Taking the Kingdom of God by Force

“...the kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence,

and the violent take it by force.”

(Matt. 11:12)

These words describe the eager rush of the crowds of Galilee and Judea, first to the preaching of the Baptist and then to that of Jesus. It was, as it were, a city attacked on all sides by those who were eager to take possession of it.

God given Faith is active and dynamic. When Christ is revealed in the heart by the Spirit of God, it knows no bounds and must pursue and persevere until it enters into Christ’s kingdom and glory. When a person is hungry enough, nothing will stop him/her from not only seeking the necessary food but to find it and partake of it to quell the hunger.

When the Spirit of God so fills the sinner with an urgency to get to Christ, no barrier can impede. This is how our LORD describes those sinners that are as violent people, attacking and entering into a fortified city. We say hunger will break through stone walls. Desperate circumstances make men violent. Thus is how it is with an awakened convicted sinner. Just as the guilty ones in Joshua 21, who upon awareness of their danger would flee to one of the six appointed cities of refuge do so without delay, as one taking the city by storm.

Once awakened, no longer can such sinners remain indifferent about Who God is, His holiness and just judgment of sinners, unless that sin has been answered in the death of the Just Substitute, the LORD Jesus. Because the Spirit of God has made that soul alive, that soul can no longer remain idly by, knowing that the law and their sin condemn them. As one writer stated it, “The law terrifies him. Death stares him in the face. Judgment alarms him. He trembles to see hell moved from beneath to receive him. Now his fancied good works, his morality, etc. stand him in no stead. He hungers after righteousness.”