Now, there is only one more observation that needs to be added to these comments on the first beatitude. I have said that there must be an emptying of a person before there can be a filling by God. There must be a true poverty of spirit. But this is not natural to man. In fact, it is impossible and we must therefore add that nothing but a direct confrontation with the holy, just, and loving God will produce it.
The second great principle suggested by Matthew 5:3 is that there must be an emptying in our lives before there can be a filling. We must become poor in spirit before we can become rich in God's spiritual blessings. The old wine must be poured out of the wineskins before the new wine can be poured in.
Now, in time the people of Israel recognized this truth, and those who submitted to it came to God humbly, confessing their sin, and availing themselves of the cleansing that God had provided through the sacrifices. Those who would not submit to this truth and who, instead, boasted and wished to boast in their own self-righteousness, sought to whittle the high standards of the law down to the low level of their own performance. And they did this by interpreting and reinterpreting it.
What exactly did Jesus mean? We can see the answer to this question when we recognize that being poor in spirit is the opposite of being rich in pride. In fact, you might say that being poor in spirit is to be spiritually bankrupt before God. It is the mental state of the man who has recognized something of the righteousness and holiness of God, who has seen into the sin and corruption of his own heart, and has acknowledged his own deep and permanent inability to please God. Such a person alone is poor in spirit.
There are not many things I know about Sophie Tucker, the actress, but years ago I heard a statement of hers that I have since remembered. On one occasion, the actress was asked about her early struggles for success and whether or not she had found a certain special happiness in her years of poverty. She answered, “Listen, I've been rich, and I've been poor. And believe me, rich is better.” For years I have found this remark interesting. I remember it today because at least on the surface, it seems to be the direct opposite of the first great principle taught by the Lord Jesus Christ about how you and I can find happiness. In the first of the Beatitudes, Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:3). According to Jesus, happiness is related to some sort of poverty, and the heirs of God will be those who find it.
