“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

This is what Jesus fi rst said when He began to preach the gospel after being bap-tized at the age of 30 about 2,000 years ago (Mt 4:17). By saying those words, Jesus expressed His desire for human beings to prepare for the kingdom of heaven by repenting from their hearts. Jesus wanted everyone to enter the kingdom of heaven by living a life of righteousness with a repentant heart as the kingdom of God was drawing near, and that was why He opened the door to preach the gospel by saying, “Repent!”

Now we are almost at the end of 2011. The eternal kingdom of God is much closer this year than last year, and it is even much closer today than yesterday. Thinking of the heavenly kingdom which has come near, let us examine the teachings of the Bible that give us insight into what we should do in order to attain complete repentance.

Destruction befalls those who do not repent

Recently we celebrated the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles. These autumn feasts contain the meaning of repentance. The Feast of Tabernacles focuses mainly on preaching, but repentance must be the foundation of our preaching so it can be pleasing to God. Preaching without the foundation of re-pentance is meaningless.

From a prophetic point of view, we are now living in the age of the Feast of Taber-nacles. First, we need to recognize our own sins clearly and then we must repent of our sins fully. With this kind of repentance in our hearts, we should lead other souls to repentance—this is the movement of repentance we must perform in this age.

Ps 7:10-12 My shield is God Most High, who saves the upright in heart. God is a righteous judge, a God who expresses his wrath every day. If he does not relent, he will sharpen his sword; he will bend and string his bow.

God is gentle, righteous and good, but to those who do not repent God has said that He will sharpen His sword and will bend and string His bow. Since the souls who do not repent will be destroyed like that, God urges mankind to repent. By saying, “Repent,” God means that we should prepare ourselves fully to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Eze 18:30-32 “Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each one according to his ways, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have com-mitted, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!”

The above verses show well God’s anxious heart for the souls who are dying with¬out repenting of their sins. In the New Testament, too, God clearly says that those who do not repent will all be destroyed.

Lk 13:1-5 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Gali¬leans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

Jesus, who began to preach by saying, “Repent,” repeatedly urged repentance. It is because a life without repentance will lead to destruction, death, and the pain of hell.

Now we have been led to Zion and are abiding in the grace of God. However, this does not mean that we can be saved without doing anything. In order to go to the eternal kingdom of heaven, we need to prepare ourselves. When we go back to our heavenly home, God does not want anything else from us; He only wants us to repent and return to Him in faith. So we should live a life of repentance, always examining ourselves through God’s words to see if we are truly following the teachings of God.

God came to call sinners to repentance

We, human beings, were originally angels who were cast down to the earth as a re¬sult of committing sins in heaven. Since we are sinners, we must first repent in order to go back to the kingdom of heaven. The reason Jesus came to this earth was also to call sinners to repentance.

Lk 5:31-32 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

The “sinners” mentioned in the above verse means the souls who sinned in the angelic world of heaven. All human beings committed sins in heaven, and even after coming down to this earth they have continued to commit various kinds of sins against God, knowingly or unknowingly. In this sinful world, however, their hearts have become so dull that they are just living without realizing their own sins.

Without repentance, no one can be saved or enter the kingdom of heaven. As for the spiritual sinners who sinned in heaven and have been hurled down to this earth, it is impossible for them to return to the kingdom of heaven without repenting of their sins. That is why God tells us to repent. God is eagerly waiting for His children, sinners, to repent and return to Him.

Lk 15:4-7 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”

We cannot fully imagine how much the ninety-nine righteous persons glorify God in heaven and how pleased God is with them. However, God tells us that He is much more pleased when a sinner repents.

Here, we can see that it is not so easy for a sinner to repent. When a baby is born, if the baby’s parents leave that baby alone, he or she will never be able to grow up to be an adult by himself or herself. They have to feed their child regularly, loving and guiding the child so that he or she will shun evil and do what is good and righteous by distinguishing between right and wrong. Likewise, it takes us so much effort to lead a soul to repentance.

Those who start their life of faith are only in the initial stage of their repentance; they are not the ones who have come to complete repentance. If we lead a person to be baptized, it does not mean the end of our preaching to that person. We have a lot of things to do for that one soul, teaching and supporting the soul until he or she sin cerely confesses his or her sins to God and shares in the eternal glory of heaven. We also have to help that person understand God’s word correctly and improve his or her ability to distinguish what is God’s from what is Satan’s. Through this process, that person comes to the path of true repentance, repenting of his or her own sins and trying to lead other souls to repentance as well.

True repentance is achieved through the fruit of repentance

Until one soul completely repents, our hearts cannot help but be hurt. Through that process, we come to deeper repentance by realizing how much we have hurt the hearts of our Heavenly Father and Mother because of our stubborn and unrepentant hearts.

When we repent of our sins deeply, we can lead other people to repentance. Those who do not repent can never lead others to repent. So Jesus said, “By their fruit you will recognize them” (Mt 7:20). Through our fruit, God sees how much we repent.

Above all else, we must repent in order to live fully in accordance with the word of God as the heavenly people by getting rid of all the dregs of our worldly lives.

Preaching is the way to express our love for God, and it is something that can only be done by those who truly repent.

1 Th 2:1-4 You know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a failure. We had previously suffered and been insulted in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in spite of strong opposition. For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts.

The task of preaching the gospel has been entrusted to those whom God approves, not to anyone else. Preaching is an expression of our true repentance. In the process, there is much hardship or pain like that of childbirth. When we endure all the hardship and have a will to lead not only ourselves but other people to repentance, we can be acknowledged by God as those who have truly repented.

Like that, God has given everyone ample opportunity to repent. However, there were some foolish people who lost the opportunity. We can find a case in the Old Testament: Esau sold his birthright to his brother and belatedly realized its value, so he asked his father to bless him also, but he could not receive it. Then he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and begged his father for any blessing left for him, but he found no opportunity to repent (Genesis 25-27; Heb 12:16-17).

We must not miss the opportunity God has given us to repent. As the Bible says that there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven, there is a time when we can work and there is also a time when we cannot work. When a time comes when we cannot work, we are given no more circumstance or opportunity to work for the gospel even though we have realized its value so many times.

Nothing is more important than this moment. Although it is impossible to turn back time and to change something in our past, we can re-create our life in the time ahead as much as we want to. We are given the opportunity to wash all our mistakes and sins away. Until our Father comes, we have the opportunity to repent. So we have to start right now. How regretful will we feel if we have no more opportunity for repentance while just putting it off until tomorrow, as God said, “This very night your life will be demanded from you”?

2 Ti 4:1-5 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

“Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season.” This means that we should always have time to repent, being prepared in season and out of season. Only those who have come to true repentance can be approved by God, and God has entrusted the task of preaching the gospel to those whom He approves.

Repentance is our only duty and responsibility as sinners expelled from heaven.

Leading not only ourselves but also others to repent and come to God and purifying the world—this is the work of an evangelist which we are doing now.

Those who repent will enter the kingdom of heaven

Now the eternal kingdom of heaven is drawing near. As the day is coming closer when we will go to the kingdom of God, if there is no one who repents, who will be able to enter heaven?

Repentance is absolutely necessary for those who hope for heaven. Only those who repent can enter the kingdom of heaven.

In the parable of the talents, Jesus said to the man who gained five more talents and the one who gained two more, “Come and share your master’s happiness!” Gaining more talents means leading sinners to repentance. When parents raise their children, they are so worried and anxious because of many problems caused by their children.

In the same way, when we lead a soul to repentance, there are so many things that cause us anxiety. We have to go through so much difficulty to bear fruit. So God blessed both the man who gained five more talents and the one who gained two more.

The man who buried his one talent in the ground was the one who hated to do such hard work. In other words, he expressed his unwillingness to repent, and that was why Jesus said, “Throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness.” The other two men repented and they were able to gain more talents through their repentance.

However, the one who buried his one talent in the ground had no will to repent. So Jesus threw him outside and took the talent from him and gave it to the one who had the ten talents (Mt 25:14-30).

Today, let us pray earnestly to God, putting the word “repent” in our hearts, instead of just spending each day without fruit. Let us also have time to examine ourselves carefully—time to repent, thinking, ‘What do we really have to repent for? Heavenly Father and Mother have been leading the numerous members of Zion throughout the world to repentance and taking care of each and every single soul since They came down to this earth in the flesh. How anxious and heartbroken They must have been!

Am I now refined like pure gold so I can come before God without any shame even if I meet God our Father right at this moment?’

Engraving the word “repent” deep in our hearts, let us come before God with true repentance. All the members of Zion around the world must achieve true repentance.

If we repent completely, we can lead a thousand people or ten thousand people to God in just one day. Fruit is the result of repentance. As Jesus said, “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance,” we must be fully repentant so that we can produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

If we make every effort to save each and every soul with a repentant heart, we will be able to gather true and faithful materials to complete the Heavenly Temple. Once all the materials for the temple are gathered, it is useless to bring more material no matter how much it is, as it was in the days of Moses. We are now given the time and opportunity to repent. During this time, with more earnestness in our minds to lead even one more soul to repentance and salvation, let us all participate in the gospel movement of God by repenting ourselves first and leading other people to repentance.

I earnestly ask you all to live a beautiful and gracious life, repenting eagerly and preaching diligently.