Invitation for Repentance

God, the Lover of mankind, out of His love for His children is inviting them to repentance because “He desires all men to be saved” (1Tim2:4). It is not His will that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Pet3:9). He says, ‘“Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? Says the Lord God, ‘and not that he should turn from his ways and live?’” (Eze18:23). He may use different methods in order to lead them to repentance… Either by advice through His commandments e.g. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Matt2:3; 4:17), or by warning from the consequences of sin as in “Unless you repent you will all likewise perish” (Lk13:5, 7), or by threatening “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place- unless you repent” (Rev2:5), or by fear “… others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire” (Jud1:23). He also could make use of someone to lead others to repentance as He used the sailors to call Jonah to pray, or to send someone to rebuke others for repentance as He sent Nathan to King David in order to lead him to repentance. He also could use nature to push someone to repent as it happened with Jonah who expressed his repentance from the belly of the whale, or to use disasters and tribulations as He used the famine to lead the prodigal son to return to himself and then to return to his father. He could also make use of diseases and pestilences, as in the saying of the Lord Jesus to the paralytic, “Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you” (Jn5:14). He could also permit certain troublesome or a problem seams to be without any solution in order to come to Him with repentance before seeking His solution; even facing the moment of death, exactly as what happened with King Hezekiah who prayed with repentance, when he was near death, and he wept bitterly, so the Lord added to his age 15 years (Isa38:1-5). Thus, repentance is useful, whatever its method, whether by leniency or harshness.

God, the Lover of mankind accepts the repentant sinners as He says, “The one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (Jn6:37). He accepted the prodigal son in his worst case (Lk15:11-32), as well as the Samaritan woman who had more than five husbands (Jn4), and the repentant crucified criminal (Lk23:34). Moreover, He accepted Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector, giving him and his household salvation (Lk19:9), and Matthew the tax collector and made him one of the twelve and one of the evangelists (Matt10:3). Not only does He accept us, but also promises our purification and cleansing by saying, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Eze36:25, 26). ‘“Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the Lord, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; thought they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isa1:18). He washes us to be whiter than snow (Ps51:7). Moreover, He will not remember our sins after repentance, as He says, “I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jer31:34), “None of his sins which he has committed shall be remembered against him” (Eze33:16), “I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Heb8:12). Truly, the times of ignorance God overlooked after our repentance (Act17:30). And in His love, He promises us saying, “I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (Jer31:33).

God, the Lover of mankind wants through repentance to share His kingdom with us and to satisfy us with His love. It is not a divine order, but it is a divine invitation of love for our salvation, “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19). It is a repeated invitation revealing His love for us, as He says, “Return to Me and I will return to you” (Mal 3:7), “Repent and turn away…” (Eze14:6), “Turn to Me with all your heart... return to the Lord your God” (Joel 2:12-13). The Lord Christ incarnate for our salvation that we may not perish by our sins, so He says, “I did not come to judge the world but to save the world” (Jn12:47), and He knows that we are in need of repentance, as He says, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Mk2:17). Therefore, the objective of His incarnation, as He declares it, is that “The son of Man has come to save that which was lost” (Matt18:11).

God, the Lover of mankind invites us to repent but He gives us the complete freedom to choose, showing us the consequences of our choice by saying, “If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land; But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword” (Is 1:19-20). For that, St. Paul calls the invitation for repentance the “service of reconciliation” and says: “Be reconciled to God” (2Cor5:18,20).

Do not lose the chance

It is God’s mercy towards sinners, that He offers to every sinner many chances in which His grace visits him and works in his heart to have a holy desire for transformation and to return to God. He might have been influenced by a sermon, or a biblical verse, or a good example… or by an occurrence of disease or death of a beloved one, or going through a tough time that only needs a divine intervention, like our circumstances today when the entire world is suffering from a pandemic without cure, nor protection. The wise person is the one who exploits these influencing factors for repentance without losing any chance.

The opportunity may be missed, and perhaps may not followed by another opportunity… This happened to Felix the governor and to King Agrippa. Each of them had the chance, when the Apostle St. Paul stood in front of them defending himself. With regards to Felix, the Bible says: “Now as he (Paul) reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgement to come, Felix was afraid” (Acts 24:25). Grace worked within his heart, and moved him towards faith and repentance. However, he did not utilize the chance, and delayed it to another time, and he said to St. Paul: “Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you” (Acts 24:25). With great regret though, the book of Acts did not say that Felix found the time to call Paul. In this way, he lost the chance of a lifetime. The happened with King Agrippa who was greatly influenced by St. Paul’s deep and convincing words supported with every work of the Spirit; but he said to Paul: “You almost persuade me to become a Christian” (Acts 26:28), and he lost that chance when left St. Paul and went away.

On the other side, we find the Ethiopian eunuch, who met with Phillip along the road. He grabbed the chance and learnt from Phillip the explanation of what he had read in the book of Isaiah. When was influenced and believed, he did not let the chance slip and said to Phillip, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” (Acts 8:36). Straight away he went down into the water and was baptized “and he went on his way rejoicing” (v. 39).

I’m wondering, how many like Phillip did God send you along the way, by whom you were influenced, but let the chance slip from your hand and did not benefit?

Another example is the Philippian keeper of the prison. When the Lord sent an earthquake at midnight, and the doors of the prison were opened and the chains were loosened for the rescue of Sts. Paul and

Silas, he did not delay to ask them, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30). He took Paul and Silas to his house at “the same hour of the night” without any slowness for his salvation… when he believed, “Immediately he and all his family were baptized” (v. 33). We have to capture every opportunity given to us for our salvation.

Perhaps we may benefit from what the virgin of the Book of Song of Songs went through. She was sleep, like any sinner, but her heart was awake to the call of the Lord. She heard His voice calling to her: “Open for me...”, but she was slow and made excuses. She finally arose to open, but after the chance had passed, and after her beloved had turned away and gone. She then cried and said, “My heart leaped up when he spoke. I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer” (Song 5:6).

The poor virgin was exposed then to many sufferings. Later, the Lord, for the sake of her love, gave her another chance.

The Prophet David had a gentle and sensitive heart, responding to the voice of God quickly. His repentance was a true one, without delay or slowness. This was obvious when Abigail rebuked him gracefully, as he wanted revenge for himself from Nabal the Carmelite. He did not argue with her and did not justify his position, but he said to her, “Blessed is your advice and blessed are you, because you have kept me this day from coming to bloodshed and from avenging myself with my own hand” (1Sam25:33). His repentance was very quick, when he counted his people; so, his heart struck him, and he said, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done; but now, I pray, O Lord, take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly… Surely, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly” (2Sam24:10,17). When Nathan alerted him to his sin towards the wife of Uriah the Hittite, he did not argue, but said: “I have sinned against the Lord” (2Sam12:7-13). His psalms were filled with phrases of true repentance and contrition, in addition to drenching his couch with his tears (Ps 50, Ps 6).

Do not delay repentance

Postponement of repentance is one of the works of the devil, who does not want repentance for whom he trapped. He knows that convincing that person to reject his repentance will be rejected by his conscience. Therefore, he easily could convince him to delay his repentance to another suitable time, or to delay it till you correct yourself, which will not happen without repentance, but rather will lead to committing more sins. The most persuasive reasons that he used to delay repentance time and time again are plenty… But we are not ignorant of his devices, as St. Paul says (2Cor2:11). Thus, we shouldn’t be led by him to in a series of never-ending postponements of our repentance; for that St. Paul reminds us twice at the same chapter with the Psalm’s saying, “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion” (Heb3:7, 15; Ps95:9).

Man should not then delay his repentance, despising God's prolonged patience. The Apostle Paul rebukes us about this, saying, “Do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” (Rom 2:4). He sees that such a person demonstrates that there is hardness into his heart; and since he is impenitent, he is treasuring up for himself wrath in the day of wrath, saying, “In accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God, who ‘will render to each one according to his deeds’” (Rom 2:5, 6).

The continual delay of repentance means the rejection of repentance. Samson, as an example, started well, and hence the Spirit of God descended upon him. His sin began when he knew Delilah, gave her his leadership and submitted to her advice. This woman deceived him more than once. She handed him over to his enemies. Even though he knew this, he did not repent (Judge16), and continued in what he was doing. Finally, he broke his vow. His enemies took him, bound him with bronze fetters and plucked out his eyes and he became a grinder in the prison (v. 21). This is what sin and the delaying of repentance did to him. God gave him another chance on the day of his death, and he became one of the men of faith (Heb 11:22-23).

Therefore, do not delay repentance. For many who delayed repentance, never repented and their life was lost. For example, how many times the Jews rejected the Lord and followed other gods, and also resisted and reject all those whom were sent by the Lord to repent. Their rejection of repentance let them to the exile and destruction of Jerusalem and its temple.

Another example is Achan, the son of Carmi (Josh7). He took of the accursed things and hid them. As a result of his sin, the people were defeated in front of the small town of Ai. Nevertheless, his conscience was not moved and he did not confess his sin. The Lord said, “There is an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel” (v.13). Joshua then announced this truth, but Achan did not move. The lot fell on his tribe of Judah, and on his family. In spite of all of this, Achan did not come forth, until God pointed towards him by name, and stoned him. He confessed what he had done, but without any regret or reproach, after the chance for repentance had passed. He confessed as one who was revealed by the Lord, and not as one who reveals himself.

Do not despair

Every thought of despair, is diabolic warfare, for the devil wants us to despair from repentance, either from its acceptance or its capabilities, so that we may underestimate the struggle give in to sin and to continue in that. This will lead to ranging from one sin to the worst. Despair from repentance is more dangerous than committing a sin. It is important to face this despair by the saying of Prophet Micah, “Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; when I fall, I will arise” (Mic7:8). Prophet David, for example, did not despair at his falling in two worst sins, and he also was battled by despair, as he says, “Many are they who say of me, ‘There is no help for him in God’” (Ps3:2). He answers this by saying, “But You, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory and the One who lifts up my head” (v. 3). He continued his repentance with great tears, day and night. Thus, God restored him to his original rank. Moreover, God performed many good things for numerous people for the sake of David (1King11:32,34,36), and at the fullness of time, He incarnate from his seed and was proud to be the son of David.

Among the fallacies that the devil uses to lead a person to despair from repentance is that he will live in repentance with the same heart that loves sin. On the contrary, the Lord will give a new heart “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Eze36:26). He will remove from the repentant the love of sin, and then will not think about returning to it. Moreover, God will make him hate sin and be disgusted with it. His mind will be purified from everything that reminds him of the previous sins until he reaches the renewal of the mind (Romans 12: 2). This fact is proven through the life of many of the saints of repentance Like Augustine, Mary of Egypt, the strong St. Moses, and others. In fact all who returned with repentance became in a state far better than before.

Do not despair because the Lord did not lose hope in your salvation. Where the grace of God works, there is no room for despair. It is good to follow the example of Jeremiah the Prophet, who cries saying, “Restore me, and I will return, for You are the Lord my God” (Jer31:18), as we resist sin and try to move away from everything that attracts us to it. Repentance has two sides that work together and complete each other: a divine role which is the work of the grace in our lives, and a human role which is our struggle against sin. It is not acceptable for a person to be lazy and slack in his struggle against his sin, waiting for God to save him from it. About those, the Apostle Paul reprimanded them, saying, “You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin” (Heb12:4). God wants you to resist all thoughts of sin and avoid their means, and even to adhere to all spiritual means that lead you to abide in the love of God, asking for His work in you to lead you to repentance... then you find God’s grace supporting you during your resistance... so why do you despair if God is ready to strengthen your weak potentials to lead you to effective repentance for purification of the heart.

“There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance” (Lk15:7).