A study of repentance

By HStvZim | Apr. 15, 2022 | 3 Min read

By Pastor Makarimayi Jesus came on earth to release or impart to those who would believe the Gospel, the nature of God the Father. We read His words in John 10:10, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am coming that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” The Greek word for Life is “Zoe,” which means God’s Nature, God’s substance, God’s being just as spiritual death means Satan’s substance, Satan’s being. Out of Eternal Life have sprung all the beautiful graces which adorn a Christian life. Out of spiritual death, the garden plot of sin, have grown all the sins that have ever been committed.

Unsaved man is united to Satan spiritually. Perhaps the most awful words that Jesus ever uttered to the Jews are recorded in John 8:44-45, “[44] Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. [45] And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.” This is a heart-searching scripture. Satan was a murderer and a liar. He was a murderer by nature. The very substance and being of Satan are the very opposite of what we see in the Man Jesus Who is Truth. He is Life and Love.

Satan is spiritual death. He is a hater, a sin-producer. He is everything that is bad. Jesus was/is everything that was/is good. I John 3:10 carries us a step further in “this unhappy drama”, “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.” Here we have the two families in contrast — the Family of God and the family of the devil.

Ephesians 2:11-12, give us one of the saddest pictures of the natural man; “Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcised in the flesh made by hands; [12] That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the common wealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:” The Jews called the Gentiles the uncircumcised. Why? Because the circumcised man was in the First Covenant and had Covenant rights and Covenant privileges, but the Gentile man, the uncircumcised, was outside.

The Jews would not eat at the same table with the Gentile, as he was considered unclean.

Verse 12 explains and nails it, “That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the common wealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:” All of God’s blessings are wrapped up in Christ. The Gentile is separated from Christ.” Second fact: He is alienated even from the common wealth of Israel, the covenant people that have covenant claims on God, and he is a stranger from any covenant relationship with God or contract with God. He has no hope; he is without God, and he is in the world.

Let’s dig a bit deeper. Notice his condition now: He is spiritually dead, united with Satan. Jesus calls him a child of the devil. Remember John the Baptist, said: “Ye vipers.” he meant, children of Satan. He has no Covenant claims on God. He is without hope, hopeless, without God, Godless, and he is here in the world.

2 Corinthians 4:3-4 reveal fully his desperate condition, “[3] But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: [4] In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. This scripture hurts and pricks. Here the curtain is lifted. This spiritually dead man is mentally blinded, spiritually blinded.