We are told, then, that because the kingdom of God is near we must be converted and believe the gospel. We have already explained, though rather briefly, what is meant by ‘the kingdom of God.’ It means that God has chosen to reveal himself to men from whom he was formerly estranged, and who were more or less cut off from him. We have all been banished from the heavenly life by Adam’s sin and fall. God therefore sends his only Son and, as it were, with outstretched arms asks us to turn back to him, for he is willing to receive us. Although we have strayed and are lost because of our demerits, he still wills to show us mercy. Because the kingdom of God is near, our Lord Jesus Christ urges men to repentance and faith.John Calvin, “The Gospel of God (Matt. 4:12, 17; Mark 1:14–15; Luke 3:19–20; 4:14–15),” in In the Power of the Spirit: Sermons on Matthew, Mark & Luke, trans. Robert White (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2024), 154–55.
Notice first of all that nothing should move or inflame us to yield to God more than his offer of infinite grace and goodness. When Paul, for example, seeks to pierce men’s stony hearts and to soften their hardness and obduracy, he appeals to ‘the bowels of God’s mercy’ (Phil. 2:1). In speaking thus, he is really saying: ‘Will you now continue in our madness? Must you be worse than the devils? And when God comes to you, displaying his mercy and opening his heart to welcome you as his own children—when he gives you his own Son, will you be so unfeeling as not to be softened or inflamed by love for his grace? Will you not allow him to lead you, and will you not delight in the goodness he shows you?’ It is in just this way that Jesus Christ urges men to repentance and faith. But on what does he base his appeal? On the fact that God wishes to draw near to those from whom he was once estranged. God, therefore, in receiving us in mercy, sets his goodness before us without waiting for us to seek him out; he forestalls us with such exceptional grace that we cannot grasp even a hundredth part of it. Since he is so kindly disposed toward us, we should be rightly and deeply touched, to the very core of thought and feeling.
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