Inheriting the Earth | The Institute for Creation Research

Inheriting the Earth

"Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth." (Matthew 5:5)

This third of Christ's beatitudes has always seemed paradoxical because those who now rule the earth seem anything but meek. It has always been the strong and aggressive who control the world, not the meek of the world.

Christ, however, was confirming an ancient promise given through David: "But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace" (Psalm 37:11). Surprisingly, there are also four other promises in this psalm describing those who are to inherit the earth:

"Those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth" (v. 9). "For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth" (v. 22). "The righteous shall inherit the land |same word as 'earth'|" (v. 29). "Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land |i.e., 'earth'|" (v. 34).

It is Jesus Christ, of course, who ultimately will receive "the uttermost parts of the earth for |his| possession" (Psalm 2:8). However, we also (if we are among the "meek") are "heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ" (Romans 8:17), and thus we also shall inherit the earth with Him.

But how does this quality of meekness equip believers for such an exalted future? In the Bible, meekness does not mean "weakness," of course, nor is it even an innate mildness that may characterize some unsaved people. "The fruit of the Spirit is . . . meekness" (Galatians 5:22-23), which means that meekness is not a natural human trait at all. It is best defined as the character of Christ Himself, for He said: "I am meek and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29), and Paul measured his own actions "by the meekness and gentleness of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:1). In Psalm 37 it was seen that "the meek" (our text) are synonymous with those who "wait on the LORD, and keep his way" (Psalm 37:34). HMM

The Latest
NEWS
New Fossil Discovery Upends Animal Evolution...Again
Reptiles belong to a group of animals called amniotes that also include birds and mammals. A new Australian fossil discovery of a clawed amniote demonstrates...

NEWS
100% Cicada Fossil
Cicadas are an unusual-looking insect belonging to the order Hemiptera (the true bugs, including bed bugs and aphids). If you live in the eastern United...

CREATION PODCAST
Earth’s Origins: Science, Theology, and a New Geology Textbook...
Since the late eighteenth century, most scientists have argued for a uniformitarian view of Earth’s history. They claim the world...

NEWS
June 2025 ICR Wallpaper
"He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from...

CREATION.LIVE PODCAST
Getting the Gospel into People's Hands | Creation.Live Podcast:...
Can God use an atheist airline pilot to reach other nations with the truth of the Gospel? The answer, obviously, is yes.   Host...

NEWS
Chimp Genome Markedly Different from Human
An oft-repeated claim of evolutionary propaganda is that chimpanzee and human DNA are 98.5% identical. This high level of DNA similarity, which has...

NEWS
''73-Million-Year-Old'' Alaskan Salmon
Fish evolution remains an enigma. Evolutionists can only say fish first “appeared” over a half-billion years ago.1 Creationists...

NEWS
God's Memorial Day
“And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of...

NEWS
The Origin of Eukaryotes
Eukaryotes are multicellular organisms that contain diverse differentiated cell types. Within almost every cell there are subcellular compartments called...

CREATION PODCAST
Water vs. Wind: The Controversial Coconino | The Creation Podcast:...
Welcome to the sixth episode in a series called “The Failures of Old Earth Creationism.” Many Christians attempt to fit old...