Taking Heaven by Storm: The Holy Violence of Kingdom Living
Matthew 11:12
One of my favorite Puritan writers is the English Puritan Thomas Watson. Watson was born around 1620 and became one of the most beloved of the English Puritans. Few preachers could stir the conscience and warm the heart like Thomas Watson. He ministered at St. Stephen’s, Walbrook, in London. Watson pastored at that church until he and two thousand other faithful ministers were expelled from their pulpits in 1662 for refusing to compromise their convictions. He continued to preach privately to small gatherings of believers hungry for the Word. Out of that crucible of persecution came his book, Heaven Taken by Storm—a book that thunders with urgency and zeal. Watson built the entire book on one verse—Matthew 11:12: “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.”
In Watson’s words, “The life of Christianity consists in vigorous efforts; it is not enough to wish for heaven, but we must labor to take it by storm” (Watson, Heaven Taken by Storm, 3). He is not talking here about working for your salvation. But he is referring to an earnestness and a zeal that comes with loving the gospel! He is referring to our response to the opportunity of the gospel and God’s grace!
There were several reasons he preached the sermon and wrote the book. In Watson’s time, the Church of England had become largely formal and complacent. Church services were ritualistic, formal and cold. Many people attended services out of habit, but few possessed true faith. Watson saw a church filled with people who were spiritual lazy, passive without passion for the gospel and Christ! This is why he wrote, “The life of Christianity consists in vigorous efforts.” His book was a trumpet blast against spiritual laziness.
Watson was contending against a growing antinomian spirit — the belief that grace eliminates the need for effort or obedience. Some were twisting the gospel of grace into an excuse for spiritual laziness. Watson opposed this distortion with fierce clarity: “Though the kingdom of heaven be given to us by grace, yet we must take pains to get it. The promise encourages our industry, not our idleness” (Watson, 47).
He believed the Christian life was not passive but energized by grace. Grace did not relax effort; it renewed it. As John Owen, Watson’s contemporary, said, “Grace will not make men slothful, but most active for God.” Watson’s book was both a rebuke to dead formalism and a corrective to lazy grace — calling believers to a faith that works, a devotion that strives, and a love that labors. I want us to consider this verse that was the basis Watson’s book. What did Jesus mean when He said, “The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force?
There's something deeply unsettling about comfort in the Christian life. We've grown accustomed to a version of faith that requires little of us—a casual belief that costs nothing and changes even less. Yet Scripture paints a radically different picture, one that challenges our complacency and calls us to something far more urgent and demanding.
Matthew 11:12 presents us with a startling image: "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force." This isn't the language of passive belief or cultural Christianity. This is the vocabulary of holy desperation, of spiritual urgency that refuses to be denied.
The Battle for the Kingdom
What does it mean that the kingdom suffers violence? The phrase captures two realities simultaneously. First, the gospel has always faced fierce opposition. From the moment John the Baptist began preaching in the wilderness, hell struck back. When Jesus launched His earthly ministry, the forces of darkness mobilized against Him. Every proclamation of truth was met with resistance, criticism, and hostility.
But there's another dimension to this violence—it's the forceful pressing forward of those determined to enter the kingdom. Picture the scene: thousands of people pushing, striving, exerting tremendous energy to get through the gate. This isn't a gentle stroll into salvation; it's a determined fight against everything that would keep us out.
Think of Black Friday shoppers (though hopefully with more dignity)—people willing to wake before dawn, wait in lines, and push through crowds for a discount on electronics. How much more should we be willing to press forward for something infinitely more valuable: eternal life in the kingdom of God?
Why the Violence Is Necessary
1. Opposition Is Real
The world flows in the opposite direction of the cross. Culture, flesh, and the devil all conspire to keep people away from Christ. No one enters the kingdom without facing resistance. Satan doesn't surrender territory easily. Every genuine conversion is a rescue mission behind enemy lines.
Grace doesn't eliminate this opposition—it empowers us to overcome it. We become soldiers, not spectators. The Christian who would take heaven by storm must fight. You won't drift into salvation; you must push past the crowd to reach the narrow gate.
2. The Kingdom Is Priceless
Jesus made a remarkable statement: even the least in the kingdom is greater than John the Baptist—and John was the greatest prophet born of women up to that point. What could possibly elevate an ordinary believer above such a spiritual giant?
Position in Christ. Relationship with the King. The indwelling Holy Spirit. Adoption into God's family. These privileges exceed anything the Old Testament saints experienced, as great as they were.
When you truly grasp the value of kingdom citizenship, you'll give everything to obtain it. Jesus told a parable about a man who discovered hidden treasure in a field. What did he do? He sold everything he owned to buy that field. Not because he was earning the treasure, but because he recognized its surpassing worth.
True repentance and faith operate the same way. When you see the beauty of Christ and the glory of belonging to Him, you'll willingly lay down everything else.
3. Privilege Breeds Indifference
Jesus compared His generation to spoiled children in the marketplace. Some kids wanted to play wedding; others refused. Someone suggested playing funeral; still others complained. Nothing satisfied them. They criticized John the Baptist for being too austere and Jesus for being too friendly with sinners.
These people had witnessed miracles. They'd heard the greatest preaching ever delivered. They'd been surrounded by divine revelation. Yet they remained unmoved, finding fault instead of faith.
Familiarity can be spiritually deadly. When you're surrounded by Bibles, churches, and Christian influence, you can become numb to the very grace that should energize you. The danger of living in a nation with abundant gospel privilege is that we take it for granted.
There are places in the world where people would literally fight for a Bible. Where believers walk miles to hear preaching. Where the gospel is received with joy and desperation. Meanwhile, in places of plenty, we yawn through services and check our watches.
Pride whispers that we're good enough, that we deserve God's favor, that our religious heritage guarantees our salvation. But the kingdom belongs to the poor in spirit, to those who come with empty hands and broken hearts.
4. Repentance Requires a Breakthrough
Jesus rebuked the cities where He'd performed most of His miracles "because they repented not." Despite witnessing the power of God firsthand, they refused to turn from their sin and embrace Him as Messiah.
True repentance isn't easy. It's both a gift God gives and a grace we must labor for. The Bible commands us to repent while also declaring that God grants repentance. How can both be true? Because salvation is a divine-human encounter. God draws near to those who draw near to Him.
James describes repentance with vivid intensity: "Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness." This isn't casual. This is spiritual violence—a holy desperation that refuses to remain unchanged.
The gate of heaven swings on the hinge of a broken heart.
5. The Urgency of Now
Divine revelation demands a decisive response. When God opens your eyes to see Christ, you can't remain neutral. To hear the gospel and stay undecided is already to reject it.
Remember blind Bartimaeus? When he heard Jesus was passing by, he cried out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" The crowd told him to be quiet. Did he comply? No—he cried out all the more. That's holy violence. He refused to be silenced. He refused to miss his moment.
The same Jesus passes by today. The door to the kingdom stands open, but it's narrow. The opportunity is now. Don't let the opposition of the world push you away from the cross. Don't allow comfort or pride to keep you from pressing in.
Fighting Your Way In
In *Pilgrim's Progress*, Christian encounters a palace guarded by armed soldiers positioned to keep people out. A crowd stands at a distance, wanting to enter but intimidated by the guards. Then one man, stout of character, steps forward. He has his name written down, draws his sword, and fights his way past every obstacle until he enters through the narrow door. On the other side, voices sing: "Come in, come in, eternal glory you shall win!"
That's the picture. The kingdom requires holy violence—not literal physical force, but spiritual earnestness, determined faith, passionate pursuit of Christ despite every obstacle.
Grace doesn't make us passive; it makes us warriors. It doesn't lead to laziness; it energizes obedience. When you truly see the beauty of Christ and the glory of the kingdom, you'll fight to get in. You'll push past every opposition. You'll refuse to be denied.
Heaven must be taken by storm.
One of my favorite Puritan writers is the English Puritan Thomas Watson. Watson was born around 1620 and became one of the most beloved of the English Puritans. Few preachers could stir the conscience and warm the heart like Thomas Watson. He ministered at St. Stephen’s, Walbrook, in London. Watson pastored at that church until he and two thousand other faithful ministers were expelled from their pulpits in 1662 for refusing to compromise their convictions. He continued to preach privately to small gatherings of believers hungry for the Word. Out of that crucible of persecution came his book, Heaven Taken by Storm—a book that thunders with urgency and zeal. Watson built the entire book on one verse—Matthew 11:12: “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.”
In Watson’s words, “The life of Christianity consists in vigorous efforts; it is not enough to wish for heaven, but we must labor to take it by storm” (Watson, Heaven Taken by Storm, 3). He is not talking here about working for your salvation. But he is referring to an earnestness and a zeal that comes with loving the gospel! He is referring to our response to the opportunity of the gospel and God’s grace!
There were several reasons he preached the sermon and wrote the book. In Watson’s time, the Church of England had become largely formal and complacent. Church services were ritualistic, formal and cold. Many people attended services out of habit, but few possessed true faith. Watson saw a church filled with people who were spiritual lazy, passive without passion for the gospel and Christ! This is why he wrote, “The life of Christianity consists in vigorous efforts.” His book was a trumpet blast against spiritual laziness.
Watson was contending against a growing antinomian spirit — the belief that grace eliminates the need for effort or obedience. Some were twisting the gospel of grace into an excuse for spiritual laziness. Watson opposed this distortion with fierce clarity: “Though the kingdom of heaven be given to us by grace, yet we must take pains to get it. The promise encourages our industry, not our idleness” (Watson, 47).
He believed the Christian life was not passive but energized by grace. Grace did not relax effort; it renewed it. As John Owen, Watson’s contemporary, said, “Grace will not make men slothful, but most active for God.” Watson’s book was both a rebuke to dead formalism and a corrective to lazy grace — calling believers to a faith that works, a devotion that strives, and a love that labors. I want us to consider this verse that was the basis Watson’s book. What did Jesus mean when He said, “The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force?
There's something deeply unsettling about comfort in the Christian life. We've grown accustomed to a version of faith that requires little of us—a casual belief that costs nothing and changes even less. Yet Scripture paints a radically different picture, one that challenges our complacency and calls us to something far more urgent and demanding.
Matthew 11:12 presents us with a startling image: "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force." This isn't the language of passive belief or cultural Christianity. This is the vocabulary of holy desperation, of spiritual urgency that refuses to be denied.
The Battle for the Kingdom
What does it mean that the kingdom suffers violence? The phrase captures two realities simultaneously. First, the gospel has always faced fierce opposition. From the moment John the Baptist began preaching in the wilderness, hell struck back. When Jesus launched His earthly ministry, the forces of darkness mobilized against Him. Every proclamation of truth was met with resistance, criticism, and hostility.
But there's another dimension to this violence—it's the forceful pressing forward of those determined to enter the kingdom. Picture the scene: thousands of people pushing, striving, exerting tremendous energy to get through the gate. This isn't a gentle stroll into salvation; it's a determined fight against everything that would keep us out.
Think of Black Friday shoppers (though hopefully with more dignity)—people willing to wake before dawn, wait in lines, and push through crowds for a discount on electronics. How much more should we be willing to press forward for something infinitely more valuable: eternal life in the kingdom of God?
Why the Violence Is Necessary
1. Opposition Is Real
The world flows in the opposite direction of the cross. Culture, flesh, and the devil all conspire to keep people away from Christ. No one enters the kingdom without facing resistance. Satan doesn't surrender territory easily. Every genuine conversion is a rescue mission behind enemy lines.
Grace doesn't eliminate this opposition—it empowers us to overcome it. We become soldiers, not spectators. The Christian who would take heaven by storm must fight. You won't drift into salvation; you must push past the crowd to reach the narrow gate.
2. The Kingdom Is Priceless
Jesus made a remarkable statement: even the least in the kingdom is greater than John the Baptist—and John was the greatest prophet born of women up to that point. What could possibly elevate an ordinary believer above such a spiritual giant?
Position in Christ. Relationship with the King. The indwelling Holy Spirit. Adoption into God's family. These privileges exceed anything the Old Testament saints experienced, as great as they were.
When you truly grasp the value of kingdom citizenship, you'll give everything to obtain it. Jesus told a parable about a man who discovered hidden treasure in a field. What did he do? He sold everything he owned to buy that field. Not because he was earning the treasure, but because he recognized its surpassing worth.
True repentance and faith operate the same way. When you see the beauty of Christ and the glory of belonging to Him, you'll willingly lay down everything else.
3. Privilege Breeds Indifference
Jesus compared His generation to spoiled children in the marketplace. Some kids wanted to play wedding; others refused. Someone suggested playing funeral; still others complained. Nothing satisfied them. They criticized John the Baptist for being too austere and Jesus for being too friendly with sinners.
These people had witnessed miracles. They'd heard the greatest preaching ever delivered. They'd been surrounded by divine revelation. Yet they remained unmoved, finding fault instead of faith.
Familiarity can be spiritually deadly. When you're surrounded by Bibles, churches, and Christian influence, you can become numb to the very grace that should energize you. The danger of living in a nation with abundant gospel privilege is that we take it for granted.
There are places in the world where people would literally fight for a Bible. Where believers walk miles to hear preaching. Where the gospel is received with joy and desperation. Meanwhile, in places of plenty, we yawn through services and check our watches.
Pride whispers that we're good enough, that we deserve God's favor, that our religious heritage guarantees our salvation. But the kingdom belongs to the poor in spirit, to those who come with empty hands and broken hearts.
4. Repentance Requires a Breakthrough
Jesus rebuked the cities where He'd performed most of His miracles "because they repented not." Despite witnessing the power of God firsthand, they refused to turn from their sin and embrace Him as Messiah.
True repentance isn't easy. It's both a gift God gives and a grace we must labor for. The Bible commands us to repent while also declaring that God grants repentance. How can both be true? Because salvation is a divine-human encounter. God draws near to those who draw near to Him.
James describes repentance with vivid intensity: "Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness." This isn't casual. This is spiritual violence—a holy desperation that refuses to remain unchanged.
The gate of heaven swings on the hinge of a broken heart.
5. The Urgency of Now
Divine revelation demands a decisive response. When God opens your eyes to see Christ, you can't remain neutral. To hear the gospel and stay undecided is already to reject it.
Remember blind Bartimaeus? When he heard Jesus was passing by, he cried out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" The crowd told him to be quiet. Did he comply? No—he cried out all the more. That's holy violence. He refused to be silenced. He refused to miss his moment.
The same Jesus passes by today. The door to the kingdom stands open, but it's narrow. The opportunity is now. Don't let the opposition of the world push you away from the cross. Don't allow comfort or pride to keep you from pressing in.
Fighting Your Way In
In *Pilgrim's Progress*, Christian encounters a palace guarded by armed soldiers positioned to keep people out. A crowd stands at a distance, wanting to enter but intimidated by the guards. Then one man, stout of character, steps forward. He has his name written down, draws his sword, and fights his way past every obstacle until he enters through the narrow door. On the other side, voices sing: "Come in, come in, eternal glory you shall win!"
That's the picture. The kingdom requires holy violence—not literal physical force, but spiritual earnestness, determined faith, passionate pursuit of Christ despite every obstacle.
Grace doesn't make us passive; it makes us warriors. It doesn't lead to laziness; it energizes obedience. When you truly see the beauty of Christ and the glory of the kingdom, you'll fight to get in. You'll push past every opposition. You'll refuse to be denied.
Heaven must be taken by storm.
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