Can I ask you something? When was the last time you felt urgency about your soul? Not guilt,
not fear, but urgency. That quiet, steady awareness that eternity is real, and that the
kingdom of heaven is not an idea, and that responding to Jesus actually matters. It's so
easy to become familiar with spiritual things, isn't it? We listen, we read, we agree, but we don't
always move. In Matthew 11, 12, Jesus says something that has puzzled readers for centuries.
Here's what he said. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers
violence, and violent men take it by force. Wow, that sounds intense, doesn't it? But he isn't
talking about aggression. He's talking about response. He's describing what happens when the
kingdom of heaven breaks into a human heart. It doesn't drift in quietly, and you don't drift
into it. No one stumbles accidentally into surrender. Entering the kingdom requires something
deeper than interest. It requires a kind of holy desperation, and maybe that's the part we've grown
too comfortable to notice. Let's slow down and look at that together. We're going to consider
the verb that has puzzled scholars for centuries. And we're going to discover what Jesus really is
saying about the kingdom and about us. Hello, beloved, and welcome to Verses We Missed.
I'm your host, your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. Every week we slow down and spend time with the
quieter parts of Scripture, the verses that hide in plain sight, the ones that reward a slower
reading and a prayerful heart. This is your midweek breath of Scripture and grace. Let's breathe it in
together. So, let's look at the context. This is a seismic shift. Let's zoom out. John the Baptist
is in prison. That alone tells you something is happening, right? John, the bold desert preaching
prophet, the one who called religious leaders a brood of vipers, the one who announced,
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And now he's locked away. He sends word to Jesus. He
said, Are you the expected one, or shall we look for someone else? Jesus responds by pointing to
his works. The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have
the gospel preached to them. In other words, the kingdom is here. Then Jesus begins to speak about
John. He praises John. He elevates him. And then he says, from the days of John the Baptist until
now. Huh. That phrase marks a hinge in history. Before John, the kingdom was promised through
Isaiah, through Daniel, through the prophets. But with John, the kingdom was announced as imminent.
With Jesus, the king himself had arrived.
Heaven was no longer just anticipated.
It was breaking into earth.
And when heaven breaks into earth, it disrupts things.
So here's the verb that starts the debate.
Now we come to the phrase that makes interpreters pause.
The kingdom of heaven suffers violence.
Hmm.
The Greek word here is biazidae.
It's a verb, which means it's an action word.
It can mean to suffer violence, to be attacked, to press forward forcefully, or to advance
with power.
Scholars have debated whether this is passive or middle voice.
Is the kingdom under assault, or is it advancing forcefully?
Here's the beautiful tension.
Both realities are true.
When the kingdom advances, resistance rises.
John is imprisoned.
The Pharisees are threatened.
Herod feels exposed.
The kingdom does not arrive into neutral territory.
It confronts darkness, and darkness pushes back.
But that is not all that Jesus says.
He continues.
He says, and violent men take it by force.
The word used here means to seize or to grasp decisively,
to lay hold of with determination.
This is not about armies.
It's about urgency.
So, whenever the kingdom advances, two things happen at the same time.
First, there's resistance.
Some resist because their power is threatened.
Some resist because their pride is exposed.
Some resist because repentance feels like loss.
The kingdom confronts self-rule, and self-rule does not surrender quietly.
But second, and this is where I want us to really lean in, the desperate press in.
Tax collectors came. Sinners came. The broken came. And they did not analyze from a safe distance.
They didn't say, I'll think about it. They did not postpone repentance. They pressed in.
They seized the moment. They acted decisively. And what happened? Jesus received them.
So, let's be very clear. This verse has never meant that the kingdom advances through physical
violence. I mean, after all, Jesus rebuked Peter's sword, didn't he? Jesus refused political
revolution. He went to the cross instead of raising an army. And then what happened? The apostles
preached. They did not coerce. So, the force here is not outward aggression. It is inward surrender.
It's the violence of repentance. It's the force of holy desperation. It's the tearing down of pride.
It's the crushing of self-will. It is the decisive act of saying,
I am finished with ruling my own life. And that feels forceful because pride does not die gently.
Now, this is the core of what Jesus is teaching. No one drifts into salvation,
and no one wanders accidentally into the kingdom. No one inherits eternal life through mild
curiosity. Entrance requires response. Not earning, not striving, but surrender.
Repentance is not casual. It's decisive. It's turning from sin and clinging to Christ.
It's laying down weapons of self-defense. It's dropping excuses. It's refusing delay.
And that is why Jesus uses intense language. Because the moment is intense.
Now, if you're listening and you've been spiritually curious, maybe you enjoy Christian
podcasts. Maybe you appreciate biblical discussions. Maybe you feel warmed by Scripture,
but you've never decisively surrendered to Christ. Listen, Jesus is not calling you to
curiosity. He's calling you to repentance. Curiosity admires from a distance. Desperation
Desperation says, I need this.
The kingdom is entered by those who feel their need,
not by those who merely enjoy the conversation.
And now, let me gently but firmly speak to those of us who already belong to Christ.
When you first came to Him, there was urgency, wasn't there?
There was hunger.
There was gratitude.
There was fire.
You knew what you had been saved from.
You knew your need.
You knew your desperation.
So let me ask you, has comfort replaced urgency? Has routine replaced hunger? Have eternal realities
become familiar? Beloved, the kingdom is still advancing. The spirit is still convicting.
The gospel is still powerful. But it's possible to grow passive, to settle into safe Christianity,
To stop pressing in. Well, Jesus' words wake us up. The kingdom is not sleepy. The kingdom is
not drifting. It is advancing. Are you? There's something beautiful about the desperation that
Jesus describes. Think of blind Bartimaeus. He cried out loudly. When others told him to be quiet,
he cried out more. Well, beloved, that's pressing in. Think of the woman who touched the hem of
Jesus' garment. She risked embarrassment. She risked rejection. She pressed in through the crowd.
That's urgency. Think of Zacchaeus climbing a tree. A grown man in a tree because he had to
see Jesus. That's not curiosity. That, beloved, is hunger. And Jesus never rejected that hunger.
He welcomed it every single time. From the days of John the Baptist until now,
The kingdom advances. It advances in hostile places. It advances in quiet places. It advances
in hearts. It advances through preaching, through repentance, and it advances through believers who
refuse to remain spiritually stagnant. Opposition does not stop it. Cultural shifts do not stop it.
Darkness does not extinguish it. The king is reigning. The spirit is working. The gospel is
still powerful. The question is not whether the kingdom advances. The question is how you respond.
Are you resisting? Are you indifferent? Are you merely curious? Or are you pressing in?
Jesus does not describe passive entrance. He describes decisive surrender.
The kingdom of heaven is not entered by the curious. It is entered by the desperate.
Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you that your kingdom is strong and advancing.
Thank you that from the days of John the Baptist until now, you have been drawing people to yourself.
Lord, forgive us for indifference. Forgive us for delay. Forgive us for comfortable faith.
Lord, if there's someone listening who's been standing at the edge, curious but unsurrendered,
I pray, God, that you would awaken holy desperation in their heart,
break through pride, break through excuses, break through fear.
And for those of us who belong to you, Father, restore our urgency, restore our hunger.
Make us people who press into you, not violently towards others,
but fiercely against our own sin and self-rule.
Thank you, Lord, for your mercy.
Thank you for your patience.
thank you that the door of the kingdom is still open. We pray this in Jesus' name, our King. Amen.
Beloved, if this episode encouraged you, or if it challenged you, or helped you see the scriptures
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This is a weekly show.
I release a new episode every Tuesday at 10 p.m. Pacific
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It's your midweek breath of Scripture and grace.
Thank you so much for being part of the Lifespring family.
Until next time, keep pressing into the kingdom
and may God bless you richly.
I'm Steve Webb.
Bye.