Bible Verse of The Day – 10-5-20

Matthew 11:12 (NKJV) 12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.

This verse has always intrigued me. Something about it caught my attention the very first time I saw it, and it still holds my attention now.

Because this verse isn’t your “usual” gospel fodder, we wanted to dig into it a little and shed some light on what it means, since it’s a bit confusing on the surface.

Jesus spoke very little about violence or warfare, yet He chose to make the statement above, which refers to both.

Nobody really ever thinks of violence when they think of heaven. As one of our readers recently said to us when inquiring about this scripture, he wrote that he “thinks of angels singing, peace and happiness”.

Behind the scenes, away from the human eye, there is constant warfare taking place in the spiritual realm. It is brutal and very, very violent.

Heaven and the followers of Christ (future residents of heaven) are under constant attack from the enemy and his demons.

Although the Greek text for this particular verse was very hard to translate, the overall meaning is this:

John the Baptist preached and spoke very strongly. He wasn’t afraid to call out the religious leaders and label them as hypocrites and vipers.

Because of this, he faced very strong opposition and attacks from his enemies. He stirred things up in a way that produced hostile reactions from the religious and non-religious leaders of that day.

Because of this, he died a violent death.

Jesus did the very same thing. He spoke words that caused violent reactions in the natural, and in the spiritual realm.

He also died a violent death because of it.

As followers of Christ, we are also under constant attack in the spiritual realm.

Our growth as a believer, and, ultimately, our entry into the kingdom of God (our destiny), is opposed forcefully by evil forces who operate out of sight of the natural eye.

But as believers, it is our duty to react radically and relentlessly to oppose these forces who would stop at nothing to kill us (spiritually) and prevent us from entering in to the kingdom of heaven.

This is all part of spiritual warfare. It’s a necessity. It’s not something we can simply overlook because we can’t see it with our natural eyes.

And as we move deeper into the last days, this warfare intensifies, as is evident in the events of the last several months.

Press in to Him, church. Be strong in your faith. Be relentless in your pursuit of Him.

And on that note, we would strongly encourage you to read this blog post we wrote a while back. Pursuing God Relentlessly. We believe it will help you even further.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

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