The kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force

[Pergamum]

Any exposition of this? Not long long quotes, but short pithy explanations and quotes?

Who are these violent people and what traits do these have? How do we take the kingdom of heaven by force?

 

[Wayne]

Drawing from PCA Historical Center: Textual Index to Puritan & Reformed Sermons - Table of Contents

Here are some resources that might be in your own library, or might also be found online:

Matthew 11:12
Griffin, Edward D., "Taking the Kingdom by Violence," Life and Sermons, i.389-405.

Sibbes, Richard, "Violence Victorious," Works, vi.293-314.

Watson, Thomas, Heaven Taken by Storm, 101pp.. Application of the text predominates.

 

[christianhope]

The bleeding woman was violent to press through the crowd and touch the corner of Christ's robe.

"21For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole."

In taking the kingdom of heaven by force the seeking man must realize he has no hope but Christ, but like all men of faith, gave up all hope of this life and looked to that city which had foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

Luke 14:33 "So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple."

-----Added 6/27/2009 at 04:35:13 EST-----

Verses illustrating the taking of the kingdom of heaven by force:

Proverbs 2:3-5

"Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God."

Again we see the picture of the desperate man searching for true wisdom, seeking it above all the treasures of this life. He is like a man who found a treasure in a field, and in finding it, sold all that had and purchased that field.

 

[Arch2k]

This may or may not constitute a "long" quote, but nonetheless, it is from a master of the subject. See his book for a very long quote on the subject.

From Thomas Watson's Heaven Taken by Storm

The matter in the text: the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.
What is meant by the kingdom of heaven?
Some interpret it as the doctrine of the gospel which reveals Christ and heaven. -- So Erasmus.
But I rather, by the kingdom of heaven, understand glory; and so learned Beza and others.
This kingdom 'suffereth violence.'
'Tis a metaphor from a town or castle that holds out in war, and is not taken but by storm. So the kingdom of heaven will not be taken without violence: 'The violent take it by force.'
The earth is inherited by the meek Matt. v: 5. Heaven is inherited by the violent. Our life is military. Christ is our Captain, the gospel is the banner, the graces are our spiritual artillery, and heaven is only taken in a forcible way. These words fall into two parts.
1. The combat,-- suffereth violence,
2. The conquest, -- the violent take it by force.
The right way to take heaven is by storm; or thus, none get into heaven but violent ones.
This violence has a double aspect.
It concerns men as magistrates; they must be violent,
1. In punishing the guilty. When Aaron's Urim and Thummim will do no good, then must Moses come with his rod. The wicked are the bad humours and surfeit of the commonwealth which, by the care of magistracy, are to be purged out. God has placed governors 'for the terror of evildoers,' 1 Peter ii. 14. They must not be like the sword-fish which has a sword in his head but is without a heart. They must not have a sword in their hand, but no heart to draw it out for the cutting down of impiety. Connivance in a magistrate supports vice, and by not punishing offenders he adopts other men's faults and makes them his own. Magistracy without zeal is like the body without spirit. Too much leniency emboldens sin and doth but shave the head which deserves to be cut off.
2. In defending the innocent. The magistrate is the asylum or altar of refuge for the oppressed to fly to. Charles, Duke of Calabri, was so in love with doing justice that he caused a bell to be hung at his palace gate, and whosoever would ring it, was sure presently to be admitted into the duke's presence, or have some officers sent out to hear his cause. Aristides was famous for his justice, of whom the historian saith that he would never favor any man's cause because he was his friend nor do injustice to any because he was his enemy. The magistrate's balance is the oppressed man's shield.
This violence concerns men as Christians. Though heaven be given us freely, yet we must contend for it, Eccles. ix. 10. 'What thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.' Our work is great, our time short, our Master urgent. We have need therefore to summon together all the powers of our souls and strive as in a matter of life and death, that we may arrive at the kingdom above: We must not only put forth diligence, but violence. For the illustrating and clearing of this proposition, I will shew.
1. What violence is not meant here: The violence in the text excludes, 1. An ignorant violence; to be violent for that which we do not understand, Acts xvii. 23. 'As I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, to the unknown god.' These Athenians were violent in their devotions, but it might be said to them, as Christ said to the woman of Samaria, John iv. 22. 'Ye worship ye know not what.' Thus the Catholics are violent in their religion. Witness their penance, fasting, dilacerating themselves till the blood comes, but it is a zeal without knowledge; their mettle is better than their eye-sight.-- When Aaron was to bum incense upon the alter, he was first to light the lamps, Exod. xxv. 7. When zeal like incense burns, first the lamp of knowledge must be lighted.
2. It excludes a bloody violence, which is twofold: First, when one goes to lay violent hands upon himself. The body is an earthly prison where God has put the soul; we must not break prison, but stay till God by death lets us out. The centinel is not to stir without permission from his captain; nor must we dare to stir hence without God's permission. Our bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. Vi.19.; When we offer violence to them, we destroy God's temple: The lamp of life must bum so long as any natural moisture is left, like oil, to feed it.
Secondly, When one takes away the life of another. There's too much of this violence nowadays. No sin has a louder voice than blood, Gen iv. 10. The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto Me from the ground. If there is a curse for him that smiteth his neighbour secretly, Deut. xxvii. 24, then he is doubly cursed who kills him. If a man had slain another unawares, he might take sanctuary and fly to the altar, but if he had done it willingly, the holiness of the place was not to protect him, Exod, xxi ,14, "If a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die." Joab, being a man of blood, King Solomon sought to slay him even though he caught hold on the horns of the altar, 1 Kings viii. 29. In Bohemia, formerly, a murderer was to be beheaded and put in the same coffin with him whom he had killed. Thus we see what violence the text excludes.
2. What violence is meant here - it is a holy violence. This is twofold. 1. We must be violent for the truth. Here Pilate's question will be cited, "What is truth?" Truth is either the blessed Word of God which is called the Word of truth; or those doctrines which are deduced from the Word, and agree with it as the dial with the sun or the transcript with the original; as the doctrine of the Trinity, the doctrine of the creation, the doctrine of free grace, justification by the blood of Christ, regeneration, resurrection of the dead, and the life of glory. These truths we must be violent for, which is either by being advocates for them or martyrs.
Truth is the most glorious thing; the least filing of this gold is precious: what shall we be violent for, if not for truth? Truth is ancient; its grey hairs may make it venerable; it comes from him who is the ancient of days. Truth is unerring, it is the Star which leads to Christ. Truth is pure, Psalm cxix. 140. It is compared to silver refined seven times, Psalm xii. 6. There is not the least spot on truth's face; it breathes nothing but sanctity. Truth is triumphant; it is like a great conqueror; when all his enemies lie dead, it keeps the field and sets up its trophies of victory. Truth may be opposed but never quite deposed. In the time of Dioclesian things seemed desperate and truth ran low. Soon after was the golden time of Constantine, and then truth did again lift up its head. When the water in the Thames is lowest, a high tide is ready to come in. God is on truth's side and so long as there is no fear it will prevail: The heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, 2 Peter iii. 12. but not that truth which came from Heaven, 1 Peter. i. 25.
Truth has noble effects. Truth is the seed of the new birth. God does not regenerate us by miracles or revelations, but by the word of truth, James i. 18. As truth is the breeder of grace, so it is the feeder of it, 1 Tim. iv. 6. Truth sanctifies: John xvii. 17. Sanctify them through Thy truth. Truth is the seal that leaves the print of its own holiness upon us; it is both speculum and lavacrum, a glass to show us our blemishes and a laver to wash them away. Truth makes us free, John xviii. 32. it bears off the fetters of sin and puts us into a state of Sonship, Rom. viii.11, and Kingship, Rev. i. 6. Truth is comforting; this wine cheers. When David's harp and viol could yield him no comfort, truth did, Psalm cxix. 50. 'This is my comfort in my affliction, for thy word hath quickened me.' Truth is an antidote against error. Error is the adultery of the mind; it stains the soul, as treason stains blood. Error damns as well as does vice. A man may as well die by poison as by pistol; and what can stave off error but truth? The reason so many have been tricked into error is because they either did not know, or did not love, the truth. I can never say enough in the honor of truth. Truth is basis fidei, the ground of our faith; it gives us an exact model of religion; it shows us what we are to believe. Take away truth and our faith is fancy. --Truth is the best flower in the church's crown; we have not a richer jewel to trust God with than our souls, nor He a richer jewel to trust us with than His truths. Truth is insigne honoris, an ensign of honor; it distinguishes us from the false church, as chastity distinguisheth a virtuous woman from an harlot. In short, truth is ecclesiae praesidium, that is, the bulwark a nation: 2 Chron. xi. 17. it is said, the Levites (who were the antesignani, that is, the ensignbeaners of truth) strengthened the kingdom. Truth may be compared to the capitol of Rome, which was a place of the greatest strength; or the Tower of David, on which 'there hang a thousand shields,' Cant. iv. 4. Our forts and navies do not so much strengthen us as truth. Truth is the best militia of a kingdom; if once we part with truth and espouse popery, the lock is cut where our strength lies. What then should we be violent for, if not for truth? We are bid to contend as in an agony 'for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints,' Jude verse 3. If truth once be gone, we may write this epitaph on England's tomb-stone, Thy glory is departed.
2. This holy violence is also when we are violent for our own salvation, 2 Peter i. 10. 'Give diligence to make your calling and election sure' The Greek word signifies anxious carefulness, or a serious bearing of one's thoughts about the business of eternity, such a care as sets head and heart at work. In this channel of religion all a Christian's zeal should run.

 

[Peairtach]

I'm no expert in Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic but this little book deals with Hebrew idioms and references behind difficult to understand expressions by our Lord including the passage you mention:-

Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus: New Insights from a Hebraic Perspective: Amazon.co.uk: David Bivin, Roy B Blizzard: Books

There is a longish passage on the subject.The key to its understanding - according to this book - is an old rabbinic interpretation (midrash) of Micah (2:12-13).

This saying is certainly difficult to understand. It is not just ordinary Christians who have been stumped by it. There seems to be no satisfactory explanation of this verse even in scholarly literature. Apparently, a great deal of violence is connected with the Kingdom of Heaven. However, that does not agree very well with the rest of the teachings of Jesus. Many and varied have been the attempts on the part of ministers and scholars alike to explain this passage.

The key to its understanding turns out to be an old rabbinic interpretation (midrash) of Micah 2:13 discovered by Professor David Flusser. Micah 2:12-13.

These verses are full of rich imagery. It is the picture of a shepherd penning up his sheep for the night. He quickly builds a fold by throwing up a makeshift rock fence against the side of a hill. The next morning, to let the sheep out, he makes a hole or a breach in the fence by tossing some of the stones aside. He steps through his "gate" with the sheep following close behind. They have been penned up all night and can hardly wait to get out of their cramped quarters. Of course they push and shove, several trying to get through at once, literally breaking through, further breaching the little gate in their eagerness to get out and into the green pasture. Finally they burst out into the open spaces, rushing headlong after the shepherd.

In Micah 2:13 the "breach-maker" and the king are, of course, the same person, but in the rabbinic interpretation discovered by Professor Flusser, they are two different persons:the "breach-maker" is interpreted as being Elijah, and "their king" as the Messiah, the Branch of the Son of David.

Now we can begin to understand what Jesus is saying. He is not only hinting at Micah 2:13, but also a well-known rabbinc interpretation of it. "The Kingdom of Heaven," he says, "is breaking forth [not "suffering violence"], and every person in it is breaking forth [literally, "those who are breaking out break out in it, or by means of it," not "the violent take it by force'']" (Compare Luke 16:16). Two tremendous things are now happening simultaneously: the Kingdom is bursting forth into the world like water from a broken dam, and individuals within the Kingdom are finding liberty and freedom.

Jesus is again teaching His disciples about the Kingdom of Heaven, his movement. It started when Jesus began calling disciples, during John's active ministry, "the days of John the Baptist." Since then, the Kingdom of Heaven has been "breaking out".... The Kingdom is something that has been in existence since John the Baptist.

The Kingdom is breaking out and members of the Kingdom are breaking out. In Micah and also in the midrash it is the Lord and His sheep who are breaking out. Jesus alters that figure slightly so that it is the Kingdom and its sheep who are breaking out.......
Elijah had come and opened the way and the Lord Himself was leading a noisy multitude out to freedom....etc

This interpretation should be taken with a pinch of salt (I don't even know if such a translation/interpretation is possible) along with other interpretations.

It comes from the ''Center for Judaic-Christian Studies". Scholarly (dispensational?) Christians who believe that many of the difficult to understand expressions in the Gospels can be better understood if we believe that Jesus originally gave them in Hebrew.

 

[ADKing]

From the English Annotations (1657)

"Or is gotten by force as the Syriack expresseth...men run to hear the gospel preached as soldiers run upon a rich town besieged, to get the wealth thereof--Isaiah 60.4, 8, 11"

"Only they who with ardent affections, overcoming all that stands in their way, press into it, do and shall attain possession thereof...he that useth violence hasteth with vehement desire: the violent or they that thrust on men as in storming a town, one thrusts another to get before him into it: so the people were so encouraged by John's preaching to come to Christ, that everyone was ambitious to come first."

Of course Watson's book (quoted from by Jeff above) is superb on this. We are going through it right now in our Sabbath School class.

 

[Idelette]

Of course Watson's book (quoted from by Jeff above) is superb on this. We are going through it right now in our Sabbath School class.

I have to agree! Watson's book is tremendous on this topic!

 

[Pergamum]

How would this affect our churches' evangelistic endeavors. Most of the quotes seem directed towards individual persons rather than the Church's corporate witness.

 

[christianhope]

Implications for corporate evangelism:

Health internally (individual) would reflect health externally (corporately) i.e the effect would be a sincere, genuine love for Christ and others, marked by no compromises, a encouraging assurance that God will call out His elect and bless His work, whether the numbers saved be many or few, the body would rest upon Christ fulfilling His will.

Evangelism would be a very natural outflow of this corporate witness, for they would be filled with joy and have great desire for others to know Christ.

----

If you meant an application of this scripture in our witnessing to others corporately as a method, I'm having a hard time applying this principle to that. Perhaps I'm thinking too hard... haha... ;-)

 

[Pergamum]

Implications for corporate evangelism:

Health internally (individual) would reflect health externally (corporately) i.e the effect would be a sincere, genuine love for Christ and others, marked by no compromises, a encouraging assurance that God will call out His elect and bless His work, whether the numbers saved be many or few, the body would rest upon Christ fulfilling His will.

Evangelism would be a very natural outflow of this corporate witness, for they would be filled with joy and have great desire for others to know Christ.

----

If you meant an application of this scripture in our witnessing to others corporately as a method, I'm having a hard time applying this principle to that. Perhaps I'm thinking too hard... haha... ;-)

No, you got the right gist of my question. Thanks.

 

[Spinningplates2]

I know that it does NOT mean, "We should only be 'winsome' because then we shall 'win some' people for Christ. I know many people who will not even debate because it might make the person who is in the debate feel oppressed.

 

[Lincolnshire Paul]

Might I advise Charles Leiter's sermon on it?

[video=youtube;yUX10Mp5PzM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUX10Mp5PzM[/video]

It's part of a series of 6.