repentance

Jonah: The Repentant King

July 26, 2021 by David Noland Leave a Comment

The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”

When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
Jonah 3:6-10

The King of Nineveh repents (courtesy of Superbook, (c) 2013)

Humble leadership inspires humble followers, and God honors the humble who submit to His authority. In the same way that rebelliousness begets rebellion from the top down, so does repentance beget repentance when its starts at the top and trickles its way down to those who would follow. If we expect to see revival in the land, it must begin in our leadership – specifically with the leadership in the body of Christ.

The King Repents

We’ve already covered in detail how the Assyrian kingdom was arguably one of the most violent kingdoms of its time, if not in history. The depth of the sin of the Assyrians was well known and is well known to us today. If an earthly kingdom is to experience revival and escape the coming wrath of a holy and righteous God, then the leadership of that kingdom must learn submission to the Almighty. Even if that kingdom is a pagan kingdom, the Father will show mercy at the sign of repentance. A close look at the humility of the king of Nineveh demonstrates the depth of his repentance as “he arose from his throne [stepped down from his place of authority], removed his robe [stepped away from his visual appearance of authority], covered himself with sackcloth [a visual demonstration of humilty], and sat in ashes [a symbolic representation of mourning over his sin].” (Jonah 3:6 parenthetical commentary mine). But it didn’t stop there as the king opens his mouth to speak.

He issues a proclamation – a decree – a new law, if you will. Interestingly, not only is the king declaring a nationwide fast from food AND water that extends all the way down to the livestock, but he has the full support of his cabinet of advisors (“nobles”). “Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.” (Jonah 3:8b) It is the indictment of who was guilty (“everyone”) and a confession of specific sin (“violence”).

If the body of Christ is ever to experience revival, it must begin in the leadership of our churches. If a local church is to experience a revival, we must take a page from the book of this pagan king and begin with pastors and teachers and deacons and elders falling on our face at the altar humbly confessing our sin, whatever it may be, in genuine remorse and mourning. Crocodile tears and false humility will not deceive the eyes of God who sees to the heart of man. Projections of humility that draw attention to the penitent and away from Jesus will draw even more judgement. Humbly lowering oneself on the altar, visibly demonstrating heartfelt humility and repentance, and confessing and mourning over our sin is the only way to begin to see the Spirit of God move within the hearts of His people.

The People Repent

Even a pagan king can recognize the need for repentance in the hopes that God would have mercy upon them. Even when the prophet does not offer any hope of a stay of judgement, the king puts forth the proposition “Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” (Jonah 3:9) Jonah never offered repentance as a path to salvation. He never offered any hope of Elohim would withhold His righteous hand. Yet somehow, the king of Nineveh (speaking from a pagan context) held out hope that if he and his people would submit to this foreign God, He would have mercy upon them.

The name of God “Elohim” typically has 2 functional linguistic uses in the Hebrew language. One, it is overwhelmingly translated in scripture as one of the names of God, more specifically the Godhead. The word Elohim is always used (2346 times) in the plural intensive tense with a singular meaning. It is the name that embodies the fullness of God in three persons – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – in One being. It is the name of God from Genesis when He said “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26) It is the name by which not only is God the Creator, but He is also Ruler, a trait that He instilled in us as His special creation as bearers of His image.

Secondly Elohim denotes God not only has Creator, but also as Ruler and Judge. As Divine Ruler of the Universe, the Creator and Him alone has the authority to make the rules and to Judge righteously by those rules. Even though we as humans are given authority over all of the creatures of the earth (except for other humans), we are still subject to His rule and authority. No where in the God’s design for man did He give us authority over other humans – either by ethnicity, race, gender, or nationality. We are all created to be subject to Him and His authority, while representing His authority over all of the remainder of creation. Yet in our pride and hubris we have found it necessary to live lives of violence against one another.

Throughout history we have demonstrated a propensity for war and dominance over other peoples. We have subjected entire civilizations to the ravages of slavery and subjugation. Empires have risen and fallen in the name of exerting dominance and nationalistic pride. Today on a global scale, the sin of human bondage and slavery is at an all-time high in the history of the world with over 40.3 million people trapped in bondage. Women and girls account for 99% of the victims of the commercial sex industry that comprises an estimated (likely underestimated) 4.8 million of the 24.9 million in forced labor. Wars in the name of religion and nationalism rage; today over 200 countries in the world are in active armed conflict within or with one another. Ethnic cleansing and genocide continues in various nations unabated. God’s people continue to experience martyrdom at the hands of pagan zealots daily around the globe. Yet God continues to withhold His righteous judgement for the sake of the few that call out His name in humble repentance.

“God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way” (Jonah 3:10) And in the case of Nineveh, the people followed suit with their king. The writer of Jonah records that they repented of their sin of violence and evil. This coincides with a period of relative peace and trade with the the kingdom of Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II, who reigned for 41 years. However, this period of peace and trade led to other internal problems of materialism and idolatry, for which Jeroboam II himself was judged as “doing evil in the eyes of the Lord.” (2 Kings 14:24). However, Jeroboam did restore the borders of Israel and God had mercy upon Israel as well:

He restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher. For the LORD saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, for there was none left, bond or free, and there was none to help Israel. But the LORD had not said that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.
2 Kings 14:25-27

God Relents

When the people submit to God’s authority, He faithfully relents in His prescribed judgement. Prophecy is either forth-telling (speaking to the people on behalf of God) or foretelling (predictions of the future as God has dictated) Foretelling prophecy is always pointing to either the coming of Christ or warning of the coming kingdom or righteousness of God. Prophetic foretelling is always either conditional or unconditional. Unconditional foretelling indicates there is nothing that will sway or change what God has declared to pass. It is the sovereign authority and privilege of God who exists outside of the confines of time to declare what will and what will not come to pass now or in the future. It is by His Providence, His “pro-video” or fore-sight and fore-knowledge, that He already knows the decisions that we will make in this life and the resulting consequences (both good and bad).

However, conditional prophecy is always a matter of addressing sin within the heart of an individual or a people. Perhaps the most often quoted conditional prophecy of all of Scripture is 2 Chronicles 7:14 that states “if My people who are called by My name humble themselves, and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” In fact, this prophecy is perhaps the most misapplied declaration of God in our American society as it is so often used to call the entire nation to repentance. However, the passage is very clearly address to the people of God, the ones who are called by His name. We as Christians are called to humble ourselves, and pray and seek His face and turn from our wicked ways. We must stop puffing ourselves up with pride and hubris thinking we are better than the culture around us. We must fall on our knees in prayer and confess our sin of pride. We must stop with our constant infighting and bickering and politicizing of the gospel. We must repent of the idolatrous worship of our leaders. We must repent of watering down our theology to make it compatible and palatable to a world that is hostile to the Word of God. We must repent of the sin of bowing before the golden calf of materialism. We must repent of our lack of discernment. We must repent of our lack of intentionality when it comes to discipleship. We must repent of our lack of effort to evangelize the lost and fulfill the Great Commission. We must repent of our refusal to serve our neighbor, no matter the cost. We must repent of abandoning the truth of Scripture in favor of the lie of the world.

Until we, the people of God, repent of our wicked ways, how can we ever expect the world to repent? Until we live the gospel out in our lives, how can we ever expect the gospel to have any effectual power in our world? Our Heavenly Father rejoices at our repentance. He honors our repentance. And He relents of His judgement as a result of our repentance. It is not our remorse or our sorrow over our sin that causes the Father to withhold His judgement. It is our repentance and our submission to His authority. It’s the laying aside of our own self-centered, self-driven desires that activates His mercy and grace in our lives. We will never deserve His mercy or His grace, but He stands ready to offer it to us at the first hint of repentance and submission to Him by faith.

Let me be very clear. Your repentance does not save you. Your faith does not heal you. Mercy and grace are the prerogative of the Giver of all good gifts who stands ready to provide to all who ask and receive. However unless you as an individual recognize your need for the Savior by the inspiration and power of the Holy Spirit, and submit to the authority of the Father to the glory of the Son Jesus Christ, you will never experience His mercy and grace in your life. He paid too high a price to give mercy and grace haphazardly. Mercy and grace are only free to us because He paid the price to make it possible.

Jonah: The Prophecy of Doom

July 19, 2021 by David Noland Leave a Comment

So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.
Jonah 3:3-5

When God gives a prophet a message to deliver, the heart of the Father is always a heart calling for repentance, even if we selfishly desire the destruction of those the message is intended for. The message of the prophet in nearly every case in the Old and New Testament is almost always a call to repentance. Yet the message that Jonah delivers is curiously different. It doesn’t include a call for repentance, but taken at face value, it is a declaration of impending and inescapable doom.

A Great City

As we have previously discussed, at the time of the events of Jonah, Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian empire and was likely the largest city in the world at the time. So large, that the writer of Jonah states that the breadth of the city was a three day’s journey. The best estimates of distance at that time put that between 60-75 miles across. For a city in this time period, that was huge.

The distance that Jonah would have had to travel on foot to reach Nineveh at the closest point on the Mediterranean Sea would be approximately 350 miles, which would have taken Jonah at a similar rate of travel approximately 2 weeks. Contrast that with the distance that Jonah could have gone direct to Nineveh (approximately 725 miles from the Southern Kingdom of Judah if he came from Jerusalem) and the fact that he intended to travel 3000 miles the opposite direction to Tarshish in Spain, beyond the Rock of Gibraltar and almost as far as you can get on the European continent from Nineveh.

The Assyrian Empire covered approximately 75,000 square miles of mostly desert land at the tail end of what is known as the Fertile Crescent (see figure above). Contrast that with the Roman Empire that reached its peak at over 5 million square miles and then the Mongol Empire that extended over 9.25 million square miles, you can see that Assyria did not ultimate reach elite empire status.

However, the Assyrians did offer up a reputation of cruelty that was unmatched throughout history as they invented some of the most gruesome methods of torture and execution that mankind has ever devised, include live flayings, impalement, and earliest forms of crucifixion – all of which the military students of the Roman Empire would later study and perfect to horrific measures. And Nineveh was at the heart of it all.

The Assyrian Empire was a known thorn in the side of Israel and Judah for decades and ultimately led to the first deportation of Israelite captives under Tilgath-Pileser III in 740 BC and a second deportation of 27,290 captives from Samaria under Sargon II in 721 BC, and a final deportation from Judah under Salmaneser V a year later. In 612 BC, the Babylonian Empire under Nebuchadnezzar defeated the Assyrian Empire at Nineveh and deported the dispersed Hebrews to Babylon in modern day Baghdad, Iraq.

A Great Repentance

Interestingly, the events of the book of Jonah occur some time during the reign of Jeroboam II (786-746 BC). It is likely that the events occur somewhere in the middle of Jeroboam’s 40-year reign over Israel as a contemporary of Kings Amaziah and Uzziah over the Southern Kingdom of Judah. The message from the prophet was a simple declaration of impending doom. The term that is translated “overthrow” is often interpreted as “destroyed”, but the actual Hebrew translation of the word means “to change or transform”. Typically this would be a reference to being overthrown by a foreign power. Which you can see, actually happened in 612 BC at the hands of the Babylonians.

There was no call for repentance in the message delivered by Jonah: “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (Jonah 3:4) Considering Jonah’s distaste for delivering the message to Nineveh in the first place, I often wonder if Jonah edited the message from God to leave out the element of hope through repentance. Even in Jonah 1:2, there is no indication that God intends to provide any hope of deliverance.

The whole episode almost mirrors the events around the history of Sodom and Gamorrah as the same term is used to described what happened there in Genesis 19. However, the same word is used in Exodus 7:15, 17, 20 to describe transformation referencing how God “turned” Moses staff into a serpent and how He “turned” the Nile into blood. The same word is also used to described how Pharaoh “changed his mind toward the people” who were questioning why he let the Israelites go. Over and over again there is this idea of transformation and change, and typically in response to a challenge to the authority of an earthly ruler. And this instance was no different.

Yet, the people of Nineveh got the message loud and clear. Having tormented Israel for years with raids and skirmishes, the Assyrians were familiar with the God of Israel. They knew of the history of those who dared to defy Him, including the Philistines and the Hittites. They also knew of His mercy and grace, because the people immediately believed God and repented of their sinfulness, from the lowest of the low all the way up to the king of Nineveh.

The message of God when faithfully delivered is always intended to inspire repentance. See the word of God through one of Jonah’s contemporaries, the prophet Isaiah:

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
    giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
    it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
    and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
Isaiah 55:10, 11

What God intends for His word to fulfill will be accomplished in spite of any attempts we may selfishly impose to suppress His message. He is the Sovereign King of the Universe. He is faithful and true. And if God intends to see repentance in the hearts of those who receive His message, then that will come to pass, even if we try to stifle that message with our own selfish means of delivery.

A Great God

If Almighty God desires for a people to repent, He will make a way for that repentance. However, He will not force repentance and will allow the consequences of sin and selfishness to take its own natural course. Clearly it wasn’t long before the repentant Ninevites forgot their vow and returned to their wickedness. Ultimately change did come as the Assyrian Empire was eventually overthrown by the Babylonians, who then became a crucible for the people of Israel and gave rise the prophets Daniel and Ezekiel. Later the events of Esther under the reign of the Persian Empire would come to pass and eventually the prophets Ezra and Nehemiah would lead the people back to Israel and restore the walls of the fallen Kingdom and restore the worship to Almighty God.

However, even the repentance of God’s chosen people of Israel was short-lived. The last book of the Old Testament issues a warning to the people of Israel from the prophet Malachi: “Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” (Malachi 4:5,6)

The Word of God demands obedience for the people of God and calls all people to surrender to His authority as King of the Universe. Those who do not recognize His authority and submit to Him will ultimately see utter destruction. Either through the natural, temporal consequences of their own sin, or the eternal consequences of separation from a relationship with Him. The choice is yours. Which will it be?

Jonah: A Prayer of Repentance

July 8, 2021 by David Noland Leave a Comment

Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish
Jonah 2:1

When you find yourself stuck in a trap of your own making, what is your usual first response? Do you blame someone else, perhaps even the devil? Do you sit and wallow in the mud like a half-satisfied pig? Do you find yourself seeking ingenious methods of getting yourself out of your situation, only to become frustrated when your own understanding provides zero results? Or do you cry out for help and learn from your mistake?

I can assure you, all of us at one time or another have fallen into some muck or mire as a result of our own poor decisions and sinful choices. And more often than not, our usual response is to either blame someone else or just sit paralyzed in the midst of the filth. It usually isn’t until we have tried to claw our way out of the stickiness only to find ourselves even more stuck than before that we finally give up and cry out for help. It’s human nature. However, Jonah recognized that the direness of his situation was due to his own disobedience and that God not only brought about judgment to get his attention, but provided a miraculous safe haven to protect him in the midst of his rebellion. Yes, Jonah was trapped in the belly of a large fish, likely very cramped and squeezed inside with little room to move or even squirm. Yet, Jonah “called out to the Lord, out of my distress and He answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and You heard my voice.” (Jonah 2:2)

Jonah recognized that not only was he in big trouble, but he also recognized who put him there.

For you cast me into the deep,
into the heart of the seas,
and the flood surrounded me;
all your waves and your billows
passed over me.
Jonah 2:3

Jonah recognized that God Himself put him in the belly of that fish as judgment for his sin of rebellion and disobedience. All too often from today’s modern populist pulpits, I hear theology espoused that not only disavows the reality of God’s judgment, but outright denies His holiness in favor of His mercy and grace and love. Anything “bad” (by our own selfish definitions) is a product of Satan or is demonic in origin. It denies the reality of sin and its resulting consequences.

Mercy and grace by definition require that we deserve judgment. Mercy means we don’t receive the judgment that we deserve. Grace means we receive favor when we deserve judgment and punishment for our actions. To deny the reality of the God’s holiness and righteousness as far superior to our own is to recreate God into our own image, which is the very definition of idolatry.

Discernment of your situation and how you got there can often be tricky, but discernment begins with humility. Humility is not humiliation, but rather it is a sort of controlled strength that allows you to see yourself in the big picture. Discernment requires first to look at ourselves and our situation with a different set of lenses that expose the truth of who we are in the light of who He is.

But I with the voice of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
Salvation belongs to the LORD!
Jonah 2:9

Jonah recognized that His current predicament and suffering were a result of His own sin and rebellion. He also recognized the Father’s grace and mercy in capturing him and protecting him in the belly of this fish. As dark and smelly as the case may be, it was better than drowning in the sea of his own wasted life and time. And that is a cause for a sacrifice of thanksgiving.

Interestingly, a great theology truth is also revealed in the last line of Jonah’s prayer: “Salvation belongs to the LORD!” Salvation is not ours to give or to take. It is God’s and God’s alone. He alone has the power to save. We can’t save ourselves by the works of our hands, the power of our confession, or even our own faith. That is the exclusive domain of the sovereign Lord Almighty. He alone has the authority to save us. He alone has the authority to condemn. He alone is righteous and holy. Thus He alone is worthy of our worship and worthy to be praised.

On the day of Pentecost, Peter made the bold proclamation of the exclusivity of Jesus’ authority to save: “This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:11, 12) Just as Jonah had rejected God’s command to go to Nineveh and preach repentance, the Jews of Jesus’ day rejected Jesus and His message of repentance. However, it was His sacrifice on Calvary that provides salvation. His sacrifice alone makes Him worthy of our worship and praise. And it is by His name and His authority alone that we might be saved.

In Christ Jesus

July 9, 2020 by David Noland Leave a Comment

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1-4)

In a court of law, the penalty for breaking the law ranges depending on the crime. In all states, the maximum penalty for murder is condemnation, either by separation from society or separation from life. From the beginning the penalty prescribed by God’s dictates for breaking His commands was condemnation – death. This played out in two ways: 1. separation from the Garden and the intimate relationship that was once experienced in the presence of Almighty God. 2. eventual separation from life through death as a result of the corruption of creation that sin had wrought.

Justice requires payment for transgression. Holiness demands death from sin. It’s an inescapable fact. It’s the consequence of natural and spiritual law of life. However, because of God’s great love for His creation, through His mercy and grace, justice is paid and holiness is satisfied in the cross of Calvary. Jesus Himself, having known no sin, was the spotless Lamb of God – having no blemish – stood in our place as the perfect, acceptable sacrifice for our sin as demanded by the law.

No more was the requirement of sacrifices at the temple, because the eternal Lamb had been slain “once for all.” No more would condemnation rain down upon those who are “in Christ Jesus.” But what does it mean to be “in Christ Jesus.” The very phrasing of the entire statement implies that there are some who are NOT “in Christ Jesus”, and as a result, condemnation is still reserved for them.

The ones who are “in Christ Jesus” are those “who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” The “flesh” in this case is simply those who live life according to their own appetites, instead of in obedience to the Word of God and the expectations of His righteousness. Not our own self-righteousness. Not the “righteousness” that is dictated by the world, but the righteousness that is spelled out in His Word. It is a different way of life because our old way of life before we were “in Christ Jesus” wasn’t working. It was self-destructive and leading to death and separation apart from Him. Why then would anyone who was “in Christ Jesus” want to continue to live life according to the flesh knowing that such a life leads to condemnation?

Repentance is the lost doctrine of the gospel that has been swept under the rug in the name of appeasement and self-aggrandizement. The Bride of Christ has become more interested in having the world like us that we have become conformist, rather than transformative. And this is indeed the great tragedy of the Church of today. If the “gospel” is not transformative, then it is not the gospel. Good news, truly good news, inspires action, celebration, and change. We act through repentance. We celebrate the good news through worship. We change through spiritual growth. But it all begins with the act of repentance. Without it, our worship is hollow and lifeless, and a lifeless existence cannot grow.

If you want to know for sure if you are “in Christ Jesus”, examine yourself. Examine your attitudes. Examine your habits. Examine your words. Examine your heart. Are you living life in accordance with God’s Word or in accordance with your own prejudices and desires that naturally conflict with His dictates? As Charles Haddon Spurgeon once put it “if I am a friend of God, I must be the foe of Satan and from this day I pledge myself to fight forever with Satan till I get the victory and am free from sin.” (“Consider Before You Fight”, c 1865)

It has been asked: “If you were ever on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” I ask you, please, examine and consider your answer to this critical question. It’s not a matter of right or wrong; it’s a matter of life and death.

The Grace of Repentance

June 9, 2020 by David Noland Leave a Comment

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:1-4)

One of the great tragedies of the modern church is that we have allowed the humanistic philosophies of the Enlightenment to color our interpretation of God’s Word, instead of taking His word for what it is – the truth. We have abandoned truth in favor of our own morally relativistic perspective of life that disregards God’s definition of sin and have compromised our understanding of what it means to be disciple of Christ.

In fact, we have gone so far as to no longer publicly discuss the basic spiritual principle of repentance. The prevailing gospel message of the last several decades as been if we simply pray a prayer of forgiveness and get baptized, that is all we need to do in order to obtain our “fire insurance” and avoid hell. However, now we find ourselves even denying the existence of Hell. If Hell doesn’t exist, then why did Jesus even go to the cross to reconcile us to God Himself. If God is holy and just, then it necessitates the existence of an eternal punishment for those who defy His Word. The question then is “Is there salvation without repentance?”

Our salvation is not dependent upon our works. Ephesians makes this clear that we are saved through grace, not works. But repentance is the evidence of the transformation that comes from genuine salvation. Repentance comes as we are motivated out of gratitude and love for our Abba as we seek to please Him. Repentance means turning away from a harmful path to a path that is designed for our betterment. Repentance is the choice to walk in His way because we know our way was not working. If there is no transformation, there is no salvation.

Recently I was watching a few of our grandchildren at a small park on a river in Belton, Texas. We were near a pizza restaurant and there were some concrete stairs about 5 feet high going down towards the river from where we were about 200 feet away. As I was watching our grandchildren play, I noticed the youngest (17 months old) curiously taking quick steps towards the stairs going down. Fearing for her safety, I took off running as quickly as I could, but her dad saw me running, assessed the situation and took off as well and beat me to her before she could tumble down the stairs. And then he walked her back to where the rest of the family was gathered.

This is the picture of repentance and what it means to “walk in newness of life.” Left to our own devices, we were and are heading towards disaster with nothing forward but the potential danger and pain. But the Father comes along and he scoops us up to save us from our own curious devices and carries us to safety in His arms. And He brings us into a family that is there to help guide us and keep us safe from the dangers of this world.

Sometimes we may not like it. We want to scream and throw our fits and still do our own thing, but Jesus is the better way. The holy way. The grace way. He loves us enough to give us boundaries by which to live. He loves us enough to discipline us when we cross those boundaries. And He wants us to trust Him and His way.

The Reward of Repentance

May 29, 2020 by David Noland Leave a Comment

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork in in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the barn, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.” (Matthew 3:11-12)

I grew up in the country, the grandson of a beefmaster farmer, so I know a little bit about agriculture. I remember nummerable summers hauling hay bales onto the back of a truck and trailer, stacking them high and building forts. I remember picking a long stemmed grass with wheatlike fruit on the end and chewing on it while we worked the fields. The green stem of the grass was the chaff and the seeds would branch off near the top of the chaff in multiple directions but looked like wheat, but it was not. When this grass would age, it would even look like wheat at first glance, with its beige hue. This would eventually be cut down with the rest of the hay field and included into the bales that we would provide for the cattle to eat. It was a good source of protein for them, but not really something fit for human consumption. This was what is commonly known in scripture as tares.

When harvesting wheat for the grain stores in Biblical times, once the wheat was brought into the storehouse, a worker would take what is called a winnowing fork to harvest the grains of the wheat and separate it from the chaff so that it might be processed into flour for bread and other wheat-based products. A winnowing fork is essentially a primitive form of pitchfork where the harvester would pick up wheat, toss it into the air, and the wind would then separate the smaller wheat grains from the chaff. Once the wheat grains were separated, then the chaff was removed from the harvesting floor and thrown out into the fire since it was no longer of any use.The fruit of the wheat chaff – the grain – would then be used for multiple purposes, but primarily it would be ground into flour and then used for making bread.

In our Scripture today, we begin with the baptism of water. In the ministry of John the Baptist, the immersive baptism was symbolic of the washing away of our sins as a result of individual confession and repentance. The act was a total immersion within the water as a means of ensuring complete cleansing from head to toe so that no part of the body was left dry and unclean. The symbolism of baptism changed after the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ to represent believers being buried with Christ and raised again to new life (Romans 6:4).

But John mentioned a different baptism by Jesus whereas He would baptize us with the person of the Holy Spirit and with fire, a spiritual fire that will burn away the chaff, the useless parts of our lives that are no longer needed once the fruit of the Spirit has ripened for harvest – the fruit of repentance.

Additionally, in keeping with the context of John’s criticism and condemnation of the hypocritical religious leaders in the Pharisees and Sadducees, the Holy Spirit would in effect be the “winnowing fork” that would separate the good wheat from the tares. He would separate the good fruit from the waste.

The heart of repentance is one that demands and inspires holiness. Grace also demands and inspires holiness. Grace by definition is the imparting unto us that which we do not deserve. This definition implies that we deserve something much worse. Romans 6:23 declares “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The old Hebrew word for death and even the Greek word represent a separation from life. The root definition implies a separation in relationship, but the context implies a deeper separation – a broken relationship with our Creator. A relationship broken by our sin. But a relationship that can be restored supernaturally as a result of the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary.

It’s not enough to simply pray a prayer of forgiveness and then go about your life unchanged. If you still bear no fruit of the transformative power of grace, it is because repentance has not taken root in order to bear that fruit. In which case, when the time of harvest comes and the grains of wheat are sifted from the chaff, which pile will your life end up on?

Will you remain on the threshing room floor so that you might undergo the transformation from wheat to bread? Sure, it’s going to be a painful grind, but the end product is what provides nourishment to a world starving for the Bread of Life.

Or will you be tossed in the wind with the remainder of the chaff, separated into the pile of waste, to be burned away and forever separated from the saving knowledge of a relationship with the harvester of souls? Yes, hell is a reality. The lack of belief is not evidence for the lack of existence. Like Pascal, I’d rather gamble on the reality of spending eternity in the arms of my Savior. For if I am wrong, and there is no hell, then I have lost nothing. But if I am right, and I choose to reject Him, then I have lost everything.