Last week we examined the quality of meekness.
Let me offer two final thoughts on meekness
First, there is a balance. The same Jesus who was meek when arrested and crucified is also the same Jesus who pronounced the 7 “woes” on the Jewish leaders. In Matthew 23 He said things like, “Woe to you!” and called them snakes, brood of vipers, white-washed tombs, hypocrites, sons of hell, blind fools, unclean, and wicked. John the Baptist who certainly stretched out his neck to receive his martyrdom when they cut his head off was the same Baptist who said to the leaders, “you brood of vipers!”
The point is there is a time to call out evil and there is a time to submit to it. There is a time for everything under the sun Ecclesiastes says. Meekness does mean warning evil men even when you are submitting to their evil. Polycarp the great Church Father was a perfect example of this. When he was brought into the Coliseum and told he should renounce Christ and walk away alive he gives us a clinic on how to respond:
[The proconsul] tried to persuade Polycarp to a denial saying, ‘Have respect for your age,’ and ‘Swear by the genius of Caesar; repent and say, Away with the atheists.’ Then Polycarp looked upon the whole crowd of lawless heathen that were in the stadium, and waved his hand to them; and looking up to heaven he said, ‘Away with the atheists.’
But when the magistrate pressed him hard and said, ‘Swear the oath, and I will release you – revile the Christ,’ Polycarp said, ‘Eighty-six years have I been His servant, and He has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King who saved me?’
But the magistrate persisted, ‘Swear by the genius of Caesar.’ But Polycarp answered ‘If you make the mistake in believing that I will swear by the genius of Caesar, as you say, and if you think I will pretend that you are ignorant who I am, then hear me right now plainly, I am a Christian. But if you would want to learn about Christianity just name the day and time and I will meet you.
The proconsul said; ‘You can go win the people.’ But Polycarp said; ‘As for you I have held you worthy of conversation; for we have been taught by our Lord to give to princes and authorities honor; but as for these crowds I do not hold them worthy, that I should defend myself before them.’
Whereupon the magistrate said; ‘I have wild beasts here and I will throw you to them, unless you repent’ But Polycarp said, ‘Call for them: repentance from better to worse is a change not permitted to us; but it is a noble thing to change from wrong to righteousness’
Then the magistrate said to him again, ‘I will cause you to be consumed by fire, if you are not afraid of the wild beasts, unless you repent.’ But Polycarp said; ‘You threaten that fire which burns for a season and after a little while is quenched. But you are ignorant of the eternal fire of the future judgment and punishment, which is reserved for the ungodly. But why delay anymore? Come, do what you will
Do you not swell with pride fellow Christians at such an inheritance as Polycarp? Polycarp is ours – he belongs to us! Let us belong to him – and let us be worthy by having the same meekness and the same witness.
Second, the Bible tells us situations meekness should be seen. Turn to Hebrews 10:32-34
- Suffering (32)
- Insults & persecution (33)
- Imprisonment & confiscation of property (34)
- Furthermore, John 9 shows us that people who publicly professed belief in Jesus would be shut out of Jewish life.
- Acts shows us how Stephen, James, Peter, John, Paul and the early Church were physically beaten, imprisoned, and even killed for their public witness of Christ.
In each situation these godly men conducted themselves with meekness, stepping into and embracing the punishment the world brought on them over the name of Jesus.
What is more, they didn’t accept it begrudgingly, but gladly! Acts 5 says Peter and John left the prison with bleeding backs after the Jews whipped them and they celebrated that they had been worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus. Turn to 1 Peter 2:19-23 with me to see how “just like Christ” they were. “To this you were called”! Just like Jesus, who left us an example that we should follow in his footsteps. His footsteps of MEEKNESS – look again at verse 23.
The motivation to be meek includes two motivations: first, to emulate Jesus Christ our Savior, as 1 Peter shows us. But second, we know the whole earth belongs to us and it will be ours in the coming kingdom when Jesus returns. Which brings us to our next point.
THE MEEK LOOK TO THE FUTURE BLESSING
Jesus isn’t just stating a fact in Matthew 5:5 that the meek will inherit the earth. He is also providing a motivation for meekness. Those who are meek are meek because they are looking forward to the blessing of inheriting the whole earth. Meekness is forward looking. Looking forward means “faith.” Meekness is a trait of those who have faith. Their faith is expressed in meekness. They can be meek now because they trust God’s word that they will inherit the earth.
Is life on this earth really the future? Is earth really what’s ahead for us? Absolutely. Let me show you.
- Psalm 2:7-11
- Psalm 37:11
- Isaiah 2:2-4
- Isaiah 19:23-25
- Isaiah 60:18-22
- Daniel 2:34-35
- Daniel 7:26-27
- Matthew 25:34
- 1 Corinthians 15:23-25
- Rev 2:26-27
- Revelation 21:1-8
This kingdom is not won by political or military might. It is given by God as a gift to those who have faith in Jesus and His words. And they showed they have faith by following Christ’s example of meekness, with courage voluntarily submitting to injustice in this life all while knowing full well they are heirs of everything in the next life.
- Daniel 7:8 says, ““But the holy people of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever – yes forever and ever.”
- The Antichrist will rule, Dan 7:22 says, “Until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the holy people of the Most High and the time came when they possessed the kingdom.”
This whole idea in this verse is interesting. Why does Jesus connect these two? What is the connection between the meek and possessing the earth? I don’t think we would say He was doing random coupling together of virtues and blessings. The mourning will receive comfort. Those pair together. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled -those pair together. The merciful will be shown mercy – those pair together. They all pair together. What is the connection between meekness and inheriting the earth?
My suggested answer is this: the earth does not belong to those who conquer it, but to those who trust in God. Meekness by its very nature is not a conquering trait. It is a trait of conquering yourself, but not the earth. Conquerors are not meek. And biblically we see that those who conquer the earth during history will not keep it. We see in Scriptures such as Daniel 2 where it says 4 kingdoms will come and they will all be destroyed by a divine kingdom that will come and fill the whole earth. And those that belong to that King will enter that kingdom and become heirs of the whole earth.
APPLICATIONS
- Mark and avoid any teachers who promote conquest missions of the Church. The notions of the recently developing Woke Right or that species of Christian Nationalist who believe the Church is to be militant and conquer the earth for Jesus are biblically ignorant. Or they are just really bad at understanding the Scriptures. Or they are bad actors trying to hijack the faith for militant-political purposes. Any end times theology or missiology (theology of the mission of the church) that says the Church’s job right now and the measure of its success is to politically conquer, and to marry the Church to the State, is a false teaching. Mark and avoid.
- Learn meekness. If we are learning meekness we are learning Christ.
- So stop fretting over evil people who take what they will now – because we get it all in the end. What they take now they get only for a while and then it will be taken from them. But what we are given by God in the end we keep forever. What can they do to my body? I get a new glorious one! What can they take from me? Everything will be given to me!
- Don’t live now oblivious to the kingdom that is coming. “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” The kingdom is not seen now. But it will one day be seen all over the whole earth. Do not live like you don’t know this. Live knowing this
- Start thinking of yourself for what you are: an heir and co-heir with Jesus Christ. The earth is yours and everything in it. Its just like with Abraham: God told him the land was his. But he died and he never took possession of all that was promised. That’s because he’s going to take possession of every promise when Christ returns. Its the same with us. Like Abraham, he’s telling us “Its all yours.” But we won’t see it in this age. We will see it finally as “ours” when Christ comes.