Salvation and Godly Rule

The Kingdom of Heaven

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Doctrinal Studies

Lesson: The Kingdom of Heaven

Genre: Speech

Track: 64

Dictation Name: RR136AH64

Location/Venue:

Year: 1960’s-1970’s

Our scripture is from the Gospel According to St. Matthew 11:7-15. The Kingdom of Heaven Suffereth Violence. Matthew 11:7-15, with particular emphasis on verses 11-15. “And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

According to Milton S. Terry, one of the great scholars in hermeneutics, the study of biblical text and its interpretation, writing in the last century, there are seven ways to interpret this passage, and it has been often a subject of considerable debate and controversy among biblical scholars. However, the seven ways to interpret it can be really divided into two: good or bad, and the key in the interpretation is verse 12. “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” Now, if you have marginal notes in your Bible, you will see that “suffereth violence” can be rendered also, “or is gotten by force,” and they that trust men take it by force, or as the Berkeley version renders it, “But from the time of John until now, the kingdom of heaven has been rushed and the impetuous seize it by force.”

It is important for us to understand this passage. I think basically, it is easy to see the interpretation because our Lord uses the same statement elsewhere in another context, and makes it clear that the meaning is positive. He declares in Luke 16:16, “The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God is preached and every man presseth into it.” Now, that clearly is a positive sense. One of our problems, of course, is the verb in this case, “biazo,” the Greek word, which means violence, has for us today a purely negative sense. The only way we think of violence, because we have been conditioned by the thinking of the last century so heavily, is in a bad sense, just as we are conditioned to think of hate as only in a bad sense, and sometimes we fail to realize that hate is necessary. We should hate evil. There are certain things we should hate.

Now, as we analyze therefore, this passage, we must say first, the context, very definitely precludes a negative meaning. Our Lord says that John the Baptist was the greatest of those born of women. That is, by natural birth. Thus, our Lord placed John the Baptist second, only to himself, of all men who had lived until then. He declared him, moreover, to be the new Elijah, like the old Elijah proclaiming the death of the old order and the birth of the new one.

Then, our Lord says next, that in the glory of this new era, the new kingdom, the least is greater than the great men of history apart from himself, John the Baptist. Our Lord speaks of this new kingdom as the kingdom of God. It reads in Matthew “kingdom of heaven.” Why is there the difference in Matthew and elsewhere in scripture between kingdom of heaven and kingdom of God? Now, the Scofieldians have made a great deal of this distinction and they have a rather esoteric idea of two kingdoms, and so on, but the meaning is very simple. Matthew was written for Hebrews, and throughout, very plainly, very definitely, the Gospel According to St. Matthew was originally written with a Hebrew audience in mind. In those days, the one thing you did not do, whatever else the apostasy of Israel had lead it to, was to take the name of the Lord in vain, or at all. To avoid taking the name of the Lord, they avoided all reference to God, or to Jehovah. They used the circumlocution every time, a round about way of saying God, or Jehovah, and as a result, instead of saying “kingdom of God,” the Jews would say, “the kingdom of heaven,” and instead of saying “God,” they would say “Lord, adonai,” and they had a number of other phrases, “The Most High,” and so on, whereby they avoided saying the name of God, or “God.” This, of course, is what is known as negative holiness. In other words, you say you’re going to be holy not because you do the will of God, but you go around the barn to avoid doing something that might put you in a compromising position. We have a great deal of negative holiness in our midst today, and it is not real holiness.

Then third, we must say that our Lord makes it clear that John himself opened up this great pressing in of men to the kingdom by his ministry in the wilderness, and very definitely, when he proclaimed the end of the old order in the wilderness, his language was emphatic. John the Baptist said the ax is laid to the root of the tree, the old order. He spoke of the old order as chaff, to be thrown into the first. He used every kind of vivid imagery to indicate that there was an emergency situation, that they had to flee from the wrath to come, and the only way to flee was into the arms of God, to believe in his Messiah was to come, and so because John had declared an emergency situation, urgent action was required of him. They had the great choice of the ages before him. The Messiah was to come. Would they choose in his favor and be rescued, or be destroyed in the judgment that was to come? Now remember, this was very, very urgently proclaimed by John and our Lord, and Matthew 24 reinforces this. He declared as he left the temple for the last time, left a huge building that occupied ten acres of land, with tremendous walls of huge stone, two and three feet through, that not one stone would be left standing upon another. Thus, both John and then our Lord had declared a tremendous judgment was ahead. Emergency action, violent action, was necessary.

Then fourth, we must say that those who took John’s preaching seriously were the violent ones, or impetuous ones, or the thrusting ones, determined to get into the kingdom. Their spirit was like that of Jacob at Penuel{?} when he declared, “I will not let thee go except thou bless me.” One commentator, Sherman E. Johnson, who is definitely not orthodox, has nonetheless commented in analyzing the Greek of this text, and as a Greek scholar has said that the meaning is almost certainly this of verse 12, from John’s time until now, the kingdom is exercising its own spiritual force, and men of spiritual force are able to lay hold of it, for the law and the prophets were until John but now the new age has come.” In passing, it should be noted that Calvin gave a similar interpretation centuries ago.

Then next, we must say that our Lord, very definitely makes clear that the meaning of violent is favorable. The violent ones gain the kingdom. Now, very obviously our Lord would never say that the ungodly take the kingdom, or enter it, or possess it in any way, but he says very definitely that the violent do take it by force. Thus, very plainly, salvation for our Lord clearly means an intense concern and desire for the kingdom of God. It means a yearning, a longing, for God’s order, with all our heart, mind, and being. In the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” and the word “seek” there has the same connotation, a pressed forward, grab, lay hold of, make it your major concern.

Our Lord also taught, concerning the kingdom, that it was like a precious treasure which, when a man found that it was buried in a field, he sold everything that he had in order to buy that field and to possess it. Over and over again in his teaching, our Lord makes it clear, the energy, the pressing forward, the sense of violent onrushing desire to lay hold of the kingdom, and this moreover, is foremost in his teaching of the meaning of prayer, in the Lord’s Prayer. Our Lord ’s Prayer, our savior, taught us how to pray, where the priorities were.

Moreover, it is significant that we are commanded by God to pray and he who asks us to pray, having the wherewithal to grant our prayers, certainly wants us to pray that he might answer us. The first petition of the Lord’s Prayer is “Hallowed be thy name.” Turning again to Sherman Johnson, he comments on the meaning of this petition as a Greek scholar, “Hallowed by thy name means approximately the same as ‘Father, glorify thy name’ in John 12:28, but here the passive form is used, as in the Kadesh{?} to avoid a direct imperative. God is asked to sanctify his name and to cause men to sanctify it. The sanctification of the name is a rich and many-sided concept in Jewish thought. God sanctifies his name by condemning and opposing sin, by separating Israel from the world and giving it his commandments and his love and grace. It is also Israel’s task to sanctify God’s name by sanctifying itself, in keeping his law, his commandments, and doing all other things which redound to his glory. God’s name will be fully sanctified in the age to come, when everything he opposes his will has been removed and punishment is no longer necessary.” Now, this is an excellent summary of the significance of “Hallowed be thy name,” in biblical thought in the Old Testament. Hallowing God’s name thus means believing in him, obeying his law, and uniting with God in condemning and opposing sin. It means that we acknowledge God’s grace and law, and that we work to bring all things into that state of salvation and sanctification whereby men hallow God’s name in the totality of their lives, and the totality of their activities.

Then, the next petition, “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.” This then, sets forth the priorities, that which should be our intense desire, the longing of our being, the passion of our lives. There’s an expression, “I want it so much I can almost taste it,” which is a good one. It speaks about that intense longing.

Now, the significance of this verse is that we not only have that intense longing, but we push forward with that same intense longing in whatever we are doing, in our family life, in our work, in every area, without praying, our giving, our thinking, longing for God’s order, God’s peace, God’s salvation upon all the earth.

Moreover, the verb “biazo” (violence) means an effort, a pressing in where there is opposition, so that you go against opposition because you are determined to get where you want to go, and the kingdom of man opposes you. The kingdom of God must be gained by hard work, pressure, a pressing in, an onrushing energy. Now, this is what the verb conveys. The world seeks to prevent entrance. The world seeks to hinder the kingdom of God, but men, by a tremendous, impetuous force, are determined to establish it, to enter into an order where God rules.

I think something of what our Lord here meant can be gained from an analysis of past history. When we go back to the Puritan commonwealth in England, some of the facts that turn up concerning it are rather startling. For example, not too long ago, a scholar did a very, very lengthy study in two large volumes of the Puritan movement in England in the 17th century, a movement which captured the country, which in Cromwell, swept all forces before it, and became the major power in Europe. There was not an army in Europe that could stand up before Cromwell’s men. The startling fact he turned up was this: only 4% of England was Puritan. Four percent. Maybe 3-4% or 5% were Royalists, very clearly on the king’s side, or less. The bulk of the people did not care, and the same was true in this country.

During the Colonial Period and the early constitutional period when the Puritan order prevailed to a great extent, off and on in this country, again it was a small minority, but they knew what they believed. They worked to establish it, and they conquered. Today, what is the situation? I do not believe there are more immoral teenagers now than there were fifty years ago. I definitely do not believe it. In fact, I think, if anything, it may be the other way around. The percentage {?} may be a little higher. I do not believe that as far as the degenerate element in this country is concerned, they are that much more numerous. The difference is that the energetic thrust, the driving force today is on the part of these men who are evil, and the righteous are no longer sure of themselves, and they sit back and as a result, the country is fast into alien hands.

Now, this is what our Lord is talking about, and this is why, when he spoke of it in Luke, he used the word “pressing, pushing, using violent force to enter in,” and this is the kind of thing our Lord speaks of when he means faith. It is not mere belief. It is the power of God in men whereby men press forward in every area to conquer in Christ’s name.

As a result, what our Lord here says is not only to be taken in a favorable sense, but is intended as a rebuke to every age that does not have that tremendous power and driving force. When Calvin spoke of this text, he said that violence meant that our Lord called for warmth, for heat, for drive, in terms of his kingdom, and without citing it in effect his words recalled the words of our Lord to the church of the Laodiceans, when the ultimate in their sin was characterized as being lukewarm, and he declared, because thou art neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm, I will spue thee out of my mouth. The lukewarm can command nothing. They can be the great majority and usually are, but they are the impotent ones in the situation, and so our Lord here calls, very emphatically, for us to be like those men who, having heard John’s preaching and our Lord’s, recognize that the world was in an emergency situation.

Now, if you are in a house on fire, you do not leave by opening the window and if it’s stuck saying, “Well, there’s no point in breaking that glass,” or if the door is stuck you say, “Well, I can’t break that.” You break down the door or the window to get out. You use violence, and violence is not here in any unfavorable sense, but emergency action, a great pressing urgency to accomplish that which is right, and so our Lord says, “If you know the treasure is there, you will sell all you have to buy that field to gain that treasure.” This is faith, and this is seeking, working for and entering into the kingdom of God. Let us pray.

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who of thy grace and mercy hast made us thy people. We thank thee that thou hast given us such great promises, and we pray, our Father, that by thy grace, this generation may again see a powerful, violent, onrushing, impetuous force in men of faith to enter into, to establish, to declare thy kingdom, thy rule, and thy authority. Bless us to this purpose, we beseech thee. In Jesus name. Amen.

Are there any questions now, first of all, on our lesson? Yes?

[Audience] {?} different kinds {?} evil {?} problem {?}

[Rushdoony] No, rather that we are the problem. We have the answer and we’re not pressing forward with it, you see. This is what our Lord is saying. The key is that we must act. In every area we have to establish the crown rights of King Jesus. We have to establish a Christian concept for that area. We have to develop a different strategy, a different kind of operation. We have to reconquer each field. Yes?

[Audience] {?} that I was thinking {?} and also {?}

[Rushdoony] I would say it’s a very excellent analysis. The overemphasis on love, plus the kind of eschatology whereby you believe you’re going to be raptured out, and so you don’t worry about this world, has lead to a surrender. It has lead to a cop-out, to an inability to fight. It is interesting, some of you may have noticed this in an editorial on the Sword and the Trowel. The point was made that in the apostolic preaching in the Book of Acts, never once does the word “love” appear. This is very interesting. Now, love very definitely has a strong place in scripture, but the urgency of the message that the apostles took into every place was not love, but the resurrected Christ, so the next point he makes is and not only do we go astray in stressing love to an unhealthy degree, but we also stress Christ crucified to an unhealthy degree, because in the apostolic preaching in the Book of Acts it’s Christ resurrected, and this is a very interesting point because while Risinger{?}, who wrote the article, is not aware of it, one of the most interesting books written back in the thirties by MacKay was titled, The Spanish Christ, and it was written by a scholar and it was the one good book he wrote. He wrote a number of things. He was a Princeton scholar but the others are poor and indifferent, but this came out of a background of having lived in the Spanish world, in Latin America, speaking Spanish like a native, and of knowing Catholic theology, Spanish Catholic theology, and he pointed to the greatness at one time of the faith in Spain, and in Spanish Catholicism, and what a tremendous and powerful force it was, but he said the thing that lead to its deterioration and to the deterioration of Spain was that the emphasis gradually shifted to the crucified Christ, to Christ in agony on the cross, so that Good Friday in Spanish Catholicism became the central day and the Day of Resurrection was just of comparatively minor importance. The emphasis was placed on the suffering of Christ and of man’s lot, suffering in this world. So that little by little, the vitality was lost in Spanish Catholicism which had earlier been so powerful a force. Now, Risinger{?}, in his editorial, has put his finger on what’s happening in evangelical circles, you see, because by the overemphasis on Christ crucified as against Christ resurrected, having destroyed through the cross the power of sin and death, means that instead of victory, you emphasize bearing patiently sufferings until you are raptured out of them. Yes?

[Audience] {?}

[Rushdoony] Very good point. The scripture makes clear that our citizenship is in heaven. Our conversation, our citizenship is in heaven. Our conversation there having the meaning also of citizenship, but we are also declared to be ambassadors. We are also declared, by St. Paul who made that statement, to be soldiers. So, now what are our functions? We are citizens of the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven. We are ambassadors, we represent it here on earth. So we have a duty to represent it wherever we are, faithfully. We are soldiers. Put on the whole armor of God, in that we have a duty to conquer this world. So, you see, you cannot take one aspect of the imagery that St. Paul uses and not the other. Our citizenship is there, but we are here as ambassadors, and soldiers, to conquer, to claim every area for Christ. Now, it is interesting in terms of that belief that we are ambassadors, that the churches, to this day, have tax exemption. Now, this is a very important point, and it is one of the growing disasters that many churchmen, evangelical and modernist, are saying, “Well, why should the church be tax exempt? Why should it have special privilege, and so on?” Well, men died for that. They fought and went to the chopping block to defend that principle, and it’s simply this: the church is a representative on earth of the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, and therefore, it represents an embassy.

Now, the embassy, in Los Angeles or in Washington D.C., has extraterritorial rights. In other words, anything that happens say, in the British embassy, is not subject to American law. It is subject to British law. Therefore, the church itself is not subject, you see, according to this, to British law, or to American law, or the German or French law. It is subject of the law of God. It is not taxable. It cannot be governed by the courts. It is its own law sphere. Now, this is a very important concept. Our Supreme Court has not yet denied that. As a matter of fact, in its various decisions where church cases are at stake, it has even though it has interfered in the realm of the church, paid lip service to it and tried to give its decision within the framework of saying, “We have no jurisdiction over the church.” So, the Supreme Court of the United States still maintains, to a considerable degree, this principle which is all-important. Once you surrender it, you have surrendered something that the early church died for, because as you recall, I have said previously that in the early church, all that was required was to ask for permission as a licensed religion, and they could be tolerated, but they refused. They did not want to be subject to Roman government, Roman taxation, Roman legislation. They were outposts, embassies of the kingdom of God. Yes?

[Audience] {?}

[Rushdoony] Yes. And it is interesting that the National Council of Churches is going in as a friend to assist him, because they’ve awakened on this one point to the potential danger, and they’ve been on the wrong side of the issue consistently, but in this issue, they’ve realized that if Hargus{?} is wiped out, they could be next. So, they’re willing to argue here that the state has no jurisdiction in the area of the church. Yes?

[Audience] {?}

[Rushdoony] No, I think in this case, every church agency that has the funds should appear. Yes?

[Audience] In your book, Foundations of Social Order {?} trinity and various {?}.

[Rushdoony] Very good question. Very, very remarkable question. What is the defect in the attitude towards the Trinity that leads to the retreat and other-worldliness of say, pre-millennialism, and Scofieldianism. It is subordinationism. Wherever you have, in any subordination in the Trinity, say of the Son and the Holy Spirit to God, so that you really have one God and a semi-God in Christ, and a semi-God in the Spirit, you immediately have a surrender to the world. Now I go into the reason why this is so in the Foundations of Social Order, but in Scofieldianism and a great deal of all pre-millennialism virtually, you find that when they say “God,” they do not mean the Trinity. They mean the Father, and they do not normally, as they speak of Jesus, either stress or think of him as very God of very God, so that their view of Christ is very definitely defective or at the best, a subordinationist position, and this leads to a surrender of the world as I point out in Foundation of Social Order. Yes?

[Audience] {?}

[Rushdoony] No, I think they change their name simply because, under the old name, they were getting so notorious.

[Audience] Well, I don’t know {?}

[Rushdoony] They have not changed their theology at all, or become any better, but they’ve simply become a little frightened by this. It’s not that they’ve seen the theological issues at all.

[Audience] {?}

[Rushdoony] They have, yes, but they are still getting a lot from the denominations.

[Audience] {?} Presbyterian {?}

[Rushdoony] That’s true, but when they withdraw one way, they pay it another.

[Audience] {?}

[Rushdoony] Right. Any other questions? Well, we have one announcement. There will be no meeting this Thursday evening in our study of the Biblical Theory of Knowledge. We will have our regular meeting a week from Thursday. I’m leaving in the morning for Washington D.C., and then Virginia to lecture in various places, so I’ll be gone all week. I will be back Saturday and we will have our regular meeting next Thursday. Let’s bow our heads now for the benediction.

And now go in peace. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost bless you and keep you, guide and protect you this day and always. Amen.

End of tape