Matthew 19:13-15
"Children in the Kingdom"
The Bible has much to say about the children of believers. Because the Bible has much to say about the children of believers, the church has had much to say about the children of believers. If you divide Christendom into four groups, Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran/Reformed, and broad evangelicalism, three of those four groups baptize children born to believers. Even among the fourth group, the broad evangelicals, denominations like the Methodists baptize babies of believers. That means that eighty to ninety percent of Christians throughout history have had their babies baptized.
Now not all who baptize children agree upon what that baptism signifies. But they all agree the Bible has something to say about our children. We see from our passage that when it comes to who belongs to the kingdom of Christ, the children of believers are not excluded simply because they are children.
Remember the theme of this section of Matthew. Jesus is on his way to the cross to establish his redemptive kingdom. He will establish his kingdom by laying down his life for the sins of his people so that they may be forgiven and declared righteous. After his resurrection he will give his people the Holy Spirit enabling them to obey their king.
In this section of Matthew the Lord is describing who will enter his coming kingdom, which leads us to v. 13. What about young children? A group of parents bring their babies to Jesus so that he would bless them. These are not thirteen-year-old kids. These children are being carried by their parents, and Luke uses the Greek word for infants to describe these children.
So the question arises in v.13; what place do young children and babies have, if any, in Christ's coming kingdom? We see that the disciples didn't give much thought to this question; to them it simply was not an important question. The disciples rebuke the parents for bothering Jesus. The Lord is busy; he needs to hurry to Jerusalem and establish his kingdom. He does not have time for babies right now.
The Lord reacts strongly to the disciples' attitude. As the disciples rebuke the parents, Jesus rebukes the disciples. Allow the children to come to me, do not hinder them, for to such as these belong the kingdom of heaven.
The disciples should have known better. The Lord had focused so much of his ministry on those the world did not think of as important or powerful. They should not have been surprised that Jesus cared for babies of Israel.
Now, some have a hard time believing that babies can be members of God's kingdom. After all, they are too young to understand the gospel. These people suggest that Jesus is not speaking about babies here at all, but that he is only using babies as examples of humility, that adults and older children must become as little children to be members of his kingdom.
Well, it is true that these babies are examples of child-like faith. But the phrase, "the kingdom belongs to such as these" would make no sense if his kingdom did not include little children.
Also, Jesus does not only use the babies as an object lesson, he actually blesses them. Obviously in this blessing Jesus is saying something about these babies in relation to his kingdom.
And so we must ask the question, what is this blessing that Jesus blesses these babies with? It is important to remember in answering this question that these children are the children of Israelites. We should not assume that pagan babies would receive such a blessing. These children are what we call "covenant children;" children born to parents who were in the covenant nation of Israel, the nation the Lord had entered into a special covenant relationship with.
What we cannot say is that this blessing was the blessing of eternal salvation, as if through the laying on of hands these babies were saved. If we say this then we would need to insist that all those OT Jewish babies who received God's sign of circumcision were saved, since circumcision pictured salvation. We know from our Bibles that that is not the case.
In the Old Testament, the laying on of hands was a sign of identification as God's people. In Numbers 6:27, the Lord instructs the priests to bless the people of Israel, and that blessing is defined as the Lord placing his name upon them. This blessing was often accompanied by the priest raising his hands over the people. This act communicated to Israel that she was God's special possession.
Now we know that not all in Israel were true believers, yet all in Israel had been set apart in a special relationship with God, both adults and their children. This means that the Lord can have more than one kind of relationship with people. While the Lord established a unique, eternal relationship with those he redeems through Christ, he also entered into a special relationship with all those in OT Israel, and this included the children of Israel.
With our emphasis on individual choice, American Christians have had a hard time conceiving of being in any type of relationship with God that does not come by our choosing, which is why American Christians more than all others have struggled with infant baptism. But remember, the babies of Israel did not choose to be Israelites. Yet the children of Israel were included as the people of God in a special relationship with God as his covenant people.
But what about the kingdom Jesus would establish? Would the Lord still have a special relationship with the children of believers in the New Covenant as he did in the old? In our passage the Lord demonstrates that the principle of establishing a relationship with the children of believers does not change in the new covenant. In Christ's kingdom the babies of believers are blessed as they were in the old kingdom of Israel.
So what is this blessing Christ gives to our children? The blessing is that out of God's love he sovereignty places these babies in the Christian church and Christian home. He gives them the means to their salvation. The Christian church and the Christian home are the means God uses to bring a child to faith.
Why does God bless some children with such blessings but not others? Because he is sovereign. In his sovereign demonstration of love God establishes a relationship with children of believers in eternity, and in his appointed time he places them in the Christian church and Christian home.
Someone may object, what good is this blessing if the blessing is not the forgiveness of sins? The Bible's answer; this blessing is precious. By this blessing you are raised hearing the gospel each week in church. You are raised by parents who point you to the Scriptures. You are raised in the church where the gospel is demonstrated, though imperfectly, by the love of God's people. You are given all the means to know Christ though the upbringing of your church and your parents.
This relationship that God established with the children of Christians is real, even if that child grows up to reject Christ. We saw that in the case of Cain. God speaks to Cain, not as a stranger, but as a friend. God shows compassion for Cain; he warns Cain. Clearly the Lord has some kind of a relationship with Cain that he does not have with those outside of the covenant community. But we see that Cain rejects the gospel he was raised with, and spurns the blessings God had given him.
This means children, that while your baptism signifies that you are members of the church and the promises of the gospel are especially offered to you, you have great responsibility to believe in the gospel your baptism pictures. To whom much is given, much is required. God's judgment will be most fierce on those who were baptized and raised with the gospel but despised the God who gave them such favor and blessing.
You may say, I did not choose to be part of church. I don't want to be responsible to believe in Christ and serve him. Consider the analogy of an American citizen. Children born to American parents are automatically given the status and rights of American citizens. As a child born to Americans you have the rights and protections guaranteed by the Constitution.
As a teenager, if you break the law, you cannot say to the judge, I did not choose to be an American citizen, I do not want to be responsible to obey its laws. What will the judge say? It does not matter whether you chose to be a citizen. By birth you are a citizen, you are under the blessings of citizenship, but you are also responsible to obey the laws of the land.
In the same way, God has given you children incredible blessings of being raised in the church and the Christian home. He gave you these blessings because he loves you. But with those blessings come the responsibility to listen to your church and parents and believe in the gospel you are raised with.
I Cor 7:14 reminds us that this blessing, this relationship God establishes with the children of believers, applies to children who only have one Christian parent.
Also, since the Lord regenerates a person before he believes, we know that the Lord can regenerate the heart of a baby before he believes. Because God blesses the children of believers, we can say with some assurance that the babies of believers who die in infancy and childhood will be in heaven.
Now, it is important for you Presbyterians not to get smug here. Yes, it was right to have your children baptized. But if a Baptist raises his children to believe the gospel, if he ensures that his children are in church every Sunday and teaches his children the faith, and a Presbyterian does not bring his family to church regularly or teach him the faith, who is the Lord more pleased with? Which children will most likely believe? Do you really think that God will bless those who go through a ritual without being careful to attend to the full meaning of that ritual?
So let us summarize this text. As Christ heads to the cross to establish his gospel kingdom, he demonstrates by blessing the babies of Israel that the children of believers are given special blessings in relation to his kingdom.
What the world sees as insignificant, and what the disciples considered insignificant, God calls important. If Jesus can pause from his mission to be in Jerusalem at the Passover; if he can pause to bless these babies and comfort these parents, then how important is each individual in his kingdom?
In the larger scheme of things our lives and problems do not seem very significant. But to Christ they are. He cares for each of you in his kingdom, from conception to death, he always makes time for you, and he rebukes those who would consider you unimportant.
Be careful that you do not treat others as the disciples treated these babies. If Christ considers the least of us significant, can we do any less?
Again Jesus confounds all carnal expectations of the kind of kingdom he would establish. In his kingdom the least is the greatest, the insignificant the most significant. Christ himself seemed insignificant as he hung on that cross, but from his lowly death he established the mightiest kingdom of all, of which you and your children have been made apart. Such is the wonder of your Lord; such is the beauty of his kingdom. Amen