“And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.”
Matthew 11:12 NKJV
To me, “violence” in this verse is talking about a strong decision and bold thought and speaking out boldly as spiritual warfare against the enemy.
This also implies that the Kingdom of Heaven is a spiritual realm that is accessed presently.
Mat 11:12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.
John the Baptist is the start of the plan to redeem mankind for the prepared the way for Jesus.
That is why is says from the time of John the Baptist until the time Jesus said this the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and since it says the violent take it by force then it is in a positive sense for if it was in a negative sense they would not be able to take it.
I believe it means that people were very determined to obtain salvation, and highly zealous of having eternal life, and it showed outward in enthusiasm.
That is the way we should be violent to enter heaven where we are beating on the door until out hands are bloody, and tore up.
Rev 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
Rev 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Do not be lukewarm but be violent.
Joh 7:32 The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning him; and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him.
Joh 7:45 Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him?
Joh 7:46 The officers answered, Never man spake like this man.
Be like Jesus who spoke so boldly to the officers that it frightened them, and cast doubt in their mind, and they thought we better leave this man alone for if He is telling the truth we do not want to be going against God.
For if Jesus was not speaking to them that He was of God, and to heed His words they would of not been frightened to arrest Him, so Jesus was saying He is of God, and they better heed what He is saying.
Be violent.
Jud 1:22 And of some have compassion, making a difference:
Jud 1:23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
Save some with fear by being bold to tell them the truth, and the consequences they will face if they do not heed the word of God.
Prophesy is one way to put fear in them by telling them all the destruction, and chaos that shall come upon the world when the fallen angels get to influence the world to rebel against God for He is ready to end sin on earth.
When they see it come to pass they will ponder on what you said which is why I point out that the new age movement will cause the world to rebel against God, and the New Age Christ will push the agenda of the new age movement, and the world will be divided in to 10 sections with a leader in each section, and the Pope and Vatican will go along with it, and other things so when they see it they might turn to the truth.
It is good for a Christian to know the details about the end time so when people see it happening they might turn to Jesus.
But a Christian does not need to know the details for all they have to know is if they go against God, and Jesus as Lord and Savior, and go against the word of God, or a false interpretation like the new age movement, then do not go along with them.
But for the sake of the world it is good for the Christians to know the details, and the more the better.
For an example like the Mexican Illegal Immigrant problem that the United States does not do much to stop it, and do not put much pressure on Mexico to keep their people out, but that is because they want the problem to get out of control, and out of hand, and Mexico is in on it, and then the solution will be to merge Mexico and America and the problem is solved, along with Canada as 1 nation out of 10 nations of the world.
When they see it happen it does good because they will think upon that which there are many things to say concerning what will go down in the future to cause people to think about it.
Telling people about God, and Jesus, is great, but I believe the saints should get involved in knowing what is going to happen in the future so people can see it happen and might turn to Jesus especially when the new age movement will give a different interpretation of the Bible, and Science is going to say the Bible is the truth, and the world should embrace it, but they will give the new age movement interpretation, and say people have been interpreting the Bible wrongly.
Which Science right now is involved with making all things compatible with the new age movement beliefs, and reality, saying they have new discoveries about everything, and they were wrong, giving them a new perspective of all things.
Which they had the same technology for many years, and now all of a sudden they have all these new discoveries giving them a new perspective of history, evolution, the universe, the origins of people, history, God, Jesus, the Bible, religions, the conscious, among other things.
But the new age movement has a timing for everything, and now is the time to give the people the mindset of the beliefs, and reality of the new age movement which they ae using the credibility of Science that relies on facts, and proof, to do it.
Which Science will take the position of the new age movement belief of evolution which they believe in evolution, but not according to the world view Darwinian viewpoint for they do not believe humans evolved from apes, but they believe they are of the same lineage, but they did not evolve from apes, and they broke off from that lineage about 7 million years ago.
They believe aliens are going to help mankind have peace, advance, and evolve, which they talk about the return of the gods.
Which Science is busy saying they have proof aliens exist, and they received a laser message from 140,000,000 miles away, and say humans are not from the earth, and the world needs to prepare for an alien encounter.
But they need to convince them that Lucifer is a god, and a alien, and he is the good guy, that gave mankind intelligence, and will cause them to evolve along with the New Age Christ, and is not a fallen angel for there is no personal God.
So they will probably set the stage for hostile aliens attacking the earth, and Lucifer and the aliens with him defeating them and saving the world to get the world to trust Lucifer.
Which will be by an emergency alert on phones, radio, and television.