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Transcript 262A
"Least in the Kingdom of Heaven" [Mt 5:19 & 11:11]
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: I would like you to explain Matthew 5:19 and then Matthew 11:11.
HC: In Matthew 5:19 we read, "Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven." And then in Matthew 11:11: "Truly I say to you, among those born of woman there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet he who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he."
Now the question that is raised is concerning this phrase "least in the Kingdom of Heaven.''
In Matthew 5:19 it is stating here that someone who is frustrating God's will, who is teaching something contrary to the will of God, shall be called "least in the Kingdom of Heaven.'' And he, on the other hand, who is obedient to the will of God, and who is teaching this, shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Now how does this relate to Matthew 11, where John the Baptist is spoken of in very high and glowing terms by Christ, and yet He goes on and says that he who is "least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he"?
Well, let's look at one more verse, and that's in Matthew 18. That also impinges on this question. In Matthew 18:6 we read, "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in Me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck, and to be drowned in the depths of the sea." Now I read Matthew 18:6 because it relates to Matthew 5:19, which is speaking about someone who is frustrating the commandments of God, and actually teaching something contrary to the will of God, thereby causing people to sin.
So we know immediately that from one standpoint the Bible is speaking of those who are under the curse of God as being the "least in the Kingdom of Heaven." We immediately sense how this ties together. But then how are we to understand Matthew 11:11? Here He says, "He who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he."
If we follow this ling of reasoning, that someone who is 1east in the Kingdom of Heaven is someone who is under the curse of God, and subject to hell, then we would have to conclude that Matthew 11:11 is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Actually, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is identified with the Kingdom of Heaven, in that He became the King of the Kingdom of Heaven, is also identified with the Kingdom of Heaven by the fact that He descended into hell in order to become the King of the Kingdom of Heaven. He became under the curse of God. He became more sinful than any single individual in the world, because He became loaded with the sins of all who would ever believe in Him.
And so while John the Baptist is called very great here in Matthew 11:11, in that he is a prophet who has been invited to announce the Lord Jesus Christ and who prepared Christ for His ministry in that he baptized Him (he therefore was signally honored, and is called greater than anyone who had come before), and yet Christ, who went to hell, who became sin for us, is greater than John the Baptist. And you'll remember that John the Baptist is the one who said, "I must decrease, but Christ must increase." John the Baptist sensed this very definitely.
Now that's one way of answering the question of Matthew 11:11, and answering it in the light of two other passages that clearly indicate that someone who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is someone who is corporately a citizen of God's Kingdom but is not born again, and is actually cursed by God. He's headed for hell. And the proof of this is that he is teaching that which is contrary to the Word of God.
But now there's another way of looking at this, and we must also examine that for just a moment, so that we'll get everything possible that the Bible speaks about in relationship to this kind of a question.
In Luke 9:48 we read, "Whoever receives this child in My Name receives Me. And whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great." Now God is speaking of someone who is least, not in the sense that He used in Matthew 5, but in the sense of someone who is humble in the Kingdom of Heaven, who has humbled himself, and who realizes that whatever he is it is in Christ. This now is not talking about someone who is merely a citizen of God's Kingdom corporately, that is, because he has joined the church, one who is organizationally identified with the Kingdom of Christ. But rather it is someone who is personally born from above. Personally he has become a child of God. And in his humility he is looked upon as one who is "least among you." Putting it in another way, the Bible says, "He who is last shall be first," and so on. This conveys the same kind of an idea.
Now if this is the direction that Matthew 11:11 is going, then we would arrive at this kind of a conclusion, that while John the Baptist is the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, inasmuch as he was privileged to be the actual announcer of the Lord Jesus Christ, in a very literal way, all the Old Testament prophets looked forward to the coming of the Messiah, but John the Baptist was raised up by God to actually be present to point out to the world, "Behold, the Lamb of God" yet the born again believer who comes after John the Baptist, he who is walking humbly before the Lord because he is a child of God (I'm using the language of Luke 9:48 now) is greater than John the Baptist, in this sense – in the sense that John the Baptist could announce the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, but we are privileged to declare that Christ has come and actually announced to the world the finished work of Christ, that He went to the cross. He overcame death. He endured hell for our sins. And He rose again. And He ascended back to the Father. And He is coming again. This is detail that John the Baptist was not knowledgeable of.
And so in that sense we have a far greater privilege and task than John the Baptist. He announced the fact that Jesus had come. We announce the fact that He not only had come, but that He went to the cross, and He actually provided the atonement. And we have all the details concerning this.
Now I'm not really certain which is these two explanations is the one that God has in view. Perhaps He has both, because Christ of course is identified very intimately with the Christian. At least both explanations have Biblical validity.
But thank you for that question.