Mark 12:34 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said to him, You are not far from the kingdom of God… After being twelve days on shipboard, I awakened in the morning and saw the American coast. The headlands seemed beautiful; even Sandy Hook seemed attractive. I was impatient to get on shore. It seemed as if we never would get free from quarantine, or get up the Narrows, or come to our friends who stood on the wharf waiting for us. I think that the most tedious part of a voyage is the last two or three hours. Well, there are many before me who are in the position I have described myself as once having been in. You have been voyaging on towards Christian life; you have found it a rough passage; a hurricane from Mount Sinai has smitten you, but now you see lighthouses, and you see buoys, and the great headlands of God's mercy stretching out into the ocean of your transgression. You are almost ashore. I have come here tonight to see you land. You are very near being a Christian — "Thou art not far from the kingdom of God." O that this might be the hour for your emancipation. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question. |
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