3 Till we are poor in spirit we cannot go to heaven. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven'. This tunes and prepares us for heaven. By nature a man is big with self-confidence, and the gate of heaven is so strait that he cannot enter. Now poverty of spirit lessens the soul; it pares off its superfluity, and now he is fit to enter in at the 'strait gate'. The great cable cannot go through the eye of the needle, but let it be untwisted and made into small threads, and then it may. Poverty of spirit untwists the great cable. It makes a man little in his own eyes and now an entrance shall be made unto him, richly into the everlasting Kingdom' (2 Peter 1:11). Through this temple of poverty, we must go into the temple of glory.
It shows wherein a Christian's riches consist, namely in poverty of spirit. Some think if they can fill their bags with gold, then they are rich. But they who are poor in spirit are the rich men. They are rich in poverty. This poverty entitles them to a kingdom. How poor are they that think themselves rich! How rich are they that see themselves poor! I call it the jewel of poverty'. There are some paradoxes in religion that the world cannot understand; for a man to become a fool that he may be wise (1 Corinthians 3:18); to save his life by losing it (Matthew 16:25); and by being poor to be rich. Reason laughs at it, but Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom'. Then this poverty is to be striven for more than all riches. Under these rags is hid cloth of gold. Out of this carcass comes honey.
Bron: Blessed are the Poor in Spirit
The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12 — Thomas Watson
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