Kingdom of God

Repentance

In the previous chapter, we began to talk about Passover and how God redeemed the
firstborn of Israel through the sacrificing of the Passover lamb. The night that the Israelites
sacrificed the Passover lamb and ate it is being commemorated by the Jewish people until
today in the Feast of Passover. It is celebrated on the 14th of the Jewish month of Nisan. It
is one of the seven feasts that God had commanded them to keep continually.

Read Exodus 13:3-10

Immediately following the Feast of Passover is the continuous 7-day festival known as the
Feast of Unleavened Bread. And although the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread
are two separate festivals, it has been mistakenly viewed as one by many, especially by
modern Gentile believers who have little or no idea about the Feasts of the Lord. And
because they have not viewed them as separate feasts, they have missed many significant
and important lessons that are contained in the feasts. I will attempt to highlight as many of
those lessons here as possible for your sake.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread

We have seen that Passover speaks about our Redemption. If Passover spoke of our
Redemption, what then did the Feast of Unleavened Bread speak of?

God’s instructions pertaining to the Feast of Unleavened Bread can be found in Leviticus
23 and Numbers 28. We will read the relevant passages to educate ourselves on this
subject.

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The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them,
These are the appointed feasts of the LORD that you shall proclaim as holy
convocations; they are my appointed feasts. “Six days shall work be done, but on the
seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work.
It is a Sabbath to the LORD in all your dwelling places. “These are the appointed
feasts of the LORD, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time
appointed for them. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at
twilight, is the LORD's Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is
the Feast of Unleavened bread to the LORD; for seven days you shall eat
unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall
not do any ordinary work. But you shall present a food offering to the
LORD for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not
do any ordinary work.” Leviticus 23:1-8

During these seven days, the Israelites were commanded to eat only matzah, or unleavened
bread. In the Scripture, matzah is also known as the “bread of affliction” because it
reminded them about their suffering as slaves in Egypt (Deut 16:3). But matzah took on a
whole different meaning after the Passover, and especially after they had left Egypt. It
reminded them, rather, about how they “came out of the land of Egypt in haste” (Deut
16:3). Matzah became a token of freedom.

Matzah is basically bread that is baked without chametz, or leaven in it. Chametz, or leaven
is a metaphor of sin; a corrupting influence, a hidden uncleanness that contaminates purer
elements. Like the influence of leaven in a batch of dough, “spiritual” leaven functions as an
evil impulse within us that corrupts and sours our soul. Not only were the Israelites
commanded to not to eat leavened bread, they were to rid their tents (or homes) of
everything that has leaven in it (Ex 13:7). So since chametz is a metaphor of sin then the
removal of chametz, which is the main focus of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, must be a
metaphor of REPENTANCE.

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Which picture do you think depicts Repentance accurately?

a.

b.

c.

d.

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Definition of Repentance

By definition, repentance means to “view or think of (an action or omission) with deep
regret or remorse”. Wikipedia says that it is “a change of thought to correct a wrong and
gain forgiveness from a person who is wronged.” But is repentance only about feeling bad
that you have done something wrong?

The kind of Repentance that is desirable, according to Paul, is the “repentance that leads to
life” (Acts 11:18). There are many who are exceedingly stirred and move when they hear a
faithful gospel sermon. That is because there is an inner witness that tells him that it is the
Word of God he is listening to. Some may tremble and weep, yet do not have the
“repentance unto life”. Antonius Felix, the governor of Judea, was one such person.

As Paul, standing before Felix in chains, preached of "righteousness, temperance, and of

judgment to come," it is written, "Felix trembled" (Acts 24:25 KJV). And yet,
procrastinating Felix said, “Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity I will
summon you.” How many have being to church, heard the Word preached, and was
emotionally moved; yet they remain unchanged and unrepentant? How many have said as
Agrippa said, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian” (Acts 26:28 KJV) but did not
go beyond the ‘almost’.

Being “almost persuaded” is not repentance.

True Repentance

In Biblical Hebrew, the idea of repentance is represented by two verbs: ‫ שוב‬shuv (to return)
and ‫ נחם‬nicham (to feel sorrow). Therefore, true Biblical repentance must have the
following three ingredients: Conviction, Contrition, Conversion.

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1) Conviction -- where sin is ADMITTED. Man must see himself as a lost, ruined, guilty,
desperately wicked sinner without hope or help, in danger of hell. In repentance, a lost
sinner not only sees himself as a sinner, but he recognizes the fact that he has sinned against
a righteous and holy God. In repentance, there will be confession of sin to God.

Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you
may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. (Psa 51:4)

"For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin." (Psa. 38:18);

2) Contrition -- where sin is ABHORRED. It is natural for a sinner to experience remorse

and sorrow as a result of sin, but let his sorrow be of the godly kind because “godly sorrow
worketh repentance to salvation” (2 Cor. 7:10). When one sees himself as he appears
before God, he is brought to a place where there is godly sorrow for his sin and hates it
altogether for

to hate sin is to love God.

3) Conversion -- where sin is ABANDONED. In true repentance, there is not only the
desire to escape the consequences of sin, but to be rid of sin itself as a thing displeasing to
God. True repentance, therefore, involves the forsaking of sin:

"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" (Isa. 55:7);

"He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh
them shall have mercy" (Prov. 28:13).

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Repentance is not only a heart broken FOR sin, but also FROM sin. We must forsake what
we would have God forgive. It should be stressed that it is not enough just to turn away
from sin; one must also turn to God for salvation:

"... to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that
they may receive forgiveness of sins ... should repent and turn to God ..." (Acts
26:18,20).

In true repentance, there is conviction, contrition, and conversion as one turns from his sin
to Christ for salvation. One thing that the Church has not stressed enough of is the fact that
Salvation is DELIVERANCE of a person from his sin, not merely from a sinful
environment. And that Jesus Christ is the Saviour that saves men not only from the
PENALTY of sin, but also the POWER of sin. It (the Church) has told converts that their
sins would be forgiven when they came to Jesus, and rightly so; but what it has failed to
highlight was that the convert can now live a life free of sin if he walks not according to the
flesh but according to the Spirit.

If there is such a thing as true repentance then there must also be repentance that is false.
Here are some ways to identify them:

False Repentance

Humbling ourselves beneath the mighty hand of God is not repentance. Ahab is a case in
point.

Ahab coveted the vineyard of his neighbor Naboth, who would not sell it for a price, nor
make an exchange. He consulted with his wife Jezebel, who contrived to put Naboth to
death, and thus secure the vineyard to the king. After Naboth was put to death, and Ahab
had taken possession of the vineyard, the servant of the Lord met Ahab, and said to him,
“Have you killed and also taken possession? Thus says the LORD: ‘In the place where dogs
licked up the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick your own blood.’” We read that Ahab was

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convicted in his spirit, and humbled himself; and the Lord said, “Because he has humbled
himself before me, I will not bring the disaster in his days; but in his son's days I will bring
the disaster upon his house” (1 Kings 21:29). Ahab was shown mercy but, in the next
chapter, the Lord declared disaster against him (2 Kings 22:23). Subsequently, Ahab was
killed in a battle in Ramoth-Gilead and the dogs licked up his blood according to the words
spoken by the servant of the Lord (1 Kings 22:38).

Spurgeon also believes that, “You…may humble yourselves before God for a time, and yet
remain the slaves of your transgressions.” “You are afraid of damnation,” he says, “but you
are not afraid of sinning; you are afraid of hell, but you are not afraid of your iniquities;
you are afraid of being cast into the pit, but not afraid to harden your hearts against his
commands. It is not the soul's state that troubles you, but hell. If hell were extinguished,
your repentance would be extinguished; if the terrors awaiting you were withdrawn, you
would sin with a higher hand than before, and your soul would be hardened, and would
rebel against its sovereign.”

You might confess your sins to God but are unrepentant.

Thousands have gone forward to the “altar” and have told God what vile creatures they
were, enumerating a long list of transgressions, but without any deep realization of the
unspeakable awfulness of their sins, or a spark of holy hatred of them. (A.W. Pink “The
Nature of Repentance”)

Most Christians would have been taught the powerful verse First John 1:9 which says, “If
we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.” And armed with this great assurance, Christians have gone before the
Lord to confess the sins they have committed. But in spite of having done that, many
remain uncertain if God had forgiven them. Well-meaning pastors try to encourage these
believers by reiterating the verse (1 John 1:9) to them again, but often to no avail. I submit
to you that what these Christians are feeling is really not doubts about God’s forgiveness

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but about their confession. They know in their heart of hearts that they have not truly
confessed their sins. Let me explain.

Sandwiched in the instructions God had given to the children of Israel about how they
could be cleansed from the guilt of their sin is an often overlooked detail of confession. It is
found in Leviticus 5:5. But our understanding of what confession is falls short of the way
the Israelites understand it. For them, confession is a public declaration, usually to the
priest, of what they have done wrong. It is spoken not in a whisper but audibly. This is
where James got the idea from, and so he exhorts believers to confess their sins to one
another and pray for one another, that they may be healed (James 5:16). In how many of
our churches is this practiced?

It is based on this kind of open, transparent, and sincere confession of sin that God readily
declares the sinner “forgiven”. So, the next time you think of using your ‘Get out of jail
FREE” card: 1 John 1:9, think about how God defines confession. If your confession is
complete and unreserved, so will God’s forgiveness be.

You may do some work that resemble repentance, and yet you may be impenitent. This we
will find in Judas who betrayed his Master.

After Judas has betrayed Jesus, an overwhelming sense that he had committed an evil thing
seized upon. In the misery of desperation, not the grief of true regret, he confessed his sin
to the high priests (instead of to God Himself), crying, "I have sinned, in that I have
betrayed innocent blood." They said, "What is that to us, see thou to that." At that, he cast
down the pieces of silver in the temple, to show that he could not bear to carry the price of
guilt upon him; and left. He went out, and—was he saved? No. He went out and hanged
himself. See what this man did: He had sinned, he confessed his wrong, he returned the
gold; still after all that, he was a castaway because he failed to turn toward God.

Repentance is more than a conviction of sin or terror of the wrath to come. When the
hearers of Peter were “pricked to the heart” by their awful crime and fearful of eternal

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wrath, they cried out in anguish, “What shall we do?” The apostle did not say, “Be passive,
there is nothing you can do”. Nor did he say, “Believe your sins are blotted out,” as many
Grace-gospel preachers would say. No, instead he said, “Take all the blame which belongs
to you. Don’t gloss over, but confess your awful wickedness; let your uncircumcised hearts
be truly humbled before Him. And then look by faith to the free grace of God through the
blood of Christ for pardon. And be baptized in His name as an external sign of the
remission of your sins.”

Above all else, Repentance is a supernatural and inward revelation from God, giving a deep
consciousness of what I am in His sight, which causes me to loathe and condemn myself,
resulting in a bitter sorrow for sin, a holy horror and hatred for sin, and a turning away
from or forsaking of sin.

Evangelical repentance is a heart-apprehension of the exceeding sinfulness of sin. It is

the recognition of the chief thing wherein I am blame-worthy, namely, in having so
miserably failed to render unto God that which is His rightful due. As the Holy Spirit
sets before me the loveliness of the divine character, as I am enabled to discern the
exalted excellency of God, then I begin to perceive that to which He is justly entitled,
namely, the homage of my heart, the unrestricted love of my soul, the complete
surrender of my whole being to Him. As I perceive that from the moment I drew my
first breath God has sought only my good, that the One who gave me being has
constantly ministered to my every creature need, and that the least I can do in return is
to acknowledge His abounding mercies by doing that which is pleasing in His sight, I
am now over-whelmed with anguish and horror as I realize I have treated Him more
vilely than my worst enemy. (A.W. Pink. “The Nature of Repentance”)

Notice the expressions of penitence used by David in Psalm 51. He does not talk about his
“failures,” “mistakes” or “infirmities,” but instead of “my transgressions” (verse 1), “my
sin” (verse 2), “this evil” (verse 4), “my iniquity” (verse 9), and his “bloodguiltiness” (verse
14). True repentance abhors gentle names for sin, nor does it seek to cloak wickedness.

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Here is a warning from the Word of God:

And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his
heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add
drunkenness to thirst: The LORD will not spare him, but then the anger of the LORD
and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this
book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven.
(Deut 29:19, 20)

Repentance is the negative side of conversion. Conversion is a wholehearted turning to

God, but there cannot be a turning to without a turning from. Sin must be forsaken before
we can draw near to the Holy One. As it is written, “You turned to God from idols to serve
the living and true God” (1 Thes 1:9).

It is generally supposed, that repentance and faith are only the gate of religion; that they are
necessary only at the beginning of our Christian course, when we are setting out in the way
to the kingdom. And this may seem to be confirmed by the great Apostle, where, exhorting
the Hebrew Christians to "go on to perfection," he teaches them to leave these first
"principles of the doctrine of Christ;" "not laying again the foundation of repentance from
dead works, and of faith towards God;" which must at least mean, that they should
comparatively leave these, that at first took up all their thoughts, in order to "press forward
toward the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." But repentance, Spurgeon
believes, “is a continual life-long act.”

“It will grow continually. I believe a Christian on his death-bed will more bitterly
repent than ever he did before. It is a thing to be done all your life long. Sinning
and repenting—sinning and repenting, make up a Christian's life.”

This is true because though sin no longer reigns in the life of a believer, it remains
nevertheless. And as long as sin remains in the man, the Holy Spirit will keep on convicting
him of sin (John 16:8).

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Repentance is more than just feeling remorseful over one’s sin or wrongdoing. Repentance
is more than just confessing one’s sin. True repentance, which is abandoning all sin, cannot
realistically be achieved in a short time. For this reason, I believe, God has ordained the
Feast of Unleavened Bread, which really is a season of soul-searching for the Israelites to
seek out and rid themselves of sin, to last for seven days. When put together with the
Passover, the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is the 8th day – the number ‘8’
symbolizes a new beginning.

Have you repented of your sins yet?

Repent, and be Baptized

In Acts 2, the people, having heard the words of Peter, asked, “What must we do to be
saved?” To that Peter replied, and said, “Repent and be baptized ….for the forgiveness of
your sins” (Acts 2:38). Based on this, and the fact that the Savior Himself was baptized, the
modern Church has required all new converts to be baptized. I have been baptized, but I
cannot say that I did it with a clear understanding of the significance of it. What I was told,
and so were many others, was that baptism was an outward sign of what had already taken
place inwardly, namely my repentance from sin and faith in Jesus Christ. But later questions
started to arise when I saw baptized Christians turn away from God and walked back to a
live of sin. If those Christians repented and returned to God a second time, would they
need to be baptized again?

O rigins of Baptism

What is the origin of Christian baptism? Did it come from the Jewish law?

Water ritual was a requirement for the High Priest on the Day of Atonement. Both before
and after the ceremony he had to bathe himself in water (Lev 16.4; Ezek 44.19). In both
verses the word for bathe is the Hebrew word rachats which has the general idea of wash.

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It is used in Genesis for the washing of feet (18.4; 19.2;24.32; 43.24) and the washing of
the face (43.31). It is a common word in Leviticus for ceremonial washing (1.9,13; 8.6,21;
9.14; etc.) though it is not the only word so used. It should be noted that the ritual here is
a self-bathing rather than a baptism. This is equivalent to what we would do in our day and
time in preparation for a special event, like going to a theater or a restaurant or to church.
Prior to the event, we would typically take a shower or a bath and change our clothes.
Though these activities no doubt do not modify our spiritual state in any way, they do
affect our attitudes. What do you think the people did in response to Joshua’s command to
“Sanctify yourselves” in Joshua 3:5? If you answered, “They bathed themselves and washed
their clothes” you are absolute correct.

Qumran

In the middle of the second century BC, as a result of the intrusive and paganizing
influence of Greek culture, there came into existence a very loyal and conservative group of
Jews known as 'the pious (or loyal) ones', i.e. the Hasidim. The Hasidim were an important
group that had a lasting impact on the development of Judaism. GW Anderson has written
that, "the Hasidim were the spiritual ancestors of the Pharisees, the Essenes, and the
Qumran sect, displaying unswerving loyalty to the law".34

Qumran was situated in the wilderness of Judea some seven miles from the River Jordan.
The men of Qumran had withdrawn from Jewish society under their 'Teacher of
Righteousness'. They regarded the period in which they lived as the 'epoch of wickedness'.
They had a particular abhorrence of the high priests of the day whom they regarded as
illegitimate. Their purpose was to prepare for the new age which would bring the epoch of
wickedness to an end. With that ever before them they practiced a rigorous self-discipline
and devoted themselves to the purity of body and soul.

In their passion for purity they provided for various ritual washings or bathings. It is worth
noting here that the people of Qumran saw no conflict between the outward ritual and the

34
George Wishart Anderson. The History and Religion of Israel, Oxford University Press 1966, p172.

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inner condition; the two were intended to coincide. The Qumran Manual of Discipline
states, "No one is to go into the water in order to attain the purity of holy men. For men
cannot be purified except they repent their evil." It further states that a man "cannot be
cleared by mere ceremonies of atonement, nor cleansed by any waters of ablution, nor
sanctified by immersion in lakes or rivers, nor purified by any bath. For it is only through
the spiritual apprehension of God's truth that man's ways can be properly directed. Only
thus can all his iniquities by shriven so that he can gaze upon the true light of life…"
According to Josephus, who spent a short time with the Essenes during his teenage years,
the baths were not taken simply once daily but at least three times per day.

So the Christian baptism is not modeled after the ritual baths of Qumran. According to the
synoptic gospels the baptism administered by John was integrally bound up with
repentance. Mark relates how John came baptizing in the desert region preaching "a
baptism of repentance" (1.4; see also Luke 3.3). Matthew has a slightly different phrase
when he records John's actual words, "I baptize you with water for repentance" (3.11) The
simplest way of understanding Mark's genitive ('of repentance'; metanoias) is that it
describes the nature of the baptism. It is a baptism that belongs to repentance. In which
case the idea of baptism as a sign of repentance would fit very well. The full description
which Mark (1.4) and Luke (3.3) give of John's baptism is "a baptism of repentance for the
forgiveness of sins" – not an easy phrase to decipher precisely. Barclay's paraphrase is
helpful: "a baptism which was the sign of a repentance through which a man might find the
forgiveness of sins."35 Leon Morris comments, "This means a baptism which follows
repentance and is a sign of it. The fact that those who came to John to be baptized at the
river Jordan were “confessing their sins” supports this understanding (Matt 3:6).

But when John saw the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to him to be baptized, he sent
them away with these strong words: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from
the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (verse 7, 8). John probably did
not see any sign of a repentant heart and therefore refused to baptize them. Let this be a

35
William Barclay. The Gospel of Mark, The Saint Andrew Press 1955, p1.

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lesson for pastors not to be too quick to baptize anyone who asks for it. Prior to doing so,
they should try to discern the fruit in keeping with repentance.

What is the fruit of repentance? If repentance is the ridding of ‘leaven’ from our lives, then
the fruit of repentance would be a life free of ‘leaven’. Leaven represents, as you know, sin.
Like most other children, my daughter likes to go to the playground. Every time when she
asks, “Daddy, can you bring me to the playground?” I would instinctively respond with a
question: “Have you had your bath?” If she had not had her bath then I would not hesitate
to bring her to the playground (but some times I would bring her even when she had had
her bath anyway). The rationale is this: you should not dirty yourself so soon after you
have cleaned yourself. This applies not only to little children in the physical sense but also
to everyone in a spiritual sense.

The preposition 'for' in Matthew's Gospel translates a word (eis) which generally means
'into' – either literally or metaphorically. In which case it is a baptism into repentance. The
suggestion here may be that it is a baptism which takes or leads us into repentance. Hence
Barclay translates, "I baptize you with water to make you repent."36

Does repentance lead to baptism, or does baptism lead to repentance? Is repentance a pre-
requirement of baptism or is it a consequence of baptism? Is baptism a sign of repentance
or does it effect repentance? Perhaps, as is often the case and as Beasley Murray has hinted,
the truth lies somewhere in-between. It may be that John was urging repentance both
before and after baptism, urging repentance as a way of life as well as the way into a new
life. Repentance must be prior to baptism and it must be subsequent to baptism. Baptism
both signifies the repentance already there and the repentance which must follow.

About what He will do for His people Israel, who not only have not called upon the Lord
but have wearied Him with their transgression and iniquities (Isa 43:22-24), the Lord said,
“I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me,
for I have redeemed you” (44:22). Then, later through His prophet Ezekiel: “Then will I

36
The New Testament: Volume 1 (a new translation), Collins 1968, p 58.

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sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all
your idols, will I cleanse you” (Ezek 36:25). God would do this regardless of whether or
not Israel repented of her sin. Following this, the Lord also said, “And I will deliver you
from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no
famine upon you. I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant,
that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations” (verse 29, 30).
In doing so, God was removing the consequences of their sin and blessing them anew. All
this the Lord would do so that Israel would be led to repentance. “Then you will remember
your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your
iniquities and your abominations” (verse 31). One of the purposes of the goodness of God,
according to the apostle Paul, is to lead us to repentance (Rom 2:4).

The conventional understanding of the Church about baptism is that it is to take place soon
after conversion, or immediately if possible. This understanding is based primarily on the
acts of the apostles such as Philip who baptized a couple of prominent characters, among
many men and women who believed, such as Simon the Sorcerer and an Ethiopian eunuch
(Acts 8:9-13, 26-38). Peter also baptized Cornelius and his entire household without
hesitation when he saw the Holy Spirit fall upon them as He did upon the apostles.

Reaching into the past, Christians have also used the Red Sea crossing as an allegory of
Water Baptism. They are not far from the truth except for the fact that the Red Sea
crossing did not occur as soon after the night of the Passover as they think. After careful
study, researchers have determined that the crossing did not take place until 25 days after
the Passover.37 Like in everything else, God had a purpose for the ‘delay’.

37
Steve Rudd. The Exodus Route: From Goshen to the Red Sea. http://www.bible.ca/archeology/bible-
archeology-exodus-route-goshen-red-sea.htm

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