Good morning ! I have something very thought provoking to share if I may. I have found, as y’all have I’m sure, that the more bazaar and obscure a scripture is in the Bible, the more delightful the hidden treasure within it is if we will search. Here are some that are related. I’m combining them into a thought. “The Kingdom of God suffers violence and violent men take it by force, all men press into it.”
Isn’t that great? I have always loved these truths and have done a lot of thinking on them. Here is what I found: We know that the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God are the same. Some of my favorite teachers have tried to show how they are different. For instance, they will say one is a subset of the other, etc. But that is not the case. Jesus spoke of them interchangeably and sometimes it is just called the Kingdom…so there you have it. The Kingdom is the Kingdom.
Now the Kingdom of God is not easily explained or understood because it has many aspects. It is both within the believer and without. It is both present and future coming. It is both Heavenly and earthly. It is seen and unseen. It is both literal and intangible…all at once…and so on. So we have to keep the mystery attached to it to understand it best.
We know that we enter the Kingdom when we believe. It is a free gift and cannot be earned.
We know that it is the Father’s good pleasure to give us the Kingdom.
We know that the Kingdom is within the heart but that there is a coming, seen Kingdom that we are waiting for and that Jesus says to pray for it’s arrival, and that He can’t wait for it to get here!
We know by fulfilled prophecy that it is very near…just by watching Israel.
We know that when we experience the immediate manifest presence of God (a God thing sometimes called) that, “Behold, the Kingdom of God is suddenly upon
you!”
How is it that this Kingdom “suffers” violence and violent men take it by force? And further, that all men press into it?
The phrase here “suffers violence” has an “almost exclusively poetic use and meaning.” It is visceral and we get that when reading it. It has a sense of pressing into. And there is the rub, so to speak. So here it is and it’s really wonderful. The Kingdom is freely given with great pleasure by the Father through faith. But there is still a further pressing into this Kingdom. Those of us who’ve walked a while with Him know what that means. Listen to some other scriptures that support this idea.
With all thy getting get understanding. Search for Me with all your heart. Search for wisdom as if searching for gold, hidden treasures and a pearl of great price, etc It goes on and on.
We know by the parables that all men DO press into it. Not all are allowed to enter, only those who believe, but all men try. Think of the wheat and the tares, the birds in the mustard tree, the wolves in sheep’s clothing. Jesus said that from John the Baptist till now that this violence takes place. This is because John marked the timing of Christ’s arrival on the scene at last…what Israel had been waiting for, and had received by faith until then (those who believed). The secret was revealed and now the world is pressing in!!!
Remember that Adam and Eve and Job and all others before Abraham were not Jews! God’s people are the faithful. Israel had a particular role and there is no difference between Jew and Gentile apart from the role Israel played to bring forth messiah. The Jews who believed when Jesus arrived were exactly the same as the Gentiles who believed when He arrived. The Jews who didn’t believe when He arrived, where not Jews at all then. Just unbelievers!
Even the woman who asks for the crumbs from the king’s table knowing that she is a gentile and not a Jew, a dog (Heathen), Jesus uses to show that there is no difference between believers. He uses reverse psychology. He is saying, “But woman, isn’t it true that I came only for the lost sheep of Israel?” He uses her as a public example to teach a spiritual truth. His answer is NO! I came for the WORLD. He was correcting wrong thinking in His wonderfully mysterious way. This is confirmed by all other scriptures both Old and New Test.
Now think of the walk after salvation: the further we press in, the more resistance from our enemy the devil. It is gotten, in the further getting sense, by persistence, determination, death to self, violence, at last crucifixion, our crucifixion with Christ. It is “resisting sin to the point of bloodshed”, ie. crucifixion.
So then the violence that gets the Kingdom, or the pressing into it, is really the losing of my life and not saving it. This is indeed something that takes a force of a different kind. It really is speaking of the work that the indwelt spirit now is doing to reach into the soul and then the body! God wants ALL of us. Jesus really explains this in John 17.
So while the road is light and joyous and unspeakably thrilling. It is filled with obstacles and trials as well. But these things are what make a beautiful saint, rugged, impossible to defeat, filled with the love of God no matter what!
The woman grabbing the hem of His garment, Mary of Bethany pouring out the costly ointment, spikenard (lavender) upon His feet, John the Baptist being beheaded for his testimony, Mary’s heart being pierced for her own salvation, Nicodemus having his presupposed false ideas shattered in order to see truth, Simon coming up under His cross as well. This is the violence that’s gets the Kingdom.
Love to you all!
God bless and Godspeed!