2 and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near."
2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
2 "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
2 His message was simple and austere, like his desert surroundings: "Change your life. God's kingdom is here."
2 and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"
2 "Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near. "
17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near."
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
17 This Isaiah-prophesied sermon came to life in Galilee the moment Jesus started preaching. He picked up where John left off: "Change your life. God's kingdom is here."
17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
17 From then on Jesus began to preach, "Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near. "
(Read Matthew 4:12-17)
It is just with God to take the gospel and the means of grace, from those that slight them and thrust them away. Christ will not stay long where he is not welcome. Those who are without Christ, are in the dark. They were sitting in this condition, a contented posture; they chose it rather than light; they were willingly ignorant. When the gospel comes, light comes; when it comes to any place, when it comes to any soul, it makes day there. Light discovers and directs; so does the gospel. The doctrine of repentance is right gospel doctrine. Not only the austere John Baptist, but the gracious Jesus, preached repentance. There is still the same reason to do so. The kingdom of heaven was not reckoned to be fully come, till the pouring out of the Holy Spirit after Christ's ascension.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Matthew 3:2
Commentary on Matthew 3:1-6
(Read Matthew 3:1-6)
After Malachi there was no prophet until John the Baptist came. He appeared first in the wilderness of Judea. This was not an uninhabited desert, but a part of the country not thickly peopled, nor much enclosed. No place is so remote as to shut us out from the visits of Divine grace. The doctrine he preached was repentance; "Repent ye." The word here used, implies a total alteration in the mind, a change in the judgment, disposition, and affections, another and a better bias of the soul. Consider your ways, change your minds: you have thought amiss; think again, and think aright. True penitents have other thoughts of God and Christ, sin and holiness, of this world and the other, than they had. The change of the mind produces a change of the way. That is gospel repentance, which flows from a sight of Christ, from a sense of his love, and from hopes of pardon and forgiveness through him. It is a great encouragement to us to repent; repent, for your sins shall be pardoned upon your repentance. Return to God in a way of duty, and he will, through Christ, return unto you in the way of mercy. It is still as necessary to repent and humble ourselves, to prepare the way of the Lord, as it then was. There is a great deal to be done, to make way for Christ into a soul, and nothing is more needful than the discovery of sin, and a conviction that we cannot be saved by our own righteousness. The way of sin and Satan is a crooked way; but to prepare a way for Christ, the paths must be made straight, Zechariah 13:1.