Today's Verse: Matthew 11:12 (ESV)

rFrom the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence,4 and the violent take it by force.

r Luke 16:16
4 Or has been coming violently

In this passage, Jesus was referring to the evil leaders of that day who were resisting the call of the Messiah. They were attempting to establish their own earthly rule, instead of the Kingdom of God, which had arrived in the person of Jesus Christ.

Today's Comments: Almost everything in the political spectrum of that day pointed to some sort of violence in God's earthly kingdom.

• At the birth of Jesus, Herod the Great had purposefully murdered every child under two to insure (unsuccessfully) that a new "King of the Jews" (Herod's own title) would never be crowned.
• Approximately four days before he died, Herod had his heir murdered.
• Herod's Son, Antipas, after divorcing his own wife and marrying the wife of this brother Philip, at the behest of his wife's daughter, had the head of John the Baptist brought to her on a platter.

Of course, we know that there would be more violence to come. But God had a plan. And that plan was to turn that violence into salvation for His people; and as Jesus Christ hung on the cross on that dark Good Friday afternoon, God's plan was fulfilled.

Poem of the Week: SHHH, BE QUIET, GOD IS SPEAKING, Beverly Caruso

World, Listen Up! This is
Jehovah speaking
You are in deep dark trouble.
There is sin everywhere you turn

You have not obeyed my Commandments
I am crying Heaven's tears for you.
My parables leave you cold
This time my rumbles will shake the World.

Watch my dancers as they spin
My plan of SALVATION will unfold.
As the tapestry turns bright red,
Remember I loved the world so much.

It's my only Son's blood
That was shed.
Dancers Weave, Dancers Weave
That my beloved children might believe.