Over the next few days till Christmas I would like you to take a journey with me in anticipation. Let's daily look at the events leading up to the birth of Christ with a sense of anticipation of His arrival into this world and into our lives. (Inspired by the Book "The Miraculous Journey" by Marty A. Bullis).
Advent - Day 14 – REPENT AND BELIEVE
Mark 1:14-15 (ESV) 14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Belief was always the goal of Christ’s Advent. We’ve seen some of the believers who circled around the Christ-child and we’ve seen an evil king who refused to believe. Sin keeps us from belief, causes a cessation of belief. It happens each day, little by little: We wander away from believing. We are weak; we have difficulty charting a straight path. Belief, though present, often wavers in us. We live much of our lives as if we are given over to a spouse who does not love us, as if we are trapped in an abusive marriage, drained of any energy for change.
Christ returns from His encounter with evil with a ready message on His lips: “Believe!” He understands that we’re weak but He proclaims His message anyway. His command brings our ears to attention; we sit up, longing to hear who is preaching salvation to us. We want to get with the program again.
This Christ returns from the wilderness knowing that we remain weak; but He has a message of encouragement for us. “The kingdom of God has come near. And by the way, you should know that I can win this thing – I can win you back.”
We may be weak, but Christ now controls the battlefield.
Alone in the wilderness, alone at the cross, Christ fights a battle we cannot enter. He endures what we are unable to. His first sermon is given with the taste of victory in His mouth. We can taste it too when we chew on His proclamation: “Repent! Believe! I have broken the knot!”
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