Tuesday, June 12, 2012

It Was For This

IT WAS FOR THIS

#4 of 7 devotions in Salvation series

Matthew 4:17

“From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is near.”

It was for Jesus that John the Baptist came. Matthew 3:3 says: “This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: ‘A voice of one calling in the desert. ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him.’” John preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” nonstop to people, baptizing them in the Desert of Judea (Matthew 3:2).

Jesus probably heard John preach this when He also went to him to be baptized. “At that moment [Jesus came out of the water] heaven was opened, and he [John] saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on Him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.’” (Matthew 3:16b-17). The Father confirmed to the world that Jesus is His Son.

Jesus’ first words uttered as a preacher were about repentance. We saw in Life Goal—Salvation devotion that believing in God’s Son Jesus (1), and in Daily Maintenance devotion that confessing sin (2) are both necessary for salvation. God expects both belief in Jesus and confessing sin from His kids, as daily maintenance. Confessing sin and repentance is not the same thing. Repentance is harder than simply admitting one’s sin.

But we do see that “kingdom of heaven” and “kingdom of God” are the same thing. “It is the reign of God that He brings about through Jesus Christ and is both a present reality and a future hope. The idea of God’s kingdom is central to Jesus’ teaching.”1 It was for God’s kingdom that Jesus came. Jesus came so that His death on the cross could pave the way for sinners to enter God’s kingdom.

“Buddy, you chewed my sneaker!” Miguel shouted at his beagle puppy.

Buddy tried licking Miguel’s hand, his tail drooped. Both indicated his sorrow for Miguel’s anger. Buddy didn’t even have to confess; the shredded sneaker ‘fessed up’ without Buddy admitting who did that. Buddy probably would chew up another of Miguel’s sneakers if he gets the chance. Buddy doesn’t understand repentance.

Take Home Nugget

But we know that repentance is making a radical change to one’s behavior—agreeing that the sin was wrong. Repentance promises to abandon that sin, and never to repeat it. Repentance promises that the person returns to God. If a person must repent the same sin again, he lied to God the first time.

We must face our sins and repent of them before God puts them behind us.

1 NIV/The Message Parallel Study Bible (Michigan: Zondervan, 2008), Matthew 3, notes on p. 1892.

J.D. Griffith


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