May 19
9
NOT FAR BUT NOT IN
Mark 12: 34: And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said
unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.
The charge Christ has given his pastors is “Comfort ye, comfort ye my
people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto
her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned:
for she hath received of the LORD’S hand double for all her sins.” (Isa
40:1-2) But we are not to comfort anyone who does not yet believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. The worst thing in the world would be to go to hell
calling God our Father when we have not bowed the knee to Christ! The
person to whom Christ spoke these words was very near. But Christ told
him the truth. He did not say, “Thou art in the kingdom of God” but
“Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.”
Perhaps, some here are not far from the kingdom of God. But not far is
not in. May God comfort us in the assurance of faith when we truly
believe on Christ. But if there be any who are not truly resting in
Christ, may God make them see their need of truly believing on Christ.
It is not enough to meet Christ standing as near as the threshold of
faith. We must enter Christ the Door through faith in him. We must
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thereby enter the kingdom of God.
Clay Curtis.