I like John the Baptist. There is a prophetic feel about him. He seems bold and tough, and fully committed to the Lord. His job was to prepare the way for the Lord. He did that by preaching a message of repentance and baptizing people as they confessed their sins.
I find that message interesting. “Repent for the kingdom of heaven in at hand.” Having been told in the past that we talk too much about sin at church, I look and see that John’s message to prepare people for Jesus’ ministry is all about sin . . . and grace. When John says, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” he is saying that God and man are about to dwell together; there is reconciliation here.
Repentance is something we don’t like to talk about. I suppose that’s because to need to repent we have to have done something wrong. I don’t like to admit when I’ve done something wrong. Do you? We’ve put a stigma around repentance. I’ve grown to love this word more though. The Greek verb, “repent,” is metanoeo. Meta is the same prefix as metamorphosis and indicates change across something. Noeo is related to the word for mind. To repent is to change you mind, to change the way you think and act, or to have your mind transformed. It makes me think of Romans 12:1 – “Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world any longer, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
Repentance is a result of the power of the Gospel at work in our lives. The Good News of God’s love and forgiveness comes to us, we receive salvation through faith in Jesus, and as a result we repent. We become sorry for our sins and truly desire to turn away from them. And notice that we do not repent to get forgiveness; we repent because we are forgiven!
John did not preach, “Repent and the kingdom of God will come!” He preached, “Repent for the kingdom of God has come!” It is at hand. The Savior was there! People could reject the message as did the Pharisees and Sadducees who received words of warning and rebuke from John for their unbelief and lack of repentance. But for those who received the message it turned their hearts back to God and the desire to live in his will and welcome this Savior.
Then the Savior came to John. Interestingly, he approached John to be baptized. He had no sin to repent, but he went down into the water. The kingdom of heaven was at hand and the Son of God stands shoulder to shoulder with those he had come to save. He repents for our sins as he goes into the water, for he had come to die to atone for our wrongdoings. But as he comes up – for Jesus did not come only to die, but to rise! – the message is delivered: the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove, and a voice speaks, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
When does the Father express his pleasure in the Son? As the Son stands with us to be our Savior!
The foundation of our relationship with God rests in the message of sin and grace. God chose to act on our behalf because he loved us – not because we are worthy. That good news changes our hearts, it changes the way we think and act. It’s not always easy – repentance. Transformation never is. But it’s not our power that transforms us – it’s Jesus’ power, the beloved Son. And as we live in him we can be confident that the Father looks on us and say, “In you I am well pleased.”
Father, thank you for the transformation you are working in me. I don’t always want to change the way I think or act, but I ask that you would overwhelm me the love that moved you to send your Beloved Son to die for me and, by the work of the Holy Spirit, keep changing my heart. Help me to share the Good News that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, because Jesus has come and has saved us from our sins. Amen.
I find that message interesting. “Repent for the kingdom of heaven in at hand.” Having been told in the past that we talk too much about sin at church, I look and see that John’s message to prepare people for Jesus’ ministry is all about sin . . . and grace. When John says, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” he is saying that God and man are about to dwell together; there is reconciliation here.
Repentance is something we don’t like to talk about. I suppose that’s because to need to repent we have to have done something wrong. I don’t like to admit when I’ve done something wrong. Do you? We’ve put a stigma around repentance. I’ve grown to love this word more though. The Greek verb, “repent,” is metanoeo. Meta is the same prefix as metamorphosis and indicates change across something. Noeo is related to the word for mind. To repent is to change you mind, to change the way you think and act, or to have your mind transformed. It makes me think of Romans 12:1 – “Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world any longer, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
Repentance is a result of the power of the Gospel at work in our lives. The Good News of God’s love and forgiveness comes to us, we receive salvation through faith in Jesus, and as a result we repent. We become sorry for our sins and truly desire to turn away from them. And notice that we do not repent to get forgiveness; we repent because we are forgiven!
John did not preach, “Repent and the kingdom of God will come!” He preached, “Repent for the kingdom of God has come!” It is at hand. The Savior was there! People could reject the message as did the Pharisees and Sadducees who received words of warning and rebuke from John for their unbelief and lack of repentance. But for those who received the message it turned their hearts back to God and the desire to live in his will and welcome this Savior.
Then the Savior came to John. Interestingly, he approached John to be baptized. He had no sin to repent, but he went down into the water. The kingdom of heaven was at hand and the Son of God stands shoulder to shoulder with those he had come to save. He repents for our sins as he goes into the water, for he had come to die to atone for our wrongdoings. But as he comes up – for Jesus did not come only to die, but to rise! – the message is delivered: the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove, and a voice speaks, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
When does the Father express his pleasure in the Son? As the Son stands with us to be our Savior!
The foundation of our relationship with God rests in the message of sin and grace. God chose to act on our behalf because he loved us – not because we are worthy. That good news changes our hearts, it changes the way we think and act. It’s not always easy – repentance. Transformation never is. But it’s not our power that transforms us – it’s Jesus’ power, the beloved Son. And as we live in him we can be confident that the Father looks on us and say, “In you I am well pleased.”
Father, thank you for the transformation you are working in me. I don’t always want to change the way I think or act, but I ask that you would overwhelm me the love that moved you to send your Beloved Son to die for me and, by the work of the Holy Spirit, keep changing my heart. Help me to share the Good News that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, because Jesus has come and has saved us from our sins. Amen.
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