“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Matthew 5:4
What can possibly comfort people who feel the tremendous weight of sin? Here is how Jesus comforts those who mourn.
He will be your friend
Jesus was known as the ‘Man of Sorrows.’ Isaiah announced this title centuries before He was born. He would also be “acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3). Jesus did not mourn over His own sins, for He had no sins to mourn. But He mourned over the sins of the world—including yours—and grieved over their devastating effect. He wept over the city of Jerusalem that had rejected Him and was headed for destruction.
He will bear your load of sin and sorrow
“Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted” (Isa. 53:4).
He will remove your shame
Isaiah promised that the Redeemer would “comfort all who mourn” (Isa 61:2). But how? He would exchange three things for our shame: “a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair” (Isa. 61:3, NIV).
He will change your life
After recalling what the people of Corinth used to be (drunkards, revilers, swindlers, idolaters, adulterers), Paul boldly announced, “That’s what you were!” Then he proclaimed, “But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11).
In Christ, the spiritual mourner can say, “I am forgiven. I am cleansed. I have been washed. I am justified before God.” Further, you can say, “Sanctification has begun in me and one day it will be complete, and all because of the Lord Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit.” That’s why the Christian is “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Cor. 6:10).
Which of these four truths is most comforting to you today?
