Blessed are those who Mourn, for they shall be Comforted: Mourning on Behalf of God

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted; one of the blessings of the kingdom is for us if we mourn over the current negative situation of the world, for if we mourn on behalf of God, we will be comforted, both in this age and in the next.

Oh Lord Jesus, unveil us to see our need to mourn on behalf of God. Save us from being complacent. May we be poor in spirit and pure in heart so that we may see who You are and realise what the current evil situation in the world is. Make us those who mourn one with You, caring for the situation and the people around us as You do! Oh Lord, You are our comfort in this age and in the next! Amen!

This week we come to a new title in our prayerful consideration of the crucial points in Matthew 5 through 7, The Blessedness of Those Who Mourn, of Those Who Are Meek, and of Those Who Are the Peacemakers, Called the Sons of God.

We are here for the kingdom of God. We need to be calibrated with the vision of the kingdom of the heavens so that we may be the people gained by God on earth who are His kingdom people with the kingdom reality.

The kingdom of God is the ultimate goal of God’s economy, for God’s economy is to gain a kingdom where He has a realm to express and represent Himself in and through many people.

This is His desire from the very beginning, when He created man in His image and according to His likeness; He wants to have man not only expressing Him with His image but also representing Him with His dominion to bring in His kingdom.

As we sense the Lord’s desire to return soon, as He is drawing near, what is He coming for?

On the one hand, He is coming for the bride, for the bride of Christ is being prepared today. On the other hand, He is coming for a kingdom, a realm in which He can rule and reign; when He returns, Christ will bring the kingdom with Him.

The church today needs to be the reality of the kingdom of the heavens. We were born of God, regenerated into the kingdom of God. However, are we the kingdom of God in reality?

We can say that we are in the kingdom of God positionally, but we must be in the kingdom of God in reality. We need to be in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens today, as seen in Matthew 5-7.

May the Lord unveil us, adjust us, shine on us, and take us on with Him so that we may be brought more into the reality of the kingdom of the heavens today in our living.

May we enjoy the blessedness of those who mourn, of those who are meek, and of those who are the peacemakers!

Mourning is Important: our Vision is Cleared, we’re Brought Closer to God, we Experience God’s Salvation, and our Service to God is Blessed when we Mourn

Matthew 5:4 says, Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. This is quite an intriguing blessing; we may say that those who are happy are blessed, but here the Lord says that those who mourn are blessed.

Brother Watchman Nee has a portion in the Collected Works of Watchman Nee, volume 19, where he expounds on the matter of mourning, our need to mourn, and examples of mourning in the Bible.

To mourn is to feel or show deep sorrow or regret; often, mourning is accompanied by some tears.

Mourning is an intrinsic response, an inward response to some tragic loss or tragic situation; we feel a deep sorrow within that causes us to mourn.

Often, we shed tears when we mourn, for we’re deeply touched. Mourning touches a person more than being happy does; being happy may make you even lose or frivolous, but mourning touches something deep in our being.

There are at least five aspects that make mourning important. First, through our mourning, our eyes are cleared, our inner sense is sharpened, and our eyesight becomes clearer.

Humanly speaking, when we shed tears, our eyes are our cleared up by the tears. Spiritually speaking, when we mourn, we see what is going on, we have clear eyesight, and our vision is becoming clear.

In the Old Testament, Jeremiah was called the weeping prophet, for he mourned for the judgment and discipline God’s people was under. It was in his mourning that God revealed to him that his people would be captured and brought into captivity for seventy years.

He was made clear about this as he was mourning; this was a great light, and Daniel later prayed based on this revelation.

Firstly, our mourning helps us to be clear about many situations and many things in the environment around us. Secondly, through mourning, we are brought closer to God.

In Psalm 51 David, after committing adultery, was pricked in his heart and mourned deeply; you can sense the regret and repentance he had as you read this chapter. This brought him closer to God.

Psalm 34:18 says that Jehovah is near to those who are broken in heart and He saves those who are contrite in spirit. When we are broken in heart, mourning and repenting, the Lord is nearer to us.

Thirdly, mourning helps us experience God’s salvation. In Luke 7:36-50, we see a sinful woman who came to the Lord, without saying anything, and wept, washed His feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.

She didn’t utter and couldn’t utter anything; she just wept and mourned, most likely concerning her sinful situation. And the Lord respected, honoured, and even appreciated her mourning; this caused her to be saved.

Our mourning causes our prayers to be heard and to touch the heart of God.

Hannah’s prayer and mourning in the Old Testament touched God’s heart; he had a real human need, and prayed desperately, even with mourning, and God heard her.

She was desperate to have a son, and she was even willing to loan her son to God if He would give her a son.

Later, King Hezekiah also mourned; because of his pride, he contracted an illness and was about to die in a short time, so he became very desperate and repentful before Jehovah.

Because of his mournfulness and repentance, Jehovah heard his cry and extended his life by fifteen more years.

Many times we are too light; we say that everything is fine, praise the Lord; we lack a mournful spirit. Oh Lord!

Being mournful also causes our service to the Lord to be effective and blessed by Him.

In Acts 20 we see that the apostle Paul laboured among the saints in Ephesus, spending three years there, and he admonished them with tears.

Why did he need to admonish them with tears? Most likely, many of the saints did not respond, did not agree, and showed some kind of resistance; so the apostle admonished them with tears and laboured, being mournful among them and for them.

Our labouring to care for the saints may not have that much impact or effect if we are not mourning for them.

Did we mourn for the saints we care for? Did we mourn for the new ones? Or do we just cruise along in the church life, letting others do all the shepherding and caring, and we just enjoy what’s going on?

Do we feel mournful concerning the present condition of the local church we meet in and the local churches in the Lord’s recovery?

As we see that we are not up to the Lord’s standard in terms of increase, life, knowing the truth, living Christ, being built up together, and being overcoming, do we mourn for the current situation and over the saints?

We may feel quite easily content with all things, thinking everything is OK, but the Lord needs some who are mournful.

The saints under our care and the saints around us may not advance in the Lord because we are not mourning over them, we are not mourning on behalf of God over them.

May we open to the Lord in this matter. We can’t manufacture mourning nor can we make ourselves mourn; we need to be emptied in our spirit and single in our heart in seeking God, and then we will mourn over the current situation, over people, and over the saints for God.

We will then mourn on behalf of God.

Lord Jesus, we love You and we open to You! Make us poor in spirit and pure in heart so that we may see God and care for what God cares. Oh Lord, may we be one with You today to mourn over the saints and their condition. May we be those mourning over the current situation in our family life, church life, in society, and over the whole earth. Oh Lord, we want Your kingdom to come and Your will to be done. But Lord, You see our condition, the condition of those around us, the condition of the saints, and the condition of the churches. We open to You. May we enjoy the blessedness of those who mourn today! May we mourn for Your interest today, even mourn on behalf of God and His kingdom! Amen, Lord, may our daily living and our service to God involve and include much mourning so that our vision may be clear, we may enjoy God’s salvation, we may be closer to God, and our service to the Lord in the church would be blessed!

Blessed are Those who Mourn, for They Shall be Comforted: we’re those Mourning on Behalf of God

If we are to live in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens, we first need to be poor in spirit and pure in heart; then, the Lord will impress us with the current situation in our being and around us, and we will simply mourn.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. When we truly touch the Lord and are emptied in our spirit, we will be filled with the King and the kingdom, and we will begin to mourn over the negative situation of today.

We will realise that everything and everyone around us is against God and negative toward God’s economy.

What predominates among all people on the earth today is Satan, sin, the self, darkness, and worldliness.

Instead of God gaining glory from man, His glory is insulted. Instead of Christ being received and enjoyed, He is being rejected. Instead of us cooperating with the Holy Spirit, He is frustrated.

Instead of the church being built up in love, the church is desolated. The self is corrupted, and the whole world is evil.

When we see this, we will be one with the Lord in mourning over this situation.

As we live the church life and are learning to serve the Lord in our spirit and in coordination with the saints, we realise that not only the situation in the world but also the situation among the saints requires much prayer and mourning from our side.

We do not lose heart when we see the negative situations, the lack of growth in life, and the lack of building up; we simply mourn on behalf of God for the saints and over the saints.

We need to learn how to mourn. We can mourn only if we are poor in spirit; when we’re emptied of any preoccupying thoughts and old concepts, we will realise the real situation and we will mourn.

If we are poor in spirit and desire and seek God, we will be enlightened to see our evil, corrupt, and rebellious nature.

We will realise that we resist God in so many ways. So we mourn before the Lord.

Even more, when we see those around us and the present generation, the people who are on earth today, we will realise that people in the world don’t want God and rebel against God.

So we mourn over the current situation. Our mourning is not related to disasters or illness or because we are suffering under God’s discipline.

Our mourning is due to the fact that people don’t want God, don’t submit to God, and God and His interests are being rejected.

The more we are one with the Lord to mourn in this way, the more we have His presence, our service is effective, and He has a way to comfort us.

Our mourning is actually in response to God’s mourning over the situation; we are mourning on behalf of God, for the interests of God and for His testimony.

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

The Lord promises that, if we mourn today on behalf of God, He will comfort us. Mourning on behalf of God is beautiful, precious, glorious, and of eternal value.

He will comfort us today, in the coming kingdom, and for eternity.

Today He comforts us by our gaining God and by coming under His authority. We are also comforted when we see the fellow believers in Christ pursuing the Lord and seeking Him, desiring to be under His rule, and being built up together.

In the coming age, in the kingdom age, our enjoyment and condition will be free from the grief of this age. We will be satisfied and comforted.

In the New Jerusalem for eternity, the portion we receive will comfort and satisfy us forever. In the New Jerusalem, God will be everything to us, and we will be fully under God’s rule.

Our heart will be comforted forever, and no grief or sorrow will be remembered. God will tabernacle with man (Rev. 21:3), He will wipe away every tear from our eyes (v. 4, referring to the nations).

Revelation 7:17 further says that the Lamb will wipe away every tear from those who stand before the throne of God. Hallelujah!

Today we are mourning, but it will not be forever – it will not be for eternity, it is only temporary, in the age of imperfection and failures.

Lord Jesus, bring us into the blessedness of mourning on behalf of God so that we may be comforted. Amen, Lord, empty us and unload us of our preoccupations and thoughts; we want to seek You in purity of heart and with an emptied spirit. Amen, Lord, we stand with You on earth and we mourn over the negative situation in the world today toward God. Oh Lord, as we live in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens, we mourn because of our surroundings, the present generation, and the people in the world who don’t want God but resist Him and rebel against Him. Oh Lord, we are one with You and we respond to Your mourning by mourning on behalf of God and His interest here on earth. Thank You for Your life in us. Thank You for Your kingdom. We stand with You on earth. Oh, blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted! Amen, Lord, our grieving heart is comforted by gaining God and by coming under His rule! Praise the Lord, our comfort will be greater and richer in the coming kingdom and in eternity future! Amen!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers on this topic, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1955, vol. 3, “The Living and Principles of the Kingdom People,” ch. 1, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crucial Aspects of Matthew 5 through 7 (2025 September ITERO), week 2, The The Blessedness of Those Who Mourn, of Those Who Are Meek, and of Those Who Are the Peacemakers, Called the Sons of God – day 1.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – The essence of the Kingdom is / A life that’s under heaven’s rule, / A life whose nature is divine / With Christ experienced in full. / Such is this life: in spirit poor, / With heart repentant, mourning, meek, / Which is to others merciful / And purely God Himself doth seek. (Hymns #944 stanzas 1-2)
  – Rescue the perishing, / Care for the dying, / Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave; / Weep o’er the erring one, / Lift up the fallen, / Tell them of Jesus the mighty to save. / Rescue the perishing, / Care for the dying; / Jesus is merciful, / Jesus will save. (Hymns #921 stanza 1 and chorus)
  – Lord Jesus, I long in Thy presence to live, / From morning to evening my one world Thou art; / O let not my heart be contented or rest / When loving or seeking what with Thee doth part. / Each moment, each day, throughout suff’ring and pain, / When nought in the world can give comfort or cheer, / When sighing and weeping encompasses me, / Lord, still all my sighing and wipe every tear. (Hymns #389 stanza 1)