“And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying… ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted’ (Matt. 5:4). Mourning is the expression of care, the voice of pain, the sorrow of a broken heart. Those who mourn care deeply; they feel the weight of loss; they grieve over sin. Such sorrow expresses the longing to be released from inner sickness of evil, as Yeshua said: “from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts…” (Mark 7:21). Our own evil desires convict us of the truth… Here there is no place left to hide, no rationalization, no vain hope for self-reformation – just the raw revelation of our fatal condition and the sincere appeal for God’s mercy in Yeshua. Mourning over our sins draws us to God, to the Comforter (παράκλητος) who “comes alongside” to bind up the broken heart. The danger remains, however, for those who deny their sin and refuse to mourn, since they are made blind to God’s forgiveness and comfort (John 9:41). How shall God be able in heaven to dry up your tears when you haven’t wept?
Hebrew Lesson:
One of the great tests of our faith is “enduring ourselves” as we learn to love as God loves us… To do so, we must receive the miracle of Jesus… We must look beyond the realm of appearance, where the “outward man” perishes, to the realm of ultimate healing, where the “inward man” is finally liberated from the ravages of sin and death. This is comfort we have in affliction: God’s promise revives our hearts to say, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth” (Job 19:25). Even in the “shadow of the valley of death” (i.e., this moribund and broken world), the LORD is with us and comforts us with His Presence (Psalm 23:4). We are given this great promise: “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven” (1 Cor. 15:49).
Hebrew Lesson:
