Chapter
3
What Can Prevent Us From Entering The Kingdom of The Heavens?
“Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many,
I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”
Luke 13:24
In Matthew, chapter 19, a young man came to Yeshua and asked, ““Teacher, what good thing shall I do so that I may obtain eternal life?” Yeshua answered the young man’s question with a question and then an answer: “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is One who is good; but if you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”
Let’s pause there and look at the story so far. The young man asked what effort, what thing, maybe what alms, he could perform that would be labeled good enough that he could “obtain” (Greek – echo – to hold) eternal life.
Life here is the Greek word zoe. An inductive study including Google’s AI, indicates a good way to compare zoe and psuche; (which is also translated as “life” sometimes in the Bible, and often as “soul”) is that psuchē indicates the ‘who’ (the person/soul) and zoē indicates the ‘what’ (the quality/essence of life).
The young man had probably been used to using his wealth and position to aid his desires and accomplishments. Obviously he thought Yeshua could tell him what would give him “eternal life”. He did tell him what would bring “life”. Is there something we miss in those two statements? I propose that the young man’s thinking and question about eternal life was that it would start at physical death and Yeshua’s answer was about entering that life now during physical life.
Yeshua started with telling the young man to do what The Father had already told His people to do. “There is One who is good” “but if you want to enter (Greek – eiserchomai – to enter) life, keep the commandments.”
The reality is setting in for the young man. He had been keeping the commandments but he wanted more. The commandments came with promises of a prosperous life in the new country and there are scriptures that speak to an afterlife with GOD.1
Back to the young man looking for the key to eternal life. Yeshua told him that if he would enter life, to keep the commandments. Aha! The young man is getting ready to zero in on the answer that he’s looking for. “Which ones?”
- “YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER;
- YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY;
- YOU SHALL NOT STEAL;
- YOU SHALL NOT GIVE FALSE TESTIMONY;
- HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER; and
- YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”
The young man said to Him, “All these I have kept; what am I still lacking?” I believe that he sensed that longing to be connected with Yeshua that we’ve all experienced and continue to experience…seeking Him. “What” am I still lacking? He feels like there is more. Yeshua answered, “If you want to be complete, go sell your possessions and give to poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
So now his wealth is a problem instead of an assistance to what his soul is seeking. He came seeking the words of eternal life that Yeshua’s disciples had identified as the words that Yeshua brought. Peter’s statement to Yeshua in John 6: “Where else would we go? You have the words of eternal life” brings it out very well. But the young man did not want to give up who he was and become a disciple of Yeshua. As Dallas Willard taught, you need to think about if you’re ready to become a disciple of Jesus, turn your life over to him, learn to do everything Jesus taught, live our lives as though it were Jesus living them. Many people are not ready to do that and neither was the young man in the story in Matthew 19.
After the young man went away sad, Yeshua told his disciples, “Truly I say to you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
I propose that the young man also missed an important point that Yeshua made up front in the discussion. There is a big difference between echo and eiserchomai. The young man asked what he could do to hold or possess (echo) eternal (aiōnios – perpetual – also used of past time, or past and future as well) life. Yeshua answered with enter (eiserchomai) life. The young man asks what he could do to hold or possess eternal life indicating that eternal life would be for a future time. Yeshua answered with “enter life”, indicating enter life now. The Kingdom is the way of life to be entered now, not a ticket we hold in our pocket only to be used at death.
This ties to Yeshua’s message: Repent, for the Kingdom of GOD is at hand. Change your thinking, rethink how you think about life, GOD, and the Kingdom of GOD. Yeshua brought the availability of the Kingdom and made it available. It is still available to enter into in this life through trusting in Him and living by His words. Following Yeshua. Doing what He taught through the grace that He provides.
We are given examples of what will prevent us from entering. Several times the gospels dealt with becoming like a child to enter the Kingdom.
- One is found in the eighteenth chapter of Matthew: At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And He called a child to Himself and set him among them, and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you change and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. “So whoever will humble himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. “And whoever receives one such child in My name, receives Me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depths of the sea.”
- One is found in the nineteenth chapter of that same gospel, in the tenth chapter of Mark, and in the eighteenth chapter of Luke, except in Luke, the Bible says that Yeshua called for the children: Then some children were brought to Him so that He would lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, “Leave the children alone, and do not forbid them to come to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
Let’s combine the points made in these scriptures. The point here being that those in The Kingdom are humble in the same way that children are humble. How do adults learn to be humble like children are humble?
It seems that during Yeshua’s time, children were not considered important enough, by the disciples, to bother the rabbi or teacher with since when the children were brought to Him so that He would lay His hands on them and pray, the disciples rebuked them. It doesn’t say who brought the children. Can we assume that their parents brought them? I believe we can. Why did they bring the children? What did they want or expect?
Laying our hands on someone while praying for them draws them into or connects them better with what is going on in the prayer we are engaging in. It is being a conduit, passing something on, not holding back, giving, connecting, blessing, asking The Father, Yeshua, and The Holy Spirit to do something for this person specifically. The prayer not being for those around or the congregation in general but specifically for this person. Laying on of hands was, and still is today, done during a blessing for children. Sometimes something is revealed in prophecy for the one being blessed. So again why did the disciples rebuke the people who had brought the children to Yeshua. I’m guessing that they thought Yeshua, being the Messiah, had more important things to do, important things to teach. He couldn’t be bothered with children. WHOA! HALT THE PRESSES! Yeshua had a surprise for the disciples. They had wanted to know who was the greatest and Yeshua called a child to Himself from the surrounding people and then He set the child amongst the disciples that had asked who was the greatest in the kingdom. Then he said, “Unless you change and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom.” Pick up on the word “change”! The Greek word used here is strephō pronounced “stref’-o”. According to James Strong, (G4762) it means to twist, that is turn quite around or reverse, literally or figuratively. So… “Unless you reverse your thinking about what denotes Kingdom greatness, you (talking to disciples) WILL NOT ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. “Whoever will humble himself like this child is the greatest.” That probably set them back in their thoughts. The word here for humble is tapeinoō, G5013. Bill Mounce defines the word as “to depress the pride of” and in a related verse, “to humble one’s self, exhibit humility, and contrition. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines humility as freedom from pride or arrogance: the quality or state of being humble.
But then He also said, “Whoever receives one such child, receives me.” So much for sending the children away when they come to have hands laid on. Receive them in Yeshua’s name, invite them in. You are receiving Yeshua when you receive them in His name.
- What humble qualities do children have that we need? How about: Being teachable. Sometimes as adults we cease to be teachable and sometimes we become that way quite early in life. Since children are usually more teachable than adults, let’s go ahead and draw in a few more of Yeshua’s words from Matthew. “whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depths of the sea.”
How do adults cause little ones to sin? We need to be very careful what we teach little ones and the way we treat them, do not teach them to sin or cause them to sin. An interesting point here to think about…what is the best way to teach children to live? Isn’t it by example? Whatever a 3 yr old sees us doing or hears us saying, they usually repeat. We need to be the best example. The way to be the best example is to live by the teachings of Yeshua.
I won’t go into all the singular ways that we could cause little ones that believe in Him to sin because if we live by Yeshua’s words and teachings, that will cover it! I also don’t think it would be wrong to believe that the addition of “that believe in Him” could pull in adults that are new babes in Christ. And don’t we all have so much to learn and feel like babes in Christ? Even if it doesn’t, we do not want to cause anyone to sin.
After the “Beatitudes” in Chapter 5, You will find these truths from Yeshua and a discourse that connects them together. My paraphrasing – we’ll connect the dots in the following paragraphs. Truths:
- Yeshua did not come to “do away” with the law.
- Unless our righteousness FAR SURPASSES the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, we will not enter the Kingdom of The Heavens.
- It’s a heart matter:
- Calling our brothers and sisters fools,
- allowing temptations to develop into desire to commit,
- using oaths sworn on GOD’s creation to increase our likelihood of being believed concerning a matter,
- retaliation against evil committed against you
- and willing good for our enemies.
- Matthew 5 closes with “Therefore, you SHALL be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.
- It’s a heart matter:
Matthew chapter 5 begins with the blessings of The Kingdom and ends with some points on what might keep us from entering The Kingdom. Yeshua discusses some ways that our righteousness is to far exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees or we will not enter The Kingdom. He did not come to do away with the law but He did teach us how to truly obey the law. It’s a heart matter. The scribes and Pharisees judged obedience to the law by physical actions and appearances. There is quite a tirade against the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23. Part of it says:
- “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence.
- “You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may also become clean.
- “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.
- “So you too, outwardly appear righteous to people, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
In Matthew 5, Yeshua tells us our righteousness is not to be a righteousness of just outward appearances. We are to clean the inside; clean the heart. Then our actions will be in right. The actions will just naturally be a demonstration of what is on the inside. Yeshua explains that the outward breakage of the law is because of the heart or spiritual condition of the person. In Matthew 15, Yeshua again is dealing with the way the scribes and Pharisees put aside GOD’s commandments and interpreted righteousness and sin. In Matt 15:11, Yeshua says it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles a person, not what goes in. There are so many scriptures where Yeshua speaks to this. Just do a word search with a good Bible software, or make use of Google searches for phrases such as “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks”.
We must look on the inside and it starts with self-examination of our hearts. How do we know what’s in our hearts? Where do our thoughts, feelings, ideas, desires lead us? Do they lead us to seeking GOD and His Kingdom. Obedience to the word of Yeshua? Entrance into His Kingdom will coincide with a desire to read and understand His words, a desire to do His will. Yeshua said, in John 14:15 “If you love (agapao) me, you will keep my commands.” And in Matthew 7:24 “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts on them, will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”
We must become humble as a child, not allow the things of this world to be more important than GOD’s will for our lives, and we must examine our hearts and work on our heart condition. Love (agape – will good) the LORD our GOD with all that we are and love (agape –will good) things for our neighbors just as we will good for ourselves.
1 – Some Scriptures in the Old Testament that speak to an afterlife with GOD:
- Job 19:25-26 – “For I know that my Redeemer lives… and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God.”
- Psalm 49:15 – “But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for He shall receive me.”
- Psalm 16:10-11 – “For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol… In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.”
- Psalm 133:3 – “…For there the Lord commanded the blessing—life forevermore.”
- Daniel 12:2 – “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”
- Daniel 12:13 – “But go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days.”
- Isaiah 26:19 – “Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!”
