Matthew 11.12 12 From
the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been
subjected to violence, and violent people have been raiding it. – Jesus
I suppose there are a couple different ways to look at
this: from the standpoint of the opposition of the world and unbelievers or,
from the standpoint of the power and presence of God in His redeeming effort
among men. Either way, the Kingdom of God is powerful and present. And perturbance.
In the context, St. John, the Baptist, had been taken
into custody by Herod because John and his preaching had become a nuisance to
Herod over Herod’s behavior and his stealing his brother’s wife (yes, it went
on back then as well…). Herod dealt violently with John and ultimately had him
beheaded. And Jesus may have been making reference to that. Herod’s pushback
against the truth was violent.
Jesus may have also been making reference to what John
was preached, and how that preaching
disturbed men’s lives. The Kingdom of God does do violence to the natural man’s
mind: it requires death and a faith to believe there is a resurrection from
that death. No wonder the violent (or the violated, if you will) have to take
it by force. They have no other alternative, for the Kingdom and the Gospel
demand complete, revolutionary, and unflinching obeisance. That kind of violence unglues one’s soul.
The Kingdom of God could be compared to our being forced
to learn to breathe underwater, without the faintest clue of how to do so. The
Kingdom of God is not natural; therefore, it requires a supernatural upheaval
in the life of the one who would embrace it. The Kingdom is truly no place for
sissies. Those who give themselves to Jesus are in for a wild ride. Why?
Because the Kingdom suffers violence and only violent people have been attempting
to tame it, or enter it.
The issue is, God has, since the fall, been reaching out
to mankind to restore what was lost (fellowship with Him). But that restoration
is on His terms, not man’s. God is immovable, unshakable, and forever focused
on those who will accept His offer of eternal friendship. But we must accept it
on His terms.
That doesn’t mean God is ruthless in His methods, but it
does require our learning to be ruthless in ours; and in our resistance to the
pull of the world, the flesh, and the devil which deny the truth. That’s
violence. Not violent in the sense of worldly violence, but in the sense of
spiritual violence. The weapons of our warfare (a specifically chosen word) are
not carnal, but mighty through God to the silencing of the falseness of earth,
and the proclaiming of the truth of Heaven. Only violent people proclaim.
The necessity of violence
calls me to do what I normally would shrink from. It causes me to relate to God
on His terms. It causes me to pray. It causes me to love, and to give, and to
forgive. These are not natural things, and the world violently opposes them…just
ask ISIS; they’ll tell you, as the kill you…
Father, Your word
says the violent raid the Kingdom. I understand that to mean that only the
violent know what they’re doing. May I know. May I participate. And may the
violence of the Kingdom bring about in me true transformation… Amen
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