“He took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them and blessed them.”
(Mark 10:16)

This was by no means a mere Jewish ritual or symbolic of a blessing bestowed. No! The Lord Jesus Christ, the LORD of Glory “blessed them,” and they were blessed; and no man could reverse it. It would have been rewarding to follow these children unto adulthood and watch as the blessings were revealed. These were no carnal blessings. Christ would have dismissed such a request with a “having food and raiment let us be content.” These were spiritual blessings. — Blessings from heaven above! From a child Timothy knew the Holy Scriptures, what a blessing! Some of these children perhaps became preachers of the same Christ who had blessed them. — What a blessing! Some, perhaps, became godly mothers, loving their husbands and guiding the home. — What a blessing! They all became good citizens of their country. They all became believers and worshipers of the living God. They all lived and died in faith and hope. They are all in heaven today! — What a blessing! Jesus blessed them and none could reverse it.

The blessing may have seemed slow in coming to some. A mother watched her son go off into open sins, the tempter telling her the blessing had been made void. But in her eye of faith she still sees the Lord Jesus taking her son up in His arms and blessing him. Her faith is strengthened, she believes and prays and waits patiently, and lives to see the blessing fulfilled, and mother and son rejoice together. — “The blessing of the LORD maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.”

You and I cannot see the Lord Jesus, but this should not stop us from taking our children to him in faith. — “They brought young children to him.” And how did they do it but in faith? Take them to him in prayer. Take them to him in His Word and point Him out to them. Take them to Him in public worship. Take them to him in a spiritual song. If the Lord blesses them, they shall be blessed.

“I think when I read that sweet story of old,
When Jesus was here among men,
How he called little children as lambs to His fold,
I should like to have been with them then.
I wish that His hands had been placed on my head,
That His arm had been thrown around me,
And that I might have seen His kind looks when He said;
‘Let the little ones come unto me.’”

B. Crabtree