13 ¶ And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. 14 But 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. 15 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. 16 And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.
To suffer is to allow which you can see by searching for all of the instances the word is used in the Bible. To understand words in the Bible see how they are used in context, by looking at words next to them, near them, or anywhere around them that gives them meaning. It is foolish to go to a dictionary when the King James Bible is self-defining. Webster’s 1828 dictionary is no substitute for how the Holy Spirit defines its own words.
Unfortunately, while lexicographers studying Plato do not go to Homer to see how Plato uses a Greek word, they do often, in modern times, go to Plato to see how to define a Bible word. This is because they don’t believe in the authorship of the Holy Spirit through the wisdom He gave the actual human writers. But, it’s even worse than that. They don’t even judge the Bible by the same standard they judge a play by Aeschylus. While the author’s use of words in context is good for any other work, apparently many of them do not afford the Bible that credibility.
We have to receive Christ in the kind of trust and acceptance and expectation that a child receives Him.
We are to trust Christ with the absolute trust of a little child. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we were all children in heaven? If children see Christ in their parents’ lives, in the way their parents speak, the way they act toward each other, the way they act toward those outside of the family, then they are most likely going to be drawn to Christ. Children who see fear, paranoia, a psychopathic lust to control others, and constant ingratitude and arrogance will either become just as wicked as their parents or they’ll get as far away from them as they can get when they become adults.
Remember, it was the little ones who were able to go into the Promised Land, not their parents.
Deuteronomy 1:39 Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.
How can you trust Christ if you don’t know Him through the Bible? Is your Christ some figment of your imagination? Is He some projection of your own desire and longing for immortality, or a fear you have of not having any meaning in your life? Upon what is your relationship with Christ based? A feeling? Your conscience? A cultural concept of what it means to be a good person? How do you know the Christ of the Bible apart from the Bible? Are you so confident in your own spirituality and discernment that you don’t believe Satan or your flesh or the world can fool you into believing in a false Christ?
Trust in Christ for your salvation. Trust in Him alone. Don’t try to live by someone else’s convictions or let your service for Christ be judged by some Pharisee’s standards. But, trust Him as a little child trusts because if you don’t He’s made it clear that you are not His.
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