07/01/2012
"Blessed Are The Meek”
Scripture Reading:
I Peter 1:13-25; Revelation 5:1-14 Would you take your Bible with me and open it to the Gospel of Matthew and chapter five and the Sermon on the Mount.
Nearly everyone in the world knows something about the person of Jesus Christ. We know He’s unique. We know He’s a Man of Sterling character; a teacher, a prophet, a friend and a Savior. One man puts it this way. “The crowds found His compassion constant, and He was humble and meek before His enemies. He treated the poor with respect and the children with love and tenderness. His character was pure, selfless, and sinless.” [Found on www.tenbasicsteps.org]. And we know He has had the greatest influence upon mankind of any man who ever lived. Practically speaking, Jesus is the Ideal human being. So, when we read the LORD’s Sermon on the Mount, we can expect to see not only what we should be like, but also just what He is like. Please follow as I read verse one. Matthew 5:1 “And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: (2) And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, (3) Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (4) Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. (5) Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” You see, if Jesus uses these sorts of terms to describe what you and I ought to be, then, can’t we be sure that He Himself has the same qualities? Absolutely. Today topic is meekness, verse five. (5) “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” |
Now, of all the animals in the Bible, which one comes to your mind as the one that illustrates meekness?
Would it be the bear? How about the lion? How about the whale? How about the horse? No. For some reason, our hearts and minds are drawn towards the lamb. And it may be that the lamb is the meekest of all of God’s creatures. Think back to the first Passover before the Jews ever left Egypt. What was it that God required of them before they left their homes? Exodus 12:3 “Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: (4) And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. (5) Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: (6) And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. (7) And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. (8) And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. (9) Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance (organs) thereof. (10) And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. |