“Blessed are the gentle (or those who are humble and meek) for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). I believe this refers to those who will not fight for their rights, who will not retaliate when ill-treated. Jesus showed what meekness was when His rights were taken away, and He did not fight back. He did not curse those who cursed Him. He did not pray for God's judgment on those who crucified Him. He said to us in Matthew 11:29, “Learn from Me, for I'm meek and gentle of heart - I'm humble and gentle of heart.” It’s not an easy word to fully translate in English, and that's why there are many different translations that people use - “gentle” (in the margin of my Bible it says “humble, meek”). The general picture is one who is not fighting for his rights on earth, because it says that he shall inherit the earth one day. God gives the earth to those who do not fight for it. This is God's Way.
It's not those who fight for their rights to whom God gives His greatest blessings, but those who yield their rights. Jesus went down to the cross; He yielded up all His rights. His humility and His meekness were seen in this, that He humbled Himself to the point of death, even death on a shameful cross (Philippians 2:8). He was humiliated and put to shame, and because He was willing to go down like that, to that level, therefore, it says in Philippians 2:9, “God exalted Him and gave Him a name which is above every name.” The reason why Christ is exalted to the right hand of the Father today is not because He was always there for all eternity. He was always there as God. But when He came to earth as a Man, He earned His right to come to the right hand of the Father. It is very important to understand that. He earned a right to come back to the right hand of the Father because He demonstrated the nature of God so perfectly in His earthly life, as a man facing all types of temptations, and He humbled Himself to the point of death, even death on a cross. He didn't fight for His rights and therefore, one day the whole earth will be given to Him.
Right now He's been given a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth. That's not yet happened. A lot of people despise the name of Jesus and do not bow to His name today. The demons don't, and a lot of people on earth don't. But a day will definitely come when every knee will bow at the name of Jesus and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, and the whole earth will be given to Him. It will belong to Him because He was meek. And so, to the ones who follow Him in that road of meekness, Jesus said, “Learn from Me” (Matt 11:29). The only thing He told us to learn from Him was this gentleness and meekness. “Learn from Me, for I’m gentle and humble, meek and lowly of heart.” This is something we have to learn from Jesus Himself. He doesn't tell us to learn from a book. He says, “Look at Me and see how I did not fight for My rights, how I gave up My rights and I was meek and lowly, and you will find rest for your souls.” I believe there’s only one reason why so many Christians are at unrest, in tension, and some have nervous breakdowns: they're not meek. They are inwardly fighting for something. They are seeking for their rights, and therefore they are at unrest.
Humility is one of the virtues that is most easily counterfeited. True humility is not something that others see in us. It is what God sees in us - and it is inward. It is exemplified in Jesus' life. Philippians 2:5-8 tells us that Jesus renounced His privileges and rights as God and became a servant, and was willing to accept even crucifixion from men's hands. We are to follow Him in that path of humility.
Jesus humbled himself in 3 steps.
- He became a Man.
- He became a servant.
- On the cross, He was willing to be treated like a criminal.
There we see the three secrets of the Christian life: HUMILITY, HUMILITY and HUMILITY.
The angels must have looked on in wonder when Jesus lived for 33 years on earth and when they saw Him serving others so humbly, and patiently enduring suffering, insult and injury. They had been used to worshipping Him for years in heaven. But when they saw His conduct on earth, they learnt something more about the nature of God - His lowliness and humility - that they had never seen or understood all the time that Jesus was in heaven. Now God wants to show the angels in heaven that same spirit of Christ through us in the church (as it says in Eph.3:10). What do the angels see in us and in our conduct now? Does our conduct bring glory to God?
Remember that humility is the greatest virtue of all. Humility acknowledges that all that we are and have are the gifts of God. Humility makes us value and esteem all human beings, especially the weak, the uncultured, the retarded and the poor. Only on that soil of humility can the fruit of the Spirit and the virtues of Christ grow. So you must live in a constant judgment of yourself, to ensure that no poison of high thoughts or honour-seeking or taking the glory that should be given to God, ever enters into your heart at any time. Meditate much on the humility of Jesus. That is my most important exhortation to you.
