Monday, December 23, 2013

Kingdom of God in Matthew 19: 24

"And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." (Matthew 19: 24)

Jesus says in the prior verse:

"Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 19: 23)

The parallelism of the two verses confirms that Kingdom of God and Kingdom of heaven refer to the same place.

Yet why does Jesus say Kingdom of God in the second verse?

The offense of directly identifying with God the Father offended many Jews of Jesus' day, who demonstrated a misplaced reverence for God's name.

To augment the impossibility of man to enter the kingdom of heaven based no his wealth, health, and prestige, Jesus amplified the metaphor with "camel through the eye of the needle".

Camels are unclean creatures, first of all. The notion that anything can pass through the eye of the needle is. . .impossible. We should stop reading into these parables. Jesus is talking about a camel, and the eye of a needle.

A rich man cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God has to come to us, to enter into us.

Receive the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Romans 5: 17), and watch His wealth and health flow into your life!

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