Editorial July 8, 1961 Issue

Not by Force, but by Meekness

Helen Wood Bauman

Christ Jesus taught great lessons in simple language. After speaking of John the Baptist as a prophet "and more than a prophet" (Matt. 11:9), the Master said: "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John."

The Baptist, the first to declare that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, stirred great numbers of sinners to repent, but evidently the same willfulness that had impelled them to sin was now impelling them to attempt to take heaven by force. Not only repentance, but regeneration is the demand of Christ, the divine ideal of God. Only obedience to law and the spirit of prophecy provide the Christian way, which prepares men for the realization of God's realm of Love and Truth.

Jesus deplored violent efforts to storm the kingdom of God. He knew that heaven is a state of thought in which God reigns supreme and that man in God's image reflects the divine nature perfectly. The Master chided his generation for their rejection of both John and himself, and he rebuked the faithless cities where he had taught and done great works. He said (verse 25), "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes."

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