Blessed Are the Meek,
for They Will Inherit the Earth
By Emily Hoppin
After having mourned over our sins, we are, as a natural consequence, humbled into being meek, a term few people use these days especially since being humble and gentle towards others is perceived as more of a weakness than a virtue. However, perhaps ‘meek’ could be better translated as ‘disciplined’. According to Dr. David King, a longtime professor at ABTS, the Greek word was used of a “wild horse which had been tamed and disciplined under the control of its master”. If you’re anything like me, you wince when you hear the word “discipline”. Discipline reminds of pain, punishment, and suffering. But what if discipline simply means learning restraint? God wants us to inherit the earth with Him and in order to do so we must learn self-control and the ability to act appropriately in all circumstances.
We are therefore disciplined by God into meekness so that we can “act rather than react to circumstances” because we know that He is sovereign. This is why, as heirs in the kingdom of Christ, we can enjoy the privileges and responsibilities that come with our newfound status on this earth without misusing the authority that has been given to us.
If we look at Jesus as our example, He was by no means a doormat. He had all the host of heaven at His disposal and could have called down fire from the sky to consume entire cities had He wanted to, yet He didn’t. As we can see in Philippians 2:6-9, Jesus, “who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name.”
In the same way, though Jesus has bestowed great privilege and authority upon us as God’s children, He expects us to humble ourselves and lay down our lives for others knowing full well the wretched state of sin that we have also been saved from, in the hopes that we too may inherit the earth with Christ.
who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant […] Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name.
Philippians 2:6-7, 9