On This Day: A Baptism of Repentance and a Psalm of Forgiveness

   And he (John the Baptist) went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. (Luke 3:3)

   O Israel, hope in the LORD!
    For with the LORD there is steadfast love,
    and with him is plentiful redemption.
And he will redeem Israel
    from all his iniquities. (Psalm 130:7-8)

   One of the most important tools for interpreting the New Testament is the Old Testament. This is particularly applicable to the gospels where we see Jesus expressing his ministry to the Jewish people of Israel. Much of what he did and taught is understood from what was already prophesied, what words already meant, and what God promised to do through his Son.

   Part of the blessing of my time with God in his word this morning was to remind myself of the message of Psalm 130. In 1989 when I went through a season of unemployment, I began the new year with the “resolution” to try to write music to at least a portion of each of the Psalms using the 1984 version of the NIV translation. When I came to this psalm, the first four verses seemed to flow quite naturally into a tune that I have since sung to myself countless times. 

   So, when I found myself singing these words in my head while making my morning coffee, I had to look up the psalm they were coming from and spend some time talking with Father about his thoughts on this scripture. 

   Reading, “Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!” tells us how deeply sin affects us. And there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile when it comes to sin! 

   The cry of, “O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!” speaks of the longing we have when we are overwhelmed by the guilt, shame, and fear of sin but desperately want our God to hear us anyway.

   I marvel at this admission, “If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.” No one, Jew nor Gentile, could ever stand before God if he refused to forgive us when we repented. But when we do repent, God forgives, and a sense of fear, reverence, awe, and wonder come over us that such a thing can happen to people like us.

   What this does to our souls is described so beautifully, “I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.” John’s baptism was a message of repentance and forgiveness to people who were waiting for Yahweh to come to their rescue. 

   And when we know how forgiving and good Yahweh is, we call out to our people, “O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.” We cannot escape this, that God’s “steadfast love” and his “plentiful redemption” would have been on the minds of the people of Israel when John the Baptist began preaching to them. 

   Those who heard this “good news” came to John for his baptism of repentance, and in so doing, they not only were forgiven of their sins, but their hearts were prepared for the one who would make this redemption possible, Jesus Christ our Lord.

   I encourage you to pray through Psalm 130 for yourself. So few people repent of their sins these days. But those who do, and who do so from their hearts, find in Jesus Christ the “good news of great joy” that was announced at his birth. He alone is the Savior, Christ the Lord, who redeems all who trust in him. 

© 2024 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)