From the Days of John

I am always joyful in God for every opportunity to write to you. God bless you and transform you as you read in Jesus name. Amen.

I feel like I would enjoy doing some of these teachings as an audio podcast than writing or as in this case, typing ... Anyway let’s use this medium for now.

Today, I want to encourage you in the line of a post I once made titled Hands on The Plough. Although it may be a short writeup, I want to encourage you on the importance of being spiritually dogged.

Growing up, Matthew 11:11-12 perplexed me. Especially verse 11.

I didn’t think verse 12 was much of a problem because I thought I already understood what it meant, thanks to the local church.

I was wrong.

Matthew 11:11-12 (KJV)
“Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.”

I have come to understand by scripture that what is meant by violence in that scripture is not protest, brutal force or use of weapons like guns, cutlasses, stones or even prayer.

Yes! I said prayer. The violent taking it by force doesn’t mean a physically exerting prayer. Neither is it a prayer that is aimed at taming or killing a witch, wizard or an enemy who doesn’t want you to benefit the pleasures of health and wealth in Christ.

Let me explain this using the experience of the first generation children of Israel.

This may not be as short as I thought it would.

First you must understand that up until John the Baptizer every prophet spoke of the coming savior. They spoke of the plan of God. A promised Messiah. They spoke of a future. John however came to announce His arrival by preaching a repentance by faith and said (in summary) “Repent! Not with blood of Bulls and Goats. Here is the Christ, follow Him, hope in Him for redemption!!”

This was a major switch. This was a sharp turn from the normal way of sacrifice to a way of repentance at heart shown by being washed in water representing a faith in the death and burial of the Messiah (John may not have said any of this but we know).

From that moment, the kingdom of heaven began to experience major opposition because it had now been made known… It had now come. It had been presented as a message to believe in a person who had no look of a savior. People rose up against the message of “The kingdom of God is here”. Riots were stirred, traps were set in form of questions, John was beheaded, Jesus was arrested and killed. From the moment John the Baptist said “Behold, the son of God who takes away the sins of the world”, all hell broke loose… Or should I say “lose”... I hope you caught that.

Not only did the kingdom of heaven experience opposition, it also experienced a marching in of men and women who forsook all to come into the kingdom at all cost. Forces stood to stop their advancement into the kingdom and those who met violence with violent faith entered.

Although not intended, today’s post is more about a little shedding of light on that passage of scriptures.

Read from me next week as I write to you about the spiritual battle which goes on even today and who wins the battle… The Violent taketh it by force.

That is the real purpose of this post. Don’t miss it… I’ll start from the first generation children of Israel earlier mentioned.

God bless you.

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