The Gentle (2)
- For they shall inherit the earth
It says that those who bear the fruit of gentleness will inherit the earth. To inherit means to receive from an ancestor as a right or title descendible by law at the ancestor’s death. The earth inherited from ancestors in this way used to be recognized as one’s property more than the land that he bought from somebody else.
For example, a long time ago, if someone says a farm land or a mountain is his inheritance from his ancestors, people recognize that it is his land or mountain and he seldom sells it.
In rural areas, people usually recognize the owner of a land or a mountain. And the owner preserves the land or the mountain carefully until he gives it to his descendant. Moreover, according to the Law of Moses, the Israelites are prohibited to sell the inherited land from their ancestors. It means that they can surely possess the land as much as they inherit.
Then, what does it mean by that the gentle will inherit the earth?
Does it mean we become rich by having a lot of land in this world? But it is said that it is more difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. No matter how much land we gain on this earth, it cannot be either eternal inheritance or true blessing.
Therefore, to inherit the earth means we will inherit land in the kingdom of heaven that will never perish. Why do the gentle inherit earth, then? Those who are gentle have virtue and gain the heart of many people.
So, they can lead many people to salvation and teach many souls to make them good heavenly citizens. In this world, people might submit to those who have wealth and authority, but it is not from their heart but only on the outside. People gather around a man with great authority or great wealth. That’s because they want to get something from him. But if that person loses his authority, most people will leave. We can even say all of them will desert him. If a rich man loses his wealth, most people will desert him.
But to the one who has virtue, people will submit from their heart and be embraced by him. Even if he does not know God, if he has virtue, for example, a person like Confucius, many people will be embraced by him. The field of our heart will be widened, and this becomes spiritual authority. Thus, those who have spiritual gentleness can be said to have authority in the worldly sense. They can embrace many people and other people will be able to nest in them. Many will obey and become one within them.
For example, if one of your small group leaders, cell leaders, or ministers has virtue, the flock will love him and want to stay with him. If the leaders are gentle and virtuous, the church will grow.
If all our workers and elders have virtues, so many souls will be embraced in them and the church will have revival. If our parish ministers and district, group, and cell leaders are full of love and virtue, the souls will not leave you.
Those who are gentle, even if somebody in their group or cell disobeys and does evil to them, will not ignore him, leave him out, or think, “I wish he was not here.” They will love, embrace, and pray for him, and try to lead him to change into wheat.
The words coming out from the people who are gentle and virtuous will be gracious and encouraging. So, the flock will long to hear the words from them and actually gain strength from them so that they can dwell in truth and their faith will grow.
Those who embrace many people and lead them to heaven will receive great and good rewards in heaven. These people will obviously receive grand dwelling places in heaven that are very beautiful and big. To build a house, there must be land, and those who are gentle will have more land. The more gentleness and virtue they had and the more people they embraced, the more land will be given to them. On the contrary, those who are not gentle and have narrow mind where many people cannot dwell cannot inherit large piece of land in heaven.
Those who dwell in paradise, the lowest level in heaven, cannot receive any land because they only stayed at the beginning stage of faith. They neither threw away evil or accomplished gentleness. From the 1st kingdom of heaven onward, they have houses. But the ground will be different according to how much virtue and gentleness they had and how many people they embraced.
Especially, those who go into New Jerusalem have accomplished complete gentleness, so they have large ground, and their houses are also grand and beautiful. Entering New Jerusalem means that they saved so many souls and led them to heaven, being faithful in all God’s house. So they can naturally have big land and big house.
Also, they will have gardens that are decorated well, lakes, swimming pools, valleys, sports grounds, ballrooms, hills, or other facilities. You can have all those things only when the land is big.
If you do not take what you want, do not eat what you want to eat, and give up what you want to take for the Lord, the Father will give you all those things in heaven. How big is your house in which you are living now? It is not easy to get a house that is as big as the White House or that is tens of thousands of square feet wide. How big do you want your heavenly house to be? But even that size will not be enough for us to live in there forever.
Even if we regret after going into heaven saying, “My land and house is so small. I should have accomplished more gentleness, brought more souls to salvation, and embraced them to lead them to heaven,” it will be too late.
Those who think in this way will guide the souls, preach the gospel, and pray to save many souls, so that their houses will be beautiful and big. Fathers of faith including Moses who was gentler than anybody else on the earth, Elijah, Enoch, Abraham, Mary Magdalene, the Virgin Mary and the Apostle Pual will have grand and splendid houses like a castle. How big their houses are!
Why only Mary Magdalene or the Virgin Mary? Even today, God is diligently searching for those who are gentle like them. So, God gives duties to you so that you will embrace the souls with God’s heart and lead them to the truth. Then, God can give you large piece of land in heaven as a reward. I hope you will be gentle before the Father God so that you will be able to receive great land as eternal inheritance.