repent! by C.J. Koster
Satan
(the Adversary, the Devil, the Wicked One, the Evil One) is the one who
snatches away, who devours, who takes away the Word of Elohim which Yahushua
sows in our hearts. We read about all this in the Parable of the Sower in Mt. 13, Mk. 4 and Luke 8. Note well: Mark and Luke
call it "the Word of Elohim" while Mattithyahu
calls it "the Word of the Kingdom (or Reign)." All
commentaries agree that Mattithyahu primarily wrote
his evangel for the Yehudim and he obviously did not
wish to offend the Yehudim by using the Father's
Name, because of their post-exilic, yet un-Scriptural fear of using the
Father's Name or even the appellative: Elohim. Therefore he used a euphemism instead
and spoke of "the Word of the Reign."
Satan has
been doing this right from the beginning, as we read in Bereshith / Gen. Ch. 3,
where he came in the form of a serpent to snatch away or to take away the Word
of Elohim which He, Elohim, commanded Adam and Chawwah,
"but do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for the
day that you eat of it you shall certainly die." Satan deceived them
and they ate of that tree, and they died - spiritually (Eph. 2:1-2), straight
away, and of course, death came into this world because of this. (Rom.
5:17-19). Moreover, the second death awaits unrepentant Adamites,
unrepentant mankind. (Rev. 20:14).
In the
Garden of Eden Satan came in the form of a serpent, but in the vast majority of
instances he does the evil work of snatching away the Word of Elohim by
operating through "messengers of light", "servants of
righteousness." (2 Cor. 11:13-15). He has been using his agents, the
evil thorns of the Parable of the Sower. These agents
of his are but men, Adamites, and especially lawless
prophets and lawless preachers who lead people astray - even sincere believers
- into the Satanic deception that "the law has
been done away with." Read about all this in 2 Thess. 2:3-12, 2 Kepha 2:1-22, and especially the alarming words of Yahushua
in Mt. 7:15-23 where He shockingly reveals to us that the false prophets are
those who "work lawlessness" and in Mt. 13:36-43 where He, in
no uncertain words, informs us that lawless believers, who are in the Reign of
Elohim, will be cast into the furnace of fire!
These
passages, however, you have to read in literal translations of the Scriptures
or in Interlinear Greek - English translations. Why? Because once again Satan
has succeeded in "snatching away" the Word of Elohim through
incorrect or free translations, or through what they
nowadays call "dynamic equivalents" which is none else but a
more sophisticated term for a "free translation" --- to snatch
away the Word of Elohim, to promote untruths, lies and
substitution-counterfeits!
The most
successful "snatching away" the Word of Elohim is undoubtedly
the fact that the name of the Father, Yahuweh, has been snatched away out of
almost all of the translations of the Scriptures, and out of hearts and minds
and thoughts and mouths of preachers and believers. This Name, YHWH, Yahuweh -
whichever way you prefer to write it or say it - has been substituted by
hundreds of common titles and names derived from Gentile deities! Give the
devil his due - he has performed a masterpiece of deception!
He has
similarly "snatched away" the Name of the Messiah of Israel,
Yahushua, and substituted it with a Greek name, lesous
Christos, of which both of these words/names can be traced back to Gentile
sun-worship!
Avoidance
of the reverential use of the Father's Name and the Son's Name is totally
un-Scriptural. In fact, it is frank transgression of what Elohim commanded in Devarim / Deut. 4:2, Devarim
12:32, Prov. 30:6 and Rev. 22:18-19.
Yet
another "snatching away" of the Word of Elohim is evidenced by
the relative absence, and at times there even appears to be a complete absence
of the word "repent" and its noun: "repentance"
in the preaching from the pulpits, especially lately.
This is
in strange contrast to what we read of in the Messianic Scriptures, namely
this: The very first word Yochanan the Immerser preached, was "Repent"
(Mt. 3:2). The very first word Yahushua began His ministry with, was "Repent"
(Mt. 4:17). When He sent out His twelve, they went and preached that men "should
repent." (Mk. 6:12).
A
Spirit-filled Kepha similarly began his ministry in
Acts 2:38 by starting with the word "Repent", and he continued
to do so in Acts 3:19 and Acts 8:22. Shaul similarly
did so and preached repentance. (Acts 17:30, Acts 20:21, Acts
26:20).
The sad
reality is that even believers have to be repeatedly reproved and commanded to "repent."
In His messages to the seven assemblies in Rev. 2 and Rev. 3 it was necessary
for Yahushua to command six of the seven assemblies to "repent"!
Sin had already taken over in the assemblies and they were told to repent!
Why has
Satan seen to it that this word "repent" was taken away or
snatched away or devoured? Simply because Satan is determined to keep people in
bondage to sin and therefore he snatches away the Word of Elohim - especially
those words which are vitally important for our salvation.
Let us
look at this word "repent." In studying this word we might
become slightly confused because three different Greek words have been rendered
by the English "repent", and two different Hebrew words. The
commonest of the Greek words used is metanoia,
which is explained (in accordance with ancient pagan Greek thought) as a change
of one's mind. The commonest Hebrew word is shuwb
which simply means to turn, or to turn back. Although there seems to be a
difference in their meanings, the fact remains that wherever we read metanoia in the Greek text, we find that Dr Delitzsch's Hebrew New Testament, as well as the Shem Tob Hebrew text of Matthew render metanoia
as shuwb in Hebrew. (Hebrew, of course, being the original). All theological books therefore agree
that metanoia is the Greek synonym/translation
of the Hebrew shuwb.
Let us
look at the word "repent" in the Bible dictionaries. The New
Bible Dictionary defines it as follows, "Repentance is turning from sin
unto [Elohim]." The Zondervan Pictorial
Bible Dictionary similarly says, "a resolute
turning away from sin" and further on, "a renunciation of
sin."
Let us
not point fingers at specific individuals - so-and-so and so-and-so. Let each one
of us rather examine himself/herself to see whether
Satan has succeeded to snatch away this vitally important requirement of
repentance - to repent of all sin - in our spiritual walk with Messiah. Let us
not fall into the deceptive trap of compromise. Whoever wishes to overcome,
whoever wishes to be set apart (qodesh), simply has
to turn from sin and turn unto Elohim. That is what repentance means and that
is what Yahushua requires. If not - "The soul that sinneth,
it shall die." (Ezek 18:4 KJV). Such a one
dies spiritually (Eph. 2:1-2) and unless he repents before the time comes, he
physically dies the second death. (Rev. 20).