By Andrew Williams – January 2, 2022
In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near! ”
Matthew 3:1-2 HCSB
Good morning fellow disciples.
Today we will look at redirecting our focus to the Gospel of the Kingdom. In today’s passage, we see John the Baptist proclaiming that we should repent because the Kingdom of God has come near. In another version, it says ‘the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
Even though John does not state what the Kingdom of heaven is about in this passage, what he’s telling persons is that the Kingdom is near, it is at hand, and they should prepare for it. In order to be prepared for the Kingdom of God, we need to repent.
His role as the predecessor to Jesus, or the forerunner to Jesus was to prepare the way so that when Jesus came He would find persons who would be ready to hear from Jesus. John’s role was to redirect his audience focus to the Kingdom of God and God’s messiah.
Can you imagine being part of John’s audience? Would you have been the Pharisee, the Sadducee or would you have been the sinner? If you were the sinner, this would be welcome news, because now you would be able to become a part of God’s Kingdom.
If you are the Pharisee or the Sadducee, then you might be saying: “What is he talking about? We have the temple, we have the laws, we know about the Kingdom of God is about so why is he telling us to be to repent and be baptized?
In today’s society we find persons of a similar nature. We have the sinners, and we have the religious persons who believe that they know what is required of them. But the message of the Kingdom is simply this:
Repent, accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior, be baptized, and follow Jesus as His disciple, doing what He taught and doing what He showed His fellow disciples to do.
My questions to you today are these: “Are you living in the Kingdom of God? Are you living according to the laws and the principles of the Kingdom of God? If not, do you want to?
Pray this simple prayer.
Prayer: Father God I repent of my sins. I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior, and I will choose to follow His teachings: His word as recorded in the Bible, and explained by His Holy Spirit.
I ask you to forgive me of my sins and accept me as Your child. Make me a Kingdom disciple, a Kingdom ambassador, so that I may teach others about the Kingdom of God and help them to become a part of it also. This I pray in Jesus name Amen.