The kingdom of God belongs to people who have no sin in their account
We have seen that not everyone will be in the kingdom of heaven. In fact, we saw that few will be in the kingdom of heaven. We also saw that when one wants to enter the kingdom of heaven, there will be forces attempting to prevent them from entering the kingdom of heaven. So the following question arises: what kind of people will enter in the kingdom of heaven? The answer to that question is examined now.
To enter the kingdom of God you have to have no sin in your account. This is because God is in the kingdom of heaven, and to be in the presence of God one must have no sin in their account.
To have no sin in one’s account, one must either have never sinned, or one’s sin must be paid off.
Jesus pointed this fact to us in a very interesting way – He did it by pointing to a child.
When you see a little child, what picture comes to your mind?
When Jesus saw a little child, the picture that came to His mind was that the kingdom of heaven belongs to people who are like little children.
Mt 19:14 But Jesus said, "Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
Why did Jesus make such a statement?
More specifically, what property of children allowed them to be a part of the kingdom of heaven?
There is only one reason that I can think of as to why this could be – it is that children are innocent and therefore do not have sin in their account. Consider Mt 18:10 where Jesus illustrates this point.
Mt 18:10 "See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven."
The only way that one’s angel has continual access to God is if one has no sin in their account.
Little children are innocent. That is, they do not understand the difference between right and wrong. As a result, sin is not imputed to them. Because they have no sin in their account they satisfy the key requirement to enter the kingdom of heaven. That is the reason why Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven belongs to people who are like little children.
That is also why Jesus said that one must be born again – i.e. be converted to become like sinless little children – in order to enter the kingdom of God.
Lk 18:16-17 But Jesus called for them, saying, "Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all."
Mk 10:14-15 But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, "Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all."
When we attempt to enter the kingdom of God we must receive it like a child. That is, we must approach it with no sin in our account. If we attempt to receive it while we still have sin in our account then we will be cast out (Mt 22:11-13).
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