According to Thomas Watson, “holy violence” is what a believer needs to offer to himself in his pursuit after glory. In his book, Heaven Taken by Storm, the puritan preacher expounds Matthew 11:12, “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” He pictures the Christian life as a conquest of Heaven, which must be pressed into because of enemies that stand in our way. On his first missionary journey the apostle Paul told believers, “We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). This was after Paul had been stoned and left for dead. Difficulties should not deter the true believer from his pursuit. Watson knew this concept in his own personal experience. He was one of the 2000 ministers ejected from his pulpit for nonconformity in 1662. Heaven Taken by Storm was published in 1669 after years of deprivation and persecution.But external enemies are not the believer’s only hindrance. We have an enemy within called “the flesh” that seeks to turn us toward sin and away from glory. Concerning this traitor within Watson says, “There needs no wind to blow to sin when this tide within is so strong to carry us thither.” Going against this current within is like the salmon swimming upstream. Only we put forth this effort, not to die like the salmon, but to live eternally. As the writer to the Hebrews indicates, “striving against sin” is called for in the life of faith (Heb. 12:4). This line of biblical truth is notoriously “missing in action” in many of today’s books and sermons. Watson’s wise counsel is still timely after more than three hundred years: “The exercises of the worship of God are contrary to nature; therefore there must be a provoking of ourselves to them. The movement of the soul towards sin is natural, but its movement towards heaven is violent.”
I heartily recommend this worthy volume by Thomas Watson. It was reprinted in 1992 by Soli Deo Gloria Publications, but it seems to be out of print now. However, used copies are available through online resources like Amazon and AbeBooks. A digital copy of the book is available here.
