Luke 6:25 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Woe unto you that laugh now!— Our Lord's malediction is not inconsistent with the apostle's precepts which command Christians always to rejoice; neither is the mirth, against which the woe is here denounced, to be understood of that constant cheerfulness of temper, which arises to the true Christian from the comfortable and cheerful experience of the power and truth of those doctrines with which he is enlightened by the Gospel,—the assurance he has of reconciliation with God, the hope that he has of everlasting life, and the pleasure he enjoys in walking with God, in the practice of piety, and the other duties of religion: but it is to be understood of that turbulent carnal mirth, that levity and vanity of spirit, which arises not from any solid foundation, butfrom sensual pleasure, or those vain amusements of life, by which the giddy and the gay contrive to spend their time;—that sort of mirth which dissipates thought, leaves no time for consideration, and gives them an utter aversion to all serious reflection. Persons who continue to indulge themselves in this sort of mirth, shall weep and mourn eternally, when they are excluded from the joys of heaven, and banished for ever from the presence of God.