We've completed asking and seeking! Now, it's time to KNOCK on the door of the Kingdom of Heaven with all our MIGHT! The door is right in front of us and is about to open!
Keep preaching the gospel and keep looking UP!
Jesus is at the door!
Jesus says:
📖“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." Matt 7:7
📜Matthew and Luke record these words in somewhat different contexts. Luke records it as being relentless about prayer in Luke 11. He adds to this chapter, Jesus teaching on prayer, starting with the Lord's prayer first, then including the "friend coming at midnight" to ask for something he needs. However, the context of Matt 7:7 is different; it's followed by the "narrow way," the "narrow door," and discusses the difficulty of the road that leads to it.
3️⃣Jesus explicitly gives us three steps: Ask, Seek, and Knock. These are three different stages, increasing in intensity. Seeking implies something is hidden, and knocking implies there is a door in front of us.
✊🏼"Knock" comes from the Greek word "krouo," which means "to strike," "to knock with a heavy blow," or "to beat a door with a stick to gain admittance." It's not just a light knock; it's a heavy blow!
👉🏼I know we've heard all our lives that these are principles to be applied in our prayer life. But when these passages are illuminated prophetically, applying them to the end times, I believe that Jesus is just showing us the stages that the Church will go through before entering the Kingdom of Heaven.
👉🏼I believe the Church has moved beyond the time of asking and seeking. Now, we are right in front of the door that has been hidden from us. It's time to knock on it just as Jesus intended, with forcefulness!
The definition of "krouo" implies a heavy blow. I believe the door we're meant to knock on, is the one John saw open in Revelation 4—the door to the Kingdom of Heaven.
📖"After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven." Rev 4:1
🚪Take a look at Jesus' words about HOW to enter the kingdom of Heaven and WHO enters the Kingdom of Heaven.
📖"And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and 👉🏼the violent take it 👉🏼by force."
How? By force.
Who? The violent.
👉🏼That "force" that Jesus is talking about is the same word (Strong's G726) used by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, which is "harpazō": caught up, by force, caught away, catcheth away, pluck, catcheth, pulling.
📖"Then we who are alive and remain shall be 👉🏼caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus, we shall always be with the Lord." 1 Thess 4:17
👉🏼We know HOW is going to happen!! We will be raptured, taken out of this world BY FORCE (harpazō)!
👉🏼Who are "the violent"?
US— the Church!
💣Large crowds that had followed John continued to follow Jesus
(Luke 5:15; 12:1). This is crucial for understanding Jesus’ statement that the kingdom of God suffers violence. Jesus pointed to the large crowds that followed John and were now following Him. The crowds were like an invading army surrounding a city to capture it.
📖"In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together so that they trampled one another." Luke 12:1
💪🏼They had been eagerly awaiting the Messiah; some were even breaking through roofs to get to Jesus (Luke 5:18–19), while others were desperate to touch Him. Some were waiting to make Him King immediately. Multitudes continued to follow Him, hungry and thirsty for His teachings, as seen in the miraculous feedings of the 5,000 and 4,000.
❤️🔥They were not violent literally, but their eagerness to see the coming of the Messiah was so overwhelming. This marked the beginning of the narrow road that the Church would have to follow, leading to the door.
📖"Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." Matthew 7:14
👉🏼While there will be relatively few who go through the narrow road compared to the many on the broad road, there will still be multitudes who will follow Jesus and enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
💪🏼Today, the Church is experiencing the same "violence" as we eagerly await our King and Messiah! We are ignited with the same passion, hunger, and thirst, if not more, and nothing will stop us until we pass through that door!
💔For most of us, if not all of us, our personal journey of walking on the narrow road has been incredibly challenging, long, and painful. There were times when we even doubted the existence of the door and lost our way. Despite this, we persisted in asking and seeking because our "violent" desire, love, and passion for Jesus surpassed the pain and the hardship.
❤️🔥His strength kept us going, and the Holy Spirit guided us, keeping us on the right path. Now, we're standing right in front of the door. I don't believe the Church has ever experienced such an intense longing to be with Jesus as we do now. Like an army ready to take a city. That desire and passion are the heavy blows that knock on that door incessantly. We're seizing the kingdom of Heaven with determination, and we, the violent, will take the Kingdom of Heaven by force as Jesus opens the door and comes to rapture us from this world by force, so we can finally walk through that door into His kingdom!
🔊KEEP KNOCKING WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT ON THAT DOOR!
Be "violent" don't let anything stop you!
Let your passion and zeal for Jesus surpass the pain and anguish we're enduring. Keep fighting the good battle of faith and don't let anyone take your crown! Continue to long for and desire Jesus with all your heart. Keep preaching the gospel and leading people to that door. Soon it will open, and we will finally be HOME!
🔊📖Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. Rev 3:11-12
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