- Overcomer Literature Trust
- Swindon
- Wiltshire
The Forceful Kingdom.
By Paul Bartel.
“From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it” (Matt. 11 v12).
The Gospel is a message of love and forgiveness but we must not overlook the fact that, basic to the kingdom which John the Baptist introduced and which our Lord preached, it is a forceful kingdom.
Establishing the kingdom of heaven in an atmosphere made hostile by the prince of this world required nothing short of violent revolt. Men and women acclimatised to this world must be conditioned and prepared for citizenship in that eternal kingdom. God by His Spirit is effecting such dramatic change in peoples’ souls that they may not only exist but may live to the full in that ideal kingdom designed for the redeemed.
“The kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing.” As soon as such a kingdom was boldly announced by the prophet dressed in camel’s hair there came a tremendous clash in the world order. Jesus said, “I did not come to bring peace but a sword” (Matt. 10 v34). It began a bitter struggle, the kingdom of love for God clashing with the kingdom in open rebellion against God; the kingdom of love for fellow men clashing with that of hatred and jealousy; the kingdom of purity clashing with that of sin and corruption; the kingdom of light penetrating the domain of dismal darkness and the kingdom of health and power spoiling that of sickness and death.
Surely such opposites could not come into contact without a violent explosion. When the kingdom of heaven moves into a human life a tremendous change takes place, and those so changed begin to love their enemies, confess their sins and deny themselves.
Jesus said of John, “He is the Elijah who was to come”. He was indeed the forceful Elijah. Elijah sealed the heavens with his prayers and brought fire from heaven (2 Kings 1 v10-12), and John boldly denounced Herod the Tetrarch for having his brother Philip’s wife, and he dared to call the religious hierarchy of his day a “generation of vipers”.
When the kingdom of heaven invades a bitter and hostile atmosphere it creates great friction with the kingdom of the prince of the air. Our Lord said, “What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight” (Luke 16 v15b). The kingdom of heaven has suffered violence from its inception and will continue to do so until the kingdom of sin and darkness is overthrown and Satan bound and cast into the bottomless pit (Rev. 20 v2-3).
There is another aspect of truth relative to the kingdom of heaven expressed in the words, “forceful men lay hold of it”. When John the Baptist threw the floodgates of the kingdom open, life-giving water gushed into the land and the thirsty rushed to drink. Those who have experienced such change in their personality, through the effect of the heavenly kingdom upon them, become forceful as they struggle to enter.
There must be forcefulness in dealing with the self-life. Those things that Paul counted gain he had to count loss. When Christ came in he took a direct about-turn in moral and spiritual values. Not only the sinful and vile things were discredited but even those things that were good in themselves but had no spiritual value and made no contribution towards the kingdom were totally discounted. Self is something that requires ruthless treatment from day to day.
We should also be forceful in our treatment of world attitudes. Herein lies one of the paradoxes of the Christian life. Though we ought to love everybody and long for their salvation we cannot love the things of the world and the behaviour of those in it. When we fall in love with Christ that love drives out a host of evil things. The vain things that formerly enchanted us must go when we become attached to the One who is “altogether lovely”.
This leads to our third form of forcefulness, one of complete surrender and committal to our King. This one confused John. Why should he be left in the dungeon apparently neglected and forgotten by the very One whom he had introduced as the “Lamb of God”? Jesus said, “Blessed is the one who does not fall away on account of me”. ‘Happy is the one who never loses faith in me regardless of how I treat him.’ Jesus merely assured John that He was the One and that John need look for no other. He did not alleviate John’s suffering nor send deliverance. Furthermore, He allowed John to be executed. For the child of the kingdom there is no room to question God’s leading. Jesus requires the absolute obedience of His followers (John 21 v22). It is not for them to choose their cross but to take it from His hands and follow Him (Luke 9 v23). To know that they are walking in His footsteps of obedience is the essence of discipleship.
Service in the kingdom also entails total commitment. It is a constant marvel to the non-Christian both at home and abroad that men and women with the unfading vision of Christ in their souls can have such reckless abandon toward the opinions of friends and at times even toward their families. Imagine a wife insisting on going to the area where her husband was cruelly killed and serving there in reckless unconcern for her own safety. Surely this is compelling love that transcends all other loves. Paul mentioned the driving power that kept him on the go when he said, “I labour, struggling with all His energy, which so powerfully works in me” (Col. 1 v29).
A vast army of heroic, dedicated souls have marched across the panorama of history. They were very different because of the working of God’s Spirit in their souls. Abraham tore up roots and went on pilgrimage to the Promised Land. His pilgrimage led eventually to the surrender even of that which God had given him, his only son. Job lost health, goods and family, but still he could cry out, “Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him” (Job 13 v15). Moses turned his back on Egypt, its culture, its power and its pride, “he chose to be illtreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time” (Hebrews 11 v25).
These were men whose eyes were opened to eternal values and, seeing their worth, were willing to stake their all to embrace them. They felt in their heart of hearts that this was a kingdom worth living for and even worth dying for. It is a kingdom that will be standing long after Satan and his throne are down.
The trouble with our poor version of the kingdom to-day is that there is not enough commitment, either within the heart or in the outward expression. Let us see to it that we are men and women of determined action in His kingdom.
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