"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." These nine intriguing words are the key to a deeper understanding of the ministry of John the Baptist, the life and work of Jesus, and the theology of the New Testament. Yet, their importance is often unrecognized. When God sent His Son into the world to be the savior of mankind and establish a new covenant with believers through faith in Jesus, He used only these nine words to usher in this life-transforming divine revelation, spoken only by John the Baptist and Jesus. Of all the manifestations of divine power that could have been employed to herald this new covenant (which is the basis of the New Testament), God used only one short sentence consisting of nine simple words to accomplish His purpose. That is an amazing New Testament concept.

Repentance has long been understood as a fundamental turning in direction, mainly from bad conduct to more godly behavior. However, it involves far more than that, and a deeper understanding of Jesus' ministry hinges on one's deeper understanding of the spiritual power of repentance. This introductory quote from my earlier book is worthy of sharing here:

"Repentance was not solely about ceasing prior bad behavior.

Instead, its greater meaning involved turning away from

self-righteousness under the ancient legal codes of Israel and

turning to righteousness based on faith in the redemptive life

and work of Jesus alone. In order to accomplish that, centuries of deeply entrenched religious legal standards, traditions of the elders, social standards and attitudes, and the very order of Jewish society would have to change. It would involve the greatest physical challenge and the greatest danger one could face, but the spiritual rewards would also be the greatest anyone could experience."

If entering into the kingdom of heaven depended on this magnitude of repentance, then Jesus would have woven His view of repentance into all of His words and works, and I began to study His methods of doing that. I first explored the depth of His views in a study of the Sermon on the Mount entitled "A Sermon on a Mountainside: Repentance and the Birth of Christianity." This book on the parables continues that study by examining how Jesus strategically used parables to foster a deeper understanding of personal spiritual change. A third book will explore the impact of Jesus' miracles and how they, too, revealed His belief in the need for spiritual repentance.

Hopefully, when this three-volume study is concluded, greater insight into the power and magnitude of spiritual repentance demanded by Jesus will emerge and provide an informative and inspiring examination of this important New Testament doctrine.

This work has been spiritually and physically challenging and required considerable time and effort. Yet, I have been greatly rewarded by a deeper understanding of the parables and a profound admiration of both Jesus' ability as a teacher and as a master strategist who skillfully used the simplest means to accomplish the greatest impact and change. The parables are not simple spiritual stories; rather, they are literary masterpieces that were carefully and strategically devised to encourage introspective thought about the need for change in one's personal attitudes and actions. They are spiritual seeds carefully planted by Jesus that matured into Christianity.

I am not a Bible scholar, nor am I adept with either Hebrew or Greek. Word resources that were used are available to any inquiring Bible student, and scripture references are from the New King James translation. I am especially grateful to Jeffery McClendon for his excellent work as a proofreader and editor.