The Kingdom of God

"At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven" (Mat. 18:1-4). So what is it that God sees as being so 'great' about being like a child? Well, Jesus gives us one thing right there in that passage, and that is that little children are humble, meaning they don't think of themselves as being big. They know they are little because in fact they ARE little. So are we very little before God, and every bit as dependent on him as small children are on their parents. If we keep that knowledge and demonstrate it consistently, we are going to have favor with God, and he will let us in on a lot of things that he is doing, and that he wants to do for others. But it's really another quality of little children that I want to focus on just a little bit here today, and that is 'innocence.' Little children are innocent because they are below the age where the conscience begins to let them know that they have sin. There is nothing more beautiful to God than innocence, and in fact that is why Jesus came to this world. He came to pay the price for our sins so that he could relieve us of our sins and restore our lost innocence to us. He does this by taking away our guiltiness, which is otherwise known as being 'justified' (Rom. 5:1; I Cor. 6:11). Everyone who is currently washed in the blood of the lamb is perfectly innocent before God, and very beautiful indeed. As I stated, small children are not accountable for sin because their mind has not developed to the place to really know right from wrong, and therefore their conscience is not condemning them for the wrongs that they may do. The apostle Paul explained this from his own experience in life: "For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died" (Rom. 7:9). He was speaking of being a little child and having no actual knowledge of God's law, and therefore he was 'alive' spiritually. But as he stated, when he came to understand what the law was saying, he found out he was in sin, and thereby 'died,' spiritually speaking. Our conscience is patterned after the law of God, and therefore we all face the same dilemma in our lives, because there comes a time when every child gets old enough to really grasp the difference between what is right and wrong; and that is where the condemnation of sin comes in, because that is when the conscience becomes aware of us being in sin.

The old covenant law could do nothing to alleviate this issue, as the apostle stated: "The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect [complete], as pertaining to the conscience... For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins... For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins" (Heb. 9:8,9; Heb. 10:2,4). Furthermore, regarding the conscience never being cleared under the old covenant, the same apostle told us again; "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God" (Rom. 3:19). So again I say, Jesus came to this world to do for us what the law could not do, namely to restore our true innocence to us by renewing our conscience through taking our guiltiness away. That means that what Jesus did, when believed on wholly, literally takes sin out of our hearts and replaces it with his own life and nature. As it is written: "For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh [but no more than]: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Heb. 9:13,14). That my friend is what the "blood of bulls and of goats" could NOT do! When Jesus baptizes us himself, WITH HIMSELF, then sin has to go, and it DOES! So is the saying that tells us, "Now the Lord IS that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is LIBERTY [from sin]" (II Cor. 3:17). And again, "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ [by the Spirit] have PUT ON CHRIST" (Gal. 3:27). Now I don't know about you, that makes me feel like, WHOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!! Praise God!! Like his forerunner said about him, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (Jn. 1:29). And like he also said Jesus would do: "I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost" (Mk. 1:7,8). Do you know that those are the ONLY two things that John said Jesus would do? Does that tell you something? What it tells us is that those two things are the SAME thing. Jesus began baptizing with the holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, which was the day that he had spoken to his disciples of upon leaving them to go back to heaven (Acts 1:4,5).

It was after Jesus went back to heaven that he sat down at the right hand of God, and became the "one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (I Tim. 2:5). And what did he go back to heaven to mediate for us? "Wherefore he is able also to save them [from sin and death] to the uttermost [completely] that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them" (Heb. 7:24). To be certain that it is sin and it's result of death that Jesus frees us from, we have the angel of the Lord's testimony to Joseph, the espoused husband of Mary: "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins" (Mat. 1:21). We also have the apostle Paul's record that confirms it is indeed the holy Ghost baptism that does these things for us: "For the law [nature] of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law [nature] of sin and death" (Rom. 8:2). I love what Jesus said about how he would set people free from sin: "Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin... If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (Jn. 8:34,36). "Free indeed" means really really free, as in sin is gone and the conscience is now clear. That takes us full circle back to the innocence of a little child, and how we must attain unto that and remain in it in order to enter the kingdom of heaven, as Jesus said. I think it's the most beautiful of things to see someone who is filthy from the sins of this life, give it all to Jesus and be made as clean as the freshly fallen snow; and be adorned with a spiritual robe that is just as white! (Isa. 1:18; Rev. 7:14) I have seen people as dirty as it gets, throw themselves at the feet of Jesus, and be baptized by him with the soul-cleansing, heart-renewing power of his Spirit; and come out from it as innocent as a two year old child. There just can't be anything more beautiful to God than that, especially seeing that his Son paid the ultimate price to purchase that innocence for us. Wow, this Gospel and this Lord are good stuff indeed! In fact this whole line of thought in the holy Ghost came to me as a result of seeing someone last night whose innocence just jumped out at me. I actually know nothing about the individual, but I know what I saw and heard; and it was full of innocence. I know who put it there too. I just love Jesus for who he is and for all that he has done for us. I can't say enough about all of the glorious things he does for those who will entrust themselves to him. "Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!" (Psm. 107:8). All I can say more is, Amen! And God bless.