Repent - The first message of Lord Jesus
Matthew 3:1-2:“In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (RSV)
Matthew 4:17: “From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (RSV)
As we study both of these above mentioned verses, we will realize that Jesus and John the Baptist who was the forerunner of Jesus, preached a very similar message of repentance, as they both fully grasped the urgency of the message they preached.
The last book of the Old Testament is Malachi and the first book of the New Testament is Matthew. In our Bibles there is only a page separating them, but in reality the period between Malachi and Matthew was 400 years. This was a period of total silence where there was absolutely no word from God.
The revelation of God and His son Jesus commences again from the Gospel of Matthew. The question is, ‘What transpired in this lengthy period when the Lord chose not to speak or reveal Himself in any way to His people?’
In the Old Testament, God had commanded Solomon to build a temple, and the only reason was, that God wanted it to be a place where He met with the people and the people gathered together to meet with Him.
The temple was built with several specifications – importantly it had the Outer court, Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. The only one permitted to enter the Most Holy Place was the High Priest and that too only at a time specified by the Lord, having followed several regulations as set by the Lord Himself. If anyone entered the Most Holy Place irreverently, they were instantly punished with death.
However, as the years passed by, the people forgot the primary purpose of why the temple of God was built.
In this period of 400 years when the Lord chose to remain silent, everything in the temple continued as it always had. The rituals of worship, sacrifices, feasts and festivals were carried out with regularity, but the dismal part was that the Lord was not in it.
The church of Laodicea in the book of Revelations states how the Lord was standing outside the church and knocking. Everything was going on as usual inside the church but the tragedy was that they had in actuality kept the Lord standing outside. He had no part in anything that was going on inside the church.
This could be sadly portrayed as the situation of the church today as well. We pride ourselves with our huge buildings, fancy lighting, vibrant music and follow all the traditions, but have lost and forgotten the very purpose for which the Lord instituted the Church in the first place. It would be a sombre thought for us to know that the Lord is often not welcomed into our churches, but has been kept outside seeking to gain entry.
Let’s read, Mark 11:17:“Then he taught them by saying, “Scripture says, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a gathering place for thieves.” (GW)
The above mentioned words are the words of Jesus. This is first and foremost “His” (God’s) house. Secondly, it is a place of worship for all people and not an exclusive place for one particular language group or regional group. The church on earth is a representation of how things are going to be in heaven. In heaven there will be people from every tribe, language and people groups. Thirdly, it is written that His house is a ‘House of Prayer’ for all nations, but sorrowfully it has become a ‘Den of Thieves.’
If one were to compare the ‘House of God’ with a ‘Den of Thieves’ here’s what it will look like.
Firstly, the House of God is a place of light, but a den of thieves is usually a dark and shady place.
Secondly, the ones who come to the House of God, come together for prayer, God is in their midst and He answers their prayers whereas the primary reason robbers get together, is to connive evil and then to share their booty.
Thirdly, everything is open in the House of God whereas things are kept secretive among a group of thieves.
Fourthly, the House of God is for all people but the Den of Thieves is for an exclusive lot of wicked people.
Finally, God reigns in His House whereas the devil rules among the Den of Thieves, because their purpose is only to loot, kill and destroy.
The Lord Jesus and John the Baptist came and preached the message of repentance because the key to entering the kingdom of God is repentance. Many people have a faulty understanding of the word repentance. A lot of confusion in our lives will be cleared if we understand the true meaning of repentance.
We will search the Bible to see where this word ‘repentance’ first appears.
Repentance is to feel sorry - God Himself felt sorry!
Genesis 6:6:“And the LORD repented that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.” (WBT)
1 Samuel 15:11, “I have repented that I caused Saul to reign for king, for he hath turned back from after Me, and My words he hath not performed;” (YLT)
The above two passages clearly depict how God felt on two important occasions. One, when evil increased on the earth the Lord repented or in other words felt sorry that He had created mankind. In the second instance, the Lord chose Saul to be King over Israel, but when Saul rebelled and disobeyed the Lord, the Lord felt remorse that He had even chosen him to be the King of Israel.
For instance, if a parent were to admit their child into a prestigious college, with great hopes that he or she will excel and come out with flying colours, and if for some reason the child discontinued the course, the parent’s heart will be filled with untold sadness and disappointment. They would probably be filled with sadness and regret. In other words they would feel so sorry that they sought admission in the first place.
The first step of repentance is for one to truly feel sorry for the wrongs they have done.
Matthew 26:75, “Peter remembered what Jesus had said: “Before a rooster crows, you will say three times that you don’t know me.” Then Peter went outside and cried bitterly.”(GW)
When Peter denied the Lord as the Lord predicted and the rooster crowed, he was so filled with remorse that He had denied the Lord whom he loved so much, that he went out and wept bitterly because he felt extremely sorry for his disloyalty to the Lord.
Each one of us must come to a place where we truly feel sorry for all the things that we have done wrong, both against God and against others. We approach the Lord with a penitent heart and feel remorse for all our wrong doings – all of our erring thoughts, words, deeds, choices and decisions. Only when we do so can we find entry into the Kingdom of God.
Repentance is Returning Back to God
Luke 15:17:“But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have food overflowing, but here I am dying of hunger! (TLV)
In the story of the Prodigal son, he started off from his Father’s house with plenty but after he squandered all of it he came to a place of total emptiness – a situation where he had no love, no mercy, no safety, no food, no shelter but one of want and loneliness. Only then he came to his senses, and realized all that he had forfeited when he chose to rebel and walk away from his father and his family.
It is appropriate that we often analyse ourselves to see why we have landed up in certain situations that have caused us emptiness, trouble or lack of peace. We must intently search our hearts to find out where we have gone wrong, and seek to set it right. Repentance is feeling sorry for our wrong doings and turning back to God.
Repentance is a total change of heart – a complete turn over. Repentance is a matter of the heart and the acts will be evident but it is primarily a change of heart in the first place.
The prodigal son had to make a decision to come back to his Father’s house and only then there was transformation.
If we don’t choose to come back to the Lord we will continue to be in the same pathetic position, but when we decide to walk back to Him only then will we get to the place where our lives and situations will be changed forever. True repentance will always be followed by the right actions. A person cannot say they have repented and continue to live a life of sin and defeat.When we turn back to the Lord, He will restore back to us all that we have lost. If we repent and believe and come to the Lord everything will change radically.
John 2:13-16,“The Jewish Passover was near, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. He found those who were selling cattle, sheep, and pigeons in the temple courtyard. He also found money changers sitting there. He told those who sold pigeons, "Pick up this stuff, and get it out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!" (GW)
In the first passage in Mark 11:17, Jesus referred to the House of God becoming a den of thieves but in the above mentioned passage He warns against making the temple of God a market place of business transactions. An open place where anyone can come and do anything they want. It is also a place where people go to make money. It is indeed frightening, to even think of the response of Lord Jesus to the various schemes, plans and sales that are being promoted in the Churches today.
Some people have hearts like a market place, where anyone can come and manipulate and deceive them. It represents a life without any rules or discipline.
John 2: 19, “Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." (ESV)
John 2: 21,“But the temple Jesus was speaking about was his body.” (GNB)
When Jesus said to the Jews, that if they could destroy the temple, He would raise it up in three days, they were perplexed. The reason for this confusion was they looked at the outward physical structure of the temple and knowing that it took 46 years to build it, they were unable to perceive what Jesus was saying.
However, when Jesus spoke about the temple he was not referring to the architecture of the temple, but to His body that would be laid down for the sins of the people and raised up on the third day.
The Bible says that we are the temple of the living God. When the Lord looks at us, and searches our hearts, does He perceive that this is His temple where He resides and rules or does He see a dark place where thieves reside or a market place filled with chaos and confusion?
If our heart is like a Den of Thieves, we will be secretive and conceal our sins and secrets from others and live with a constant sense of guilt and shame. Our hearts would then be a dark place where the devil rules and enslaves. On the other hand if we allow our hearts to be a market place, we will allow others to wield us and lead us astray.
If we want to be freed from every form of bondage in our lives, we must surrender our bodies to become the temple of God, where the Lord will rule and reign. If that becomes a reality, there will be no place for the devil to have a foothold to enslave us to his evil schemes. The Lord will set us free from every form of oppression and bondage.
Our body is God’s temple and if we destroy this body that the Lord has gifted to us so graciously, the Bible says, ‘The Lord will destroy us’. If we were the owner of a house, we would take great precaution to not let anyone damage or destroy the house we own. How much more possessive will the Lord be, who has created us and given us this blessed body and life so He could dwell within.
Pastor F. Andrew Dixon
www.goodnewsfriends.net
Transcribed by : Ms. Esther Collins
