The Kingdom of Heaven, Part One

Listen to the message of Jesus: “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matthew 4:17).” From the mouth of John we heard the same words (Matthew 3:2). Now, in the mouth of Jesus, the King of the kingdom, we hear it again and again. In Matthew we hear the phrase “the kingdom of heaven” thirty-two times. In all but one time it is Jesus Himself that makes the announcement. There is no kingdom without a king. With Jesus' presence on earth we have the coming of the kingdom of heaven. The same is true with the kingdom of heaven. Who is the king? The King is the Son of God, for God has so promised the Son. “I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession (Psalms 2:7-8).” If we are going to understand the kingdom of heaven then we must first understand the entrance requirement to enter into the kingdom. So then, the first thing that we should do is look at the word “Repent...”. “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”


What does it mean to repent? The strict meaning of the Greek word metanoeo (met-an-o-eh'-o) is that we are to reconsider or change our minds, but the Bible goes beyond that strict definition. Yes, when we repent we have a change of mind, but we it its a change of mind that results in change of action, direction, and desire. I once followed the leanings of my flesh and the world, but now I have so changed my mind that I now follow Christ my Lord which results in wanting to please Him in every way. The only way to describe this is the way Jesus did. We are born again. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3).” “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13).”


Some of you may say, “I thought that we are saved by faith.” We are saved by faith and we are born again by faith, but faith is intimately tied to repentance. In fact, faith and repentance are so united that there's no true faith without repentance. Neither is there true repentance without faith. Both are together in the one that is born again. We have turned from idols to serve the living God (1 Thessalonians 1:9). Our faith is no longer in the world, religion, or our own self-righteousness. We are no longer working to get to heaven, but, because we have put our trust in Jesus Christ, we are working on our way to heaven. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:8-10).”


Repentance is the prerequisite for entrance into the kingdom of Christ. No one is a part of the kingdom of heaven by merit. All have entered into the kingdom of Christ by repentance and faith in Christ. None can say that they deserve to be a part of the kingdom, for all who are in the kingdom have fled from the wrath of God and entered in by faith in Christ Jesus. By repentance we have turned from our madness and foolish rebellion against God. We have turned from the way of death and entered in to the way of life. We have turned from sin, death, and hell through Christ Jesus to righteousness, life, and heaven. And we look for the coming of our Lord and Savior from Heaven to establish His kingdom on this earth.


I encourage you to repent. Let go of all that holds you back from Christ. Cast your sins in repentance behind your back and run to the Savior. “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon (Isaiah 55:6-7).”

Ray Comfort's On the Block

Jesus on Race Relations: “Go and Do Likewise”

The following is from Larry Page, executive director of the Arkansas Faith and Ethics Council:

I am compelled to say something about the state of race relations in our nation. As a white father of two black teenage boys and a grandfather of three biracial children, I am frustrated that we aren't progressing at a faster pace in this matter.

The heated rhetoric and histrionics, drenched in irrationality as they were, that preceded, attended, and followed the Florida second degree murder trial of George Zimmerman reveal the depth of the problem. The way that the “race hustlers” on both sides of that dispute have attempted, and succeeded in some instances, to exploit the entire Zimmerman affair and ramp up hostility and resentment among their particular “constituencies” is despicable and unconscionable. It’s obvious that racial tensions in this country lie just below the surface and can erupt easily.

I will not comment on the particulars of the Zimmerman trial itself (even though as a former prosecutor I have a strong and informed opinion that the verdict was correct); there has been enough said and written about those aspects. My desire is to offer something – modest as it may be – that might contribute to the way that we believers can help lead Americans out of this racial quandary.

In the tenth chapter of Luke, Jesus tells the touching and beautiful story we’ve come to know as the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus recounted it in response to a question. A lawyer associated with the Jews’ religious leaders asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” The context for the question was the command to “love your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus drew a word picture to capture the essence of selfless, sacrificial love for others. The timeless story showed how one person had an apparently unlimited capacity to love and serve a severely beaten and dying man – a man who was a total stranger.

However, the story doesn’t end there. There is an equally moving and profound lesson Jesus teaches. It is a simple proposition – one about race – about how we should relate to others irrespective of race, ethnicity, and heritage.

The man beaten, robbed, and perishing in a ditch was a Jew. The servant, the central character in the parable, was a Samaritan. Typically, the Samaritan would have despised the Jew. In a similar vein, the Jew would have routinely shown antipathy toward the Samaritan. Members of those two groups had great animus for each other; hatred is not too strong to describe their passions.

Interestingly, two countrymen of the beaten man, a priest and a Levite, “religious leaders” among the Jews, had seen the plight of the poor man. Surely, they would stop and help him, right? Not on your life. With wanton disregard for his life, they each went on their ways, “passing by on the other side.”

The priest and Levite saw what would be, if they chose to get involved, an imposition on their time, an inconvenience, a hindrance, an expense, and an interruption of their very important (in their estimations) lives. Each thought that he was way too busy to get involved and couldn’t be deterred from what they were about. In short, they saw through human lens.

The Samaritan, in contrast, saw through Godly lens. He saw a human being in need – nothing more and nothing less. And race and ethnicity didn't matter to him. Americans would do well to emulate the compassion and selfless service displayed by the Samaritan. We believers must lead out vigorously in modeling those attitudes and actions. It is our mandate, and I pray it will be our legacy.

After finishing the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus asked the lawyer who among the priest, Levite, and Samaritan had proved to be a neighbor to the beaten man. The lawyer said correctly, “The one who had mercy on him.”

And Jesus said approvingly to the lawyer -- and just as surely He is saying to me, to you, and to every other believer – “GO AND DO LIKEWISE.”

I think we can agree that this should be a priority for us all. It is surely of paramount importance to me. Not unlike what another father expressed fifty years ago, I desperately want my children and grandchildren to “live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” It was then and it is now a standard worth aspiring to.

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