Holy Wrestling
The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force (Matt. 11:12).
The grand scheme of Satan is to prevent us from seeing the necessity of this holy violence, or from putting it into practice. To stop the effect of this strategy our blessed Lord gives us the simple directions in these words, “Strive to enter in at the narrow gate.” “Labor for the food that endures to eternal life,” etc. But in no Scripture is the direction made more plain than in this text we are looking at (Matt. 11:12).
Storming the Kingdom
This Kingdom is that of grace, which brings down a heavenly nature into the believing soul. The Kingdom within us is “righteousness, and peace, and joy.” It is Jesus apprehended by faith, as he has been given for us, and felt by love, as living in us.
In other words; it is the image of God lost in Adam and restored by Christ. This includes: pardon, holiness, and happiness, issuing in eternal glory.
This Kingdom suffers violence, regarding two main ways;
A fighting against those rebels of God who presently attempt to reign over us—the world, the devil, the flesh. These rebels must be overthrown. Our own wills must be overcome, and ourselves surrendered up to God as to our chosen Lord.
A humble, holy, sacred wrestling must be used in prayer—with Jesus, that He would open in our hearts the power of faith, apply the power of His blood, and pour upon us the spirit of prayer; or in other words, the prayer of faith—with the Father, that He would overthrow all our enemies. And that the Father would fill us with the Holy Spirit, so that He would take up His abode with us.
Become a Wrestling Jacob
We have an example of the second kind in Jacob wrestling with the Angel, Who said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks;” and he said, “I will not let you go, until you bless me” (Gen. 11:26). Here Jacob, being left alone, improves his solitude. Danger and trouble work in him the right way. He prays, prays earnestly, and that against much discouragement. God and man seem to oppose him, for the Angel of the Covenant wrestled as if to get loose from his hold.
It was a spiritual wrestling.
He wept and made his supplication, but before he prevails the Angel touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh, and hindered him from wrestling in his own strength. Then the Spirit alone made intercession. Nature failed and grace was conqueror. “When I am weak, then am I strong.” He says, “Let Me go,” as God once said to Moses, “Let Me alone.”
In this way the Lord sometimes tests our faith.
This was the case of the woman of Canaan, when Jesus at first answered her not, and afterwards said, “It is not meet to take the children’s bread and cast it to the dogs.” But when she still worshipped, prayed, and waited, she obtained these words of approval, “O woman, great is your faith!” as well as the answer of her prayer.
So the Angel says, “Let me go, for the day breaks”—your affairs want you—you must have rest. But Jacob foregoes all for the blessing—rest, family, weariness, pain. He answers, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” So must it be with us.
None prevail but those who take the Kingdom by violence. Jacob conquers at last. “What is thy name?” says God. He will have the sinner know himself and confess what he is. Then He gives the new name, “A prince with God.” If God is for us, who can be against us? The Angel does not tell him His name, for the tree of life is better than the tree of knowledge.
He saw God face to face and lived. So is it with faithful wrestlers.
God resists only to increase our desires, and we must be resolved to take heed to nothing that would hinder. Weariness, care, friends, fear, and unbelief must all be thrown aside when we seek to see God face to face, and to be brought into the light of life.
Great Conflict
They who are weary of the Egyptian bondage of outward and inward sin, who cannot rest without the love of Jesus, the life of God, at last become violent. They forcibly turn from the world. By force they attack the devil, bring themselves by force before God, and drag out, by strong confession, the evils that lurk within them. Against these they fight, by detesting and denying these lusts. Their strength is in crying mightily to the Lord, and expecting continually that fire which God will rain from Heaven upon them.
All this must be done by force and with great conflicts; for it is against nature, which has extreme reluctance towards it. The language of the text draws the picture of taking a fortified town by storming it, and this is the most dangerous kind of military advance. The enemy is covered and hidden, and those who scale the walls have nothing but their arms and courage.
But can the wrestling soul overcome? Can he take this Kingdom? Not by his own strength; but his Joshua (Jesus) will take it for him. God only requires that we should ask Him to do this. The prayer of repentance and the prayer of faith storm Mount Zion, the city of God. He that is violent shall receive the Kingdom of God—justification (being pardoned, forgiven) and sanctification (being made holy, conformed to the image of God).
But remember, the violent take it by force. You will have many hard struggles with God’s enemies, and, it may be, many with the Lord Himself, before He declares you a conqueror.
Answering an Objection
Some people object, “We have no strength, and to endeavor to take the Kingdom by violence is taking the matter out of God’s hand. Isn’t it better to wait for the promise, to stand still and see the salvation of God?” If you mean by “standing still,” not agonizing to enter in at the narrow gate, not wrestling in prayer and fighting the good fight of faith—then may God save you from this stillness!
People that think this way make an error, not knowing the meaning of the Scriptures. The standing still there recommended is to keep your soul in patience without discouragement, fear, and complaining. You are to stand still like the apostles, who watched together in prayer, ran with patience the race set before them, and fought bravely, as faithful soldiers, under the banner of the cross. Any other stillness is a lie seeking to throw you off the path of truth.
Search the New Testament and show me one instance of someone standing ‘still’ (in the way these objectors suggest) after they had been convinced of their needs? Did the Centurion? Did the woman of Canaan? Did blind Bartimeus stand still? Did St. Paul? Did the woman with the bloody issue stand still? Did not all of them use the power they had?
I do not desire you to use what you do not have; only be faithful stewards of the various graces entrusted to you.
March Onwards!
The Kingdom of Heaven is before you—power to reign with Jesus as His priests and kings. Stir up your faith! Reach forward to the things which are before you and forget the things which are behind.
Become a wrestling Jacob, and you shall soon be a prevailing Israel. Do not be discouraged, for as a good man observes, “God frequently gives in one moment what He has apparently withheld for many years.”
(The Kingdom of Heaven Taken By Violence, by John Fletcher, edited and revised 2024).
