Kingdom Concepts (part 2)
KINGDOM CONCEPTS
One important hermeneutic principle is to consider the “first occurance” of a term or teaching and to put it in context, to see the impact it would have on those receiving it. So we come to the term “kingdom of God” or the gospel or good news of the Kingdom of God. And in Mark’s account we see that the announcement comes after the preparatory ministry of John the Baptist and after Jesus’ time in the wilderness. Jesus is ready now to take up a public ministry. Where will He begin? To declare the eternal purposes of God will He start in the Temple by discoursing with the Scribes and Pharisees? Will He declare that no-one needs to be afraid of their Creator, because He loves them and wouldn’t cause them any pain? There may have been scores of approaches and ideas that could have been presented but what Jesus did was this:
Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the good news (the gospel, the evangelion) of the kingdom of God, and saying “The time has been fulfilled and has drawn near the kingdom of God. Repent and believe in the glad tidings.”
Whatever else the term “kingdom of God” may have meant to His listeners we know 4 things for certain.
It suggested the existence or formation of a Soveriegn “state” having over it a King.
It suggested the people could be a part of it, they being His subjects. (A kingdom must by definition have a ruler and a people under His domain.)
Furthermore it must have been a situation for which they were anxiously awaiting because it was proclaimed as Good News, not as another conquering tyrant.
And fourthly, it was announced as being at hand, or drawing near. Both in time and space, it was not a future expectation, but a present reality.
And in the same breath, in the same sentence, Jesus answers the immediate question. “How do you get from here to there?” “What do you do?”
The recorded answer is this: “Repent and believe the good news.”
This is the next Kingdom Concept or concepts. Repentance and Belief.
What do the terms really mean, and how do they relate to the concepts mentioned in the introductory presentation that spoke of Seeking Him with all of our hearts, and being willing to pay the price to get into the Kingdom?
To begin with lets start with what “Repent” doesn’t mean. Or more accurately , look at commonly used substitutes that do not measure up to Repentance. Firstly, just to consider the English, then to look at the impact as in the Greek.
The dictionary says:
Sorry: feeling sadness or regret. Full of shame, guilt, and remorse.
Regret: Feel or express sorrow or distress over (an action or loss)
(regreter= bewail)
Repent: wish one had not done, regret(one’s wrongdoing, omission, etc); resolve not to continue ( a wrongdoing etc.)
To feel deep sorrow about one’s actions etc.
For the most part these definitions come up short. They may adequately describe the response we might have for a miscalculation in performing a specific task or a social faux pax.
But when Jesus came proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdoom of God, He was not talking about social indiscretion or a mistake. He was speaking of SIN that had separated man from God, and put him out of the Garden. And for that to be reversed, or changed, it was going to take more than a glib, “Oops,-I-didn’t-mean-to-disturb-your-peace,-and-I-certainly-don’t-want-to-be-inconvenienced-by-the-consequences,-will-you-pretend-it-never happened?” Response.
Using no other source than Strongs Concordance you could look up the word “repent” and find that it is the Greek word “metanoew” metanoeo (met-an-o-eh’-o) from 2 words that combined means “to think differently or afterwards, i.e. reconsider (mor.feel compunction):- repent.
This will begin to move us in the right direction. Combine this with the rest of the declaration Jesus made. Repent and believe the glad tidings. Whenever the word “Repent” is used it must, to be true and effective, involve a change of mind. So often we have said that “to repent” meant to turn around or change direction. Even if we say it is an 180 degree turn around it does not necessarily imply a change of thinking. It may only be an attempt to clean up the act, or to arrange things more favourably for the self, but the mind is in the same mind set: “How do I benefit.?”
But before a true change of mind takes place, there must be a revelation of data that leads us to change our mind. When it comes to our Sin, that Revelation is the word of God.
And the Word of God begins at the beginning. It sets out the power of the Almighty God. It shows His transcendent glory as Creator, it describes the harmony and fellowship Man had with all creation and Creator in the Garden, and then it details the Fall of Man. Mankind’s rebellion and Sin and the consequences and the cost of reconcilliation. The rest of the Old Testament portrays God’s plan. He declares HIS laws, demonstrating the great gulf between His Righteousness, and Holiness, and our Sinfulness, but always showing how we might acknowledge our sin, and come penitently before Him, by Faith accepting the Temporary atonements of the sacrificial system and anticipating the Sacrifice of the cross.
It is here that Jesus brings together the two essentials for entering into the Kingdom of Heaven. He declares we are to “Repent” and believe the Good News. Believe the Revelation. Chiefly the Good News that Jesus is come as Our Salvation. Remember the angelic declaration? “You shall call His name Jesus, or Yeshua, or if you will, Joshua, Jehovah Saves, for He will save, Deliver, the people from their sins.”
The Essential element of our salvation or entering the kingdom of God is to believe the truth and respond to it. The truth is that we are sinners, and that Jesus is come from the Father to reconcile us to Himself. To this end, the recognition of Jesus and His purpose on earth, is what He declared to His disciples:
John 14: 9-11 “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing His work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.”
This then is the bottom line. We repent of our sins. Why? Because we agree with the Revelation of God. We change our minds about the seriousness of our condition. We recognize the Holiness of God, We acknowledge that He is Awesome, We admit that no matter how “good” we are compared to others, we are still “wretches” and worthy of Damnation.
I dare say that when we have come to the state that in one breath we can sing of God “You are Holy, You are Aweome, You are Mighty in your power” and in the next breath exclaim “Holy Crap, Holy Cow, or speak of a paint job as Awesome, it is going to take some revolutionary process to bring us to the place where we will fall on our knees and Weep in repentance because we have offended the Holy God.
If I challenged us before about the legitimacy of our belief that we are in the Kingdom simply because we mouthed some words of an (unbiblical) invitation, tying it to the intensity of our longing, searching, seeking for God, then this message is to question whether or not for some of us we have ever truly acknowledged our sin as SIN?
It may explain why we struggle with “bad habits”. You fill in the blanks, but don’t forget the acceptable ones of gossip, lying, covetousness, etc.
When David sinned, and made his confession, he said he had Sinned against God (only). But it was Uriah he murdered. How then could he say it was against God? Again the answer is in the phrase, “He was a man after God’s own heart”. His heart was in tune with God’s. He had the same heartbeat. AND it is God’s law against adultury and murder that he broke, not Uriah’s.
I would hazard a guess that if we were continually in the Word, Old and New Testament, being reminded of His holiness, ( and our sinfulness) we would more readily Repent of even the minutest offences, against God and our fellow man.
And what is the measure or method of Salvation? Sticking with my previous declaration that it cannot be a cheap or half hearted utterance of a “come into my heart”. It must be as Romans 10:9,10 says: “That if you confess with you mouth (that is if you declare what your heart knows) that ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in your heart that (the Holy) God raised (the Holy Jesus) from the dead, you will be saved.
Our entrance into the kingdom then may be a process of growth but it will be as a result of definite decisions and believing the truth. Our God is Holy. We are sinful. And there is no bridging the gap except by Repenting and Believing.
Is there some one today who needs to Repent and Believe. Accept and Receive?
The Kingdom of God is near you, it is “nigh”. And that IS Good News. But it is not entered into lightly. It demands A radical change of your mind set about your “goodness”. It demands an admission of your Sin. It demands Repentance! And Belief.
Having entered the Kingdom, then there are other Kingdom Concepts that will guide us through to journey’s end. Some of these I’ll come to as opportunity presents itself.
One important hermeneutic principle is to consider the “first occurance” of a term or teaching and to put it in context, to see the impact it would have on those receiving it. So we come to the term “kingdom of God” or the gospel or good news of the Kingdom of God. And in Mark’s account we see that the announcement comes after the preparatory ministry of John the Baptist and after Jesus’ time in the wilderness. Jesus is ready now to take up a public ministry. Where will He begin? To declare the eternal purposes of God will He start in the Temple by discoursing with the Scribes and Pharisees? Will He declare that no-one needs to be afraid of their Creator, because He loves them and wouldn’t cause them any pain? There may have been scores of approaches and ideas that could have been presented but what Jesus did was this:
Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the good news (the gospel, the evangelion) of the kingdom of God, and saying “The time has been fulfilled and has drawn near the kingdom of God. Repent and believe in the glad tidings.”
Whatever else the term “kingdom of God” may have meant to His listeners we know 4 things for certain.
It suggested the existence or formation of a Soveriegn “state” having over it a King.
It suggested the people could be a part of it, they being His subjects. (A kingdom must by definition have a ruler and a people under His domain.)
Furthermore it must have been a situation for which they were anxiously awaiting because it was proclaimed as Good News, not as another conquering tyrant.
And fourthly, it was announced as being at hand, or drawing near. Both in time and space, it was not a future expectation, but a present reality.
And in the same breath, in the same sentence, Jesus answers the immediate question. “How do you get from here to there?” “What do you do?”
The recorded answer is this: “Repent and believe the good news.”
This is the next Kingdom Concept or concepts. Repentance and Belief.
What do the terms really mean, and how do they relate to the concepts mentioned in the introductory presentation that spoke of Seeking Him with all of our hearts, and being willing to pay the price to get into the Kingdom?
To begin with lets start with what “Repent” doesn’t mean. Or more accurately , look at commonly used substitutes that do not measure up to Repentance. Firstly, just to consider the English, then to look at the impact as in the Greek.
The dictionary says:
Sorry: feeling sadness or regret. Full of shame, guilt, and remorse.
Regret: Feel or express sorrow or distress over (an action or loss)
(regreter= bewail)
Repent: wish one had not done, regret(one’s wrongdoing, omission, etc); resolve not to continue ( a wrongdoing etc.)
To feel deep sorrow about one’s actions etc.
For the most part these definitions come up short. They may adequately describe the response we might have for a miscalculation in performing a specific task or a social faux pax.
But when Jesus came proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdoom of God, He was not talking about social indiscretion or a mistake. He was speaking of SIN that had separated man from God, and put him out of the Garden. And for that to be reversed, or changed, it was going to take more than a glib, “Oops,-I-didn’t-mean-to-disturb-your-peace,-and-I-certainly-don’t-want-to-be-inconvenienced-by-the-consequences,-will-you-pretend-it-never happened?” Response.
Using no other source than Strongs Concordance you could look up the word “repent” and find that it is the Greek word “metanoew” metanoeo (met-an-o-eh’-o) from 2 words that combined means “to think differently or afterwards, i.e. reconsider (mor.feel compunction):- repent.
This will begin to move us in the right direction. Combine this with the rest of the declaration Jesus made. Repent and believe the glad tidings. Whenever the word “Repent” is used it must, to be true and effective, involve a change of mind. So often we have said that “to repent” meant to turn around or change direction. Even if we say it is an 180 degree turn around it does not necessarily imply a change of thinking. It may only be an attempt to clean up the act, or to arrange things more favourably for the self, but the mind is in the same mind set: “How do I benefit.?”
But before a true change of mind takes place, there must be a revelation of data that leads us to change our mind. When it comes to our Sin, that Revelation is the word of God.
And the Word of God begins at the beginning. It sets out the power of the Almighty God. It shows His transcendent glory as Creator, it describes the harmony and fellowship Man had with all creation and Creator in the Garden, and then it details the Fall of Man. Mankind’s rebellion and Sin and the consequences and the cost of reconcilliation. The rest of the Old Testament portrays God’s plan. He declares HIS laws, demonstrating the great gulf between His Righteousness, and Holiness, and our Sinfulness, but always showing how we might acknowledge our sin, and come penitently before Him, by Faith accepting the Temporary atonements of the sacrificial system and anticipating the Sacrifice of the cross.
It is here that Jesus brings together the two essentials for entering into the Kingdom of Heaven. He declares we are to “Repent” and believe the Good News. Believe the Revelation. Chiefly the Good News that Jesus is come as Our Salvation. Remember the angelic declaration? “You shall call His name Jesus, or Yeshua, or if you will, Joshua, Jehovah Saves, for He will save, Deliver, the people from their sins.”
The Essential element of our salvation or entering the kingdom of God is to believe the truth and respond to it. The truth is that we are sinners, and that Jesus is come from the Father to reconcile us to Himself. To this end, the recognition of Jesus and His purpose on earth, is what He declared to His disciples:
John 14: 9-11 “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing His work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.”
This then is the bottom line. We repent of our sins. Why? Because we agree with the Revelation of God. We change our minds about the seriousness of our condition. We recognize the Holiness of God, We acknowledge that He is Awesome, We admit that no matter how “good” we are compared to others, we are still “wretches” and worthy of Damnation.
I dare say that when we have come to the state that in one breath we can sing of God “You are Holy, You are Aweome, You are Mighty in your power” and in the next breath exclaim “Holy Crap, Holy Cow, or speak of a paint job as Awesome, it is going to take some revolutionary process to bring us to the place where we will fall on our knees and Weep in repentance because we have offended the Holy God.
If I challenged us before about the legitimacy of our belief that we are in the Kingdom simply because we mouthed some words of an (unbiblical) invitation, tying it to the intensity of our longing, searching, seeking for God, then this message is to question whether or not for some of us we have ever truly acknowledged our sin as SIN?
It may explain why we struggle with “bad habits”. You fill in the blanks, but don’t forget the acceptable ones of gossip, lying, covetousness, etc.
When David sinned, and made his confession, he said he had Sinned against God (only). But it was Uriah he murdered. How then could he say it was against God? Again the answer is in the phrase, “He was a man after God’s own heart”. His heart was in tune with God’s. He had the same heartbeat. AND it is God’s law against adultury and murder that he broke, not Uriah’s.
I would hazard a guess that if we were continually in the Word, Old and New Testament, being reminded of His holiness, ( and our sinfulness) we would more readily Repent of even the minutest offences, against God and our fellow man.
And what is the measure or method of Salvation? Sticking with my previous declaration that it cannot be a cheap or half hearted utterance of a “come into my heart”. It must be as Romans 10:9,10 says: “That if you confess with you mouth (that is if you declare what your heart knows) that ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in your heart that (the Holy) God raised (the Holy Jesus) from the dead, you will be saved.
Our entrance into the kingdom then may be a process of growth but it will be as a result of definite decisions and believing the truth. Our God is Holy. We are sinful. And there is no bridging the gap except by Repenting and Believing.
Is there some one today who needs to Repent and Believe. Accept and Receive?
The Kingdom of God is near you, it is “nigh”. And that IS Good News. But it is not entered into lightly. It demands A radical change of your mind set about your “goodness”. It demands an admission of your Sin. It demands Repentance! And Belief.
Having entered the Kingdom, then there are other Kingdom Concepts that will guide us through to journey’s end. Some of these I’ll come to as opportunity presents itself.
posted by Mister A Muses | 3:20 PM
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