Matthew 11:7, 10-15 "A Clashing Of Kingdoms"

Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, ..."This is the one about whom it is written,
         'BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER AHEAD OF YOU,
         WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY BEFORE YOU.'
"Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.  From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force.  For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John.  And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear."


 There are a couple of confusing things here.  First, Jesus is saying that there has never been a man born who was greater than John the Baptist -but then he says that even the least of those in the Kingdom of Heaven are greater than John the Baptist.  Next, Jesus makes this bizarre statement about violent/forceful people seizing the Kingdom.  I think that in both statements, Jesus is commenting on the coming of the Kingdom, and how it differs from the Old Testament paradigms.

In the Old Testament, God communicated to His people through prophets.  Prophets were individuals called and commissioned by God.  The Holy Spirit, on occasion, came to these people and communicated with them.  They, in turn, spoke to the people what God had said.  The words of true prophets were Scripture and usually were written down and recorded as such -Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Micah, Amos, etc.  Jesus is saying that John the Baptist is a true prophet in the tradition of the Old testament prophets, and, in fact, that he is the greatest of all prophets.  At the same time, Jesus is acknowledging a new reality: Jesus is the prototype of the Spirit filled Believer.  When Jesus was baptized by John, it marked a new era in the history of God and man.  The Holy Spirit indwelled Jesus permanently -and Jesus is saying that in the Kingdom of God (as it is established here on earth by Jesus Himself) this permanent indwelling of the Spirit is going to be the new normal for Believers.  There will no longer be the need for the office of "Prophet," because as the Holy Spirit takes up residence in God's people, as we become living temples of God, the Holy Spirit speaks and communes and leads and guides every Believer and this is a better and more intimate relationship than even the greatest of the Old Testament prophets had because they only experienced God occasionally.

Jesus then makes this statement about violence and the Kingdom being seized by force.  I have heard a few Prosperity Preachers explain this as proof that we need to forcefully demand, using Kingdom Authority, whatever we desire.  These preachers are way off base.  I remember hearing a Messianic Jewish theologian speak about this passage in a way that makes sense in the context of what Jesus was saying about John the Baptist and the new vs. the old.

Although Jesus spoke this in the Aramaic language, his Jewish listeners would have interpreted the words "violence/violent," as "breaking out/breaching."  What Jesus was saying was something to the effect that the Kingdom of God was breaching the walls of this world -the Kingdom was breaking out -and that His followers were fellow breachers, following Him into the gap.  When Jesus made real the Kingdom of God here on earth ("Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven") there was a clash of kingdoms -the temporal, earthly Kingdom infected with evil and manipulated by demons and God's Kingdom.

As disciples (apprentices) of Jesus, we are privileged to walk and live and participate fully in the Kingdom because we are temples of God with the Holy Spirit residing in us.