Repentance and Reconciliation

Yesterday, I gave an example from 2 Maccabees of Jason the high priest introducing foreign practices into Jewish life with disastrous results. After the debacle, Jason was ousted as high priest in favor of Melenaus. While Jason made a successful attack on Jerusalem to regain the position, he overstepped, killing innocent people, so that the Greeks turned against him, forcing him to flee and die in exile. Antiochus, for his part, “dared to enter the most holy temple in all the earth.… With defiled hands he took the holy vessels, and with profane hands he pulled down the things dedicated by other kings to increase the glory and honor of the place” (2 Macc 5:15–16). With booty in tow, he left Jerusalem and sent Apollonius, commander of the Mysians, with an army of 22,000 men, with orders to slaughter all the grown men and to sell the women and young boys as slaves, resulting in the killing of a great number of people (2 Macc 5:24–26).

Amidst the apostatizing priests and later carnage and mayhem from invading forces, we have a sublime message concerning a marvelous truth, wisely acknowledging the ties and priorities between God’s people and His dwelling place.

But the Lord did not choose the nation because of the place, but the place because of the nation. Therefore the place also itself shared in the misfortunes that befell the nation, and later had a share in its benefits; and what was forsaken in the wrath of the Almighty was restored again in all its glory by the reconciliation of the great Lord. (2 Macc 5:19–20)

Evidently, at this time Jerusalem and the temple were held as the linchpin or identity of Judaism—that God had chosen Israel because He placed His name in Jerusalem. The writer reminds his readers that they had things backwards: God had first chosen the nation (Deut 7:6), then afterward had chosen a place to put His name as a dwelling place whereat He might be called (Deut 12:5). While the desecration and looting of the temple was a great tragedy, the greater tragedy was the malaise of the nation concerning the holy things coupled with the loss of human life. Later teaching from Jesus describes the continued downward trajectory of the leaders’ spiritual condition, becoming stagnant and twisted to the extent that the gold of the temple was held in higher esteem than the temple itself (Matt 23:16–17); however, at this time, there seemed to be an understanding that the Lord would and did restore the former glory of the city, temple, and nation upon becoming reconciled with His people.

While we continue on this earth, our sins and trespasses separates us from Him. Isaiah describes the condition this way: But your sins stand between you and your God, and He turned His face from you because of your sins, so as to have no mercy (Isa 59:2). Yet in spite of this great wall, the promise of restoration continues as a theme throughout Scripture. Beginning with Adam’s fall, the Lord had promised action (Gen 3:15); and by virtue of the One promised, a means of atonement and reconciliation was available. Presented with the facts, sinners have opportunity to repent (Isa 59:12–14). We see this continuing even in the churches of Revelation mentioned in yesterday’s post as the Lord warns:

• Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else… (Rev 2:2)
• Repent, or else… (Rev 2:16)
• I will cast her into a sickbed,… unless they repent of their deeds. (Rev 2:22)
• Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. (Rev 3:3)
• As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. (Rev 3:19)

This seems like a who lot of Law being dropped on the people them, and our sinful flesh fights against it; but we need to understand that He has already accomplished the victory for us. By grace through faith, we are reconciled to God (Rom 5:10–11); and when His people repent, He fights for them:

He put on righteousness as a breastplate and placed the helmet of salvation on His head. He clothed Himself with the garment and covering of vengeance, as a recompense of recompenses, even a rebuke to His adversaries. Those from the west shall fear the name of the Lord, and those from the east, His glorious name; for the wrath of the Lord shall come like a violent river; it shall come with anger. (Isa 59:17–19)

For Judas Maccabeus and the faithful of Israel, their day eventually came as hostilities ceased with the Greeks through a truce. To be sure, it was a temporary peace, but the Lord was true to His promise. We know what would happen later when the God Himself came, offering the kingdom of heaven: they rejected Him and His gift outright. But God was still faithful to His word: to those who received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believed on His name. Those are they who received ultimate reconciliation and peace.

And When You Fail …

The final chapter of the book of Joshua is rather sad.  The godly leader gave a farewell address in which he recounts God’s hand in leading Israel from past history to that time.  At the end of this, Joshua admonished the people to be faithful in following the Lord to which the people agreed.  Joshua then lowers the boom:

But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lᴏʀᴅ, for he is a holy God.  He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins.”  (Jos 24:19)

Notice that Joshua did not say that the people would not serve the Lord, he said they could not.  Every good intention to obey the Law was summarily decimated as Joshua makes clear that they did not have the ability to follow through.  I will be the first to admit that every time through the chapter, I assumed that Joshua was following the same speech that Moses had used before entering the Promised Land:

Take this Book of the Law and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lᴏʀᴅ your God, that it may be there for a witness against you.  For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are.  Behold, even today while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the Lᴏʀᴅ.  How much more after my death!  (Deut 31:26-27)

Both Joshua and Moses had strong rebukes for the people of Israel who went into the land of Canaan.  One wonders if those who entered were any better than their parents who died in the wilderness.

The people did not suffer from a lack of desire.  Just before Joshua gave his pronouncement, they assured Joshua that they knew Who had led them and fought for them.

Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lᴏʀᴅ to serve other gods, for it is the Lᴏʀᴅ our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed.  And the Lᴏʀᴅ drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land.  Therefore we also will serve the Lᴏʀᴅ, for he is our God.  (Jos 24:16-18)

They were confident in their ability to be faithful and continue in the way of the Lord, but history tells us that Joshua was correct.  What was the problem?

First, the people were blind to their condition.  Thinking they were standing, they failed to take heed and fell.  We can attempt to write this off as nominal believers gone bad, and we would somehow do better; but most of contemporary Western Christianity also prefers bending to the prevailing culture rather than stand firm on the truth of Scripture.  In other words, we are just as susceptible to corruption as the Israelites of old.  We fail, individually and corporately, in grand scale.  Nobody is beyond the truth that “sin is crouching at the door.  Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it” (Gen 4:7).  Election does not insulate from transgression.

Second, the children of Israel were ignorant as to the extent of their condition. Joshua is not just identifying a weakness in their resolve, he wanted to move toward the root problem: the bad with which they needed to deal came from within.  Moses recognized this about the people as he continued his discourse (introduced above):

Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears and call heaven and earth to witness against them.  For I know that after my death you will surely act corruptly and turn aside from the way that I have commanded you.  And in the days to come evil will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the Lᴏʀᴅ, provoking him to anger through the work of your hands.  (Deut 31:28-29)

Much later, God tells the nation through Jeremiah:

The heart is deceitful above all things,
    and desperately sick;
    who can understand it?  (Jer 17:9)

And finally, the Lord Jesus lays out the issue clearly:

What comes out of a person is what defiles him.  For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.  All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.  (Mark 7:20-23)

We are naturally rotten.  We are our own worst enemies.  What we have from conception onward is utterly corrupt (Psa 51:5), being passed from one generation to another because of Adam’s sin.  You were born to fail.

As dismal the inevitability of perpetual failure might be, throughout the warp and woof of history is a thread of redemption and hope.  From the very beginning of sin entering this world, God had promised both a plan and one who would carry it to fruition.  He would set all things right.  A great irony in this grand plan is that the Word of God that the people of Israel, even all mankind since Adam, have spurned became the very thing that won mankind’s redemption and paid the ransom, once for all.  What was revealed to Adam, Noah, Moses, Joshua, etc. was not just a communication from God to man (as wondrous as that might be) but was the living Word of God.  The second person of the godhead, the Son, Logos of God, took on human nature and died at the hand of His creation that He might put to nothing all that Satan accomplished at the Fall and win mankind for Himself.  Not only that, He who is living and active inscripturated became incarnate, walked among us, and explained the Father to us that we might have the revelation that both qualifies us and makes us complete in Him.

What we lacked in ability to perform or tried to over-compensate for has now been accomplished in Jesus Christ our Lord, who willingly went to the cross for our sin and made peace between God and man.  What love and grace!  Now, because we still have the old man working in us, there are times when we fail—we sin, but we have access before God to confess our sin and be cleansed of its guilt.  We have an advocate before the Father who ever lives to make intercession for us as our great High Priest before the Father, and His blood on the Mercy Seat speaks better things than all the animal sacrifices could ever perform on our behalf.

We will fail, and when we do, there is a loving God and Savior who bids us come, be cleansed, and rest in the joy of deliverance and peace.

Don't Confuse Zeal with Piety

Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.”  But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other.  For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.  (Lk 18:10-14)

But let our speech and petition when we pray be under discipline, observing quietness and modesty.  Let us consider that we are standing in God’s sight.  We must please the divine eyes both with the habit of body and with the measure of voice.  For as it is characteristic of a shameless man to be noisy with his cries, so, on the other hand, it is fitting to the modest man to pray with moderated petitions.… And when we meet together with the brethren in one place, and celebrate divine sacrifices with God’s priest, we ought to be mindful of modesty and discipline—not to throw abroad our prayers indiscriminately, with unsubdued voices, nor to cast to God with tumultuous wordiness a petition that ought to be commended to God by modesty; for God is the hearer, not of the voice, but of the heart.… And let not the worshiper, beloved brethren, be ignorant in what manner the publican prayed with the Pharisee in the temple—not with eyes lifted up boldly to heaven, nor with hands proudly raised; but beating his breast, and testifying to the sins shut up within, he implored the help of the divine mercy.  And while the Pharisee was pleased with himself, this man who thus asked, the rather deserved to be sanctified, since he placed the hope of salvation not in the confidence of his innocence, because there is none who is innocent; but confessing his sinfulness he humbly prayed, and He who pardons the humble heard the petitioner.

Cyprian, On the Lord’s Prayer 4-6

Downward Spirals

When confronted with the consequences of sin, most people react in denial or avoidance—much the same way as when confronted with the actual committal leading to this point.  Regularly, what begins as a rationalization for acceptance of conduct in relation to other societal behavior turns to disbelief and blame when faced with the ultimate ends of the behavior.  When a group has been complicit, the reaction intensifies exponentially, making clear thinking even more problematic.  Over past millennia, governments and nations have fallen insisting that their course of action is proper for the citizenry, when in fact, it is the opposite.  Peer pressure to accept or abide government-sanctioned sin works as an added control of dissident thought—truth.

Illustration by Harry Clarke

Eventually, the national situation becomes dire and extreme measures are required.  In order to avoid the worst, authorities have turned to their great thinkers for counsel: “How can the inevitable be prevented?  What should we do?”  Like the doomed vessel of Edgar Allan Poe’s “A Descent into the Maelstrom,” the nation is dragged into a continual downward spiral.  Unwise counsel will say, “Weather the storm.  We have done so before and can again.”  Those folding fast to the ship of state and such counsel for safety are doomed.  The scripturally faithful leader is able to ascertain the true condition and necessary corrective via the more secure, but counter-intuitive, promises.

National leaders with a modicum of spiritual understanding will seek out the biblical counsel, however their intentions may be masked until counsel has been given.  The wise leader will takes heed, acknowledges the national error, and throws himself on God’s mercy.  The vast majority, however, reject the truth, accuse the counselor of lying for personal or political gain, and instead attempt political means, even through foreign relations, to evade the undoubted fallout.  Yet in the midst of this political maneuvering, national leaders keep the godly leader close at hand, as if he might act as a lifeboat or flotation device to whom they might cling in vain effort to pulled into the abyss.  Once again, these measures will fail.

Along the way, people will ask why the calamity has come with no end of analysis on how this could have been averted and where we go from here.  The man of God will make known the truth of how the people abandoned Almighty God for idols of their own making.  The surprising retort comes that the leaders knew full well what they did and are glad of it, because their actions formerly led to prosperity—the very thing the people wanted.  They appeal to the goodness of the conditions that bring about collapse.

Reader, you may be assuming that I have been writing of the current woes in the United States concerning the validation of homosexual marriage by the Supreme Court.  That is not the case, nor is this a look at the economic collapse happening with Greece.  Either would fit, as might any past regime.  Some might even wonder if the U.S. is “too big to fail.”  (Where have we heard that before?  2008 anyone?)  The U.S.S.R. is a stark example of super-power that can fall almost overnight.  My example nation is much older than those from modern history.  It comes from the pages of the Bible through the prophet Jeremiah (42-45).  The vestiges of the small, but mighty, nation of Israel had fallen in ruin because they had forsaken their God.  If any nation could claim Scripture as the basis for their government, this is it.  Their constitution was the Scriptures, yet as a people, they had determined that the “welfare” of the nation superseded their allegiance to the Lord of all Who called them to be a people.  They tried to use their privileged position as a hedge and considered themselves too big to fail.  Regardless of how large or small the nation, when the people do not have a regard for biblical principles in their rule, implosion is inevitable.*

Can national repentance stave off the collapse?  Perhaps, but let us think more locally and pray that those who name the name of Christ in my city or locale will seek the Lord, so that the gospel might go forth in clarity.  The Great Shepherd will gather His flock: He will build His church.


*  Lest you think I am advocating something I have not said, let me state that America is not Israel.  It never has been, nor ever will be.  We are not, nor ever have been, a Christian nation.  The Founding Fathers did have a healthy regard for the Bible, which colored their approach to our governing principles.  Also, 2 Chronicles 7:14 is not a promise for Americans to claim that God will heal the U.S.

We Brought It Onto Ourselves

Many have commented on the recent survey from Pew Research Center on the dramatic rise of the religious group that are “Unaffiliated” or “None.”  I full understand the concern for this shift.  One Facebook acquaintance lamented that a major reason for people leaving is because God handed them a bad break in life, and they failed to remember that God always works good to His own (Rom 8:28).  The truth of that promise is eternal, so what is the problem?

For decades the three major denominational wings cited in the study (Evangelical Protestant, Mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic) have worked to be as inclusive as possible while acknowledging some identifying distinctive.  Entrance into these groups became increasingly easy as the identifying marks of what constituted Christianity were watered down or set aside so as not to impede free access.  Doctrinal statements were relegated to antiquity or the curio cabinet as relics of history, while by-laws were interpreted individually or changed in accord with the whim of societal norms.  The only draw was an increasing appeal to social conscience toward those outside or amusements for those within.  What enduring appeal remained constant came from the family bond from one generation to the next, though this waned with increased mobility.  They became groups having no other purpose of gathering except for a generally comfortable acceptance of one another while sharing the same building and governance.  We should not be surprised by the exodus.

Having been part of the Evangelical community for most of my life, I can see the downward trend.  We have largely moved away from preaching Law and Gospel in view of a thrice-holy God.  While faithful men continue to preach Christ and Him crucified, an increasing number are delivering up a God who desires to salve consciences and ease life’s turmoils.  He is painted as a deity who will do anything and everything for you.  Not only do preachers continually promote this combination demi-god/BFF, but all avenues of media are involved.  Whether print, audio, or video, Evangelicals (some in name only) are in high gear promoting the deity that will deliver the goods.  You might say we are being played as welfare recipients waiting for our weekly allowance with preachers and denominational headquarters reaping the rewards.*  The previously mentioned acquaintance should not have been surprised by those who thought they got a raw deal.  With so little substance being delivered, why would they stay?

Is a trend reversal possible?  Can pastors begin leading their congregations in the paths of righteousness once again?  Indeed, but it requires a shift from cultural Christianity to one biblically based, though this would be akin to a tugboat with multiple fully-loaded barges performing a U-turn.  Some will leave because of the reclaimed apostolic witness, but better the offense be from the Gospel rather than over a church program or social justice promotion.  Some may even think turning attention to the whole counsel of God will be boring, but Scripture rightly proclaimed and manifested in baptism and the Lord’s Supper is anything but.  Better to suffer for righteousness’ sake and doing good wherein is blessing (1 Pet 3:14, 17).

* I am painting with a broad brush, but in a discussion of trends that happens.  Our own pastor has thus far stayed clear of the trending currents and not been swept away, but no man is without his weakness (see Acts 20:28-30).

No Take Backs!

Times of great stress cause people to act strangely—even repent of sin.  Under the Mosaic Covenant, should one Hebrew be destitute and sell himself into indentured service to repay a debt, the Law had specified, fixed limits and conditions for that service (Ex 21:1-11).  Later in Israel’s history, the people chose to ignore these limits, most likely to wrest more service than required for repayment.  During the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem, this practice was in full swing.  King Zedekiah, whether from pity or in hope of currying God’s favor, proclaimed liberty to all Hebrew slaves, and all the people complied “so that they would not be enslaved again. They obeyed and set them free” (Je 34:10).  At face value, we would call this a win.  The people had repented of a national sin—a fact recognized by the Lord Himself:

You recently repented and did what was right in my eyes by proclaiming liberty, each to his neighbor, and you made a covenant before me in the house that is called by my name.  (Je 34:15)

This seemed all well and good with sincerity apparently oozing from every pore.  Perhaps there was a chance for further reform.  Then conditions improved.  Nebuchadnezzar’s army withdrew because Pharaoh’s army was moving up from Egypt (Je 37:5).*  When the pressure relented, the people once again enslaved those they had freed (Je 34:16).  The change of circumstance brought a change of heart so that Zedekiah’s repentance looked like he was negotiating with God much as we see in this clip from The End.



Judah took back its act of repentance.  We review this case and say that the repentance was not “heartfelt,” “genuine,” “intentional,” etc., but we cannot ignore the fact that they had begun with the correct action.  Had the nation adhered to their resolve in the matter, other areas may have been rectified as well—a conjecture based on God’s acceptance of their limited obedience.

By rescinding on their granting of liberty, God pronounced “liberty” to the inhabitants:

I proclaim to you liberty to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine, declares the Lord. I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.  (Je 34:17)

In the same way that Judah had exercised freedom to bind former Hebrew slaves to their obligations, the Lord granted freedom to those who acted duplicitously to reap the fruit of their decision.

And the men who transgressed my covenant and did not keep the terms of the covenant that they made before me, I will make them like the calf that they cut in two and passed between its parts—the officials of Judah, the officials of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf.  And I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives.  Their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.  (Je 34:18-20)

Like the animal that would be cut in half to ratify a covenant, the two-timing penitents would be cut in twain (figuratively, if not literally) as God Himself established the method of judgment and its certainty.  What had been considered a problem averted became the tool of destruction and deportation.

And Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials I will give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon which has withdrawn from you.  Behold, I will command, declares the Lord, and will bring them back to this city.  And they will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire.  I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant.”  (Jer 34:21-22)

Do Christians fall into the same trap?  Yes, they do.  In the early chapters of Revelation, five churches are given commands to repent: explicitly to Ephesus, Pergamum, Sardis, and Laodicea; implicitly to Thyatira.  By following church history, we can see there was some success to the warnings in Ephesus and Laodicea, yet in both cases the conditions from which both were to spurn returned with a vengeance, and both lamp stands were effectively obliterated: indeed they all were, but these two are notable for being involved in the formation of both canon law and sound doctrine through the first few centuries† but lost sight of the gospel directive and placed their corporate interests above God’s, ultimately losing their places.

The problem continues today.  Disciple-making is no longer be pursued as a vital part of individual or corporate Christian life, giving way to tactics of self-preservation to forestall the dwindling numbers or invoking marketing schemes for self-promotion.  The problem clear.  Both methods are focused on self and are doomed, not being rooted in the purpose and plan of our Lord.  The solution is simple—repent.  But that solution is difficult, because it requires abnegation of our intentions as fickle and fallible, and acknowledging that what good we can do is accomplished only according to God’s precepts and empowerment.


*  Scholars disagree as to whether the Egyptian offensive was the occasion, but the timing fits.
†  Church councils were held at both locations: Laodicea (363-364 ᴀ.ᴅ.) and Ephesus (431 ᴀ.ᴅ.)

Mercy in Judgment

Many times over the centuries, the God of Scripture has been considered a capricious, vindictive, despotic monster for His actions against sinful actions.  Those stating these descriptors weigh actions of judgment against Jesus’ instruction that God is love and wants to reconcile the world to Himself and us to each other.  The disconnect appears to be insurmountable.  What naysayers (and many Christians) overlook is that God never executes judgment beyond what is necessary: the effects are direct, never extending beyond the intended object—unless we choose to ignore the warning and remain in harm’s way.

The Lord had begun a series of plagues against the nation of Egypt for the way they had treated His people Israel.  The first four that came upon the Egyptians caused great annoyance and discomfort, but otherwise did not harm any living creature save for the frogs, gnats, and flies that were God’s instruments.  The fifth plague, however, was severe and killed all the livestock, and the sixth was personally painful as boils came on man and beast.

It is the seventh plague to which we might turn our attention.  In preparation, God sent Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh to tell him:

For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself, and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth.  For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth.  But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.  (Ex 9:14-16)

Pharaoh was exalting himself above the people of Israel, and God was going to make an example out of him and his people.  Notice that the plagues had been measured in order to teach all of Egypt a lesson they would never forget, because Pharaoh was too proud to admit his rightful place before the Almighty God.  Even now, though, the coming plague had with it a measure of mercy, so that the hail would not do more damage than was intended.

Behold, about this time tomorrow I will cause very heavy hail to fall, such as never has been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now.  Now therefore send, get your livestock and all that you have in the field into safe shelter, for every man and beast that is in the field and is not brought home will die when the hail falls on them.  (Ex 9:18-19)

Remember that the Egyptians’ livestock had all died in plague five.  Evidently, enough time had gone by to allow the replenishment of livestock through purchase or trade.  So as not to inflict damage to the new livestock or any person, the people were given clear warning to bring them to shelter.  This plague was designed to affect only the crops and trees—two food sources—yet even in this the Lord showed mercy because only a portion of the crop was damaged because the rest had not come up yet.

The flax and the barley were struck down, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud.  But the wheat and the emmer were not struck down, for they are late in coming up.  (Ex 9:31-32)

Some Egyptians listened to Moses’ warning and brought their slaves and livestock into shelter, while the rest stubbornly ignored it and suffered loss of life, bringing trouble on themselves.  The plagues were having their desired effect: the former recognized and believed in the God of the Hebrews, trusting in the word of the prophet; the latter were hardened and chose to cling to their own gods to their loss.

In each plague the Lord was merciful in judgment in order to show the people their sinful ways and show Himself as Lord of all.  He desired that they all (not just the children of Israel) might exalt the Lord.  Indeed, a mixed multitude of non-Hebrews left with Moses for the Promised Land (Ex 12:38), choosing to identify with the God of Israel who had won a great victory.*

Scripture mentions varying responses that God has toward sinful acts.  Some he deals with harshly and suddenly, while others appear to receive of a reprieve for the initial act but detailing the damaging consequences.  Do the varying punishments mean that God is capricious?  No, it means He knows more than we do both of the immediate situation and His grand work of providence.  What we do know is that the Creator of all is patient beyond measure

The Lᴏʀᴅ is merciful and gracious,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always chide,
    nor will he keep his anger forever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins,
    nor repay us according to our iniquities.  (Ps 103:8-10)

with the end that all might repent

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.  (2 Pe 3:9)

It may be difficult to understand why a righteous God would be so patient with wicked mankind and not destroy them immediately, but then we each only need to look at ourselves and be thankful that He was, else would also be my fate.  Not all will believe that Jesus is the Passover lamb slain for their sin, but for us who do, ponder with grateful adoration and awe that we are now in Him.


*  This group was admittedly problematic.  At one point in the wandering, they led the grumbling against Moses (Nu 11:4), however some, like Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kennizite, were wholly faithful to the Lord (Nu 14:6, 24, 30; 32:12).

Not Because of My Merit or Work

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.  (Col 1:13-14)

It is very certain that even though all the gates of hell contradict us, yet the remission of sins cannot be received except by faith alone, which believes that sins are remitted for Christ’s sake, according to Romans 3:25, “Whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood.”  Likewise Romans 5:2, “Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace, etc.”  For a terrified conscience cannot set against God’s wrath our works or our love, but it is at length pacified when it apprehends Christ as Mediator, and believes the promises given for His sake.  For those who dream that without faith in Christ hearts become pacified, do not understand what the remission of sins is, or how it came to us.  1 Peter 2:6, cites from Isaiah 49:23 and 28:16, “Whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame.”  It is necessary, therefore, that hypocrites be confounded, who are confident that they receive the remission of sins because of their own works, and not because of Christ.  Peter also says in Acts 10:43, “To Him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.”  What he says, through His name, could not be expressed more clearly, and he adds, “everyone who believes in Him.”  Thus, therefore, we receive the remission of sins only through the name of Christ, i.e., for Christ’s sake, and not for the sake of any merits and works of our own.  And this occurs when we believe that sins are remitted to us for Christ’s sake.

Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article XIIa: Repentance, 63-5

God Is Patient That We Might Repent

But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
        slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.  (Psa 86:15)
 
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Pet 3:9)

If God was quick to punish, the church would not have gained Paul, it would not have received one so great and noble.  For this reason, then, He deferred dealing with him while he was committing blasphemy in order to receive him when he was repenting.  God’s patience made the persecutor a preacher.  God’s patience made the tax collector an evangelist.  God’s patience had mercy on all of us, changed all, altered all.  If you see that someone who was once a drunkard has now [become] someone who fasts, if you see that someone who was once a blasphemer has now [become] a theologian,* if you see that the man who once stained his mouth with shameful songs is now purifying his soul with divine hymns, look with amazement on God’s patience, and praise repentance, and, taking it up from this change, say, “This change is from the right hand of the Most High.”†  While God is good to all, to sinners he shows his own patience to a special degree.  And if you want to hear a strange tale—strange with regard to what is customary, but true as regards piety—listen.

God appears [to be] altogether burdensome to the just, but mild to sinners and swift to kindness.  He raises up the sinner who has fallen and says to him, “Does the man who falls not rise?” or “Does not the man who turns away turn back?”‡  And, “Why did the foolish daughter of Judah shamelessly turn away?”§  And again, “Turn to me, and I will turn to you.”‖  And in another place he confirms with an oath the salvation that comes from repentance because of his great benevolence.  “‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘I do not desire the death of the sinner as much as that he turn and live.’”¶  To the righteous man he says, “If someone acts in all righteousness and all truth, and then turns and sins, I will not remember his righteousness, but he will die in his sin.”Δ  He thus uses diverse and various means in his planning, not changing himself, but advantageously distributing the dispensations of his goodness.

Severian of Gabala, On Repentance and Contrition, II.1-2

*  θεολόγος, God-speaker
†  Psalm 77:10
‡  Jeremiah 8:4-5
§  Jeremiah 8:5
‖   Zechariah 1:3
¶  Ezekiel 33:11
Δ  Ezekiel 18:24

Whose Sin Captures Your Attention—Yours or Others?

But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”  (Luke 18:13)

I preached about the unlawfulness of speaking ill one of another, when I furnished you with a sure subject for self-accusation, suggesting that you should speak ill of your own sins, but should not busy yourselves about those of other people, when I brought forward the saints as accusing themselves indeed, but sparing others:

• Paul saying I am the chief of sinners, and that God had compassion on him who was a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious, [1 Tim 1:13, 15] and calling himself one born out of due time, and not even thinking himself worthy of the title of apostle [1 Cor 15:8-9]
• Peter saying “Depart from me because I am a sinful man” [Luke 5:8]
• Matthew styling himself a publican even in the days of his apostleship [Matt 10:3]
• David crying out and saying “My iniquities have gone over my head, and as a heavy burden have been burdensome to me” [Psa 37:5]
• Isaiah lamenting and bewailing “I am unclean, and have unclean lips” [Isa 6:5]

John Chrysostom,  Three Homilies on the Devil 1

God's Love Induces Great Love in the Penitent

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.  (1 John 4:9)

He then who is so anxious to be loved by us, and does everything for this end, and did not spare even His only begotten Son on account of His love towards us, and who counts it a desirable thing if at any time we become reconciled to Himself, how shall He not welcome and love us when we repent?  Hear at least what He says by the mouth of the prophet: “Declare first your iniquities that you may be justified.”*  Now this He demands from us in order to intensify our love towards Him.  For when one who loves, after enduring many insults at the hands of those who are beloved, even then does not extinguish his fondness for them, the only reason why he takes pains to make those insults public, is that by displaying the strength of his affection he may induce them to feel a larger and warmer love.

John Chrysostom, To Theodore after His Fall 1.15

*  Isaiah 43:26 LXX

God's Word: A Hammer Working Repentance

This, then, is the thunderbolt of God by which He strikes down both obvious sinners and false saints, and permits no one to be in the right, but drives them all together to terror and despair.  This is the hammer, as Jeremiah 23:29 says: “Is not my word like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?”  This is not active contrition or manufactured repentance, but passive contrition, true sorrow of heart, suffering, and the sensation of death.

This, then, is what it means to begin true repentance.  Here man must hear such a sentence as this: “You are all of no account, whether you be manifest sinners or saints [in your own opinion].  You all must become different and do otherwise than you now are and are doing, whether you are as great, wise, powerful, and holy as you may.  Here no one is godly, etc.”

But to this office the New Testament immediately adds the consolatory promise of grace through the Gospel, which must be believed as Christ declares, Mark 1:15: “Repent and believe the Gospel,” i.e., become different and do otherwise, and believe my promise.

Smalcald Articles, Part III, Article 3, 2-4

There Is Conviction and Consolation in the Cross of Christ

Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.  (Luke 24:46-47)

Christ, in the last chapter of Luke 24:47, commands that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name.  For the Gospel convicts all men that they are under sin, that they all are subject to eternal wrath and death, and offers, for Christ's sake, remission of sin and justification, which is received by faith.  The preaching of repentance, which accuses us, terrifies consciences with true and grave terrors.  For the preaching of repentance, or this declaration of the Gospel: Amend your lives! Repent! when it truly penetrates the heart, terrifies the conscience, and is no jest, but a great terror, in which the conscience feels its misery and sin, and the wrath of God.  In these, hearts ought again to receive consolation.  This happens if they believe the promise of Christ, that for His sake we have remission of sins.  This faith, encouraging and consoling in these fears, receives remission of sins, justifies, and gives life.  For this consolation is a new and spiritual life [a new birth and a new life].

Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article IV(II): Of Justification, 61

Only Sinners Can Be Saved

But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" (Luke 18:13)

Thus although the message of the Gospel is universal, only those who believe in Christ become active sharers of the goods promised and offered in the Gospel; serious contrition comes before this faith and its handmaid is good works.  Thus they who are influenced by no feeling and hatred of sin but go on in sin securely and yet still have the conviction that the Gospel promises belong to them commit a kind of sacrilege.  About these someone might, and not without merit, declare that the Gospel is preached as a witness against them.  This is a very shameful abuse of the Gospel in these last times of the world.  Alas! This attitude is so strong that almost all hope for a remedy has been removed, although all Scripture declares the Gospel message pertains only to those who experience true repentance, who grieve steadfastly over their sins, and seek anxiously to be freed from them.

• Those who are well have no need for a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. (Matt. 9:12; Mark 2:17; Luke 5:31)
• The poor have the Gospel preached to them. (Matt. 11:5).
• Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matt. 11:28)

Thus John the Baptist, Christ, and the apostles always gave the message of repentance before they preached the Gospel.  Christ does not enter into people’s hearts through the grace of the Gospel unless John first prepares the way for Him through repentance.  God does not pour out the oil of His mercy except into a contrite vessel.

Johann Gerhard, On the Gospel

God Ever Wills for Repentance

"Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets."  (2 Kings 17:13)

And we, too, confess a God, but one, the Creator, Maker, and Builder of the universe; and we acknowledge that all things are governed by His Providence, and by Him only.  And we have received a sacred law; but our Lawgiver is the true God, who teaches us to act justly, to live godly, and to do good.… But when [Israel] transgressed the law which God had given them, God, merciful and gracious, not willing to destroy them, not only gave the law, but afterwards sent forth prophets unto them from among their brethren, to teach and remind them of the things of the law, and to turn them to repentance that they should no longer sin… There are many or rather innumerable passages in Holy Writ relating to repentance, in which God ever wills that mankind should turn away from all their sins.

Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus 3.9

A Cure Worse Than the Disease?

If It Hurts, It's Good for You
More than once I have heard this or a similar statement made in the context of physical labor or exercise.  Yet as difficult as those times of muscle strain might be, nothing in the ordinary seasons of life, compares to the internal strain wrought by the acknowledgment of sin, repentance, and confession.  Whether one is an addict who is driven by his fixation or a person who just needs to make amends for an unkind word, nothing quite affects the well-being so positively as the admission of guilt.

At the same time nothing is so difficult to accomplish.  People deal with their flaws in different ways: some conceal, some deny, and others will even flaunt.  Whatever means can be used to avoid squelching pride will be held tightly until convinced by the truth of God's word with its sharp, cutting work of exposing the baseness of who and what we are.

Tertullian recognized the effectiveness of confession as he describes the practice of ἐξομολόγησις (utter confession) for those who had recanted the faith in order to prevent suffering or death during the early persecutions. When they wished to repent, they were called on to publicly display repentance designed to move the church to once again accept them into fellowship.

With regard also to the very dress and food, it bids him to lie in sackcloth and ashes, to cover his body in mourning, to lay his spirit low in sorrows, to exchange for severe treatment the sins which he has committed. Moreover, to know no food and drink but such as is plain,—not for the stomach’s sake but the soul’s; for the most part, however, to feed prayers on fasting, to groan, to weep and cry out to the Lord your God; to bow before the feet of the elders, and kneel to God’s beloved; to impose on all the brethren to be ambassadors to bear his deprecatory supplication. (On Repentance 9)

Regardless of how one reacts to the degree of austerity in the practice, the personal elements—abnegation and supplication—were well-known reactions to sin in the biblical world (1 Ki 21:27; Neh 9:1-2; Jon 3:5-8).  On the Day of Atonement, God commanded the community, "afflict yourselves," "do no work," and "have a holy convocation" (Lev 16:29-31; 23:27-31; Num 29:7), not because there was a particular, identifiable sin, but because they were sinners.  The holy things needed to be cleansed because of what they were, not because what they did.

Avoiding It Like the Plague
All people, whether from the early third-century or early twenty-first, have a natural inclination to avoid disclosure for fear of "a public exposure of themselves," attempting to defer repentance

thinking more of modesty than of salvation; just like men who, having contracted some malady in the more private parts of the body, avoid the confidentiality of physicians, and perish because of their own bashfulness. (On Repentance 10.1)

The inability to face the truth inhibits us from seeking a needful remedy.  Many can attest to those they knew who avoided early medical attention for an affliction and slipped into a far worse condition.  We do much the same in the spiritual realm by turning away from the light of truth and the One who is the light:

For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed (John 3:20).

We fear the both the Great Physician and his cure.  We know his condemnation is just, and that we cannot withstand its full brunt.

Putting on a Brave Face
Sin has a cascading effect: the more we do it, the more bold we become.  We seek out others who will engage in the same sinful activities and try to convince others to join (Prov 1:11-14; 7:14-20; Rom 1:32).  Attitude becomes more brazen as revelry and wantonness increase.

When faced with our own sin and the need for repentance, this turns to sheepishness.  Shame enters with a tendency to cower.  There is a feeling of being trapped—knowing that the only way out is to come clean, yet fearing what others will think of the admission.  Some “double down” on sin hoping to salve the conscience.  The rest struggle for a time as pride continues to wage war in a desperate attempt to maintain its inimical control as the person considers the possible reactions and scenarios from acquaintances if repentance is made.  Perhaps no other person knew of the sin, and when exposed, friends and acquaintances turn against him or her.

The spiritual understand that sinners are "a dime a dozen."  Their assemblies are filled with them and are represented from the elders down to the newest believer.  The difference is that they know and believe that Christ died for their sin.  They understand that the one wrestling with sin is no different than they who will exhort, care, and admonish for good.  That is the place of refuge—the body of Christ.

But among brethren and fellow-servants, where there is common hope, fear, joy, grief, suffering, because there is a common Spirit from a common Lord and Father, why do you think these brothers to be anything other than yourself?  Why flee from the partners of your own mischances, as from such as will derisively cheer them?  The body cannot feel gladness at the trouble of any one member, it must necessarily join with one consent in the grief, and in laboring for the remedy.  (On Repentance 10.2)

The church acts as nurse-maid, solacing and binding up the repentant one as the Holy Spirit does his work.  Being Christ's very body, it acts as his hands and mouthpiece to restore and correct what had been injured or lost.  Here there is the comfort of knowing restoration and acceptance of one whose sins are forgiven for Christ's sake.

No Pain, No Gain
Death is painful and ugly, tearing asunder what is a whole person with throes being a visible testament to the end.  In similar fashion our sin struggles within.  Though our old self is crucified with Christ (Rom 6:6) and we be considering our selves dead to sin (Rom 6:11), that nature still works in our members seeking to regain control.  Having been buried with Christ, the repentant person will feel the struggle in presenting his members as slaves of righteousness leading to sanctification (Rom 6:19).

But where repentance is made, the misery ceases, because it is turned into something beneficial.  Miserable it is to be cut, and cauterized, and tortured with caustic medicinal powder.  Still, the things which heal by unpleasant means do, by the benefit of the cure, excuse their own offensiveness, and make present injury bearable for the sake of a future advantage.  (On Repentance 10.4)

Yes, repentance hurts, but the sin had been doing far more damage, bringing misery and destruction upon us at our own hand.  Only the effectual work of God's word and Spirit allows us to now walk in newness of life, being cleansed from unrighteousness by virtue of Christ's atoning sacrifice on our behalf.

God's Love Evokes Repentance

Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
(Isaiah 55:6-7)

What meaning for us have those themes of the Lord’s parables?  Is not the fact that a woman has lost a drachma, and seeks it and finds it, and invites her female friends to share her joy, an example of a restored sinner?*  There strays one little ewe of the shepherd’s, but the flock was not more dear than the one.  That one is earnestly sought; the one is longed for instead of all, and at length she is found and carried back on the shoulders of the shepherd himself.  For much had she suffered in straying.†  That most gentle father, likewise, I will not pass over in silence, who calls his prodigal son home, and willingly receives him repentant after his destitute state; then slays his best fatted calf, and celebrates his joy with a banquet.‡  Why not?  He had found the son whom he had lost; he had felt him to be all the dearer whom he had gained back.

Who is that father to be understood by us to be?  God, surely: no one is so truly a Father.  No one so rich in paternal love.  He, then, will receive you, his own son, back, even if you have squandered what you had received from Him, even if you return naked—just because you have returned.  He will rejoice more over your return than over the self-control of the other; but only if you heartily repent—if you compare your own hunger with the plenty of your Father’s servants, if you leave behind you the swine, that unclean herd—if you again seek your Father, offended though he be, saying, "I have sinned, nor am worthy any longer to be called yours."  Confession of sins lightens, as much as concealment aggravates them, for confession is counseled by satisfaction, concealment by impenitence.

Tertullian, On Repentance 8

*  Luke 15:8-10
†  Luke 15:3-7
‡  Luke 15:11-32

God's Pardon the Fruit of Repentance

To all sins, then, committed whether by flesh or spirit, whether by deed or will, the same God who has appointed penalty by means of judgment has also promised to grant pardon by means of repentance, saying to the people, "Repent, and I will save you;"[1] and again, "as I live," says the Lord, "I will have repentance rather than death."[2]  Repentance, then, is life, since it is preferred to death.  That repentance, O sinner,… so hasten to, so embrace, as a shipwrecked man the protection of some plank.  This will draw you forth when sunk in the waves of sins, and will bear you forward into the port of the divine mercy.  Seize the opportunity of unexpected blessing: that you, who sometime were in God’s sight nothing but "a drop of a bucket,"[3] and "dust of the threshing-floor,"[4] and "a potter’s vessel,"[5] may henceforth become that "tree which is sown beside the waters, is perennial in leaves, bears fruit at its own time,"[6] and shall not see fire nor axe.[7]  Having found the truth, repent of errors; repent of having loved what God loves not: even we ourselves do not permit our servant lads not to hate the things which are offensive to us; for the principle of voluntary obedience consists in union of wills.

The good of repentance is a vast subject-matter to consider, and therefore should be committed to great eloquence.  Let us, however, in proportion to our narrow abilities, insist on one point: God's command is good and best.  I hold it audacious to dispute about the "good" of a divine precept, for, indeed, it is not the fact that it is good which binds us to obey, but the fact that God has commanded it.  To exact the rendering of obedience the majesty of divine power has the inherent right: the authority of him who commands is greater than the usefulness to him who serves.  Why do you ponder, "Is it good to repent, or not?"  God commands—no, not merely commands, but likewise exhorts.  He invites by offering salvation as its reward.  Even by an oath, saying "as I live," he desires that credence may be given Him.

Oh blessed are we, for whose sake God swears!  Oh most miserable, if we do not believe the Lord even when He swears!  What, therefore, God so highly commends, what He even, in human fashion, guarantees on oath, we are bound of course to approach and to guard with the utmost seriousness, that, abiding permanently in the solemn pledge of divine grace, we may be able also to persevere in like manner in its fruit and its benefit.

Tertullian, On Repentance 4

[1]  Ezekiel 18:21-23

[2]  Ezekiel 18:30-32; 33:11

[3]  Isaiah 40:15

[4]  Hosea 13:3.  Comp. Daniel 2:35; Matthew 3:12

[5]  Jeremiah 19:11.  Comp. Romans 9:21; Psalm 2:9; Revelation 2:27

[6]  Psalm 1:3; Jeremiah 17:8

[7]  Matthew 3:10

Grace Leads to Repentance, Leading to Grace

It is the Lord your God you shall fear.  Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear.  (Deuteronomy 6:13)

But where there is no fear, in like manner there is no change; where there is no change, repentance is of necessity empty, for it lacks the fruit for which God sowed it—that is, man’s salvation.  For God … when He had hastened back to His own mercy, did from that time onward inaugurate repentance in His own self, by rescinding the sentence of His initial wrath, engaging to grant pardon to His own work and image.*  And so He gathered together a people for Himself, and cared for them with many abundant distributions of His bounty, and, after so often finding them most ungrateful, ever exhorted them to repentance and sent out the voices of the universal company of the prophets to prophesy.  By and by, promising freely the grace which in the last times He was intending to pour as a flood of light on the whole world through His Spirit, He called for the baptism of repentance to lead the way, with the view of first preparing, by means of the sign and seal of repentance, them whom He was calling, through grace, to the promise surely made to Abraham.

Tertullian, On Repentance, 2

* I.e., mankind.

What to Do for Lent

Lent is a time traditionally for giving up something (or some things) as a spiritual discipline of afflicting oneself in acknowledgement of our lingering sin nature.  Many people simply give up red meat on Friday and eat fish, but can you really call that fasting?  To me that is a treat because of fish specials at restaurants. (Sweet!)  You can see that fasting at this time of year is given as much credence as a typical New Year's resolution.

Matt Glaz took a humorous approach to matter by writing a song "I'm Giving Up Church for Lent."

In similar fashion, I have decided to give up sinning for Lent.  That seems to be an eminently practical thing to do as it meets all the requirements for the season—except that as soon as I say that I quit sinning, I have sinned (see 1 John 1:8).  Better by far to do as the Lord spoke through the prophet Joel, not just for Lent but continually:

"Yet even now," declares the Lord,
        "return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
        and rend your hearts and not your garments."
Return to the Lord, your God,
        for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
        and he relents over disaster.  (Joel 2:12-13)