Matthew 19:14

Matthew 19:14. Suffer the little children, etc. The natural impulse would be to bring children to Him, do not check it.

Forbid them not, as the disciples did, and many since then.

To such belongeth the kingdom of heaven. As in Matthew 18:1-14, the reference is to children in spirit (comp. Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17), but not to the exclusion of actual children, who probably form the majority in the kingdom of heaven. Lessons: 1. Since ‘to such belongeth the kingdom of heaven,' the earlier children become Christians the better: 2. Since they are to come (or be brought) to Christ, who is a Saviour, the doctrine of universal depravity is not denied here. 3. They may be ‘forbidden,' both by neglect and injudicious teaching: (a.) by not being taught of Christ, through word and example; (b.) by being taught legalism, i.e., ‘Be good, or God will not love you,' instead of this: Christ loves you, therefore go to Him in order to be good. 4. As they were brought, and were actually blessed by Christ (Mark 10:16); through the faith of parents a seed of faith may exist in the heart of a child, so that the infant members of a Christian family ought to be Christian children, and their education conducted in the confident expectation that they will show the fruits of faith.