Kingdom of Heaven Suffering Violence

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 10
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Q. “J. R.” Will you define to me Matthew 11:1212And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. (Matthew 11:12) — “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force”?
A. The expression is found in that chapter in Matthew which specially declares the rejection of the Blessed Lord in His mission to Israel; “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” The sermon on the mount (Matt. 5-7) followed the display of the powers of the kingdom as seen in Him, and detailed in a few striking verses at the close of Matthew 4:23-2523And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. 24And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them. 25And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan. (Matthew 4:23‑25). The fame of Jesus had spread throughout all the land. This “sermon,” as it has been called, enunciated the character of the kingdom, so different from what the carnal multitude expected and sought for; it supposes His rejection, and His followers a spectacle to the world, and governed by heavenly principles, and that they should look for a heavenly reward. Matthew 10 then details the mission of the “twelve” to Israel and its rejection: they would go forth as lambs in the midst of wolves. Then follows Matthew 11 in which is found the passage in question. The kingdom of heaven had “suffered violence” from the days of John Baptist; he had preached it (Matt. 3:22And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 3:2), etc.), and had been cast into prison (Matt. 4:1212Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee; (Matthew 4:12)). Nationally, then, from that moment the kingdom had been refused; thenceforth as it was only received individually, the individual had to struggle against everything in order to enter it; he thus became in point of fact, “the violent.” He had to undergo the disruption of national, religious, and family ties. If he loved father or mother more than Jesus, he was not worthy of Him. Instead, then, of an entry into the kingdom, established under divine auspices, which brought the person blessed into the blessing with gentle steps, and apart from difficulties or hindrances to be overcome, it “suffered violence,” to use the Lord’s words, and “the violent” (as He terms those who entered it) “take it by force,” that is, they were obliged to force their way through every barrier, and count all things but loss that the goal might thus, at any cost, be won.