Who can enter the kingdom of God? The pharisees were overly confident about this. Not only were they familiar with the Law, but they thoroughly kept the religious rules. They considered themselves as worthy of God’s kingdom. According to their standards, little children were very insignificant creatures. This was because they had no knowledge about the Law and were unable to keep religious rules. Since prejudice against children was common in that society, they were frequently ignored when people were being counted.
However, people brought little children to Jesus wherever He went, and they hoped He would bless them. When this happened again and again, the disciples rebuked those who brought them to Him. But the Lord had different ideas. He was displeased with the disciples’ actions and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” These words were shocking to the people at the time, since they looked down on little children.
According to what the Lord said, little children have a special spiritual quality which is greatly valued. Because they are not yet conscious of sins, they are unable to accept the Gospel. They will make spiritual choices for themselves and take responsibility in due time, but until then, spiritual judgement for them is reserved for later. For the moment, they belong to the kingdom of God and receive special protection.
It is certainly true that little children are born sinners. They are not cared for by God’s grace because they have some merit or special knowledge. They belong to the kingdom of God at every point through the merit of Christ. This merit is grace to them because they do not consciously dwell in sin, and since their characters demonstrate purity and sincerity, they are most suitable to coming close to God.
The Lord said, “Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” This is true. The Lord cherishes people who are sincere. They are pure, unpretentious, and without cunning or deceit like little children. He invites them as citizens of heaven. For sure, we do not have this character in us. But the Lord already redeemed us while we were tainted by sin, and He gives us a new chance to change our characters so that they are worthy of heaven.
We should accept God’s guidance until we reach eternal life. We need sincere characters to achieve this, and this is because God is sincere. Though we lived pretentious and deceitful lives in the past, we now receive the Lord’s grace, so we should constantly change our characters so that we can have a relationship with God. These efforts are not just for our spirits. They are a most valuable gift for our children, since they will later stand before God by their own will.
(Lord’s Day Service on September 26, 2021)
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