Mark 10:14

‘But when Jesus saw it he was indignant and said to them, “Allow the little children to come to me. Do not forbid them. For of such is the Kingly Rule of God.”

Jesus' response to His disciples' behaviour was indignation. He had already pointed out to them that to receive such little children was to receive God Himself (Mark 9:37) for in their relative freedom from prejudice, and coming with faith in their hearts, they were His representatives on earth. They were open to receiving the truth as no others were. And now the disciples were turning away His opportunity to receive the representatives of His Father. How foolish they were. Perhaps they had thought that when He had said it previously, it was just an illustration and that He had not meant it.

‘Of such is the Kingly Rule of God.' (Or ‘the Kingly Rule of God belongs to such as these'). The powerful and the important and the learned were not responding to His Kingly Rule (1 Corinthians 1:26). It was those who humbled themselves and became as little children who were responding. It was those who came with nothing but their need. And children were thus prime candidates to respond. The Kingly Rule of God was made up of such as these, and they therefore had a God-given right to it, and it was theirs. So they must not be refused the opportunity to meet the One Who would be their King, for in their innocence they had the right. Who knew what a difference this might make to their future lives?

Comparison may be made with Luke 11:9. There asking for the Holy Spirit is likened to a child asking its father for some simple thing. The child comes simply with its need and the father supplies abundantly. So should men seek to receive the Holy Spirit, as simply as a child receives a gift from its Father.