Question: Greetings @Priest Isaiah White. Here is the Bible verse I read which gave me trouble understanding its actual meaning. “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. (Mathew 11:12 NKJ). By Nyaole
Response: Thank you for your question, brother; I understand that this verse, along with a few others in the Bible, has caused some concern because they are difficult to interpret. People wonder what it means for the Kingdom of Heaven to be subjected to violence. Is the kingdom of heaven comprised of believers, and so are they persecuted in some way as a result of the violence that the kingdom of heaven endures? That are the thug-like individuals who take it by force? Are these persecutors who kidnap believers or believers who persevere in the face of adversity? These and other questions and responses to the verse have come from a variety of preachers and teachers, as well as a variety of Bible interpretations.
The Context of John and Jesus
Many people have attempted to interpret this verse, and while we won’t be able to cover all of them, I’ll categorize them. Some argue that because John the Baptist preached national repentance in order for people to overthrow their political oppressors (the Romans), Jesus is referring to the political activists among his (and John’s) followers who should begin the political revolution for national liberation that John had begun.
While it is true that Herod’s arrest of John the Baptist, who had rebuked Herod’s adultery, can be justified, this is not sufficient to argue that this is what Jesus meant in his statement. The arrest of the kingdom preacher was viewed as a violent attack on the Kingdom by John’s camp. John, his students, and his followers had begun to take a more political stance. The question, “Are you the one or will we wait for another?” (Matthew 11:3), shows that John’s followers either misunderstood Jesus’ mission and the kingdom of Heaven as a result, or disagreed with Jesus’ method.
Jesus’ response (Matthew 11:4-6) had nothing to do with a political objective, but rather with the devil’s universal deeds and a warning to anybody who falls, finds offense, or disagrees with him (Jesus), which was the implication of the prisoner’s query. From this perspective, we may see that John and Jesus do not agree on three crucial points presented in Matthew 11:12: (1) the Kingdom of Heaven, (2) the violence perpetrated against it, and (3) the violent who forcefully take it.
The Kingdom of Heaven
The Kingdom of God was exclusive to the Jewish people of God and the proselytes (those ritually initiated) to John, whereas the Kingdom of God was inclusive to everyone who did not take offense at him (Jesus) as the king of that kingdom.
Violence against the Kingdom
Heathen political dominance, Jewish immorality, and gentile culture fronted in socio-political policy were all seen as acts of aggression against the kingdom by John. The violence against the Kingdom, according to Jesus, was unbelief in him as the kingdom’s king and unbelief in his word. It was demons opposed to God’s will (Matthew 12:26-30) who influenced both the oppressed (Jews) and oppressors (Romans) against its establishment.
The Violent who take it by Force
The people who took God’s kingdom by force, according to John, were his disciples, believers, and other Zealots who believed in physically fighting their oppressors in arms and overthrowing them in order to establish Jewish authority over the pagan dominance. Even the disciples of Jesus Christ, who had swords on the night Jesus was captured, believed in the Johannine solution. Jesus, on the other hand, was violent because of himself and his brutal vicarious death on the cross for the inheritance of the kingdom by anyone who believes in him, whether Jew or Gentile.
Which Audience was Jesus Addressing?
To fully comprehend this verse, one must first consider the audience to whom Jesus was speaking. Because the verse is from Matthew and the town is Galilee, the audience was most likely Jewish (Mathew 11:1-14), and the language probably Hebrew. Although the majority of scholars and commentaries on the passage focus on the Greek of the text, even Greek is a translation of the Hebrew/Aramaic that Jesus spoke. Jesus spoke Hebrew or Aramaic depending on his audience, and since the audience in Mathew 11:1-14 was Jewish, these lines were in Hebrew.
Mathew 11:12 is Prophecy Interpreted
In Matthew 11:12, Jesus quoted Micah 2:12-13, the Jewish scripture, which says: “I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob; I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel. I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in its pasture; the place will throng with people. One who breaks open the way will go up before them; they will break through the gate and go out. Their king will pass through before them, the LORD at their head.”
Here are the Hebrew words in Micah 2:13 that are translated into Greek in Mathew 11:12 (from which our English versions draw): Poretzet (shuttered or experiences violence) are the Hebrew words Jesus used in this phrase, which are similar to the violence a mother experiences when giving birth to a child (Genesis 38:29). Jesus was implying that the divine Kingdom endured violence in his death on the Cross in order to guarantee an inheritance in him for us. In Micah 2:13, Jesus is the one who breaks open the way so that we can all experience a breakthrough in the same manner he did. The believers, according to Micah’s Hebrew, are the Port’zim (Greek: “biastai” or “aggressive men”) who break through the way that Jesus broke through in himself to Ohah’zim (Greek: “Harpazo” or “seize it“) the inheritance in him.
As a result, Matthew 11:12 summarises our redemption as a breakthrough to our inheritance in God through God’s suffering for our sake. That was and continues to be the message Jesus was conveying to them and to us.
God bless you,
I invoke TRUTH, WISDOM and FAITH (2Tim 2:7)
Priest M.I.T White (+256-775 822833)
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Questioning to Believe and Believing to Live
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