Day 269, Year 1

Gate Blockers of the Kingdom of Heaven

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.” (Matthew 23:13 NKJV)

This was the first woe Jesus said to the hypocritical Pharisees, etc., because they shut up the kingdom of heaven against people. But how were those hypocrites able to shut up the kingdom of heaven? In fact, the truth of the Bible is that for people to enter the heavenly kingdom, there is a divine and a human part. No one has the power to interfere with God’s part. But, human hypocrites are capable of destroying the human part, which is that we must believe in God and obediently act upon His Word for entering His kingdom.

Hypocrites are well aware of the weaknesses of human nature. They tell people that it is impossible to obey God’s Word completely, and then encourage them to pretend to have practiced His Word without truly doing so. They pass on false and evil beliefs, along with a sense of despair toward His Word to others. Such misguided and distorted notions are quite deceptive, particularly for new believers. Those who are unfamiliar with God’s Word are likely to agree that His Word is impossible to obey. But would God command people to do the impossible? Not at all. In light of this, it is evident that the messages they spread distort God’s Word and spread unbelief about Him.

While believers like Paul helped people enter God’s kingdom, the Pharisees, etc., were doing the opposite. They talked without doing so, or they pretended to have done so, leading people away from obeying His Word. Some hypocritical followers even mistakenly think that they themselves are pious. However, Jesus made it clear that they would not be able to enter His kingdom. Those who pretend to be sanctimonious are only deceiving themselves and others, mistakenly believing that they will be able to enter His kingdom. In my opinion, the act of “shutting up the door to the kingdom of heaven” is nothing short of the devil’s work, because they want to use human weakness to offset God’s Word. But His Word is to transform human weaknesses and make us increasingly stronger. When they tell people that there is no way for humans to enter God’s kingdom, Jesus encourages us to work hard to enter His kingdom. In fact, every one of us needs to decide for ourselves whether we want to overcome all difficulties in order to obey God’s Word and enter His kingdom. Thus, any believer who encounters these individuals must directly denounce them and expose their evil deeds to avoid being contaminated by them. Really, if we do not openly resist any kind of unbeliefs, we will inevitably be defiled.

Reflection questions:

1) Do you feel that the Lord Jesus Christ is encouraging you to strive to enter the kingdom of heaven? If so, is your goal in life also to help more people enter His kingdom?

2) Have you ever encountered any deceivers who accommodate human weaknesses and encourage people to disobey God’s Word? If so, how did you respond?