When s the last time you heard the word Repent? Is it used only by weird people holding up signs with that word? How often do you hear it in church circles? As the writer describes the beginning of he gospel of Jesus Christ he focuses in Mark 1:4–8 on John the Baptist’s call to repent. That missing word is what you need in order to meet God.
John’s baptism summons you to repent. The wilderness location calls you to the obedience of sonship. In the Old Testament the wilderness was a sign of separation to sonship. The Exodus was to be the release of the Lord’s firstborn son, Exodus 4:22, 23. In Hosea 2:14 the desert is the location for the call to renewed fellowship with the Lord. John’s location, dress, and diet, remind you of Elijah — the prophet who summoned Israel and King Ahab to repent. John’s baptism indicated a similar purification from sin. Its roots lay in the ceremonies of purification. Going out into the wilderness was a reminder of the 40 years of exile. It was more than just a reminder. It was part of the process of repenting.
John heralded the Lord’s coming. Moses led Israel into the wilderness, not only to trek towards the promised land, but also to meet with their God at Mr. Sinai. Sinai was a temporary theophany. What John was heralding was the actual coming of God as the God-man came to redeem his people. The presence of God is something worth preparing for! The work of John the Baptist is described in the prophecies quoted from Isaiah 40 and Malachi 3. The work of preparation was to be the work of repentance. The word and the concept have become scarce, but you cannot come to a holy God without repentance. Turn from sin, and turn to him. The coming One was to be mighty.
“Everything about John told people he was a prophet. He was in the mould of Elijah. His clothing was ‘desert wear,’ his diet was desert food. He stood out from his contemporaries as clearly and recognisably as his great predecessor (see 2 Kings 1:8).
“John’s message was also similar to Elijah’s. The people had broken the covenant with God. They were under his judgment. Only by turning away from their sins and turning back to the Lord and his ways would they be ready when the long-promised Messiah came….”
“John preached that the turning point of human history was about to take place. The Messiah was about to come. Only one adequate response was open to the people: repentance.”
Sinclair Ferguson, Let’s Study Mark, page 3
Turn away from sin. Hate and forsake sin—it offends God. God is perfectly righteous. We are sinners — and the wages of sin is death. The news of the kingdom is a summons to repent, to turn away from sin. Repentance is more than feeling sorry for sin. It involves hating it, rejecting it, and seeking by God’s grace to turn from it. See the Westminster Shorter Catechism Q & A 87 and the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter XV. Certainly you ought to repent because God will judge all the ungodly, all the unrepentant. But don’t just be sorry because of consequences. Recognize that your sin is first of all an offense against a holy God, Psalm 51:4. Notice how deeply sin is ingrained in our beings.
“[R]epentance contemplates our sin and the cost of it to the Saviour. . . . [P]eople being led to repentance should see and sense the danger of their sin too. . . . But sinners must not only see the danger, but also the filthiness and repulsiveness of their sins. . . . Sin is also a personal affair, for sin is set against God himself, the one to whom we ought to have been faithful.”
Chad Van Dixhoorn, Confessing the Faith: A Reader’s Guide to the Westminster Confession of Faith, pp. 194–195
Repentance involves turning away from sin. John’s baptism was not the same as what Jesus commanded in Matthew 28 and has been practiced since. It was closer to Old Testament ceremonial cleansings. John called his hearers to specific, concrete acts of repentance, Luke 3:7–14. He challenged them to produce fruit worth of repentance, Matthew 3:8. Don’t satisfy yourself with a vague, “Lord, forgive my sins. “Repentance was a crucial element in apostolic preaching, Acts 2:38; 5:31; and 17:30. The initial point of the Christian life is a turning from sin to Christ—and that is what characterizes you every day until you are in glory.
Turn to the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit! There is no sin too insignificant to avoid the penalty of eternal judgment. But there is also no sin too great to be covered by the death and resurrection of Christ. That gives hope to us sinners!
“True repentance not only sorrows for sin but sees a Saviour. This is so important for us to grasp. As we consider what God thinks of sin, we must also consider his mercy to sinners.”
Van Dixhoorn, Confessing the Faith, p. 195
Repentance is not some abstract doctrine that you need to learn about. It is something that you need to experience. The church is a body of people who have repented—and who continue to repent each day.
John describes Christ’s work in terms of baptism. John’s baptism is with water. Christ’s is with the Holy Spirit. In a real sense, it is Jesus, rather than John, whom we ought to recognize as “the baptizer”! Judgment is delayed to give time to repent. The risen, ascended Christ pours out a baptism on his church, a baptism with the Holy Spirit. Repent and believe. Live under the influence of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is Christ’s gift to the church, once his earthly work is done. The Spirit works in your heart, producing faith. The Spirit, as he unites you to your risen Lord, enables you to walk in obedience to the Word. He enables you to live the repentant life that the Baptist summoned you to.
You are those who have heard the call to repentance, and who have turned from your own works to trust the Savior God has provided. As you come to trust the one whom John announced, you have seen God’s salvation. And you, as part of the church of Jesus Christ, have experienced the blessing of the baptism with the Spirit.