WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS
God wants men & women to change and come back to Him. The Bible calls this `repentance`.
The worst sin ever committed is the rejection and crucifixion of Jesus. Yet God wants to forgive even that.
Jesus himself foretold what would happen in a parable (Matt 21:33-44). He compared God to a Landowner who let a farm out to tenants (the Jewish nation).
At harvest time he sent a succession of messengers (the Prophets) to collect the rent (obedience to His law), but the tenants rejected the messengers and killed some of them.
At last the Landowner sent his Son (Jesus), but they treated him even worse that the others.
As a result, the Landowner “will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons” (v41).
Then Jesus says “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people producing fruits.”
The parable came exactly true. The Jewish leaders took Jesus to the Romans and had him crucified.
Then about 40 years later the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and hundreds of thousands of Jews did indeed die “miserable deaths”.
Wonderfully, Jesus did not remain dead. The power of God raised him to immortal life, and the people who had killed him were offered the hope of forgiveness.
About six weeks after Jesus` death, his apostle Peter appealed to a huge crowd of men & women in Jerusalem: “Let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ - this Jesus whom you crucified”.
Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles “brothers – what shall we do?”.
And Peter said to them “Repent and be baptized every one of you for the forgiveness of your sins . . .”.
That day about 3,000 people did accept Peter`s message, repented, were baptized, and were forgiven for rejecting Jesus when he was with them (Acts 2:36-38.)
Although we were not in the crowd that shouted for Jesus to be killed, we sin in other ways, and everyone who has not obeyed the apostles` teaching is guilty before God, as those Jews in Jerusalem were.
The apostle John wrote “”Whoever does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne (what God has said) concerning His son” (IJohn 5:10).
Even we human beings are very hurt and angry when people refuse to believe us, or to admit that they are wrong, so we can understand what an insult it is to the Creator when
men and women refuse to believe him and admit that they are wrong.
The Old Testament teaches the same thing. In Malachi 1:6, God says “A son honours his father and a servant honours his master.
If then I am a father, where is my honour ? And if I am a master, where is my fear (deep respect)?”.
Like so many religious people nowadays, Malachi`s people thought that God was pleased with ceremonies, and they did what they thought He wanted in the cheapest way they could.
They were so wrong ! “Present that to your Governor” God challenged them, “will he accept you or show you favour ? And now entreat (ask) the favour of God, that He may be gracious to us” (1:8-9).
What God asks of us is that we realize, truly and deeply, how wrong many of our thoughts words and actions are; that we are genuinely sorry about it; and that we `repent`.
The Bible word `repent` means more than saying or being sorry; it means `a change of mind` - thinking differently from the way we did before and really wanting to go in a new direction,
wanting to please God in all that we say and think and do.
The prophet Malachi goes on to describe it this way: “Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another.
The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before Him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed His name (that means His character and purpose).
They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them, as a man spares his son who serves him.
Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not” (4:16-18).
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What The Bible Says
