The Coronavirus and the Coming of Christ

 “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17)

And so, it begins with this. The first message at the very beginning of our Lord’s public ministry.

Here he is. 30 years old, and having worked during his adult life (and probably during at least part of his childhood) as a full-time carpenter in the city of Nazareth. As they said, when he visited his hometown,

“Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?” (Matthew 13:55)

Here he is. He has already been baptized by John, where he was publicly announced by God the Father with, “a voice from heaven, saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:11)

And here he is. He has just returned from being “led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil” for forty days and nights. (Matthew 4:1) Yes, he won! He has conquered Satan, the Devil himself with that mighty “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Ephesians 6:17)

Now, he has broken the fast. Now, he returns from the wilderness. Now he begins his public ministry, at last; and what is it that he has to say?

“From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  (Matthew 4:17)

“Repent.” What is that? The first word that comes out of his mouth at the very beginning of the work he has been called to do before all the world.

“Repent.”

We must, we are obligated, we are pressed with the fact that not only is this the first thing that the Son of God, the Son of Man, the Savior of the World has to say to us; but in fact, yes, we must ensure that we clearly understand what he wants from us because this is also the very first command that our Lord is giving us to obey. And so, we look to see…

I. What “repent” means to members in the body of Christ

Turn with me to Revelation 2:5. Take your time. Make sure that both you and the people around you all find the page in the Bible. That’s Revelation, chapter 2, verse 5. Now, let us look at what it says.

“Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” (Revelation 2:5)

There it is. The Word of God speaking to the people of God; to those in the church of God seeking to follow Christ. More precisely (and with God’s Word we shall strive to be precise), this is our Lord, Jesus in his resurrected gloriously beautified ominously illuminated and enlarged state appearing openly for the mind’s eye of men to readily behold down through these many ages leading up to his imminent and eventual return to the Earth.

“Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.” (Revelation 1:7)

Ah, Christian remember, as it is written and as we just read.

“Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” (Revelation 2:5)

“Remember”, because you will forget.

Man, at his heavenly inspired best is still “in the flesh”, and as such is quick to slip and slide at a slant back towards that which is not “of the Spirit.” Yes, even a chief Apostle like Peter had to be publicly rebuked by Paul for “fearing them which were of the circumcision.” (Galations 2:11-13) And yes, afterwards, even Paul would himself would disobey that Word of God which, later under divine inspiration he would write in Ephesians 4:30-32; carnally broken in a heated un-Christlike argument in which he would lose his beloved Barnabas, his preaching partner and closest of all friends when, finally,

“The contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other.” (Acts 15:39)

II. What “repent” means to the multitudes outside of Christ

“From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  (Matthew 4:17)

μετανοέω

Part of Speech: Verb

Transliteration: metanoeó

Phonetic Spelling: (met-an-o-eh’-o)

Definition: to change one’s mind or purpose

Usage: I repent, change my mind, change the inner man (particularly with reference to acceptance of the will of God), repent.

(Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance: https://biblehub.com/greek/3341.htm)

Conclusion:

“And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.“

(Luke 1:16)