Title: The Kingdom of Violence (Matthew 11:12)
How much do you agree with Jesus' shocking statement that the kingdom of heaven is violence, that is, it is conquered by fighting?
He who does not have aggression is already defeated. The concept of aggression is a battle that sacrifices life and death, but it is not easy to find the image of aggression in order to go to heaven in today's church members. Aggression is a relative phenomenon.
Only those who realize the value of freedom have the right to fight against communism, and only those who recognize the importance of health must have a new birth to experience the faith and value of heaven just as they fight a bloody battle against illness for health. It is natural to choose the narrow path of violence to go to heaven.
However, if you look into the thoughts of modern church members, they do not have enough faith in Heaven to make them feel the need to be violent. It doesn't even feel very strange about heaven. Because the concept of hometown in heaven is thin, there is no excitement or preparation to return to the homeland, and the attachment to the world is full, as if living on this earth for a thousand years or ten thousand years.
Think of Niagara Falls, the number one waterfall in America. The Niagara River flows smoothly. But at the end of the river is the dreadful Niagara Cliff, 51 meters high. If a man is now in the middle of the Niagara River, what will he do to survive? If you just stand still, you will be washed away by the flowing river and fall to the bottom of the waterfall and die. He has to back up the running water to keep going up and up. That is the only way he lives. Think of it as aggression against such a large current. What is the great current in this world? It means that the devil is ruling the whole world. No, to be born with a sinful instinct from birth is a greater flow.
The temptation of the devil, the environment, the system, the structural flow, and the endless greed of the ego keep leading my soul to the end of the waterfall. Leaving it here is hell. If the world joins in the way the body is good, it will be hell. You must flow back here to reach heaven. Aggression is a countercurrent to the flow of the world and history.
Whether this is true, first look at the process of salvation shown as a type in the Old Testament. Israel, who was saved from Egypt, is now in the wilderness. Their goal is the land of Canaan, flowing with milk and honey. As soon as they cross the Red Sea of Egypt, the land of Canaan is not waiting for them. What awaited them unexpectedly was a barren, barren desert unsuitable for human habitation. Not only that, it was a wilderness, a land of death where the dangers of snakes and wild beasts lurk day and night, and the pain of heat and cold intersect.
However, it takes four years to pass through the wilderness. If they are satisfied only with the Red Sea escape and give up Canaan in the wilderness, manna and quail are good. And if they sat down, they would die in more severe pain than in Egypt. Here is Israel's problem. Will the storm in the wilderness run back and advance toward the end of Canaan? Or will you go back to Egypt? But if you stay still, it's like going back to Egypt soon. No, they die more wretchedly than in Egypt. In Exodus 15, 16, and 17, despite the people who experienced God's salvation, they complained against Moses because the water was bitter in Marah, and in the wilderness of Shin, they longed for Egypt, where they ate meat and bread, and complained about why they brought us into the wilderness. do. They stone Moses to death because there is no water in Rephidim. They cannot overcome the environment of the wilderness, and they long for Egypt again and try to give up on Canaan. At that time, Moses was the leader who did not give up on Canaan until the end, reversing the people's greed and resentment.
We were able to enter Canaan because of Moses, who had overcome the wrath of violence by going backwards. Today we are right in the wilderness. The trend of the times is too sweet to tempt Christians. Even if we stand still, we cannot avoid the instinct of sin rising up from our hearts. No matter how you look at it, the world is beautiful and good. As long as you have money, you can enjoy comfortable happiness. With money, you can travel all over the world and conquer all the beauty of the world. The world the devil has fostered is enough to attract our affection. Even though we came to church by regurgitating such a world, we still miss the world as we miss Egypt. I want to go back to the world over and over again. However, the Bible shows examples of what actually happened.
2 Timothy 4:10 "Demas, because she loved this world, left me and went to Thessalonica; Cresces went to Galatia, and from Titus to Dalmatia."
Colossians 4:14 "The beloved physician Luke and Demas greet you."
Mon 1:24 "And Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers, greet me."
Even Paul's co-workers could not reverse the world. We must be alert. Are we not becoming more like Demas today?
2 Timothy 3:1-2 "Know this that you will know that the times of distress will come in the last days, when people will love themselves, love Khon, be proud, proud, slanderers, disobedient to their parents, unthankful, unholy."
In the last days, it is said that he loves himself and loves money. The present age is the age of infinite happiness. On this earth, which is already set to love the world and to be ruled by the world by the times, social structures, and instincts, it is enough to have money, authority, all possessions, and to live while looking at the world is a tremendous thing for the world. Reflux. God is demanding of us a backwater that is worse than salmon that goes upside down a river and eventually dies. You cannot enter heaven without this backflow.
In 1 Corinthians 10:5, it is recorded that the majority of those who were saved in Egypt did not please God and died miserably in the wilderness.
Just as it is an instinct to seek water when thirsty, not education or training, it is an instinct for the earthen body to seek pleasure, possession, domination, and pride. It's the thirst instinct that I feel in my body. I have to regurgitate this instinct. So Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:25-27 that I am fighting toward the kingdom of heaven, but I beat my body to make it submissive. Where else could there be such a lonely battle? Why do I have to keep flowing back? This is because the old person keeps coming back to life in my body.
So, if you don't hit it, you'll go back to the world. Look especially at the backflow of Jesus.
John 6:15 "Therefore, when Jesus knew that they were about to come and take him by force and make him king, he departed again to the mountain alone."
We must run away in the image of Jesus washing the disciples' feet. Even in the midst of starvation and nakedness, we must run away in the form of Paul who only looked to heaven and served the church. Only Christ must flow back to be the glory. And you have to walk that path too. We, who live in the last days, will flow backwards into the world and become violent people. Let's face the heavens and win in the fight against the world to the end, even if tribulation and persecution follow.