Matthew 11v12

And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

According to Jesus, the practice of baptism, as started by John the Baptist, is something that started a kind of spiritual earthquake, and the effects can even be felt in heaven. John had a revelation that would find it’s ultimate expression on the day of Pentecost, when Peter used the keys he had been given to open up the kingdom of heaven. What Jesus is describing here is what one could call ‘the warning tremors’, showing that the kingdom of God is going to be opened up like never before.

When John started the ministry of repentance and baptism, the war between the devil and the Kingdom of God intensified. Since the death, burial and resurrection of our Saviour Jesus, the battlefield has now been pushed back to the gates of hell and beyond (Matthew 16v18).