Matthew 11; Verses 12-15; True Peace; John the Baptist (cont)

(Matthew 11:12-15) "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

(This is that faulty human error of thinking in that peace can come by force and war, which is exactly how satan comes in releasing a seemingly temporary doom of the world by war. For instance, a boxer spends about 12 rounds in a ring getting beaten up, and when the fight is over he gets to rest. However, that does not mean he has peace of mind).


(We have the wars and rumors of wars coming to a climax, and the opposite which is satan's message as the false Christ/God, seemingly relieving the pain of the wars/rumors of wars and claiming to be the world's savior with world peace. Reference: Matthew 24:6-8; 14. Verse 14 shows the moment satan claims to be Christ/God).



Let's check out part of Daniel here--what God of forces means--not the same force as above.



(Daniel 11:38) "But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things."


(The force here is of the world, human protection, a "humanitarian" force in a sense. This deception is what causes people to bow to satan. Remember, Christ overcame satan and the world while showing us the way to get it done through Him. Obviously, bringing peace in by war and force is false peace. The human heart and mind does not change according to God. This is found ALL throughout history with idol worshipers who choose to do things without God. Not to mention, this is the quran/koran to a T because they bring in the 12th mahdi by forcing war. In the same way, satan's message is world peace right there from Jerusalem (Luke 11:20), just as the 12th mahdi is to bring peace on Earth. No need to wonder how most end up bowing to satan because we just illustrated it right there.)



Back to Matthew 11:13,



13For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.



(Basically, what God's Word comes down to in the positive is His law and the first and second comings of Christ. In the negative there is satan's side and those who follow him).



John the Baptist lived the law and testified of Christ to come right after him. The importance of this is also seen when noting that the land of Judea had not seen a prophet for 400 years. It is by no coincidence either that this is the same amount of time Israel's (Jacob) offspring spent in Egypt. Pretty amazing, isn't it!



14And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.



(In Luke we learn what is meant here just below. John the Baptist is not Elijah himself, obviously. He came in the Spirit of Elijah, but Christ is continuing to show the importance of John's work. This is very important when you see that Christ makes this point to show how John helped pave the way for the New Testament/covenant).

(Luke 1:17) "And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."


This means preparing them to accept Christ (all those that would). For any seed to penetrate, the soil must be softened, tilled, and "stirred up."



15He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."


Ears to hear is always in a spiritual sense. Every time Christ says this, it's time to really pay attention. Clearly, we must pay attention to the importance of John the Baptist's work for the Lord.


Amen. †