R.C. Sproul

The scribe was again duly impressed, compliments Jesus.

Well said, teacher.

I don't think he was being patronizing.

I think he meant it.

He said, you've spoken the truth.

For there is one God and no another but He, and to love Him with all the heart, the understanding of the soul, and with all the strength.

And to love one neighbor as himself is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifice.

And now Jesus noticed that when the scribe answered in this way,

He said, you're not far from the kingdom of God.

He didn't say you're in the kingdom of God, but you're close.

You're starting to get it.

Starting to understand what it means when the Lord God omnipotent is really regarded as the sovereign king and that we are willing to love him for who he is.

Let him see.

Not let him see a hallucination.

Not let him see a vision of what's not real.

Let him see what's really out there.

And when he opened his eyes, the assembled host of angels was vastly superior in number and power to all of those chariots and armies of the king of Syria.

And that's what God tells us is the world in which we live.

One of my favorite angel narratives in all of Scripture is one found in the second book of Kings.

And I enjoy this particular narrative because it reveals directly and indirectly so many things that we need to understand about the nature and function of angels.