Matthew 3

REPENT
1) To turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of ones life.
2) [a] To feel regret or contrition. [b] To change ones mind.

There are several things of importance that I want to bring up in this chapter. First and foremost is this character of John the Baptist. Here is a guy that was born under some unique circumstances that aren't covered in this Gospel. The circumstances of his conception and birth will be covered when we get to the Gospel of Luke. For now I want to look at this man who dressed in weird clothes, ate some strange stuff, and lived a nomadic and simple lifestyle. He preached a message that had been around forever, that of repentance, but he did it in a powerful way with an urgency for a prompt moral U-turn.

The key terms in the definition of repent are "turn" and "change". For those that know me I have said for years that a relationship with Jesus should be evident by a change in that persons life. Only until recently has God begun to convict me of my need of my own radical change. Repenting is a two-part process: turning from sin and turning to God. It is not complete until you do both parts. I tried just turning from sin but I forgot about the turning to God part. Without the second part all the trying to change on my own strength was destined for failure. Now I am seeing that I must turn to God for the strength to change and complete the repentance that He has already started in me.

John preached this two part message by his words and his lifestyle. He lived simply as a visual protest against self-indulgence. He preached about the Kingdom of Heaven. This Kingdom is the establishment of God's rule in the hearts and lives of His people. It is the reign of God brought about by and through Jesus. This Kingdom was a central message that Jesus brought to us and Matthew mentions it 50 times in his Gospel.

John confronted the religious leaders with this message and I can only imagine how they felt when confronted by this radical and powerful speaker. It says that people came to JtB from the whole region to hear his message. All three Synoptic Gospels quote the famous passage of Isaiah 40:3 about "a voice of one calling from the desert. Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him." JtB might have been the voice and instrument but it was God Himself preparing the hearts of His people and making the path straight for Jesus' ministry.

The last time we saw Jesus He was a newborn being carted all over the countryside from Bethlehem to Egypt to Nazareth. Now He is around 30 years old and ready to begin His ministry. While He didn't need to be baptized for the same reasons as we do, after all He was sinless, this ritual was done to consecrate Him to God and publicly announce that His earthly ministry was about to begin. During His baptism all three persons of the Trinity are seen as the Spirit descends upon Jesus to give Him strength and equip Him for His ministry and the Fathers voice is heard in approval of His Son.

Get ready for the ministry of Jesus starting in Matthew chapter 4! God bless.