Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven Is Near: The message Jesus Actually Preached (Gospel Series Pt 1)

 

Matthew 4:17 records the first summary statement of Jesus’ public ministry:

“From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”

This verse is not incidental. It is foundational.

Before the parables, before the miracles, before the crowds gathered and the controversies began, Jesus’ message starts with a command:

Repent.

Yet if you asked many people today what Jesus preached, the most common answer would be simple: love. Love one another. Love your neighbor. Love wins.

Love is undeniably central to Jesus’ life and teaching. But reducing His message to love alone is not just incomplete — it is deeply misleading. Jesus did not begin with affirmation. He began with confrontation rooted in mercy. Not harshness, but truth. Not condemnation, but a call to change.

Our culture has embraced a version of Christianity where love is emphasized while repentance is quietly removed. And in doing so, we have unintentionally reshaped the gospel itself.

What Jesus Meant by “Repent”

The word translated repent comes from the Greek metanoeō, meaning a change of mind that results in a change of direction.

Repentance is not mere regret.
It is not shame.
It is not religious guilt or self-loathing.

Repentance is a reorientation of the entire person — turning away from sin, self-rule, and false security, and turning toward the reign of God.

Jesus’ call to repentance was never reserved for only the visibly broken or morally scandalous. Religious leaders heard it. Moral people heard it. Outsiders and insiders alike were confronted with the same reality:

The kingdom of God has arrived, and your life must change in response.

The Kingdom First, Not Feelings First

Jesus did not say, “Feel loved, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

He said, “Repent.”

Why? Because when a king arrives, neutrality ends. Allegiance becomes necessary.

The nearness of God’s kingdom meant that humanity was no longer free to continue living under self-rule. God’s authority was breaking into history through Christ Himself.

Modern Christianity often reverses this order. We present belonging without surrender, grace without transformation, comfort without confrontation. The result is a Jesus who comforts but never commands, who affirms but never confronts, who saves but never reigns.

But Jesus did not preach therapeutic reassurance. He preached urgent repentance because the kingdom was not an idea — it was a reality.

To encounter that kingdom without repentance is to miss it entirely.

Love Without Repentance Is Not the Gospel

Yes, Scripture declares that God is love. And yes, Jesus loved sinners deeply and relentlessly.

But biblical love is not mere acceptance of who we are. It is commitment to who God is restoring us to be.

Jesus loved people too much to leave them unchanged.

When He forgave sins, He also said, “Go and sin no more.”
When He welcomed the outcast, He called them into new life.
When He healed, He restored not only bodies but allegiance to God.

A gospel that removes repentance empties love of its power. Love without repentance becomes sentimentality — comforting but incapable of saving. It reassures people without rescuing them.

The problem Scripture diagnoses is not primarily a lack of love in the world.

It is sin — and humanity’s need for a Savior.

Why Repentance Sounds Offensive Today

Repentance clashes sharply with modern assumptions.

Our culture prizes autonomy, self-definition, and personal truth. Repentance declares something radically different:

You are not your own authority.
You are not always right about yourself.
Your life needs reordering under God.

That message feels uncomfortable, even offensive. So repentance is softened, rebranded, or quietly omitted. Jesus becomes a symbol of kindness rather than a King who demands allegiance. Sin becomes “brokenness” without responsibility. Salvation becomes affirmation rather than rescue.

But Jesus never apologized for calling people to repent. In fact, He intensified the call — moving beyond external behavior to transformed hearts.

Repentance Is Good News, Not Bad News

Repentance often sounds negative to modern ears, but in Scripture it is profoundly hopeful.

Repentance is not the barrier to grace.
It is the doorway into it.

Repentance declares:

• You do not have to remain trapped in sin.

• Your past does not define your future.

• Self-rule is not your only option.

• God’s kingdom is better than the life you are trying to build alone.

Jesus preached repentance because the kingdom is good. If God’s reign were oppressive, repentance would be tragic. But because His kingdom is righteous, just, and life-giving, repentance is an invitation to freedom.

Recovering Jesus’ Actual Message

If we want to follow Jesus rather than reinvent Him, we must recover the message He actually preached.

Not a Jesus shaped by cultural comfort, but the Jesus revealed in Scripture — the One who calls, commands, forgives, and transforms.

Love is not opposed to repentance.
Love is the reason repentance exists.

Christ calls people to turn because He desires reconciliation, restoration, and life. The cross itself proves this: God’s love confronts sin not by ignoring it, but by bearing its cost.

Any version of Christianity that removes repentance is not more loving. It is less truthful — and ultimately less hopeful.

Matthew 4:17 stands as a needed correction for every generation, including ours.

Jesus did not come merely to make us feel accepted.
He came to establish a kingdom.

And the proper response to a King is repentance.

The question is not whether Jesus preached love — He did, most clearly through the cross.

The question is whether we are willing to hear the first word He preached:

Repent.

But repentance only makes sense if we understand the problem Jesus came to solve. Why would a loving Savior begin His ministry with a call to repent unless something was deeply wrong with humanity itself?

In the next post, we will look at the diagnosis Scripture gives — the problem beneath every human problem — and why the gospel begins not with affirmation, but with the reality of sin.

Rooted in Jesus Grace,,

Mara Wellspring