A Storming of Heaven Matthew 11:12

A Storming of Heaven And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. Mathew 11:12 This verse is found amidst a broad section in Matthew where the author demonstrates the progression of ages with Christ having come. Employing the Baptist and the Lamb for this demonstration, a clear and evident progression is found between the previous age and our age, by which we are directed to Christ the Lord, so that we might pursue Him with violence. So, consider the verse, let us denote: Observe 1. The time of which is spoken. The time spoken of is demarcated by the onset of John's ministry, and think, what was John's ministry, it was for him to come baptizing with the baptism of repentance, and subsequently to act as a herald of our Lord, as He enters into His royal realm. Like Samuel once long ago, who came to Jesse to summon David, anointing David as king, so did John anoint the Lord. Now, the Baptist sends his own to Christ, so that he might point them to the Lamb of God. Doubt remained among John's disciples. So, John sends them to Jesus to behold the Lamb and turn from him. It is on this occasion that Jesus is heard to speak concerning the coming of the Son of God, which since that time has been a time of the coming of the kingdom of God and multitudes storming the gates of heaven. Further, observe: 2. The event of which is spoken. The event is the storming of the gates of heaven. It is the flocking of the first fruits into heaven's kingdom. Calvin says, "The meaning therefore is, A vast assembly of men is now collected, as if men were rushing violently forward to seize the kingdom of God; for, aroused by the voice of one man, they come together in crowds, and receive, not only with eagerness, but with vehement impetuosity, the grace which is offered to them... many flock to him with ardent zeal.... Let us also learn from these words, what is the true nature and operation of faith. It leads men not only to give, cold and indifferent assent when God speaks, but to cherish warm affection towards Him, and to rush forward as it were with a violent struggle." With the coming of the Lord there has begun a herald and a rush forward of multitudes, who run headlong with lively affections and fervent zeal into heaven, leaving this world and the previous age behind. It began first with the Jews and followed shortly thereafter with the Gentiles; it is what Isaiah prophesied of when he said, And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly. Here our Lord speaks of the beginning, the beginning of this age, where the gates of heaven are opened, He whistles to them from afar, and many are found running headlong into the kingdom of heaven. Thus, we find: Doctrine. As Christ has made the way to the kingdom of heaven, heaven is entered with violence. There is then a violence to: I. Lordship When we hear the whistle of the Spirit, the call of the gospel, we who are given ears to hear, and hearing it, we leave behind all others to pursue Christ alone. The central problem of this text is the failure of many to affirm the Lordship and position of Christ as the Messiah. Calvin says, "It is very evident that the holy herald of Christ, perceiving that he was not far from the end of his journey, and that his disciples, though he had bestowed great pains in instructing them, still remained in a state of hesitation, resorted to this last expedient for curing their weakness. He had faithfully labored, as I have said, that his disciples should embrace Christ without delay. His continued entreaties had produced so little effect, that he had good reason for dreading that, after his death, they would entirely fall away; and therefore he earnestly attempted to arouse them from their sloth by sending them to Christ." Many of John's disciples continued to look back to John rather than ahead to Jesus. Several times after the ascension of Christ, the apostles would encounter disciples of John that had not transitioned to Christ. This was just like the scribes and Pharisees, who denied Christ, failing to comprehend the full plan of God. Later Christ would accuse them of playing games, games in which He would not participate. We must all not look for another. We must all not revert to the age past. We must all set our eyes and allegiance upon Him, the Lamb of God, who once John directed us toward. We see then how this chapter fits in place with the whole; here John is pointing his disciples away from the previous age of the prophets who foretold the coming of Christ. Meanwhile, Christ is affirming He is the coming One, as the signs bear evidence, thus reaching the conclusion that John was Elijah foretold, the last of the prophets and that this was the great coming of the day of the Lord. Therefore, this chapter is to lead us all away from the age of types and shadows, away from the previous prophecies of the coming of the Lord, so that we might now look and behold our King, as Jesus says, For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. We are to look for no other; Christ is the One. He is the King having come, He is David's Son yet David's Lord. Thus, when we hear, And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force, we are directed away from all others and to pursue Christ alone with all vehemence. II. Life With Christ the Lord and the Spirit's beckon call to follow Him there comes life eternal. I cannot read this passage without recalling to mind Bunyan's description of Christian reading the Bible and speaking with Evangelist in Pilgrim's Progress, of whom we read: The man, therefore, read it, and looking upon Evangelist very carefully, said, "Whither must I fly?" Then said Evangelist (pointing with his finger over a very wide field), "Do you see yonder wicket-gate?" The man said, "No." Then said the other, "Do you see yonder shining light?" He said, "I think I do." Then said Evangelist, "Keep that light in your eye, and go up directly thereto; so shalt thou see the gate; at which, when thou knockest, it shall be told thee what thou shalt do." So I saw in my dream that the man began to run. Now, he had not run far from his own door, when his wife and children perceiving it, began to cry after him to return; but the man put his fingers in his ears, and ran on, crying, "Life! life! eternal life!" So he looked not behind him, but fled towards the middle of the plain. When Christ the Lord is set before us, we that are effectually called to leave behind all else and flee to Christ with all vehemence. We do violence to our old lives. Left behind is all. It is as Christ said, He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it (Mt. 10:37f). Meanwhile, we pursue Him with all enthusiasm, and our lives become a fervent lifelong pursuit of Him; for in Him is life. He is the way the truth and the life. We have left behind the grave; we have left the chains of darkness. He has summoned us to Him and in Him is life eternal. Consider Lazarus, who from the day he left the tomb lived a life surely of joy and gratitude, a life of liveliness and wonder, for he was no longer dead, so we live in newness of life. Left behind is the curse. Left behind is despair. We rush headlong to heaven crying, "Life, Life, eternal life!" III. Liberty Shall not the freed slave leave his bonds with force? In Christ is liberty and freedom, left behind is bondage and chains. There is violence to sin, as Paul says, How shall we that are free from sin live any longer there in? There is violence to Satan. There is violence to death. For it says, O death where is thy sting! Hear the chant against the grave by those that are the violent ones. Here them shout with the apostle who says: Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. The violent love liberty. The violent love their emancipation from chains. The violent have a zeal for liberty that they will fight for without a pause. For they understand the cost of their liberty. They understand the precious blood that set them free. So, like those that once cherished earthly liberty said, "What we obtain too cheap, we esteem to lightly (Thomas Paine), so we in Christ now cherish the blood of Christ" For those set free are violent against their former chains and zealous for their free state due to the blood of our righteous King. Then there is: IV. Love We that are redeemed by the strong Man, love Him with a violent love. We know Him and are known by Him. He has set His affection and favor upon us, He has shown us remarkable favor and grace, He has kindly covered our nakedness in the night, and he has gone to the cross to seal our redemption. When He died on the cross, Christ's death was not general, not unintentional, not absent His own in His mind, but when He went to the cross it was my name inscribed upon His heart. As Augustus Toplady said, My name from the palms of his hands eternity will not erase; impressed on his heart it remains, in marks of indelible grace. It is a violence of love that Christ and His bride share. Hear the words of the Groom: Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes... As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices! Hear the words of violence in the passion of the bride: Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine... Draw me, we will run after thee...Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon... The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.... I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love. See with what violence those loved are incited to love. For they know that He has loved them with an everlasting love, as it says, He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Like Esther, how can we not look upon our majestic King, our Beloved, and not love Him who first loved us with the utmost violence? Electing love, sovereign love, eternal love, is a bond that stirs the greatest of passions. Those that enter in Christ learn truly to cherish the sovereign love and grace that has chosen us in Him from before the foundations of the world in live. V. Lawfulness They that follow Him do violence to the law. They love the law and disdain lawlessness. As the Psalmist says, Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes. With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches. I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways. I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word. Those violent for heaven say with John, Hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. As Christ said, Seek you first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, so it is that those violent for heaven are violent against unrighteousness and for righteousness. When the Westminster Divines sought to draw out in a catechism the law of God, they did so in the fashion of Ramus, as that which is forbidden and that which is required in each commandment. So, those that are violent for heaven do violence to sin and violence for righteousness. Left behind is sin's bondage, its burdensome and despairing service, while the joy and peaceful comfort of righteousness is found in Christ and adjudicated in us by the Spirit and word. The violent for heaven hear and do. So let us now inquire what it is we must do with this truth: Uses 1. Let us do violence to our former lives, viz. let violence be done to leave them behind. As was said by Elijah, How long will you halt between the two? If the Lord is God follow Him; but if Baal, follow him. We that press into heaven must lay hold of eternal life. While it is all of grace that ushers us into this kingdom, which keeps us in it, which delivers us to it, still, grace, when it is true grace is that grace which inspires a fervent passion. Consider then with all sobriety the urgency of violence for heaven, when: The temper of your passion is vacant. Was there anything that more incensed our Lord's anger than the insipid, tepid passions of Laodacia? Violence is necessary. The want of your passion is telling. What of hearts that never fire? What of passions that are ever vacant? Can one really say they know Christ and are of heaven when they lack lively and persistent affections for the King? The ebb of your passion is foreboding. Beware cooling passions. Beware fading affections. Like the young man whose lusts enflame passions but for a night, so are those that once were violent, but find no abiding affections for their King. The division of your passions is dangerous. Beware divided loves. Beware the great harlot, the whore of worldly passions and lusts, which are the snare of hell. Thomas Brooks said, "Where one thousand are destroyed by the world's frowns - ten thousand are destroyed by the world's smiles. The world, siren-like, sings us and sinks us!" The world is a harlot and she will come to you in harlot's attire, and kiss you with an impudent face, and say: I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves. For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey: He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed. With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life (Pr. 7:16f). Beware divided passions. The deception of your passion is condemning. Did not Judas kiss Christ? Did he not call Him friend? Did he not hail the King? But what criminal disdain did drip from his lips. What hypocritical posture was betrayed by Christ's arrest? Oh! Beware playing the fool. Beware a duplicitous heart for Christ. A divided heart, a dispassionate faith, a languishing, burdensome, murmuring heart, which are marks of the hypocrite and the pretender. These are those like the generation in the wilderness, who the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. We must take up our cross and follow Him. For those that are violent for heaven cease their violence for this earth and give all to the pursuit of heaven, just as Jesus said to the rich young ruler, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. Many have stood and heard Jesus say, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force; yet many have gone away, many have tried to barter keeping one foot in heaven and one on earth, and many have deceived many and even themselves, who know nothing of Christ and the violence necessary for the kingdom of heaven. 2. Let us do violence to our present lives, viz. let our faith be set doing violence ahead. First let us with all violence pursue our Lord, and Him alone, Solus Christus. We may have no other mediator. No earthly priest. No other redemptrix; neither Mary, or a saint, no angel or man, our is Christ and Christ alone! Martin Luther said that Jesus Christ is the "center and circumference of the Bible"- Ulrich Zwingli said, "Christ is the Head of all believers who are His body and without Him the body is dead." At the center of Solus Christus, Christ alone, is the cross, our redemption, His expiation, the atonement, His labor for our souls. Many have lost that truth today. One writer says: We urgently need to hear solus Christus in our day of pluralistic theology. Many people today question the belief that salvation is only by faith in Christ. As Carl Braaten says, they "are returning to a form of the old bankrupt nineteenth-century Christological approach of Protestant liberalism and calling it 'new,' when it is actually scarcely more than a shallow Jesusology." The end result is that today, many people-as H. R. Niebuhr famously said of liberalism-proclaim and worship "a God without wrath who brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross." Much of what is professed as Christianity today is lawless, Christless, and inglorious. There is nothing of wrath, of sin, and of atonement, and nothing of the supremacy and sovereignty of our Lord. There is a ready cry today for a return to Christ alone! Those that are violent for heaven are violent for Christ. Him and Him alone. His love. His person. His glory. His love. They can have no other. They wear the armor of God, knowing that Christ first wore it, as Isaiah said, He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak (Is. 59:16f). Second let us with all violence pursue His word, Sola Scriptura. The devil demeans God's word. The devil derides God's word. The devil contorts God's word. As Christ is the living Word, as God's word is eternal, omnipotent, true, and glorious, the means by which kingdoms are conquered and the hearts of men subdued, it is the most hated of our enemy. When King Josiah of Judah, who had become king at the age of eight and reigned for thirty-one years, entered upon his 26th year of life, that Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes. It was then that Josiah said to the High Priest, Go ye, inquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us. When the seeds of the Reformation were first planted, when the Lord first stirred the hearts of men, it was the word that pricked their hearts, it was the word that weighed heavy upon them, to translate, to read, and to make it know. Like the prophets of old it was a burden; it must needs be known. So, Micaiah who, despite being opposed by all the other prophets of God, despite being urged by them, Behold now, the words of the prophets declare good unto the king with one mouth: let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them, and speak that which is good. Despite all naysayers, despite all unpopularity, despite all threats, despite all dangers, God's word must be known. So, Micaiah said, As the LORD liveth, what the LORD saith unto me, that will I speak. Those who truly are violent for heaven are violent for the word of God and it is with the sword that they make violence! Third let us with all violence pursue righteousness, Sola Fide. In one sense it means a violence against sin. Let us not be complacent with it. Let us not be friends with it. Let us not be comfortable with it. Let us decry it. Let us oppose it. Let us labor to be rid of it! Let us be as righteous Lot, whose soul was vexed, as Peter said, Vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds. Have we become used to sin? Those that are violent for heaven are those that are violent for imputed righteousness, those that are violent against sin, those that are violent for holiness, those that wear the breastplate of righteousness near their hearts; for it is Christ's righteousness that is the indelible mark of love upon their hearts. Fourth let us with all violence pursue His grace, Sola Gratia. It never takes long for men to want to claim the Lord's glory as their own. Pelagius, Arminius, so many want to take away the glory of the Lord's gracious salvation. We must ever be valiant for the truth. We must stand in the face of all adversaries. We must shout down the pretenders, much as Christ withstood the Pharisees. There are always the legalists, the humanists, those vying for the rights of man, denouncing God's sovereign grace; these we must withstand face to face. As Luther said at Worms, April 18th, 1521: If, then, I am not convinced by proof from Holy Scripture, or by cogent reasons, if I am not satisfied by the very text I have cited, and if my judgment is not in this way brought into subjection to God's word, I neither can nor will retract anything; for it cannot be either safe or honest for a Christian to speak against his conscience. Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise; God help me! Amen. Those that are violent for heaven are those that are violent for sovereign grace. They want nothing of the glory. They are content with God's answer to man's rebuffs, saying, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. The helmet of salvation is the knowledge of sovereign grace, the loins are girt with the truth of His sovereign will, and the feet are shod with the gospel of redeeming grace. Put on the whole armor of God. Press forth in violence, let it be the violence of His sovereign grace that incites your soul. Last, let us with all violence pursue His glory, Soli Deo Gloria. When Judah returned from Babylon and Persia, she was pressed to rebuild that which had been destroyed, that which once was raised to the glory of God. Yet, the people shortly became complacent, indifferent and gave off their labors. At first, they had stood with Ezra as the temple foundation was laid, when, Many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy: So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people: for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off. How soon those tears and shouts dissipated, how soon their affections cooled, as soon the Lord through Haggai was heard saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste? Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. Christian, consider your ways! Ours is to do violence for the Lord, His kingdom, and His glory. Ours should be the Psalmist cry, Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased (Ps. 115.1). Those that are violent for heaven are violent for God's glory; they will have no share in it.9 n