In the Lord Jesus' famous sermon on the mount, we have the promises of divine happiness upon the most unlikely (humanly speaking) of candidates. The poor, the mourners, and now, the meek. The promise of divine happiness upon the meek extends to a point that is very easy to miss. It's not that it is hard to miss. The Lord was not unclear or hiding His statements. We don't have to spend a few months in a seminary course learning how to translate Greek or about fancy systems of Biblical interpretation: Thank you, Professor Herman Newticks.

That was a theological nerd joke for those of you paying attention. Jesus' statement was, and is, straightforward:

"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."

Inherit the earth. Did you catch it? Doesn't sound like what we're accustomed to hear- ing in our current context. That's why it's easy to miss. We can be so focused on es- caping this world, so focused on the evils around us, and so focused on what seems to be defeat all around us, that we can miss what is a clear and direct promise from the lips of our Savior: God's people will inherit the earth; not the wicked.

Close your eyes. Take a breath. Meditate on that. Fix your eyes upon the Sovereign God Who controls the future and trust in His promises.

The earth is the Lord's.

No King but Christ!

Jeff Durbin

Lead Pastor/Elder

Sunday, January 11, 2015