Focus Passage: Matthew 8:11

‘Sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.’

I was much blessed by an account of an incident given to me some years ago of a man who was a member of a Free Church of Scotland congregation in the United States of America; in point of fact it was at the time the only Free Church of Scotland congregation in the entirety of the United States of America. He was not only a member of this local fellowship, but he was a faithful elder of long standing in the church. His name was Malcom Campbell. His precious wife was the dear Effie Campbell. She had grown up in Stornoway on the Ilse of Lewis, in Scotland. She loved to tell her stories about seeing, when she was but a teen herself, the celebrated author of a good number of books that were greatly used of God to bring about a resurgence of the ‘doctrines of grace;’ in particular ‘The Sovereignty of God.’ Arthur W. Pink would come occasionally into the store where young Effie was employed behind the sales counter. She told us how aloof Mr. Pink was; not really very friendly at all; perhaps charity would induce us to say, rather than not friendly, that he kept to himself, a trait borne out in the biography written later by Iain Murray.

But to return to the United States and Malcom Campbell. Effie told us how that he was in hospital with a diagnosis of a terminal form of cancer. The prognosis was rather dismal; the church knew it; his pastor Jack MacLeod knew it; Effie knew it; and Malcolm knew it. Nevertheless, a sweet-hearted nurse coming into Malcolm’s room one morning and wishing to put a positive spin on the matter responded to a statement by Malcolm that he was not likely to be around for long, said cheerfully, ‘O, Mr. Campbell, you’ll probably be out on the golf course with your friends next week.’ Malcolm’s kind, but serious, rejoinder to that was, ‘No, sweet lady, next week I will be sitting with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’

Upon recounting that event to the pastor of a church we were visiting just after moving to South Carolina; thinking it to be a rather fine testimony to the grace of our God in providing dying faith to His people—one elderly gentleman standing within earshot immediately responded by saying, ‘I don’t want to be sitting with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I want to be sitting with Jesus.’ The pastor subsequently made it conspicuous that he was adding his own imprimatur to that statement by relating the account in his very next sermon. It became painfully clear shortly thereafter that though this man was teaching from a Sunday afternoon study using a reformed confession, that his heart and mind were yet retaining his ‘traditional’ dispensational background. Like the elderly gentleman, he embraced some strange distinction between the Older Testament saints and being in Christ Jesus. The implication was that one could not sit with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, while at the same time being seated with Christ, in the kingdom of heaven. This fallacy in thinking can only be attributed to a serious misunderstanding of the way of salvation through the blood of the Lamb of God.

It is very noteworthy that the expression ‘kingdom of heaven’ is employed only by Matthew in his gospel account, and it is found no less than thirty times along with this usage in Matthew 8:11. It is considered by virtually all conservative writers that Matthew was writing particularly to a Jewish audience; an audience comprised of those members of the Jewish community that dared not attempt to pronounce the Name of God. Thus, while Matthew makes use of the term, the kingdom of God, only four times, his fellow Synoptists use it forty and four times. Mark uses the term fourteen times, and Luke uses it thirty times. These accounts were directed primarily to Gentile audiences unlike that of Matthew. This accounts for the distinction in the terminology. It does not give license to assuming that a distinction in meaning has been intended. This is made obvious when we compare the words of John the Baptist. It is equally obvious as we compare the words related of Christ’s activities. We are told that John came forth preaching; his call was simple, ‘Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’—Matthew 3:2. Mark records the identical event of John’s beginnings in 1:15 of his account, but he has written, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe in the gospel.’ These are the very same occasions recorded by two different men. In the same fashion, we have the words of Jesus set down by these two men. Matthew and Mark have each related the parables of Christ, but Matthew sets them before us under the rubric, in 13:11, ‘Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,’ while Mark has recorded the same parables under the same rubric, yet in different language as he has it, in 4:11, ‘Unto you is given the mystery of the kingdom of God.’ Is it not painfully clear that anyone supposing that the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are two differing entities has been terribly misguided by a prejudice?

Jesus told His hearers in John 8:56, ‘Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad.’ This may be a somewhat enigmatic statement because there is much that remains mysterious for us, and much that will remain so likely for a long while yet to come, but I raise the question nonetheless, ‘Is it not the Son of God informing us that Abraham rejoiced and was glad to see the day of Christ, and moreover, he saw it and was glad.’ Whatever that statement involves, it puts Jesus and Abraham together; suggesting powerfully that anyone sitting anywhere with faithful Abraham would be in a position to see Jesus Christ and to rejoice in being able to do so; it veritably insists that those seated in the kingdom of heaven with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob are also seated with Jesus Christ, who is seated at the right hand of the Father. Additionally, Jesus told us in Matthew 12:50, that ‘whosoever shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother.’ This same Jesus said, ‘For this is the will of my Father, that every one that beholdeth the Son, and believeth on him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.’ Can anyone dispute that Abraham beheld the Son when Jesus has verily said that the patriarch saw His day and rejoiced in it? Can we gainsay the words of the Christ that Abraham is with Him; that if Malcolm Campbell went to be with our Lord, he is then sitting with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob?

David Farmer, elder

Fellowship Bible Church