And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Luke 3:3
At the time of John’s ministry, Judaea was under the domination of the Roman empire. And the Jews did not like it! They despised the Roman taxes, the Roman laws, the presence of Roman soldiers in their midst. For many of them, their greatest hope was to be delivered from the power of Rome. Many of the people also understood why they were under Roman control. Throughout their history, the Israelites had come under slavery and subjection whenever they had sinned and turned away from the worship of God. It was no different this time; Rome was just another of the long line of punishments they had borne. Even those who were not ready to give up their sin acknowledged that it was their sin and their failure to acknowledge God that had created their problem. So when John came preaching about the remission of sins, they were ready to listen.
The word that is translated ‘remission’ in our text does not mean forgiveness. Its meaning is actually liberty or freedom. To many of the people, remission of sins was synonymous with deliverance from Rome. They believed that a proper spirit of repentance and a turning to God would result in liberty for their nation. No wonder John’s message was so appealing. No wonder they were so willing to acknowledge their sins and be baptized. Although John did not present himself as a deliverer, he did present a means whereby they could see deliverance would come. Today, we apply the meaning of forgiveness to the reference to remission of sins. And this is certainly true. But we do well to also consider its other meaning, that of liberty or freedom, because that is what repentance gives us. That applies to the remission that we received when we first repented and trusted in Christ. And it applies to us as we repent of the sin that so easily besets us as we live our daily lives.
Remission of sins has freed us from the terror of the judgment of God. No longer do we dread the awful consequences of our rebellion and lawless nature that deserved eternal wrath. That matter is forever resolved, and we are free. It is also true that we have freedom from the power of sin in our lives, as we repent of our sins and confess them to the Lord each day. This allows us to be submissive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, and we can be victorious over the faults and weaknesses that drag us down and trip our feet. The more deeply our spirit of repentance, the more effectively God can work with us to bring us into conformity with His Son.
If we could be whatever we longed to be, we would surely desire to be more like our Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance is the first step in reaching that goal. -Jim MacIntosh