Mark 10:1-161And he arose from thence, and cometh into the coasts of Judea by the farther side of Jordan: and the people resort unto him again; and, as he was wont, he taught them again. 2And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him. 3And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you? 4And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away. 5And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. 6But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. 7For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; 8And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. 9What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. 10And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter. 11And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. 12And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery. 13And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. 14But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. 15Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. 16And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them. (Mark 10:1‑16)
Jesus, with the disciples, left Galilee to go to Jerusalem, a journey of sixty miles, or more. The people in the towns on the way, had before heard of Jesus, or had seen Him, and very many came to Him to have some question explained. He answered all carefully and taught them.
At one place little children were brought for Him to bless them, which meant to speak words of peace and promises of good. The disciples thought the people should not trouble Jesus with the little ones, and were sending them away. But Jesus saw them and said for them to let them come to Him. He took those little children in His arms, put His hands on their heads and spoke words of blessing to them.
The Lord was not too busy to have time for the little children and show His tender love. The disciples should have known to be kind to those little ones, and known that Jesus would want to bless them, because, before they left Galilee, He told them to receive children in His name, or, as He would. He had then lifted a little child and set it where they could all see, showing them there were none too young or too humble for Him to receive.
He also told how great a sin it is for any one to “offend,” sin against, a child who believes in Him. No doubt the greatest wrong to be done to children is to keep them from learning of the Lord, or to tell them His words are not true (Mark 9:36,37,4236And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them, 37Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me. (Mark 9:36‑37)
42And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea. (Mark 9:42)).
Jesus said that anyone who would be in His holy kingdom, must be as a little child. How can a grown person be like a child? You know a tiny child believes right away whatever it is told, and trusts; if it is offered a gift, it holds out its hand to receive it.
So to have a place with the Lord Jesus people must believe His words just as simply and honestly as a little child, and accept His love and care. If we are too proud to believe God’s words, and think we can come our own way to Him, we cannot be saved, or learn more of Him.
We know from Jesus’ words that He loves all children, and wants them told of His love. It was for them as much as for grown people that He made that last journey to the city where He died to save them from the punishment of sins.
If you have a little brother or sister, tell it of Jesus, who now in Heaven, sees and loves it. You will find hon simply it will trust Him. Sometimes older ones tell what is not true to little ones; when the little ones see that, thee do not trust them, but they can always trust the Lord Jesus.
In one of the answers of Jesus on this journey (Mark 10:66But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. (Mark 10:6)), He spoke of “the beginning of the creation” when “God made” the first man and woman, giving this fact the same as was written in the first book of Bible (Genesis). These words of Jesus prove that the account of Genesis is true. Those who say that man began by chance, or by a gradual growth of cells, or some other way, not as written there, speak falsely. They have not believed God’s words as little children.
ML 04/09/1944