"The Beatitudes and the Lord's Prayer" by Arthur W. Pink

Those of you who know me are well aware that Arthur Pink is one of my theological heroes, so it should come as no surprise to you that I loved this book! :-) In fact, I finished this book quite some time ago but I have been putting off the writing of it until now.

What can one really say about Pink though? He was clearly a man gifted by God and used by Him for His glory. So it is that as with every other book I've ever read of his, this book is filled from beginning to end with the keen insight for which Pink is known and loved.

As implied by the title, this particular book is divided into two segments (The Beatitudes and The Lord's Prayer). In the first part, Pink presents the Beatitudes as a picture of the process of salvation and sanctification, taking each of them and demonstrating the theme as shown in the following examples:

"To be poor in spirit is to realize that I have nothing, and can do nothing, and have need of all things. Poverty of spirit is evident in a person when he is brought into the dust before God to acknowledge his utter helplessness. It is the first experiential evidence of a Divine work of grace within the soul." pg. 16

"The mourning that is blessed is the result of a realization of God's holiness and goodness that issues in a sense of the depravity of our natures and the enormous guilt of our conduct. The mourning for which Christ promises Divine comfort is a sorrowing over our sins with a godly sorrow." pg. 18

"While humility of soul in bowing to God's way of salvation is the primary application of the third Beatitude, it must not be limited to that. Meekness...is that quality of spirit that is found in one who has been schooled to mildness by discipline and suffering and brought into sweet resignation to the will of God." pg. 27

"Hungering and thirsting expresses vehement desire , of which the soul is acutely conscious...Like the previous ones, this fourth Beatitude describes a twofold experience. It obviously refers to the initial hungering and thirsting that occurs before a sinner turns to Christ by faith. But it also refers to the continual longing that is perpetuated in the heart of every saved sinner until his dying day." pg. 33-34

As already stated, these three quotes are samples of the spiritual depth which Pink brings to his subject matter. He does the same with the second section, as you will see in the following passages:

"'Hallowed be Thy name' is the first of the petitions of Christ's pattern prayer...This petition necessarily comes first, for the glorifying of God's great name is the ultimate end of all things. All other requests must be subordinate to this one and be in pursuance of it." pg. 83

"The Father's Kingdom is, first and more generally, His universal rule, His absolute dominion over all creatures and things." pg. 92

"'Thy will be done.' this clause presents a difficulty to a few of our readers, who may ask, 'Is not God's will always done?' In one respect it is, but in another respect it is not. Scripture presents the will of God from two distinct viewpoints: His secret will and His revealed will, or His decretive and His preceptive will." pg. 100

I will leave that last quote unfinished so that my reader will have all the more reason for buying or borrowing this book! Whichever you do, do it quickly because there is a lot to be learned from the teachings of this great man of God.