From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.” Matthew 11:12
John the Baptist has been imprisoned, and he is beginning to doubt if Jesus is the one. The promised Messiah. He sends his disciples to question Jesus, “Are you the one, or should we expect another?” Jesus tells his disciples to go back and tell what they have seen. He then goes back to teaching and lays on the crowd this teaching that seems so out of place with everything else that Jesus has taught up to this point.
The literal translation of the first part of verse 12 is, “The kingdom of heaven violences” or as some translations put it, “The kingdom of heaven is advancing violently.” It could be interpreted two different ways and indeed Jesus could have meant it to be taken both ways. Both the kingdom of heaven is being reacted against violently (as in the case of John the Baptist or even the reception of Jesus by the religious leaders, He could even be foreshadowing His approaching death) and the kingdom of heaven is advancing violently and those who enter in do so in a violent way.
But in this second interpretation we have this problem of, “What is the nature of this violence?” and “Who or what is this violence against?”
Is this violence against others? Is Jesus suggesting that we take up swords and violently bring the reality of God's kingdom to earth? Or is this another reversal of the way that we look at the world and our relationship to the things of it that Jesus is telling us that we must violently fight against?
We will look at two different ways in which the Bible tells us that we are to take up arms and fight against our own lives. Not acts of violence upon our own body (self-mutilation or suicide) this is not what we are talking about, but against our own kingdoms, built up in opposition to God's kingdom, and the sin that is reigning in our own lives.
First, let's look at our situation at salvation:
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” Ephesians 2:1-3
Before Christ we are dead to the things of God and definitely not concerned with building His kingdom. But we are building our own kingdom. Piling on all the things that please us, with no concern for pleasing God or shining forth His glory. But it's even worse than that. The Bible describes us as enemies of God (Romans 5:10) before Christ died for us. We are building our own kingdom in direct opposition to God's kingdom. We are against God and (while chained in our sins) rebelliously throwing off the idea of servitude to Him as something to be despised. This is our position when Jesus comes and burst through the doors and rescues of from our sinful imprisonment.
So now what? Did Jesus do all of this just to give us a new, better life? A more peaceful marriage? A better career? More friends? No! He has not called us to Himself only to further build up our own kingdom of luxury, but instead He calls to us, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” Luke 9:23-24 Jesus is not calling us to make our lives better but He is calling us to lay our lives down.
Are you getting the idea? The violence that we are to perpetrate is against our own kingdom. We are called to violently tear down our kingdom and begin working with Christ in building His. In Christ we have changed our allegiance! We are to be traitors to our old country and patriots to Christ's!
This may look differently for different people, but for some it may look exactly like this. Friends and family might think you've lost your mind. “Don't you know that's not the way it works?” Some might say. “You're doing it all wrong!” But isn't this what Jesus teaches all through His ministry? He'll say, “The world is like this.” and then He'll say, “But the kingdom of God is like this.” and it will be a complete turn around from the way the world seems to work. “The first shall be last!” (Matthew 19:30) or how about “Don't worry about what you are going to eat or wear or where you are going to live!?” (Matthew 6:31) Seriously?! Isn't that what life is all about? What do you mean, don't worry about it? If we don't worry about it, then what will we eat? Where will we live? But what does Jesus tell us to 'worry' about? “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.”(Matthew 6:33)
Do we live like this? Are we violently tearing down our own kingdom and building God's? Are we laying down our lives only to pick up a cross and follow Christ? Is this not what He has called us to? And not just pastors or missionaries or the few religious wackos, but everyone He calls!
The second type of violence prescribed by the Bible is against sin and it's power in our lives. Listen to the language Paul uses in describing how we are to react against this sin as we see it present in ourselves.
“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” Colossians 3:5 “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Galatians 5:24 “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” Romans 8:13 “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.” 2 Corinthians 10:5-6
Put to death! Crucify! Destroy! Take captive! Punish! Do you see the warlike quality to Paul's speech? We are at war!
Listen to what John Piper says on this,
“There is a mean streak in the Christian life. There is a violence. There is a militancy. But it is exactly the opposite of selfish violence against people. It is a violence against the "flesh" or against "the deeds of the body" – our flesh and our body. The Christian is not mean to others. He is mean to his own sinfulness – his own flesh.”
We are at war! Not with individuals, not with ethnic groups, not with governments, but with our own fleshly desires!
The violent take it by force! Jesus doesn't call wimps. He calls us to man up (men and women) and lay it all down! “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.” 1 Corinthians16:13 Not by our own strength, but in His. “Come to me,” Jesus says, “all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 This is not a life of constant labor that Christ is calling us to. He has done the work to be done. We tried to work out our own righteousness in the past under the law and He called it futile. (Romans 8:3, Hebrews 7:18) Now He is calling us to rest in Him, to abide in Him. (John 15:1-17) It's not a matter of try harder, it's a matter of stop resisting and yield to Christ everything. (Romans 6:13) Stop trying to build your kingdom outside and surrender everything and come inside His kingdom.
Stop trying to keep up with the world and rest in Christ.
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