By Jim Mettenbrink
Shortly before being crucified, Judea’s Roman governor Pontius Pilate asked Jesus, “Are You the King of the Jews?” Jesus: “It is as you say” (Luke 23:1-3). Jesus had no army, administration, no territory, no palace – nothing “kingly” at all. He had nothing of this world (Luke 9:58).
In the same trial, Jesus told Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here” (John 18:36). And six weeks later Jesus disappeared (Acts 1:9-11). No doubt His kingdom is not of this world! In Pilate’s eyes, Jesus just said He is the King of a nonexistent kingdom. Such might seem insane but…It is certainly radical!
Three years earlier, Jesus told a Jewish leader, “…unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:1-5). Then 10 days after Jesus’ miraculous departure, Peter opened Jesus’ kingdom as Jesus had assigned to him but was based upon the fact that He is God and sitting on His throne in heaven (Matthew 16:16-19; Acts 2:14-39). Following Peter’s sermon, the people obviously believed Jesus is the Divine Savior, and thus asked what should they do. Peter said to repent and be baptized. But belief is one thing and faith is another.
When Jesus began His three-year announcement ministry in Galilee, He told the Jews to “repent and believe….” (Mark 1:15). Repent means to turn, so what were the Jews to repent from? They believed their favor with God was based on their bloodline from Abraham (Matthew 3:8-9; Luke 3:8; John 8:33). That had been their faith for 1500 years. The implication was that they were to turn to something else. Jesus said to believe in the gospel. The gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus (15 Corinthians 15:1-4). The focus is on the Logos, the Divine Savior (John 1:1), who put on flesh (Jn 1:14) to fulfill the law as God demanded of humans (Mat 5:17-18). By fulfilling the law as a human – never sinning, He offered Himself as the payment for our sins – death (Hebrews 7:26-27).
In that death, He set aside the old covenant and established a new covenant via His shed blood by which He grants the pardon of our sins and promises eternal life (Mat 26:28; John 6:53-54). He said, “…if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” (Jn 8:24). That is radical repentance. What does it really mean to “believe in Jesus?”