There is a simple truth to be told. We, that is humankind, turned away from our loving creator. It wasn’t by accident, we deliberately rejected his love and disregarded his instruction. We actively engaged in a lie that was presented to us because it seemed too good to pass up. The lie was that we could be just like God, that we could live without dependence on him. We were deceived, but we swallowed it whole and entered into rebellion. This was the initial rebellion in which humankind turned away from God. We started on a path that led further and further away from him. Further away from the source of life itself, into a future of separation and death.
It sounds pretty grim, and it really was a very dire situation. Generations of humans since the initial rebellion were born into a fallen world, under the control of something known as sin. Sin was ‘let in’ during that initial moment of weakness and became a snare and a trap to every human born into this world. It brought corruption to every aspect of human existence and began slowly etching away the truth of God’s great love for us. Instead of walking in close relationship with God as he originally intended, sin led us to be separated from him.
God watched this story unfold. It broke his heart to see the fallout of the initial rebellion and the ensuing devastation caused by sin. Regardless, he continued to reach out, urging us to turn back to him. As a loving father, he desperately wanted to restore us to the path of his original intent. He sent countless messages and provided important instruction, but time and again his messages were ignored and his efforts rejected. In a final demonstration of love, God enacted a bold plan to restore humankind and to deal with sin once and for all.
God’s plan was actioned, but it came at a great personal cost — it cost him the life of his only son, Jesus. Jesus was sent from heaven to earth, born as a human child and subjected to the same challenges as everyone else. Yet, he never gave in to sin. He lived a life completely apart from sin. He was the only one who ever did this and as the Son of God, he was the only one who ever could. He came to pay the heavy price for sin — the penalty of death — and he was killed by the very people he came to restore. But by willingly sacrificing his life in this way, Jesus made that payment in full for all people, for all time.
Jesus personally paid the price for our rebellion. He personally took on our sin so we could be free to return to God. This was really good news for humanity. And the good news didn’t end there either — Jesus not only paid the price for sin with his death, he then defeated death itself! He was raised back to life by the power of God’s Holy Spirit, proving that he truly was the Son of God. This good news meant there was now a clear way for people to return to God. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, they could overcome sin and death and enter into everlasting life with God.
The story continues
This brief backstory brings us up to date. Jesus paid that price for our rebellion approximately two thousand years ago. But how can we apply that payment to our own life here and now? This is where repentance comes in. To repent, simply means ‘to turn’. Repentance requires action and the action is to turn back to God. Or, to put it another way, return to God. And the way you do it is to follow Jesus.
Jesus was sent by God as the only way to be reconciled back to him. Jesus’ death and resurrection was literal, it was physical, and it was done on our behalf. We follow Jesus in his death and resurrection, spiritually. While he was on earth, Jesus explained that the only way into the Kingdom of God is to be born into it. Since we have all been born once already, we must first “die” before we can be born again. We must first die to ourselves (our own desires, our own ways), so we can be born again to God. While this is a spiritual death and rebirth we are talking about, there is something physical and literal that we can do — namely, baptism.
Baptism and repentance go hand-in-hand. Baptism — which is the act of being fully submersed in water — is both a death and a birth all in one single act. The death is for the old sinful life of self, and the birth for the new spiritual life in Jesus. We go down into the water to die to the old life, just like in Jesus’ death he went down into the grave. We leave it behind there and rise out of the water as new, just like Jesus in his resurrection. Now reborn to God, we embark on the new way for our life which was established by Jesus. We are no longer trapped in sin and separated from God, no longer destined for an eternity in “the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew chapter 13, verse 42). Repentance is the genuine change of heart that enables us to follow Jesus in his death and resurrection affirmed in baptism.
The story continues today, and now the focus has shifted — to you. The death and resurrection of Jesus was God’s bold move to personally save humankind, to save you. An appropriate response is needed following such a generous and loving gift from God. To not respond, is to continue in the path of the initial rebellion, away from God and toward death and eternal separation from him. To respond appropriately is to clothe yourself in humility and truly repent, receiving God’s forgiveness and entering into eternal life with him! Now that you know this truth, you have a choice to make. Please don’t take it lightly and please don’t delay. I implore you to make the appropriate response of repentance today.
Read on to discover more about how to start in repentance and further insights found in the Holy Bible…
