ that are to be impressed in us and become ours come after this one quality: poor in spirit. Only when you are poor in spirit will all the rest, all the blessings, follow. That is the reason why it is put as the first blessing.
How can we do it—we who are naturally proud, even though we have almost nothing? Brothers and sisters, this is beyond us. We cannot do it. It is the work of God, the work of the Holy Spirit.
When the Holy Spirit works this character of our King into our lives, He works in two ways.
Positively, He reveals the glory and the beauty of the King to us. You do not know how poor you are until you really see the wealthy. You do not know how ugly you are until you meet real beauty.
Brothers and sisters, we often compare ourselves with other people whom we consider inferior to us. Why do we not compare ourselves with superior people? Because of pride.
A revelation of the beauty of the Lord reduces our beauty to ashes. You remember Daniel. Daniel was like a perfect person. Who can compare with Daniel? He was the prime minister of the greatest empire at that time in the world. He managed so many things, and yet his enemies could not find any fault to accuse him.
And yet, in Daniel 10, when Daniel saw the glory of the Lord, he said, “My comeliness was turned in me into corruption.”
You know the reason why we are not poor in spirit—the reason why we are proud and haughty in spirit—is because we have not seen the Lord. We always compare ourselves with other brothers and sisters.
But once the Spirit of God reveals Christ to you, then your beauty turns into corruption. You will no longer boast of your strength or your beauty. You will fall down before Him, as Daniel did.
Our problem is that we see ourselves, we see others, but we do not see Christ. That is our problem. Who is willing to let go of himself? Who is willing to acknowledge that he is nobody, unless he sees the One who is perfect?
So, brothers and sisters, what we need is to have a revelation, a vision, of our Lord Jesus. That is what we need, because only that can humble us.
But when the Holy Spirit gets to work, it is more than just revealing to us the beauty of our Lord. He also works in us the work of emptying.
He begins to empty us—empty us of all that we boast of, all that we consider our beauty and our strength. He begins to apply the cross to our lives.
It is a painful process, but it is a necessary one, because it makes room to be filled with Christ. So, dear brothers and sisters, the working of the cross in our lives is necessary to make room for Christ.
We are so full of ourselves. We are so full of our opinions. We are so full of our self-seeking. All these have to go. We have to be reduced in order that Christ may increase. But what is increased is no longer ourselves; it is Christ.
So we say it is the work of the Holy Spirit. But there is our cooperation. We need to be willing. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives. If we are ready, He will do it.
Now, some people may say, “If I am reduced, I become nobody. Is that not very pessimistic, very negative? Where is my personality?”
True. If you try to reduce yourself and make yourself poor in spirit, that is what will happen. You will despise yourself. No self-esteem, no self-respect anymore: “I am nobody. I am nothing. I am finished.”
If you do it yourself, that is what will happen. But if it is the work of the Holy Spirit, there is a difference.
Why? Because, on the one hand, it is true: He brings you to know yourself in a real way. And when you know yourself in the real way, you despise yourself.
Do you ever despise yourself? If you have never despised yourself, you do not know yourself. Indeed, under the light of heaven, you despise yourself. You do not want to know yourself, and that is why you deny yourself. Why do you deny yourself? Because you do not want to know self; it is a shame.
But thank God, it is not negative at all, because Christ—His life, His character—begins to build up for the glory of God, not for you.
When you are brought into that state, you are really happy. You know why you are not happy? Because you have too much of yourself. When you are free from yourself and Christ fills your heart, you are in a blessed position, in a happy position. The kingdom of the heavens is yours.
So, brothers and sisters, let us meditate on it. Meditate more until the Lord’s work is done in our lives. That is the Sermon on the Mount.
Then, you know, our Lord Jesus in Matthew 13 moves on. After the Pharisees and the scribes blasphemed the Holy Spirit in Matthew 12, then in Matthew 13, when our Lord addressed the multitudes, He no longer spoke openly; He used parables.
A parable is placing alongside a familiar scene to illustrate something deeper in spiritual meaning. That is a parable.
So our Lord Jesus began to speak in parables. When He did that, His disciples came to Him and said, “Why do You speak in parables and not in plain words?” Our Lord said, “Because the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens are for you to understand, not for the world.”
Brothers and sisters, the kingdom of the heavens, so far as the world is concerned, is a mystery. It is something hidden; it is a secret, unless it is explained. But to us, the disciples of our Lord Jesus, He explains it to us. He opens our understanding, because such mysteries are supposed to be known to us.
Now, do you know these parables? These parables are very important because they tell us of the historical development of the kingdom of the heavens upon this earth. But this is hidden from the world, and yet our Lord opens it up to us who are His, so that we can understand how it develops.
At the coming of our Lord Jesus, the kingdom of the heavens was brought down from heaven to earth, and He is gradually building up that kingdom. The process is shown to us in Matthew 13.
These seven parables, or eight, are continuous. They have a continuous history. The first parable is the parable of the sower. The Sower is none other than our Lord Jesus Himself. He came into this world to sow the word of the kingdom. That is the seed.
The field is the heart of man. When the word of the kingdom of the heavens is sown into the heart, unfortunately only one out of four is prepared ground to receive the word and, with patience, begin to bear fruit. That is the beginning of the history of the kingdom of the heavens on earth.
Then you have the second parable: the wheat and the tares. In this parable, you find there is a progression. The wheat, the seed that the Sower has sown, has become the sons of the kingdom of the heavens.
In other words, the word of the King of the heavens has been received. It begins to change these people to become sons of the kingdom of heaven. They are also in this world—that is the field. Everywhere you have the sons of the kingdom of the heavens.
Yet the enemy, without the knowledge of the servants—though of course the Master knew it—came and sowed in the same field, that is, in the world, tares: sons of the wicked one. They grow together.
When they grow up, the servants begin to realize it. So they came to the Lord and said, “Who did it? What should we do with it? Should we pull them all out?” No. Leave them alone, because if you pull out the tares, you will pull out the wheat too, because their roots have become intertwined. Wait until the harvest time.
Now, brothers and sisters, what is this? This is the outward appearance of the kingdom of the heavens on this earth today. It is a picture of Christianity. It is a picture of Christendom.
Wherever the gospel is preached, wherever the usefulness of the gospel goes—whether it is a hospital, a school, or something else—you find Christianity begins to spread. In Christianity, you have mixture. People profess to be Christians, but they are false brothers.
You cannot pull them out. If you do, you pull everything out. You have to wait until the harvest time—that is the end of the world. It is not the work of man; it is the work of the angels. The Lord will send His angels to sort them out, burn the tares, and bring the wheat into the garner.
That is the second parable. You see the development here.
Then you have the third and fourth parables, and the fifth and sixth. These two pairs are contrasts. The third and fourth tell us of the abnormal growth of the outward appearance of the kingdom of the heavens.
The mustard seed is a small seed, a living seed. Our Lord said, “If you have faith like a mustard seed, you can remove the mountain.” Why? Because it is living. But still, you find mustard is a vegetable, and yet this mustard seed has grown to be a tree—big, huge, abnormal growth.
Because of this, all the birds came and lodged in it. Now, in the first parable, you remember the birds represent the devil. So in this parable, it is the same.
In other words, you find Christianity has outgrown its nature. It has become an abnormal growth, a big institution in this world. In the big institution, all kinds of evil find their nest. That is the outward appearance.
The inward condition is shown in the fourth parable. The woman put leaven into three measures of meal. Three measures of meal are supposed to be a meal offering to God, but you should not have leaven. Here leaven is put in; it brings corruption. All kinds of teachings have corrupted the gospel of Jesus Christ.
That is what you find in the outward appearance of the so-called kingdom of the heavens in this world.
But thank God, there are the fifth and sixth parables: the treasure and the pearl. These represent that even in this confusion, there is still the real thing there—the hidden ones, hidden to the world but known to Christ. For that, He gave all to possess.
Brothers and sisters, the treasure speaks of all the truth, and the pearl speaks of all the experience of God. That is the reality within. In spite of all the abnormal growth and corruption, within God still has His own.
Finally, you have the dragnet. That is the end of the world. Everything will be separated.
Dear brothers and sisters, that is the history of the kingdom of the heavens upon the earth, and our Lord wants us to know it. But to the world, it is still a mystery. They do not know it.
Finally, in Matthew 24 and 25, our Lord prophesies how the kingdom of the heavens will eventually be established upon this earth, when the kingdom of this world shall become the kingdom of the Lord and of His Christ.
Oh, brothers and sisters, do not think that our Lord is not working. Do not think that the kingdom of the heavens will never be publicly established upon this earth.
Though He is in heaven at the right hand of the Father, He is not sleeping. He is working. The Bible tells us He is working. He is opening the seals. He is working to bring His kingdom in, to make the kingdom of this world the kingdom of God and of His Christ. He is working. We can be assured of that.
There will be lots of tribulations, lots of conflicts, because the enemy does not want to give up. But he has no choice; his end is coming.
All the signs show us that it is near—nearer than you think.
Brothers and sisters, our Lord can come at any moment. All the prophecies before the coming of the Lord have been fulfilled. There are prophecies that will be fulfilled before the coming of the Lord, during the coming of the Lord, and after the coming of the Lord. But so far as before the coming of the Lord is concerned, all prophecies have been fulfilled. It can happen at any moment.
But we do not know the time. So what is the word of the Lord to us?
Watch therefore.
Do not go to sleep. Do not be complacent. Do not allow the world to take away your heart. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
Be violent to yourself, that you may seize on it. Be poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens. Be prepared for it. If you are ready, then at any time, when He suddenly comes, you will be with Him.
Brothers and sisters, see how important the kingdom of the heavens is. If we do not live in the kingdom of the heavens today, when the kingdom of the heavens is openly, publicly, and universally established upon this earth, where will you be?
You will be cast into outer darkness—that is to say, you will have no part in the kingdom. You cannot reign with Christ for a thousand years. You cannot enter into the joy of the Lord, gnashing your teeth and regretting that, for the love of a moment, you sacrificed the glory of a thousand years.
That does not mean you are not saved. You are saved. In eternity, you will be in the heavenly Jerusalem, but you will have no part in the kingdom of the heavens during that thousand years.
So, brothers and sisters, let us meditate on it. Set your heart upon it. Practice. Ponder over it. Do not allow this just to get away. It has everything to do with you today and tomorrow.
So may the Lord have mercy upon us, knowing that His grace is sufficient. Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee because Thy heart is for our good. Thou dost desire to bless, to remove from us everything that stands in the way of Thy blessing.
Bring us into the position that Thou canst really bless us with Thy blessing. And we want to bless Thee in Thy precious name.