The words of Jesus in Matthew 11:12 – “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of God suffers violence, and the violent take it by force” are clarified in Luke 16:16 – “The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presses into it.” John’s ministry introduced a new era.
The kingdom of God was preached first by John and by Jesus after his imprisonment and death. Those who received the kingdom message grasped its meaning, seized the opportunity and entered into it! The word “violently” in the KJV is better translated as “crowded”– much in the way that members of football clubs in the UK crowd stadium entrances.
In Matthew 11:13, Jesus reiterates that with John’s appearance the former age had ended, and then adds: “And if you will receive it, this is Elijah, who was to come.” Jesus was making it clear that Malachi’s prophecy: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD” was fulfilled in John’s ministry (Malachi 4:5).
When some asked John the Baptist, “Are you Elijah?” he answered clearly and unequivocally: “I am not.” (John 1:21) This apparent contradiction is resolved by the words of Gabriel to John’s father, Zechariah: “And he shall go before [the LORD] in the spirit and power of Elijah…” (Luke 1:17) From this we understand that John came in the spirit and power of the prophet Elijah. (Jesus called a woman in the church at Thyatira “Jezebel” because she posed as a prophetess and yet taught immorality and idolatry. So, the spirit of a person who lived in the past manifested in a person living in the present.)
In John 4:23, Jesus speaks of future worship as already being present: “The hour comes and now is…” This now/not yet expression is also found in John 5:25: “Truly, truly, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.” At first glance Jesus seems to be speaking of a physical resurrection. However, in verse 28 he says, “For the hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth: those that have done good into the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil into the resurrection of damnation.” Note that in verse 28, Jesus does not repeat the phrase: “and now is”. The “dead” of verse 25 are those who are spiritually dead in their sins but hear the voice of the Son of God and respond to it. As Paul puts it: “You He has quickened (brought to life) who were dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1).
My point is that the “life out of death” we now experience is the spirit of the future – a foretaste of the resurrection life Christians will experience when Jesus descends from heaven. The spirit of the future is here now, and those who are spiritual perceive it and seize the opportunities it presents.
Many grasped the kingdom message in John the Baptist’s time, and so must we grasp it in our time. Christians look forward to the future kingdom that Christ will establish on earth after he returns, but that kingdom is present already in the power of God’s Spirit. We are “partakers of the powers of the world to come” – the messianic kingdom era (Hebrews 6:5).
Jesus gave Peter “the keys of the kingdom”, which he used to ‘open’ the kingdom to 3000 Jews on the day of Pentecost. A decade later, he ‘opened’ it to a house of non-Jews — the household of Cornelius. The “key” Peter used at Pentecost was not so much his “this is that” application of Joel’s prophecy as the exposition of Psalm 16:10. The “key” he used in the house of Cornelius was “whosoever” after understanding God’s acceptance of all who believe — Jew or Gentile regardless.
Life in the kingdom of Christ on earth is something we can look forward to, but we can enjoy the benefits of his kingdom now, as we live in the spirit of the kingdom. The “spirit of Christ” was present in the Old Testament prophets when they spoke of the coming messiah (1 Peter 1:11). Christ’s coming was still far distant when the Spirit of God inspired them to prophesy. It was revealed to them that they were ministering “the things which are now reported to you by those who have preached the gospel to you with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven…”
The Holy Spirit in the prophets was “the Spirit of Christ” – and at that time was the spirit of the future. I do wish that those who see the kingdom as future, and those who see it as present, would see that it is both. Just as the secular spirit of the future is in your young child’s grasp of technology, so the future is present in Christians who press into the prophetic and experience the spiritual powers of the age to come. The power of God is but a foretaste of the kingdom power that Jesus will introduce when he returns — Maranatha! (Meaning, Bring it on, Lord!)