It is 'the meek' who eat. The word translated 'meek' has a wider and
deeper meaning than that. 'Meek' refers, in our common language, mainly
to men's demeanour to one another; but the expression here goes deeper.
It means both 'afflicted' and 'lowly'--the right use of affliction being
to bow men, and they that bow themselves are those who are fit to come
to Christ's feast. There is a very remarkable contrast between the words
of my text and those that follow a verse or two afterwards. 'The meek
shall eat and be satisfied,' says the text. And then close upon its
heels comes, 'All those that be fat upon earth shall eat.' That is to
say, the lofty and proud have to come down to the level of the lowly,
and take indiscriminate places at the table with the poor and the
starving, which, being turned into plain English is just this--the one
thing that hinders a man from partaking of the fulness of Christ's
feeding grace is self-sufficiency, and the absence of a sense of need.
They that 'hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled'; and
they that come, knowing themselves to be poor and needy, and humbly
consenting to accept a gratuitous feast of charity--they, and only they,
do get the rich provisions.
You are shut out because you shut yourselves out. They that do not know
themselves to be hungry have no ears for the dinner-bell. They that feel
the pangs of starvation and know that their own cupboards are empty,
they are those who will turn to the table that is spread in the
wilderness, and there find a 'feast of fat things.'
And so, dear friends! when He calls, do not let us make excuses, but
rather listen to that voice that says to us, 'Why do you spend your
money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which
satisfieth not.... Incline your ear unto Me; hear, and your soul shall
live.'