Thought 23: Matthew 11:12 "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence and violent people have been raiding it." (TNIV)
I read this Scripture and it immediately confused me. How could heaven be affected by violence and be raided? I though and prayed about how to interpret this and this is what came up.
Jesus must have been talking about the kingdom of heaven on earth. If heaven is to be a paradise, a place where no suffering or pain take place then there cannot be violence there which causes both suffering and pain. The only way violence could take place in heaven is the kingdom of heaven on earth. As believers we are to bring the Kingdom to earth and so this kingdom we are trying to build is being subjected to violence and raided. This interpretation is further shown because Jesus says "from the days of John the Baptist until now." John guided the way for Jesus who brought the kingdom of heaven to earth. Thus only from John the Baptists arrival on the scene was heaven able to be subjected to such violence because it was not on earth nor capable of coming to earth, where such violence could occur, until Jesus brought it down.
See Bible interpretation can be fun and make you sound smart.
Thought 24: I'm currently in Rwanda on Christmas eve and have been here a couple of weeks and Rwanda is an amazingly beautiful country. It is super green with breathtaking hills and colourful flowers everywhere. It is really the most beautiful place I've seen. And yet the Rwandans walk by it everyday like its nothing. They are far more interested in your pasty white skin than the blue skies and singing birds. We are the same way in British Columbia. Many people say that we have the most beautiful place on earth but since we see it everyday we ignore it and think its not that great. There are moments when I stop and look up at a hill in Kelowna where no buidings are and or up at the sky during a sunset unblocked by power lines and just am amazed at the beauty of creation. We really need more moments like these to fully be in wonder of God's power.
