Heaven Taken by a Storm

"Jesus is the King who fights for us" -  (told to me today by a little girl in our after-school ministry)

Thomas Watson was a puritan preacher who wrote a little book in the 1650's explaining the verse, "the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force" (Matthew 11:12).  One can read the many numerous arguments and interpretations by modern scholars who have a in-house debate on what does this verse really mean?  I for one found myself prompted by God to go back into history and read this little treasure of a book, "The Christian Soldier or Heaven Taken by a Storm" to gain better insight and spiritual power to what this verse means for today.

Watson I believe rightly interprets this verse to mean a holy violence to advance God's kingdom.  It is not a bloody violence to shed blood but a passionate violence for truth and salvation not just for others but also a strong violence against ourselves to live out God's kingdom faithfully before others.

1.  We need a holy awakening to the power and presence of God.

2.  We must crucify our flesh as we contemplate heaven on earth.

3.  We are warriors for God against Satan and the principalities and powers and rulers of this present age.

4.  The violence of heaven purifies our soul and the pleasures of this world disappear in the light and beauty of God's everlasting delights and eternal joys.

5.  Holy violence subverts and overcomes by God's grace the unholy violence of the world.