“BLESSED are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted.” Matt. 5:4.
THERE are two questions that one naturally wishes to have answered when reading this text, namely, What mourners shall be comforted? and, When shall they be comforted?
NOTE the fact that the promise is unlimited. Christ said that he was sent “to comfort all that mourn.” Isa. 61:2. God is no respecter of persons. He does not single out special cases to be the recipients of his grace. This promise is for every mourner.
THE first and most natural thought suggested by the word “mourn” is of sorrow caused by affliction and bereavement. That the Lord comforts such mourners is shown by his whole earthly life, and is specially manifest in the case of the widow of Nain, and at the grave of Lazarus. He has comfort for every manner of grief.
BUT death is the result of sin. “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin.” Rom. 5:12 “The sting of death is sin.” 1 Cor. 15:56. If it were not for sin, there would be no mourning. Therefore the Lord specially comforts those who mourn for their sins.
ONE thing, however, is necessary, and that is that the mourners should know this promise. It is self-evident that in order to be comforted one must know where comfort is to be obtained. The mourner must believe this promise of the Lord, and become acquainted with him through it. There is absolutely no limit to the promise, and no other qualification than that the mourner should believe and know the Lord. Whoever accepts the word of the Lord in good faith, shall be comforted, no matter for what he mourns.
WHEN shall they be comforted? Let the Scriptures answer: “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.” 2 Cor. 1:3–5.
WHOEVER is afflicted for any cause whatever, may know if he will that he is afflicted with Christ. “In all their affliction he was afflicted.” Isa. 63:9. Even tho the affliction be directly because of sin, we may have the same assurance, for we are told, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,” and, “For the transgression of my people was he stricken.” Isa. 53:7, 8. The thought alone that Christ bears with us the burden of grief or temptation, is enough to make it light, because it draws our minds away from ourselves.
BUT Christ can not be divided. The one who has Christ has him for all that there is in him. Therefore if our faith grasps him in his sufferings—that is, if we remember that “he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows,” so that we bear them only in him—then it is most certain that we shall have at the same time all the comfort there is in him. As “the joy that was set before him” enabled him to endure the cross, and despise the shame, so the joy that there is in him enables us to rejoice in tribulation.
