I want to take up a topic of repentance in reference to the Good News of Jesus.. First I must lay some groundwork….What is the penalty for sin? When Adam and Eve disobeyed, what had God told them would be the penalty? Did God ever mention “Hell” ? Do we ever see the word “Hell” in the Old Testament? How do you know? Are you good at translating Hebrew? The word Sheol is there, but does it mean “Hell” ? Place of the Dead, no? When we die, where do we go? I may have to spell this out a little clearer… There was no word from God that told Adam and Eve that if they ate from the fruit that they would toast forever (for trillions and trillions and trillions of years in “Hell”… The Bible instead says… It is appointed unto man once to die, and after that the judgement… (keep in mind that all will be judged…) All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All we like sheep have gone astray, and God has laid on him the iniquity of 10% of us all…(woe… woops there… I believe I may have misquoted that one.. 🙂 God has laid upon him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all!!!! The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus! As in Adam all have died (because of sin, of course), so in Christ shall ALLLLLL be made alive. (because of our good works? no way!…) If righteousness could come through the law, there would not have been a need for Christ to lay down his life as a ransom for us all.. He has given us grace upon grace instead of what we really deserve. Now what does god require of us? The bible indicates that Jesus will draw us to himself through the agent of his Holy Spirit. No-one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the spirit. Jesus said that if he was lifted up from the earth, he would draw 10% of men to himself… (just substitute ALL there and you have the real word from God… ALL men unto himself). So if a person cannot even come to faith in God without the spirit’s moving in their life, then that person cannot really take credit for their knowing God and be proud about it. God hates pride, and loves a humble person… Humility doesn’t mean hanging your head down, it instead has the connotation of putting yourself under someone greater and realizing your proper place…The Lord has to bring a person to the place of repentance and faith all at the same time in order for the spirit to do a renovation in that person’s spirit. the Bible calls this renewal of a person “A washing, a rebirth, a regeneration, Born from above, born again, and mentions baptism in similar terms… The baptisms that are in the Old Testament are pouring water over dirty hands, washing feet, etc, The wedding at Cana where Jesus turned the water into wine is a prime example of having these ceremonial pots of water available for the guests to be cleansed of the filth of life. When Jesus turned this ceremonial cleansing water into wine, he is also giving us a beautiful type of what happens to us when we are cleansed and washed by the Holy Spirit! We become a new creation in Christ, and “New Wine” can now flow out of our life and give refreshment to the wedding attendees in our life. The Baptism that John preached was a baptism of repentance, calling people to come and “Wash away their sins”, and turn their life over to Kingdom Priorities. Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” said both John and then later Jesus. But John warned those that thought they were righteous… saying to the Hypocritical Pharisees “Who warned you to flee the wrath that is to come?” God does get mad… Jesus picked up a cord that he had woven and chased the money changers out of the temple because of how they were corrupting the use of the place and taking advantage of the poor people who were required to come and change their animals or whatever into the proper coinage required. Jesus was livid with anger.. Basically God is able to Love with an everlasting love and be angry at sin enough to do something about it.. That is why he wants us to have faith in him, but on the flip side of the coin, he also requires us to repent at the same time. So what all is behind the idea of repentance? Let us be very careful here… Does it mean we can somehow become perfect all of the sudden, and so become Holy? Can we pull ourselves up by our own boots-straps? Micah says “He has made it clear to you, mortal man, what is good and what the LORD is requiring from you— to act with justice, to treasure the LORD’s gracious love, and to walk humbly in the company of your God.
Humility says to God that “I cannot do this without your help.” I need a higher power. I am not too proud to admit that I need help… etc… Why is pride “one of the seven deadly sins”? The bible also says that the “Fool has said in his heart that there is no God”.. The largest part of repentance is when God does this work in bringing a person to the point where they give up on their own merits, their own abilities, their own righteousness. This does not come from the person themselves. The bible says that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance. The Law is also a schoolmaster in the sense that God uses the standards of God’s way of living such as the ten commandments to show us that we are failing and cannot keep his law. We have to reach a point in our life where Jesus shows us that “He is the way, the Truth, and the Life.” Life is found in a relationship with Jesus Christ.. Not in any religion. Doesn’t really matter what religion you are or what denomination or church or mosque or whatever you attend.. Doesn’t matter if you pray 10 times a day.. doesn’t matter how many good deeds you do… No one is righteous, no not one. All have sinned and fallen short of God’s standards. There was only one… and that is our Savior who was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of 10% of the world… (of course it doesn’t say that… the bible says He is the savior of the world. John says “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 1Timothy 4:10 says “For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers. 1 Timothy 2:4 says “who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. So God wants all or just some to be saved? Did you catch the truth there?. Listen to the amplified version on 2 Peter 3:9…”The Lord does not delay [as though He were unable to act] and is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is [extraordinarily] patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. all… all.. all.. not willing,wants all to be saved, all to come to repentance… Do you think an all powerful God will fail in bringing about/ doing his will? Does he determine that some will not make it? I certainly think he is able to do more than we ask or think, and with God all things are possible, such as even a rich man entering the kingdom of God. Why in the judgement will some be given harsher sentences than others? Why does God judge us based on our works if we are not saved by good works? Well, I do believe that the works that a person does do speak of the heart that that person has. If the person’s heart is following after God, his/her works will reflect that he is trying to please God. The ones who did not follow after Christ in this life will receive a sentence that is not one of “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord”. They will hear “depart from me because I never knew you.” Now some believe they will now go to a place of eternal suffering, but I believe that the greek words in the bible instead have a meaning of an epoch, time period, or an undetermined amount of time. The greek word “aeonios” can have several meanings.. the bible speaks of those who will be punished with many stripes, and those that will receive fewer stripes, indicating either longer or shorter duration of time spent in the “Lake of Fire” or degrees of suffering, or similar.
That is a study you should look up on the internet. It is also helpful to see the true heart of God in looking at Jeremiah 32:35 “They built high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molek, though I never commanded–nor did it enter my mind–that they should do such a detestable : and so make Judah sin.” How could God condemn an act of sacrificing children to a fire god “Molech” and then turn around and say it is ok for his creation to toast in “Hell” for eternity? Doesn’t make sense. God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, never changes. He is the God who said that ” The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies they never come to an end. They are new every morning, new every morning.. Great (very great indeed) is thy faithfulness, Oh Lord! This is the same God who inspired the writer of 1 Corinthians 13 (The Love chapter) to say “Love never fails.” Other verses in his word indicate how patient he is… that his mercies endure forever, and that so “All Israel shall be saved”…and that all nations will gather before him, and that every creature will give him praise. Are you going to praise him now or much later? the quicker you understand his great great love for you, the sooner you will bow your knee to him and shout out his praises. He is truly a good God, a loving father who desires to give you good gifts, and has your good in mind. He will not let your foot be moved. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and he shall direct your paths! God bless you all! Romans 10:9,10 says” If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Other verses say “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Peter said “Repent and be baptized for the remission of your sins, and you will receive times of refreshing,” All this is part and parcel of this one act of salvation that God brings into our life and accomplishes and we cannot take the credit for. It is all of God. Blessed be the name (character) of the Lord.
A question from a dear friend of ours asked If I believed in Hell. So I responded thus:
I believe in “Hades”, I believe in “Sheol”, and I believe in “Gehenna” and in “the Lake of Fire”, and “Tarturus” that the bible clearly talks about. But to say that “Hell” is all of these is not biblical. I do not believe in the “Hell” that most people are led to believe in.. This is a lie from traditions of men who have twisted the words of Jesus who “supposedly spoke more about “Hell” than anyone else.. Instead he spoke of a place in the valley of Hinnom. “Gehenna” and maybe possibly was referring to the “Lake of Fire” that this fire constantly burning in the “Gehenna” (in this Valley of Hinnom) was a precursor of the “Lake of Fire”… But we need to be very careful to see what the penalty for sin is…. It is not that the wages of sin is eternally suffering in the “Hell” that many believe is the fate of so many of God’s creation. Instead the wages of sin is “Death” .. God could have chosen for us all to just cease to exist because of sin. Just that simple. Jesus is said to have born our sin debt. If our debt was truly suffering for eternity in “Hell”, then there is absolutely no way that Jesus could have paid an equal payment. He would still be suffering in our place if that were so. The Bible clearly says he tasted death for us all. On the Cross, he cried out “IT IS FINISHED”. The blood that he shed was sufficient to pay for every single person who ever sinned. Every single one… That is the victorious Gospel of Jesus…not a wimpy Jesus who can only save a few who somehow do enough good in life to deserve being saved. No, we never ever deserved anything that God did for us. He did it all out of the goodness of his heart. He he he he he, not us. Salvation is his story. The love of god is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell. It goes beyond the greatest star and reaches to the lowest “Hell”. If God has a time in the future when there is no more tears, no more pain, and all things are made new, there is no way that he can still be torturing the majority of his creation in a “Hell” somewhere where there is extreme pain and a whole lot of tears and crying and not be the biggest liar or tormentor of all times. Even the “Second death” has to reach it’s fulfillment as the bible clearly states that Jesus rules until he puts all enemies under his feet… and what is the last enemy that he destroys? It is “DEATH”… Oh death where is thy victory? Oh grave, where is thy sting? So if the “Lake of Fire is the “Second Death”, something dies there… And Jesus will destroy all death.. This place is prepared for a purpose….”For the devil and his angels”…. Does that mean God has evil in mind for these creatures he has created? I’m starting to see his heart… A heart that says “His mercy endures forever…Oh no we want to say that there is no more hope for them, they have committed an unpardonable sin. Do you realize this word “unpardonable is not even in the bible.” The bible says of those blaspheming his spirit during his ministry that there is no forgiveness for them in 2 ages of time…”This age, and the age to come”, but thanks be to God that Jesus never said that they would be eternally unforgiven. Only in those 2 ages…Now abide these 3, Faith, Hope, and Love…. And do you know that he says that his Love (himself) never never never never ever fails. EVER! PERIOD!