Page 38 - GRACE
P. 38

Jesus, The Source of Grace


                                     to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers!
                                     Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
                                     Therefore  bear  fruits  worthy  of  repentance”
                                                                  (Matthew 3:1-2, 5-8).


                               When John saw multitudes leaving their cities to hear him
                               preach  in  the  desert  he  did  not  start  to  calculate  the
                               offerings that can come out of such a crowd. He did not
                               begin  to  marvel  at  his  popularity  or  the  effect  of  his
                               preaching  on  the  cities  the  people  came  from.  He  was
                               concerned  and  did  not  want  the  people  to  leave  his
                               meetings and go back to their old ways of life. John sought
                               repentance.  He  knew  that  if  they  repented  and  did  not
                               come back to his meetings he would have left a positive and
                               indelible mark on their lives.


                               Repentance is the vital and indispensible access point into
                               God’s Kingdom. John also sought the fruits of repentance
                               in the lives and various categories of the people who came
                               to his meetings, irrespective of their social status or clout in
                               the society. The quest was the same: there were to bring
                               forth  the  fruits  of  repentance.  Some  of  the  fruits  of
                               repentance are listed:


                               i.     A True Revelation of God
                               Prophet Isaiah reports one such revelation of God in Isaiah
                               6:1-5.
                                     “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the
                                     Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and




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