Gospel of John [16:33]. Why the believer has tribulation in the world [part 5]. Mat 5:3-12; Rom 8:17; 1Co 3:21.

Title: Gospel of John [16:33]. Why the believer has tribulation in the world [part 5]. MAT 5:3-12; ROM 8:17; 1CO 3:21.

 

MAT 5:6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

 

MAT 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 

MAT 5:4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

 

MAT 5:5 "Blessed are the gentle [Greek: praus (prah-ooce); KJV - meek], for they shall inherit the earth [PSA 37:11].

 

The word for gentle or meek (praus and prautes)is a close kin of the word for poor. It is impossible that the genuinely humble should not also be gentle in spirit.

 

It is very clear that this condition of gentleness is demanded of the CA believer and is expounded upon in the NT.

 

So we conclude with certainty that we are to have a gentle spirit.

 

The interpretation problem for the CA is the inheritance of the earth, or literally, the land.

 

Clearly, the promise to the Jews was the possession of the Promised Land and in the future, the land covenant or the Palestinian covenant.

 

The promise of land to the Jews or the Palestinian covenant is to be fulfilled in the Millennium:

 

GEN 15:18

"To your descendants I have given this land,

From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:

 

But this is not the inheritance of the CA believer. Since the call to gentleness is so prevalent to the Church, how can we interpret a land inheritance to the CA believer?

 

Israel is a picture of the believer's soul. The Promised Land represents the inheritance of Christ. "Fellow heirs of Christ if indeed we suffer with Him." ROM 8:17

 

ROM 8:12 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh — 

 

ROM 8:13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

 

ROM 8:14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God [gently or bit and bridle].

 

ROM 8:15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"

 

ROM 8:16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

 

ROM 8:17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.

 

ROM 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

 

The Promised Land was the ultimate blessing to the patriarchs. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob constantly claimed the promise of the land. The Babylonian exiles longed to return to their land, so much so that they prayed in its direction. The Jews of Jesus' day longed for independence upon their land and looked for Jesus to deliver it to them, however, without His spirituality.

 

Therefore, the land to the Jew represents to us the fullness of the inheritance in Christ, of which we will not realize if we do not suffer with Him, and if we are not genuinely humble and gentle in spirit, we will not see it all in time.

 

Get His mind and the suffering will come, but with it, the greatest peace you could have ever thought possible.

 

All believers possess what Christ possesses but not all believers experience those possessions in their lives; they who love the world.

 

1CO 3:18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become foolish that he may become wise.

 

1CO 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, "He is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness";

 

1CO 3:20 and again, "The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are useless."

 

1CO 3:21 So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you,

 

1CO 3:22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you,

 

1CO 3:23 and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.

 

Yet we see that some portion of this inheritance in Christ can be lost, and if so, the inheritance will not be experienced in time. Get His mind and you will experience it in full.

 

1CO 3:10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building upon it. But let each man be careful how he builds upon it.

 

1CO 3:11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

 

1CO 3:12 Now if any man builds upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,

 

1CO 3:13 each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it, because it is to be revealed with fire; and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work.

 

1CO 3:14 If any man's work which he has built upon it remains, he shall receive a reward.

 

1CO 3:15 If any man's work is burned up, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire

 

MAT 5:6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

 

Some expositors view this as the righteousness imputed at salvation or justification, but this is not a salvation message.

 

Yet this righteousness is to be taken as it is in verse 10 as the believers deep craving for conformity to the entire law of God.

 

ROM 8:2

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

 

The Lord uses something that we always crave; food and water. The craving righteousness in found in the OT and the NT, however, the law of the OT has been fulfilled in Christ and abolished and the new law of the CA is life in Christ Jesus.

 

We have recently noted that our Lord said that He gives rivers of living water from which we will never thirst again, and that He is the bread from heaven from which we will never hunger again.

 

We also noted that this did not mean that we never thirst for wisdom, virtue, correction, guidance, power, etc. but that when we desire these divine things God gives them and quenches our thirst and hunger. A carnal believer, i.e. Corinthian, who continues to hunger for the flesh and the world is the one in view who is not blessed or prospered in the soul.  

 

"Christ satisfies a man not by banishing his thirst, which would be to stunt his soul's growth, but by bestowing upon him by the gift of his Spirit an inward source of satisfaction which perennially and spontaneously supplies each recurrent need of refreshment." [G.H.C. Macgregor]

 

John 17:4"I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.

 

John 17:5"Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.