Signs of the Times
Where do we go from here?
(cont. from p.3)
slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."
Here Jesus alludes to a natural type catastrophe. A tower, which had been built over the Pool of Siloam, to help shelter the visitors there, collapsed and fell on the people below killing eighteen of them. Jesus explained that the natural disaster causing the Tower to fall and kill those eighteen unfortunate people did not happen because they were exceptional sinners and that people have no right to judge like that.
Then, like in the previous case, He repeated His warning, "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."
What Jesus means, by the
warning that "we shall likewise perish", is whether our earthly life ends by accident, illness, the ravages of age, or by the Lord's return, one of these days will be our last. Then, each of us will stand before the Lord alone to give an account for what we have done while living on earth.
Because of the significance of Jesus' words here, you will want to gain more information concerning how to interpret them accurately. The very competent Greek Scholar, Dr. A. T. Robertson, helps us understand the meaning of the original words used in these texts. In verse 3, the word repent should be understood to mean because of its linear action, "to begin changing your minds and keep on changing your minds and your conduct." Then, in verse 5, the word repent means, "to immediately and once for all repent, change your
mind and your conduct now."
Wisdom would have each of us take note of the command to repent each time we experience any type of disaster. Don't you think the tsunami was a shout from God for us to repent? What about hurricane Katrina? We would have to be deaf not to hear that message as well as the messages associated with all the other cataclysmic events.
Repentance is not popular in our day. It is looked at as being politically incorrect and unacceptable in many quarters. Guilt is not to be admitted. Ego and self-respect are to be protected at all times. You don't have to admit your faults and failures. You just drop them and begin to do better. That's the popular manner of handling sins and shortcomings today according to certain popular philosophers