Shutting Up the Kingdom. Is It Happening Near You?
But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. (Matthew 23:13)
In a scolding rebuke of their hypocrisy, Jesus condemns the conduct of Jewish religious leaders, who in their day were actively trying to prevent the people from becoming citizens of the kingdom of God. They themselves would not repent and believe the gospel of the kingdom, being taught by Jesus, nor would they accept or receive anyone else professing belief in the gospel of the kingdom.
They attempted to create all types of obstacles for the people. They started attacking Jesus, and falsely accusing Him of being a false prophet, a blasphemer, a devil, and so on. They went so far as putting people out of the synagogue (John 9:22), if they confessed that Jesus was the Christ; to even plotting to kill Lazarus, (John 12:10) because he resurrected by Jesus.
The bible tells us that they did these things, because they envied Jesus, (Mat 27:18) and were losing their control of the people, who were abandoning their hypocritical religious teachings, to follow Him into His kingdom. (John 12:11)
Over the centuries, the message of the Gospel has spread throughout nearly all the world, changing hearts and transforming lives. Drawing many sons and daughters to God, through the message of salvation by faith in Jesus the Christ.
With the increase in both knowledge and understanding of the Gospel, one would think that the obstacles of the past, would be a thing of the past.
Unfortunately however, with the growth and spread of the Gospel, we see new enemies to Christ emerging daily. New leaders bringing old obstacles from the past; challenging a new generation to press their way into the Kingdom. Is it happening somewhere near you? If so, what does it look like? And what should we do about it, if anything?