PT-1 "John's Powerful Culmination"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/7/2021 10:47 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus: PT-1 “John’s Powerful Culmination”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 11:12-15

 

            Message of the verses:  “12 “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force. 13 “For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John. 14 “And if you care to accept it, he himself is Elijah, who was to come. 15 “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

 

            I want to begin this SD with a statement that John MacArthur wrote as he began this section:  “Even if a man has outstanding character and an outstanding calling, he must also have opportunity in order to reach the potential of his greatness.  ‘John the Baptist’ entered the scene of history at precisely the right time—according to God’s own plan, prediction, and provision.  After 400 years with no word from the Lord, Israel was expectant; and until Jesus began His own ministry, John was the focal point of redemptive history.  He was the culmination of Old Testament history and prophecy.”  This quotation just refers to me totally that God is in control of history, every second of every day, and nothing can stop His plan from being fulfilled.

 

            We know from our study of John the Baptist, both in this section and also in earlier sections from Matthew’s gospel writing that he generated conflict wherever he went, and the reason was because his message upset the status quo.  It was because of his call of repentance that he stirred up a hornet’s nest among the religious leaders and even the king.  Everywhere he moved there was reaction, and there was often even violence, which eventuated in his being arrested, imprisoned, and finally executed.

 

            Now as I reread this section, a section that I have read many times I have to say that the section that now has caught my eye is “From the days of John the Baptist until now” (which had been a relatively brief period of time, perhaps only 18 months) “the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force.”  The truth is that everywhere that John went he evoked strong reaction.

 

            Now “The kingdom of heaven” refers to God’s general rule, His will for and His work that He does with mankind, especially His chosen people, which of course are the Jews.  It represents God’s purpose, message, principles, laws, and activities relating to mankind—all of which had been associated with some form of “violence” since John began his preaching.

 

            We will conclude this rather short SD with another quote from John MacArthur as he talks about “The form of biazo (form which ‘suffers violence’ comes) can be read as either a Greek passive or middle voice.  As a passive, it would carry the idea of being oppressed or treated violently, which would indicate that violence is brought on ‘the kingdom of heaven’ by those outside of it.  The Pharisees and scribes had attacked John verbally, and Herod had attacked him physically.  The kingdom was being violently denied and rejected; and because it was being rejected in its spiritual dimension, the kingdom would not come in earthly, millennial dimension.  Soon the enemies of the kingdom would kill not only John but even the Messiah Himself.  They would destroy both the herald and the King.

 

            “The middle voice verb carries the active idea of applying force or of entering forcibly—in which case the translation would be, ‘The kingdom of heaven is vigorously pressing itself forward, and people are forcefully entering it.’ With it  focus in John the Baptist, the kingdom moved relentlessly through the godless, sin-darkened human system that opposed it.  

 

            “The first of those two interpretations is negative and the second is positive; but both are true.  As already seen, the negative is illustrated by the persecution of John.  The positive is illustrated by the many people that John’s preaching led to the Lord, just as the angel predicted:  ‘He will turn back many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God.  And it is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous; so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord’ (Luke 1:16-17).”  This was a longer quote than I really wanted to write but I did not want to break up the thought pattern.

 

12/7/2021 11:24 AM