R E P E N T

The word "repent" is seldom heard today, even from the pulpits of churches.  Man has focused on God's love, and seems to have forgotten that He is also a God of judgment.  The last event which occurs on this planet will be the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev. 20:11-15)!  I am sure it breaks God's heart to have to sentence unsaved humanity to spend eternity with the evil trinity (Satan, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet), but what God says He will do, you can believe He will do it!

That is why He had the Bible written.  It is a warning that humanity is lost, and needs the Savior.  The Apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 3:22-26:
 
"But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.  But before faith came, we were kept under the Law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.  Wherefore the Law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.  But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.  For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus."

The last thing Jesus told His disciples before His Ascension into heaven (Lk. 24:47), was that in addition to their preaching of remission (the Gospel message that Jesus died for the sins of mankind, Jesus was buried, and Jesus was raised from the grave, all according to the prophecies concerning Him in the Scriptures - 1 Cor. 15:1-4),  they should also preach repentance (turning away from sin, and submitting in obedience to the Lord)!

The word "repent" if found in 21 verses in the O.T., and in 22 verses in the N.T.  Only two books of the Bible contain the word "repent" in six verses.  The Book of Jeremiah called for Israel to repent six times (4:28; 18:8, 10; 26:3, 13; 42:10), and Jesus called for His Church to repent six times in the Book of Revelation (2:5, 16, 21, 22; 3:3, 19). 

This may help explain why the Jewish Feast of Pentecost involves two loaves of leavened bread (Lev. 23:15-17).  As most Bible students know, the Feast of Pentecost marks the birth of the Church.  The Church is comprised of two groups who have received Jesus as their Lord and Savior:  Jews and Gentiles.  Leaven represents sin throughout the Bible, and as you and I know, Christians, made up of both groups, continue to sin (Rom. 7:15-25; 1 Jn. 1:8-10).  While Christ's act of remission only occurred one time (Rom. 6:10; Heb. 9:28), for the born again believer, repentance is needed many times a day!

 

"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand:

repent ye, and believe the Gospel" (Mk. 1:15).