Matthew 19:13-15 Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.
Children are very important in the eyes of God. Jesus knew this about his Father, and we see Jesus blessing the children. He came to earth to give Good News to adults, but children were special, for they illustrated the innocence and faith God desired in adults. Children are not fretting about the question of existence, the meaning of life. They merely function from day-to-day, living as God designed them to live. They are self-absorbed from birth, but they are still free from the sins that so easily beset adults. Sin matures in humans as flowers as they advance in age, from buds to full blooms. Eventually men and women collectively will display every kind of waywardness from God’s nature of love and goodness, expressing fleshly self-indulgence above servanthood to God. The products of their waywardness hatch out sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. (Galatians 5:19-21) Paul goes on and says, I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. (21) In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul reiterates this theme of eternal punishment for those who practice sin in their lives. Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? (9) Jesus ministered every day to crowds under the judgment of eternal punishment because of their fleshy lifestyles. As John the Baptist cried out, they needed to repent of sin and be baptized. Jesus knew they lived unholy lives, if not overtly, in their hearts. But his love and the Father’s love for them gave him the purpose for his ministry and led to his eventual death. God intended to redeem his creation—Jesus would carry out the plan. Jesus knew God demanded holiness; He also knew the people were in rebellion to God’s authority, going their own way. They used their physical and emotional lives to serve themselves, not the Creator of all things. When Jesus addresses these people, He uses their children to illustrate the kind of life the adults should live. He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. (Matthew 18:2-5) He tells the adults that their insincere, self-indulging, self-worshipping cloaks must be cast off; instead, they should place themselves in the position of little children. Frustrated perhaps over a lack of food or shelter or even neglect by irresponsible families or adults, children adjust and live as part of God’s creation without a lot of wondering. Even in impoverished and war-torn environments, we often find children in the streets playing and enjoying life the best they can under calamitous events. Entering the kingdom of God? Adults, never; children, yes. Jesus tells the adults, UNLESS YOU CHANGE and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. Jesus’ words must be heeded. As children are basically powerless in an adult society, we are to be like them, serving the world as powerless servants and slaves, not masters and rulers. Most of us write our own Bible, avoiding difficult commands from the Master. We eliminate verses that say, love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23) should be basic in our lifestyles. We cannot write our own Bible, one that allows us to slip into the kingdom of heaven without change. The Holy Spirit has given us God’s word, and Paul says eternal damnation is the future of those whose lives hurt others and damage people to get a pound of flesh. Little ones are not devious or destructive; Jesus lifted them up as our example.
God keeps close tabs on the lives of little ones, so close that angels are assigned to these children. See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. (Matthew 18:10) We know God is concerned about the safety of children’s lives, the angels report to him. Abuse of children will not go unpunished in the eternal records of God. God is just and He will punish the unjust. The scales of perfect justice must balance. God will make sure the scales of justice are balanced in every sin against young ones. Jesus tells the disgruntled disciples who consider little ones a nuisance, getting in the way of Jesus’ ministry, to allow the children to come to him. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. He tells them not to hinder or abuse the little ones by not letting them come to his side. He relates to them that these young children who are not great in the kingdom of adults are very precious to God, so precious they are examples of how adults should live their lives. The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. These are the ones God accepts into his presence; therefore, do not forbid them to approach me is Jesus’ message to the disciples. Jesus does not just talk to the little ones, He blesses them as only Jesus who knows their future could bless them. He brings the richness of God into their lives. As believers, we seek Jesus’ hand in our lives. We know we need his help to get through our lives successfully. But often we grumble because Jesus’ blessings seem to fall far short of what we desire in life. Often our discontent with Jesus and with his ever present Holy Spirit is because of our perspective. We are not looking for his kingdom, but for our present kingdom of this world. Jesus said to Pilate, this world is not my kingdom. But He said, I am the king of a kingdom, an eternal one. God is always preparing his people for that kingdom, not this early kingdom. We are eternal beings resident IN CHRIST; now, we are only temporary citizens of this earthly kingdom. This kingdom of flesh will slip away from all of us in our deaths, but the eternal kingdom will be realized fully as we give up our last breath on earth. Jesus told the thief on the cross, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43) But no paradise for those who are polar opposite to God’s nature of servitude and love. The self-indulgent, the self-serving, the sinful will experience only the judgment hand of God, not his loving spirit for those He loves, his children.
The thief on the cross received the covering of Christ when he asked Jesus to remember him in his kingdom. And, of course, who Jesus sets free is free indeed. Jesus allowed the thief to drop his thievery at the foot of his cross. A clothing of righteousness was put upon him when he called to Jesus to remember him in his kingdom. This is the ultimate act of faith, claiming not his own righteousness for the future, but Jesus’ righteousness. Jesus said the nature of children is the nature God wants us to reflect when we enter the Kingdom doors. Little babies are new to the earth’s corruption. They are new to the violence of the world. They have not learned the ways of the adults. They are inexperienced with unrighteousness, the lifestyle of adults. But to be perfect as they grow up, they will need the perfect man, Jesus, to intercede for them before a righteous God. No human will cross the threshold of the eternal kingdom without the cloak of perfect, complete holiness. Jesus said, be perfect as God is perfect. If you want to be known as CHILDREN of God, you must be perfect. No other characterization will be acceptable in the household of God: only perfection. We can eliminate all we want from the Bible. We can write our own bible as Thomas Jefferson, the third United States president, did. He chose to eliminate all supernatural events from the Bible. But the Bible still holds true, we must be holy and righteous to meet God, to be in right standing with him. The kingdom of God belongs to God’s children, not the children of the earth, but to God’s children. But the little ones, the babies of humans, best express what God desires adults should be like. Do not hinder them, allow them to come close to me is Jesus’ request to his disciples. They are like the ones that the Father will accept in his household. They have not been contaminated yet by the works of the flesh. Let them come close to me so that I can bless their lives. The thief on the cross stepped into God’s presence as a little child, pristine, holy, uncontaminated. Why? Because the person next to him, on his own cross, was dying for the thief’s sins, taking the full penalty of the thief’s lifestyle on himself. Let us not be clothed in our righteousness when we meet God, but let us be clothed in Christ’s righteousness. For the call of perfection is still the necessary qualification on our lives to meet God. Only Christ is perfect. No human has ever been perfect, for we are children of Adam. Sin contaminates everyone, even little ones. But children of his own in the likeness of his SON have always been in the heart of God from the beginning of time. Paul refers to this plan as a mystery that God has revealed in the last days—a plan so great that it escapes the imaginations of men. We cannot perceive in any way what it will be like to be in the household of the galaxy Creator. No way can we imagine eternity, and no way can we imagine what it will be like to be children in the household of God. But, Jesus points to the human child and uses him or her as illustrative of what God intends for his own who have been made perfect in his Son, Jesus Christ, for the kingdom of heaven belongs TO SUCH as these. AMEN!
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