Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 5:4

"Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted." — Matthew 5:4 (ASV)

Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. (Matthew 5:4)

There is a blessing which often goes with mourning itself; but when the sorrow is of a spiritual sort—mourning for sin—then is it blessed indeed.

"Lord, let me weep for nothing but sin,
And after none but You;
And then I would—oh, that I might—
A constant mourner be!"

These seem worse off than the merely poor in spirit, for they mourn. They are a stage higher, though they seem to be a stage lower. The way to rise in the kingdom is to sink in ourselves.

These people are grieved by sin and tried by the evils of the times, but for them a future of rest and rejoicing is provided. Those who laugh shall lament, but those who sorrow shall sing. How great a blessing is sorrow, since it gives room for the Lord to administer comfort!

Our griefs are blessed, for they are our points of contact with the divine Comforter. The beatitude reads like a paradox, but it is true, as some of us know full well. Our mourning hours have brought us more comfort than our days of mirth.

Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

They are not only poor in spirit, but they are weeping, lamenting, mourning. Worldly people are frivolous, frolicsome, light-hearted, and loving everything that is akin to mirth; yet it is not said of them, but of those that mourn, that they shall be comforted.

Blessed are those who mourn: for they shall be comforted.

Let them be comforted now in the prospect of future comfort.

There are no mourning hearts that mourn over sin and mourn after God that shall be deserted by their God: they shall be comforted.