11
Repentence
| Bro Joseph Mulawo (Muzoka, Zambia)
W
e are fortunate in that we have litera-
ture to enable people to understand the
Gospel of salvation and to realize that they
are sinful and need to repent and seek
forgiveness, so that they may escape the
consequences of sin and have a place in God’s
Kingdom to be established soon on this earth,
at Jesus’ return. Fortunately “The Lord...is
longsuffering towards us, not willing that
any should perish but that all should come to
repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
Repent means we have to be sorry for the
wrong things we do, to change our mind, “For
godly sorrow produces repentance, leading
to salvation” (2 Corinthians 7:10). The
gospels repeatedly tell the hearers to repent.
John the Baptist commanded them to
“repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at
hand” (Matt 4:17) Jesus came to call “sinners
to repentance” (Matt 9:13). When they heard
Peter preaching the Gospel, they asked him
what they should do he said “Repent and let
everyone of you be baptized for the remis-
sion of sins”. So baptism is necessary after
true repentance of our sins and when we fail
after that we have to seek for forgiveness
through Jesus our advocate before God.
So Brethren and Sisters, we have to try to do
the things of God and, where we fail, repent,
as the day of opportunity will soon be over
and we have to stand before the judgement
seat of Christ. God is so merciful to us. “For
God so loved the world that He gave his only
begotten son, that whosoever believeth in
him should not perish, but have everlasting
life” (John 3:16).
The Resurrection of the Sleeping Saints
| Bro Melusi Ndlovu (Kwekwe, Zimbabwe)
T
he voice of the Son of God is heard calling
forth the sleeping saints and, as the
prophet beholds them coming from the
prison house of death, he exclaims,
“Thy dead men shall live,
together with my dead body
they shall arise. Awake and
sing, ye that dwell in the
dust, for thy dew is as the
dew of the herbs, and the
earth shall cast forth her
dead.” “Then the eyes of
the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf
unstopped. Then shall the
lame man leap as an hart, and
the tongue of the dumb sing”
(Isaiah 26:19; 35:5-6).
In the visions of the prophet, those who have
triumphed over sin and the grave are now
seen happy in the presence of their Maker,
talking freely with Him. “Be glad - the Lord
bids them to rejoice forever in that which I
create, Jerusalem will be a rejoicing and her
people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and joy in my people, and the voice of
weeping shall be no more heard in her,
nor the voice of crying. The inhabi-
tants shall not say, ‘I am sick’;
the people therein shall be
forgiven their iniquity.
In the wilderness shall
waters break out, and
streams in the desert. And
the parched ground shall
become a pool, and from the
thirsty land springs water.
And an highway shall be
there, and a way, and it shall
be called ‘The way of holiness’.
The unclean shall not pass over it;
the wayfaring men, though fools, shall
not err therein. Speak ye comfortably to
Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished, that her iniquity is
pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord’s
hand, double for all her sins (Isaiah 65:18-19;
33:24; 35:6-7; 55:13; 35:8; 40:2).