Bible Doctrine

The Book Of The Prophet Jonah Contains A Spiritual Secret That Could Radically Change Your Daily Walk With The Lord

Jonah knew the nature and character of God, and trusted in that with his whole heart and soul. His falling asleep in the boat is not presumption or arrogance, it is trust!

Published

7 years ago

October 7, 2018

Geoffrey Grider

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Jonah in the whale’s belly is a sign of Jesus Christ on the cross, but the prophetic links continue all the way to the time of Jacob’s trouble

When the book of Jonah is taught and preached, more often than not it is around two main scriptural components. The first message most expositors take from Jonah is the fact that Jesus in the gospels connects Jonah’s time in the whale’s belly to His time on the cross, and the 3 days and nights that followed. The second most used topic taken from Jonah centers around his rebellion to follow God’s instructions to obey the call on his life as a preacher and a prophet.

“Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.” Matthew 12:38-41 (KJV)

But there is a third element found in Jonah’s account that, though it is often overlooked, yields a rich spiritual power to those who find it. It is found of those Bible students who are willing to obey 2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV) and study like the ‘workmen’ we are commanded be. Jonah has a secret, and today you will see what that is, and how it will help you to be a stronger, more victorious Christian in your daily walk with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us begin our study of the prophet Jonah by establishing a few key points:

YES, JONAH WAS ACTUALLY SWALLOWED BY A WHALE: “Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” Jonah 1:17 (KJV). Many a fruitless argument has been waged over whether or not Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale and literally spent 3 days and 3 nights in the whale’s belly. I say it’s fruitless because the verification of those events are attested to personally by Jesus Christ in Matthew 12:40 as shown at the top of this article.
JONAH IS A PROPHETIC SIGN OF JESUS ON THE CROSS: Jonah when in the whale tells us that he has died and cried out to the Lord from the pit of Hell. “And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.” Jonah 2:2 (KJV). His description of his deathly agony continues. “The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.” Jonah 2:5,6 (KJV). While Jonah literally experienced this horror, it is also a type picture of what Jesus Himself would accomplish at the cross and the subsequent 3 days and 3 nights He would spend in the depths of Hell, literally and actually. ‘Good Friday’ you say? Not on your life, Jesus went to the cross on a Wednesday. This is why Jesus tells the Pharisees the only sign they were going to get would be the sign of Jonah – Jesus on the cross.
JONAH IS CALLED TO THE GENTILES, NOT THE JEWS: Jonah in the whale’s belly is a sign of Jesus Christ on the cross, but the prophetic links do not end there. You will notice that God has called Jonah to preach to the gentile Ninevites, and the entire nation repents and gets right with God even down to the animals. “So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.” Jonah 3:5-8 (KJV). This is a prophetical type picture of the ministry of the 144,000 witnesses in the time of Jacob’s trouble who will preach to an unsaved and mostly gentile world, with the end result being a huge number of gentiles getting saved in the Tribulation. “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Revelation 7:9,10,13,14 (KJV).

So as you can see, far from being simply an entertaining Sunday School story we tell children, the events found in the book of Jonah are jammed-packed with hardcore prophetical importance. Now that we have laid the groundwork for what Jonah is really all about, let us now dig a little deeper and see if we can uncover Jonah’s ‘secret’.

Discovering the true meaning of the story of Jonah

We are all familiar with the story of Jonah. God calls him to preach to the wicked gentile Ninevites, and Jonah doesn’t want to do it. So instead of obeying God, Jonah boards a boat to Tarshish, thinking he will place himself beyond God’s call. But quickly we see this is not to be the case.

“But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.” Jonah 1:3,4 (KJV).

From the very moment Jonah boarded the boat, two things happened. First, God sent a mighty storm that was so intense that the seasoned mariners were terrified that their ship was about to be ripped in two. Second, Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship to catch up on some much-needed sleep. What?? Talk about a dichotomy, but there it is. And it is right here where we are introduced to why Jonah could sleep soundly and peacefully while the sailors were beside themselves in fear.

“Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep. So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.” Jonah 1:5,6 (KJV)

The Bible doesn’t say that Jonah was ‘napping’ or trying to catch ‘40 winks‘, it says that Jonah was ‘fast asleep’. That means he was sleeping deeply and restfully, like someone without a care in the world. Yet, for the sailors up on top, it is a living nightmare. How can this be?

Jonah’s spiritual secret is so simple yet profound

Jonah’s spiritual ‘secret’ was that he personally knew the nature and character of the God he served. He had seen Him work and move in the past, he had the testimony of all the scripture written up to that point, and he believed everything that he knew to be true about God. Not only that, because he knew who God was, he also knew what God would do in a given situation, and he trusted in that with all his heart.

How much did Jonah believe in what he knew to be true about God? He believed it enough to bet his own life on the fact that he would not be killed in that storm on the boat because God had a call on his life to go to Nineveh. Think about this amazing level of faith Jonah had in God and in what the Bible declares to be true about God. He didn’t just mouth the words or understand it intellectually, he knew in his heart it was true and he trusted in his faith in God. What else was there to do but to go to sleep?! Does this remind you of anyone else?

“Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples: and he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth. But as they sailed he fell asleep: and there came down a storm of wind on the lake; and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy. And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm.” Luke 8:22-24 (KJV)

Will you look at that? Who do we see here sleeping in the hold of the ship while the fisherman cry out in peril of their lives? We see Jesus, just like Jonah, fast asleep in the ship while the storm rages above. The disciple come to Him excitedly, waking Him up and crying out ‘ we perish!’. And what does Jesus have to say to them? He rebukes them.

“And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.” Luke 8:25 (KJV)

It is in this question by Jesus to His disciples that we have fully discovered Jonah’s spiritual secret. Jesus asks “where is YOUR faith”, and He asks it rhetorically because it is obvious that they don’t really have much faith, if any at all. But by this point they certainly should have, don’t you think?

By the time we see Jesus in the boat in Luke 8, the disciples had already seen Jesus heal the servant of the Centurion, heal the man with the withered hand, listened to the entire Sermon on the Mount, seen Jesus provide a miraculous overflowing catch of fish, heal people of leprosy, and the list goes on and on. Yet when it was their turn ‘in the fire’, they had not very much faith at all. They should have been able to fall asleep just like Jesus was, but they could not. They were missing a key ingredient that Jonah had in abundance.

What does your storm look like?

So many times Jonah gets a bad rap for his disobedience to what God called him to do, and maybe rightly so, but in doing that we overlook his amazing faith in the God he knew personally and trusted personally. Now apply it to yourself, let’s make it real. Think about the last time, and maybe it’s happening right now as you read this, that God allowed you to go through a really rough and fiery trial.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 (KJV)

Maybe God has allowed you to lose your employment and become homeless for a season. Maybe you were recently diagnosed with bad news from the doctor. Maybe you have lost a spouse or a child, and feel like your whole world is coming apart at the seams. Maybe it’s one or more of any number of dozens of things that can happen in our lives that can and do shake us to our core.

Now what’s your reaction, is it one of faith or fear? The sailors on Jonah’s boat were very strong men who were highly experienced seamen. But the storm that God laid on that boat rocked them to their core, that’s how bad it was. Jonah slept soundly because he knew who God was, and he knew that God would deliver him.

“And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.” Jonah 4:2 (KJV)

Jonah could sleep on the boat because he knew God would deliver him. Jonah didn’t want to preach to the wicked Ninevites, whom he hated, because he knew God would have mercy on them and allow them to repent. How about you, Christian, what do you know about God?

Do you know enough about God to know He cares for you? “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” 1 Peter 5:7 (KJV)
Do you know enough about God to place your life in His hands? “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” John 10:28 (KJV)
Do you know enough about God to know He has saved you? “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” 1 John 5:13 (KJV)
Do you know that God will hear and answer your prayers? “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Romans 8:26 (KJV)

Jonah knew the nature and character of God, and trusted in that with his whole heart and soul. His falling asleep in the boat is not presumption or arrogance, it is trust! Are you in a storm today? Trust in the Lord, and then rest in that trust. Sleep in that trust.

This is Jonah’s spiritual secret, trusting in the Lord, and then resting in it. This is what Jesus was teaching the disciples on the boat. This is the secret to, and the essence of, the Christian life.

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:5,6 (KJV)

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Bible Doctrine

Don’t Be Fooled Into Observing Phony Roman Catholic ‘Holy Week’ Rituals Like Easter, Here Is What Actually Happened To Jesus During His Week Of Passion

Published

11 hours ago

April 15, 2025

Geoffrey Grider

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The weeklong passion of Jesus and the Easter Holy Week of the Roman Catholic Church have very little in common if truth and accuracy are of any value to you

For starters, we call it Passion Week because ‘passion’ is the term the Bible gives the events that took placed during that time, and it lasted from Sunday to Sunday. The Roman Catholic Church calls it ‘Holy Week’, sounds about the same, right? It does, until you come to realization that the path the Roman Church takes you down is not the path that Jesus walked.

“To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:” Acts 1:3 (KJB)

The apologist site Catholic Answers says this about ‘holy week’: “Holy Week is the most sacred seven days each year in the Catholic Church. It encompasses the crescendo of Lent, the sorrow of Good Friday, and the joy of the Easter Vigil which commences the celebration of Easter Sunday. There are many other rich traditions and key events during the week, from Jesus’s institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper on Holy Thursday to the solemn events of Good Friday, including the Stations of the Cross.” source

So what’s wrong with that? Plenty. In the Bible, there is no Lent, there is no Good Friday, and the only people celebrating Easter are the pagan Romans like Herod who killed Christians. It breaks my heart seeing Baptist churches putting up signs for ‘holy week’, and ‘come celebrate Good Friday with us’, proving just how hard it is to extricate yourself from the grip of Mother Rome, even for Baptists. That’s why I wrote the handy, little guide showing you the Bible truth about the week-long passion of Jesus Christ. For extra credit, please also read ‘Lent Is Taken From The Babylonian Practice Of Weeping For Tammuz’, and ‘Good Friday’ Is A Roman Catholic Invention, The Bible Says Jesus Went To The Cross On A Wednesday’ Hope it’s a blessing, enjoy and share!

The Two Babylons

For a detailed and eye-opening look at the actual origins of pagan practices like Easter and Lent, we highly recommend you purchase of copy of The Two Babylons and see where the Roman perversion of Easter comes from.

The Passion Week Of Jesus

SUNDAY: “And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.” Matthew 21:9 (KJB) Here we have the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy from places like Zechariah 9:9 (KJB) showing you what will turn out to be, one day, the Second Advent of Jesus Christ where the literal, physical and literal Kingdom of Heaven will be established on this earth. Jesus the King of the Kingdom of Heaven, riding on the ass, and Jesus King of the Kingdom of God, made possible by His death on the cross. The so-called ‘Palm Sunday’ is actually a presentation of the entire Bible. From here Jesus goes to the Temple and flips over the tables of the moneychangers, and heals the blind and the lame. All this happens on that Sunday.
MONDAY: “Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered.” Matthew 21:18 (KJB) All day Monday, Jesus preaches and teaches the people, prophesying what is about to befall the Jews and the nation of Israel. On Sunday He was presented as a King, here on Monday He is presented as a Prophet. “But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet.” Matthew 21:46 (KJB) When Jesus goes to the cross two days from now, He will be presented as a Priest. “Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.” Matthew 26:2 (KJB)
TUESDAY: “Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat. For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial.” Matthew 26:6,7,12 (KJB) Mary of Bethany, sister to Martha and that Lazarus Jesus raised from the dead, is seen here anointing the body of Jesus in anticipation of His death and burial. The devil Judas hates it and tries to stop her from doing it, but to no avail. Now everything is in place for the last supper the disciples will have with the Lord in the upper room.
WEDNESDAY: “Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover?” Matthew 26:17 (KJB) The number one thing you must keep in mind is that the Jewish day starts at sundown. When does the Jewish ‘Saturday sabbath’ begin? It starts at sundown on Friday evening. So when Jesus and the disciples are in the upper room at night, it is the beginning of the day not the end of it. It is in this 12-hour period on Wednesday (at night on our Tuesday), that the events of the last supper, betrayal and arrest of Jesus will take place. When the sun comes up, it is still the same day, on the Hebrew calendar, that started the previous evening. It is here on Wednesday morning at around 9 AM, that Jesus will be crucified. He will be dead by approximately 3 PM later that same day.
THURSDAY – DAY ONE: “The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.” John 19:31 (KJB) This is DAY ONE of the 3 days and 3 nights that the body of Jesus will be in the grave. It is also a special High Sabbath, not to be confused with the upcoming regular Saturday sabbath.
FRIDAY – DAY TWO: “And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.” Mark 16:1 (KJB) The women come and anoint the body of Jesus after the High Sabbath and before the Saturday sabbath. This is DAY TWO of the 3 days and 3 nights the body of Jesus will be in the grave.
SATURDAY – DAY THREE: “And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.” Luke 23:56 (KJB) As we said before, this anointing of the body takes place between two different sabbath days. This is DAY THREE of the 3 days and 3 nights the body of Jesus will be in the grave. You will note that three consecutive 24-hour days, as a day is defined in Genesis 1, have now taken place. You will further note that this is only possible by starting our clock on Wednesday and not “good” Friday, which is not possible.
SUNDAY: “In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” Matthew 28:1-6 (KJB) Remember how we showed you that the Jewish day on the Hebrew calendar begins at sundown? Ok, so the Saturday sabbath that began Sunday on Friday is now coming to an end at sundown on Saturday. Sunday is starting, and it is here, sometime between now and the sunrise of the next day, that Jesus will have risen from the dead. The Bible says that as the sun was coming up, Jesus was already up. This is not Easter, this is the biblical resurrection day of the ever-living God, Jesus the Christ.

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“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

Bible Doctrine

King Cyrus Had A Biblical Mandate To Authorize The Rebuilding Of The Temple In Jerusalem, President Donald Trump Does Not, And That’s A Huge Problem

Published

2 months ago

February 18, 2025

Geoffrey Grider

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King Cyrus had a biblical mandate from God to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple, no such mandate exists in the Church Age with Donald Trump. Any Temple built before the Second Advent will be for Antichrist

American president Donald Trump is making momentous changes that will have a global impact, he has only been in office for 28 days, but off to a furious start. One of the things he has said he will take control of is Gaza and the West Bank to the north of Israel proper. It remains to be seen if he can actually do that, but he certainly wants to. In the midst of all this, predictably, comes talk of Trump making it possible for the Jews to rebuild their Temple in Jerusalem. To that point, many are calling Trump a modern-day King Cyrus, a nice sentiment and certainly a compliment, but quite impossible if you believe the Bible.

“That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.” Isaiah 44:28 (KJB)

One of the most astonishing prophecies anywhere in the Old Testament of your King James Bible, outside of those concerning the birth of Jesus, would have to be the foretelling of a king named Cyrus whom God would use to help the Jews rebuild the city of Jerusalem and the Temple after the events of the 70 years of Babylonian captivity. Isaiah makes this amazing prophecy roughly 250 years before Cyrus, who would grow up to be king over the Persian empire, authorized the Jews to go back and begin the rebuilding process. We read about that in 2 Chronicles.

“Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? The LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.” 2 Chronicles 36:23 (KJB)

So the first point I would like to make for you to consider in any conversation regarding the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem is that there must needs be authorization from God to build it. King David wanted to do it, but God wouldn’t let him because he had shed too much blood. Instead the LORD chose his son Solomon to build the House of the LORD.

“And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.” 2 Samuel 7:12,13 (KJB)

The Temple built by King Solomon was authorized by God, the rebuilding of that Temple at the decree of King Cyrus was authorized by God, and the Temple in which King Jesus will rule and reign with also be, obviously, authorized by God. Chapters 40-48 in the book of Ezekiel lay it all out for you to read.

“And the man said unto me, Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall shew thee; for to the intent that I might shew them unto thee art thou brought hither: declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel.” Ezekiel 40:4 (KJB)

Do you see the problem? The Bible accounts for the first Temple, second Temple and the last Temple, but gives no instructions, decrees, commands or charges for any Jew to build the Temple that will exist during the time of Jacob’s trouble. We know that it will be rebuilt because we see it standing in the book of Revelation at the start of the Great Tribulation, the midpoint of the 7-year time of Jacob’s trouble.

“And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months. And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.” Revelation 11:1-3 (KJB)

A casual reading of those verses might tempt you to think that Revelation 11 is talking about the Temple of God as in the LORD God of Heaven, but you might want to cross-reference that with these verses before you come to any hasty conclusions.

“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” 2 Thessalonians 2:3,4 (KJB)

Antichrist does not come as a god, he comes as the God Almighty and deceives the whole world who is now under the strong delusion in the days after the Pretribulation Rapture of the Church takes place. Paul is clearly showing us that Antichrist, as God, claims the rebuilt Temple as his own, just as Jesus warns about in Matthew. And guess what? The actual God gives Antichrist the whole thing lock, stock and barrel.

“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)” Matthew 24:15 (KJB)

What does all this mean for us here in the closing hours of the Church Age? It means that any Temple that is built in Jerusalem before the Second Advent will be the Temple in which Antichrist will be worshipped. That is a non-negotiable fact if you believe the Bible. Donald Trump has no authority from God, and neither does anyone else, to build God’s Temple in His Holy City of Jerusalem. If a Temple is built, and you just may see that happen before the Rapture, it will be the Temple of Antichrist.

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“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

Bible Doctrine

Clearing Up The Confusion That Many Christians Have Regarding The Role That Repentance Absolutely Does Play In Your Salvation In The Church Age

Published

7 months ago

September 17, 2024

Geoffrey Grider

jesus-sermon-on-mount-biblical-repentance-to-salvation-nteb-king-james-bible

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Biblical repentance toward God unto salvation is the repenting of your disbelief in Jesus Christ as the only begotten Son of God

The role that repentance plays in salvation for born again believers in the Church Age is one of those topics that always seems to create a controversy, and that need not be. God has given us the tool of rightly dividing the scriptures we read for situations just like this. Paul says we are saved by grace through faith, and he says that repentance is necessary in the salvation of a sinner. The question becomes then, what type of repentance is Paul talking about? What, wait…there’s more than one? Yep.

“Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” Acts 20:21 (KJB)

In the Church Age, there are no works attached to or associated with a lost sinner becoming born again, it is all a work of the LORD. He provides the salvation with Himself crucified in your place on the cross at Calvary, He shed His Blood for the payment for your sin, and it is presented to you as a free gift. Case closed. Baptism does not saved you, the sacraments do not save you, the eucharist does not save you, Mary does not saved you. It is all of Jesus. There is just one problem, though, like the thief on the cross, the lost sinner is lost because he or she does not believe the good news of the gospel that Jesus Christ was crucified, died, buried and rose again on the third day according to the scriptures. It is their disbelief that is keeping them from getting saved, not their sins. Jesus died for your sins, He wants your sins, but your disbelief has to be shed by you.

“Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” Romans 4:23-25 (KJB)

Jesus was crucified between two thieves, both of whom mocked and insulted Jesus as they all were up on their respective crosses. Both those thieves mocked and reviled Him equally, in the beginning.

“Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him.” Mark 15:32 (KJB)

But then a change took place in the heart of one of the thieves, after thoughtfully and carefully considering the entirety of the scene playing out before him in real time, he repented. Not of his crimes, not of his sins, and not by making restitution at all to anyone. But what he did do was to repent of his disbelief in Jesus Christ. That was not a work, it is simply a change of mind, which not coincidentally is the definition of the word ‘repentance’ according to Jonah 3:10. The work is of God.

“Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” John 6:29 (KJB)

When a lost sinner repents of their disbelief in Jesus, they go from rejecting the gospel to believing the gospel, and when they do, they receive the free gift of God’s salvation. For me, that happened a few minutes to midnight on March 14th back in 1991. When did that take place for you? If you are saved, then you should be able to point to a place and time where you believed the gospel and became saved. If you can’t, that’s a problem. No one in the Church Age is born saved, no one is saved because their granddaddy was a preacher, or because you were raised on the mission field, or because you ‘just always knew that you were’. No one is saved against their will, or without their knowledge. Unless you are a very small child, mentally incapable or some other situation that Romans 5:13 points to, you did not get saved without first repenting of your disbelief and believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.

“And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” Acts 16:30,31 (KJB)

So what about repenting of your sins? Glad you asked! After a soul gets saved, then repentance of and from personal sin becomes a vital, daily part of our walk with the Lord. Make no mistake about it, when you got saved you were given God’s imputed righteousness for your soul and you became born again in your spirit. But your body did not, and there’s the battle. There is no such as a sinner who gets saved who never again commits sin, that is a lie of the Devil. No sin you commit is held to your account that is true, from an eternal perspective, but a saved sinner here on Earth absolutely commits sin after salvation. God has provided the remedy for that as well.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” 1 John 1:9,10 (KJB)

We hope this short little Bible study on the two types of repentance involved in salvation clears up some of the confusion surrounding this needlessly controversial subject. As with most other doctrines in your King James Bible, rightly dividing works every time. In Part #2, we will show you how after the Church Age, people will get saved by belief in Jesus and kept saved by enduring to the end with their works. A whole different ball game.