September 23rd, 2012
II Chronicles 7 (1 Kings 8:54-9:9)
“Acceptable Worship”
Bible Memory Verse for the Week: . . . if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. — 2 Chronicles 7:14
Background Information:
- It is quite extraordinary that none of the commentators has seen the vital significance of this verse for the Chronicler’s theology, and in particular his doctrine of immediate retribution. Four avenues of repentance are mentioned which will lead God to forgive and restore, and these each get taken up at various points in the remainder of the narrative and illustrated, often with one of the remarkable interventions of God which are such a well-known feature of the Chronicler’s work. (H.G.M. Williamson, The New Century Bible Commentary, 1 & 2 Chr, 225)
- As in the Chronicler’s version of Solomon’s prayer, the focus remains on worship (in contrast to 1 Kgs 8:54-61; where Solomon exhorts the people to observe the Law). (Steven S. Tuell, Interpretation: 1 & 2 Chr, 140)
- (v. 1) God was making known to His people His commitment to the temple as focus of His glory and grace. The Chronicler wants us to think of Lv 9:23-24 where the sacrifices of the tabernacle were authenticated by supernatural fire before all the people. (Leslie Allen, Mastering the OT, 1, 2 Chr, 236)
- In this passage the imagery of fire from heaven simultaneously showcases God’s power and signifies his approval of Solomon’s altar. Similarly, fire came down following David’s sacrifice at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite (future location of the temple; cf. 1 Chr 21:26), and fire from Yahweh consumed the burnt offering on the altar as the priests began service at the Tent of Meeting (Lv 9:24). (John H. Walton, Zondervan Ill. Bible Backgrounds Commentary, Vol. 3, 316)
- (v. 5) In the festivities that followed (vv. 4-11), the large numbers of animals sacrificed–22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep (35:7)–are confirmed by 1 Kgs 8:63. It defines them as peace offerings to be eaten by the people (1 Chr 16:1; 29:21). They provided the basis for 15 full days of feasting (2 Chr 7:9-10). (Frank E. Gæbelein, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 4, 464)
- (v. 8) There were a number of special touches to the event as well. Normally the Feast of Tabernacles was a seven-day festival, beginning on the 15th of the 7th month and ending with a special assembly on the 22nd day (Lv 23:34-36). Solomon preceded these festal days by an additional week of celebration that began on the 8th of the month. These earlier days were set aside to celebrate “the dedication of the altar” (v. 9). In effect, Solomon doubled the length of the holy celebration in the 7th month. We will see a similar extension of a festival’s length in connection with Hezekiah’s Passover (30:23). (Paul O. Wendland, The People’s Bible, 2 Chr, 100-01)
- (v. 9) The “8th day” marked the final convocation of the Feast of Tabernacles (Lv 23:36; Nm 29:35), on the 22nd day of the 7th month. The special dedication feast, in other words, had lasted “for 7 days,” from the 8th of the month to the 14th, including the great Day of Atonement on the 10th (Lv 16), which was followed by the regular Feast of Tabernacles “for 7 days more,” from the 15th to the 22nd. (Frank E. Gæbelein, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 4, 464)
- (v. 14) The Hebrew idiom which underlies “called by My name” (7:14) refers to ownership. God owns His people: He has a claim on their lives because they owe to Him their existence as the people of God. His first claim is for obedience to His covenant will. Yet if they turn aside and go down a path of their own choosing, they find Him standing in their way, reaffirming His claim, now shot through with grace since it offers another chance. (Leslie Allen, Mastering the OT, 1, 2 Chr, 239)
- To “seek [God’s] face” is a “religious idiom for worship in the temple” (see Ps 24:6, 27:8). In particular, this idiom appears in Ps 105, one of the psalms sung at the dedication of David’s shrine for the ark: “Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his presence [literally, “face”] continually” (Ps 105:4//1 Chr 16:11). For the Chronicler, prayer and repentance are not a private affair. If one truly wishes to seek God’s face, the proper context for that search is worship before the temple among the people “who are called by [God’s] name,” participating in David’s ancient liturgy. (Steven S. Tuell, Interpretation: 1 & 2 Chr, 143)
- (v. 15) In v. 15 God goes on to echo Solomon’s exact words, “My eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place” (compare with 6:40). (Paul O. Wendland, The People’s Bible, 2 Chr, 106)
- (vss. 20-21) Particularly telling and vivid are God’s final words describing the temple in its state of rejection. The rejection of his house will be so total, God says, that it will become proverbial for complete destruction. Other nations will use it as a way to mock what they saw as the pretentious claim of Israel to be God’s chosen people. A temple that now inspires wonder with its magnificence will then appall with its desolation. People will ask why. The answer will come back, “Because they have forsaken the LORD” (v. 22). There is a solemnity and a tragedy about this passage that starkly depicts the futility of sin. (Paul O. Wendland, The People’s Bible, 2 Chr, 109)
- Solomon’s prayer and God’s response form the center of the author’s Solomon narrative; the Chronicler will remain through the rest of his history concerned to show that God did indeed keep his promise to Solomon to answer with favor the prayers and repentance of his people. It is particularly in his addition of 7:13-15 to God’s response that the Chronicler articulates most clearly the theological perspective supporting his historiographical goals. (Raymond B. Dillard, Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 15, 59)
The question to be answered is . . . What is the Chronicler’s purpose in writing 2 Chronicles 7?
Answer: Judah became exiles because they forsook God and failed to follow or honor Him. God was forced to discipline them in order to encourage them to wake up to the destructive nature of their ways. The Chronicler is trying to remind them of the gracious, forgiving, merciful and redeeming nature of the God of the Universe. God desires to restore Israel if they would but humble themselves, pray, seek His face and repent; then, God would hear from heaven, forgive their sins and restore them to their former glory.
INTRODUCTION:
Our culture deceives us into thinking that there are no consequences for sin. We have a cure for many sexual diseases, we have psychological explanations for many of our sins, we are financially viable enough to pay our way out of irresponsible behavior that we do not learn nor repent from our sins.
Satan has so maneuvered Western Civilization into a position where repentance is nearly impossible because it is so culturally obnoxious.
The Word for the Day is . . . Repent
What is the Chronicler communicating in 2 Chronicles 7?:
I. Our worship is acceptable to God when we honor and praise Him in light of his goodness, mercy, forgiveness and love (2 Chr7:1-10)
The Temple is God’s “chosen” “house of sacrifice” (7:12). Sacrifice was a prime role of the temple, so much so that its dedication (7:5) could be called “the dedication of the altar” (7:9). Solomon had himself summed up the temple’s purpose in such terms at 2:6. This meant for the Chronicler that the temple was the accredited place of worship. It reflected the greatness of God not only in its static splendor but through its ongoing sacrifices. Sacrifice was a symbolic expression of worship. This is why there is mention of myriads of sacrificial victims at 7:5. In 5:6 God’s ineffable greatness was honored by innumerable gifts of sacrifice. The writer to the Hebrews followed in the Chronicler’s train when he mentioned the Christian obligation to offer to God “the sacrifice of praise,” except that the concept of sacrifice is changed from a material symbol of praise to a metaphor for praise, “the fruit of our lips” (Heb 13:15). Praise is surely in mind also at 1 Pt 2:5: the local church is a “spiritual” temple in which “spiritual sacrifices” are offered. (Leslie Allen, Mastering the OT, 1, 2 Chr, 237-38)
II. Our worship is acceptable to God when we humbly repent acknowledging God’s greatness in light of our ineptitude (2 Chr 7:13-16; Ps ch 51; Rv 3:19)
The chronicler certainly knows that the Davidic kings were not obedient. His history has helped to make that fact indelible. But his purpose is not to rub salt in old wounds, rather his purpose is to show how to avoid the consequences of disobedience. When the nation suffers because of disobedience, the proper recourse of the people is repentance. God’s people can always pray, repent, and seek forgiveness; He is always ready to hear and forgive (7:14-15). (John Sailhamer, Everyman’s Bible Commentary: 1 & 2 Chr, 78)
True hatred of sin is accompanied by self-loathing. “Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities, and for your abominations. The true penitent loathes, not only the sin which dwells in him, and the innumerable transgressions which have been committed by him, but he loathes himself as a sinner. (John Colquhoun, Repentance, 33)
Sin must surely be a very loathsome object in the eyes of the true penitent, since the sight of it makes him loathe himself. No man truly abhors his sins but he who loathes and abhors himself as a sinner. An impenitent sinner usually loves that in himself which he appears to loathe in others, but the true penitent loathes sin in himself even more than he does in others. (John Colquhoun, Repentance, 45)
“So we receive Christ not by just repenting of our sins, but also of our best achievements as self-salvation, by making Christ not just an example, teacher, and helper but actually a savior.” (Luther’s preface to the Galatians)
The whole tone of Scripture lends itself to a proper understanding of repentance. The great natural gulf that exists between the Creator and the created proclaims loudly the need for repentance. The changeable nature of mankind over against the immutability of God demonstrates the propriety of repentance. Our self-aggrandizing nature demands repentance. Our tendency to play about on the surface of eternal issues makes true repentance all the more urgent. The all-seeing eye of God guarantees the impossibility of hiding anything from Him, especially sin. Even our noblest efforts at religion can be nothing better than works of death. Every failure in repentance robs heaven of one of the joys that rightfully belongs there. (Richard Owen Roberts, Repentance: The First Word of the Gospel, 105)
Humiliation, its obligation and nature: I. IT IS A DUTY CALLED FOR BY PROPHETS AND APOSTLES AND SPECIALLY RESPECTED BY GOD (Mic 6:8; Jas 4:10; 1 Pt 5:6; 2 Kgs 22:19; Lv 26:41, 42). 1. It emptieth the heart of self-confidence and is the root of the fundamental duty of self-denial. 2. It fits for approach to God. 3. It disposeth to a confession of sin (Lk 15:17-19; 18:13). 4. It prepares the heart for the entertainment of mercy. 5. It makes way for the forsaking of sin; the more a soul is humbled for it, the more it is fearful of it and watchful against it. (Joseph S. Exell, The Biblical Illustrator, 2 Chronicles, 11)
Here in 7:14 is another law of cause and effect, a happier one than the former one implied in 7:13. Where sin abounds, grace may superabound. The low road from sin to disaster could be left by a track which wound back to a high road from obedience to blessing. This track ran alongside the temple, where God’s gracious provision of prayer was available. If disobedience had been rampant, all was not lost: there was an opportunity for obeying God’s law of restoration. If every rule in the book had been broken, one more ruling is revealed, vibrant with grace and hope, here in 7:14. (Leslie Allen, Mastering the OT, 1, 2 Chr, 239)
The descent of fire upon a sacrifice appears elsewhere as a miraculous display of divine approval (see 1 Chr 21:26; Ex 40:34-38; 1 Kgs 18:38; Jdg 6:20-22). In this passage the supernatural event demonstrated God’s acceptance of Solomon’s temple, prayers, and sacrifices. (Richard L. Pratt, 1 & 2 Chr, A Mentor Commentary, 243-44)
Reliance on external performances of temple rituals had led the nation of Israel into false confidence (see Isa 1:10-15; Jer 7:1-15; Amos 5:21-24; Mic 3:9-12). These instructions make it clear that the people must go far beyond outward ritualism in four ways. (Richard L. Pratt, 1 & 2 Chr, A Mentor Commentary, 248)
Are you happy about yourself? Are you happy about the state of the Church? Is all well? Can we go jogging along? Meetings, services, activities—wonderful! Is it? Where is the knowledge of God? Is he in the midst? Is he in the life? What is our relationship to him? Face that question, and it will lead to this true godly sorrow and repentance, which will manifest itself in a practical manner. May God have mercy upon us, open our eyes to the situation, and give us honest minds, and truth in our inward parts. (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones; Revival, 160)
The sentence, as it continues, forms what is probably the best known and most loved verse in all Chronicles. It expresses, as does no other passage in the Bible, the stipulations that God lays down for a nation to experience his blessing, whether that nation be Solomon’s, Ezra’s, or our own. Those who have been chosen to be his people must cease from their sins, turn from living lives of proud self-centeredness, pray to the Lord, and yield their desires to his Word and his will. Then, and only then, will he grant heaven-sent revival (v. 15). (Frank E. Gæbelein, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 4, 465)
The gospel is not at all what we would come up with on our own. I, for one, would expect to honor the virtuous over the profligate. I would expect to have to clean up my act before even applying for an audience with a Holy God. But Jesus told of God ignoring a fancy religious teacher and turning instead to an ordinary sinner who pleads, “God, have mercy.” Throughout the Bible, in fact, God shows a marked preference for “real” people over “good” people. In Jesus’ own words, “There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” (Philip Yancey; What’s so Amazing About Grace?, 54)
“But what an evidence does this afford of the unspeakable goodness of God! If even their very imperfect repentance—their turning from their evil ways, though alas it fell short of turning truly to the Lord—was, nevertheless, regarded by the Lord, how open must His ear even be to the poor, afflicted soul that turns truly to Himself! We have an instance of God’s extreme readiness to be reconciled to us on our repentance in the merciful manner in which He dealt with Ahab. We are told concerning that wicked monarch that “there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord.” Yet when Elijah was sent to denounce the most dreadful judgments on his house, the wretched king, stunned with alarm and remorse, “rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.” There is not the slightest evidence, but the contrary, that this was a vital change of heart. But there was in it true regret; a sincere owning of God’s power, and hand, and righteousness; a justification, in so far, of the justice of God’s threatening; and a public testimony to the supremacy and government of God. And though not accompanied by a renewal of nature and a repentance unto life, it was pleasing in the sight of God in so far as it went. “And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? Because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil upon his house” (1 Kings xxi.25-29). (Hugh Martin; Jonah, 273-274)
“The more we encounter the holy God in our worship, the more we will recognize our utter sinfulness and be driven to repentance. This, too, is an essential part of our praise.” (Marva Dawn; Reaching Out without Dumbing Down, 90)
Through the Word we understand that God hears us not because our words have been so finely crafted, nor because we have proven ourselves worthy of an audience with so great a Lord. He hears us because he has promised. Luther once ended a prayer by saying, “It is not the worthiness of my prayer, but the certainty of your truth that makes me firmly believe that [your answer to my requests] will be and remain yes and amen.” (Paul O. Wendland, The People’s Bible, 2 Chr, 106)
III. Our worship is acceptable to God when we fully embrace the certainty of God fulfilling His promises: For shalom in obedience, for disaster in disobedience and for restoration in repentance. (2 Chr 7:13-22; Dt 28:15-68; )
Solomon’s prayer is answered with a tremendous promise: God will hear His children’s cry for repentance, forgive the people’s sins, and heal their land (7:14). This promise is especially powerful considering that the original audience for whom the Chronicler was writing was the remnant of Jews who had returned home from their Babylonian exile. A promise of restoration would have given them great hope (7:12-14). (Dr. Tremper Longman, Quicknotes, 1 Chr Thru Job, 70)
IT MAY BE OBJECTED THAT BETTER DAYS WILL COME WHETHER A PEOPLE WILL HUMBLE THEMSELVES AND PRAY OR NOT. It may be so. Just as a sick man may refuse to repent, and yet will in due time get well again. But the moral loss is well-nigh beyond recovery. It involves the blunting of the moral sense, the deadening of conscience, and the loss of the higher benefit which God willed to bestow. A nation which cannot recognize the correcting hand of God must be indeed estranged from Him. (Joseph S. Exell, The Biblical Illustrator, 2 Chronicles, 34)
Here then is the theology of the temple. It is a pastoral theology, for it comes to where people so often are and compassionately points the way back from failure. It is an evangelical theology, for it meets sin with forgiveness, while it safeguards morality by means of repentance. How shortsighted some Christians are in wanting to see a theology of grace in the NT and failing to see its presence in the Old! Even the God of the Mosaic covenant proved that He could cope with failure: as soon as the covenant was made, divine grace had to pick up the broken pieces and start again (Ex 23-24). Thereafter God was celebrated as “merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth” (or better “steadfast love and faithfulness,” Ex 34:6). (Leslie Allen, Mastering the OT, 1, 2 Chr, 239-40)
It is a contrasting echo of 1 Chr 28:8, where God promised possession of the land to the obedient. Here its loss is envisaged as a result of disobedience. Shockingly even the temple could be abandoned by God. The rhetorical device of question and answer in 7:21-22 dramatically teaches the folly of turning one’s back on God. Exodus, ungratefully forgotten, would give way to Exile in Israel’s experience. Israel refused to listen, and it will be the Chronicler’s sad task to recount the sorry tale of the people’s disobedience and its sequel of disaster. (Leslie Allen, Mastering the OT, 1, 2 Chr, 241)
Devotion to God must demonstrate itself in changed lives. The Chronicler referred to the concept of repentance or “turning” from sin and toward God on a number of occasions. (Richard L. Pratt, 1 & 2 Chr, A Mentor Commentary, 248)
God assured Solomon that his dynasty would be established in the future, but under certain conditions (7:17). The expression, “if you walk before me as your father David” appears elsewhere in Chronicles (7:17; see 17:3; 28:1; 29:2; 34:2) and surfaces many other places (see 1 Kgs 3:14; 9:4; 11:4, 6, 12; Ps 89:30-45; 132:12). The covenant with David was never properly conceived of as unconditional. Unfortunately, false prophets in Israel often neglected these conditions, but they were always in effect (see Jer 14:13-14; Ezek 13:1-23). Once again, the standard of devotion is David, a man well-known for his failures, but also a man whose heart was committed to his God. Loyalty, not perfection, was the condition of the covenant. (Richard L. Pratt, 1 & 2 Chr, A Mentor Commentary, 249)
The possibility that Solomon and his successors (cf. NIV mg.) Might “go off to serve other gods” was what actually happened (1 Kgs 11:1-8; 2 Chr 36:16); and it led to the very results (vv. 20-22; 36:20) that the king had himself anticipated (6:36). (Frank E. Gæbelein, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 4, 465)
12:22. The Stern Mercy of God.–In this passage the certainty of divine mercy and the certainty of retribution are held together. These words were written by one who if he had not actually witnessed the sack of Jerusalem and the destruction of Solomon’s temple by the Babylonians in 586 B.C., could never forget what befell a people who would not take to heart the warnings of the great prophets. Down to that catastrophe the Hebrews as a whole clung to the notion that Yahweh’s care for them implied a measure of leniency or indulgence, so that even the light repentance of a day would gain renewal of his favor (cf. Heb 6:1-4). If the prodigal son had returned home unrepentant he could not have been received as the lost son born again. It is always terribly hard to face up to the truth that God’s mercy upholds the reality of the moral order. (Abingdon Press, The Interpreter’s Bible Vol. 3, 463-64)
CONCLUSION/APPLICATION: What does this message have to do with Christ and me? :
A- Repentance is the first step to a relationship with Jesus (Isa 30:15; 57:15; Mt 4:17; Lk 13:3, 5; Acts 2:38; 3:19; 17:30; 20:21 2 Cor 7:9-10)
One evidence of true repentance and a true believer in Christ is ongoing repentance.
It is not the hookers and thieves who find it most difficult to repent: it is you who are so secure in your piety and pretense that you have no need of conversion. They may have disobeyed God’s call, their professions have debased them, but they have shown sorrow and repentance. But more than any of that, these are the people who appreciate His goodness: they are parading into the kingdom before you: for they have what you lack—a deep gratitude for God’s love and deep wonder at His mercy. (Brennan Manning; Ragamuffin Gospel, 103)
No true forgiveness comes apart from repentance and acceptance of the atoning work of Christ. (William L. Playfair, M.D., The Useful Lie, 106)
We see, then, the importance of repentance. Without it there can be no salvation. A Christian character that is not built upon it, though the greatest pains may have been taken in its formation, and years may have been employed in its construction, will not stand before the storms of the last day. It will certainly fall; and the higher it is, the greater will be its fall. Paul places “repentance from dead works” as the bottom tier of stones in the foundation of the edifice which every Christian builds for himself to all eternity. See Heb. 6:1. (B. T. Roberts; Fishers Of Men, 124)
”In America we make carnal recruits and ignore repentance.” — Chuck Colson
The Bible does not treat repentance as an option. God commands all people everywhere to repent. Repentance is a duty imposed on each of us as well as on everyone everywhere by our Creator. Unfortunately, many are not duty-oriented and therefore they rebel at the mere thought of being told what they must do. (Richard Owen Roberts, Repentance: The First Word of the Gospel, 271)
The usual biblical word describing the no we say to the world’s lies and the yes we say to God’s truth is repentance. (Eugene H. Peterson; A Long Obedience in the Same Direction discipleship in an Instant Society, 25)
Seldom do we know the precise chain of events that leads to a persons’ repentance. Sometimes trials humble a person and make him more open to the Word. Sometimes a fellow-Christian’s loving rebuke, delivered in a timely way, will reclaim a brother on the spot. Sometimes the fog of sinful thinking and feeling and wanting simply lifts, and we see clearly the mess we’re in. All we know for sure is that God has given us his Word and sacraments and promised that the Spirit works through these means to create in us a clean heart and renew in us a steady spirit. But God gives us no timetable telling us exactly when he will do that in the individual cases we deal with. (Paul O. Wendland, The People’s Bible, 1 Chr, 226)
True repentance only begins when one passes out of what the Bible sees as self-deception (cf. Jas 1:22, 26; 1 Jn 1:8) and modern counselors call denial, into what the Bible calls conviction of sin (Cf. Jn 16:8). (J. I. Packer; Rediscovering Holiness, 123-24)
Natural repentance is that natural feeling of sorrow and self-condemnation, of which a man is conscious for having done that which he sees he ought not to have done, and which arises from a discovery of the impropriety of it, or from reflecting on the disagreeable consequences of it to others, and especially to himself. (Dr. John Colquhoun; Repentance, 9)
Legal repentance is a feeling of regret produced in a legalist by the fear that his violations of the Divine law and especially his gross sins do expose him to external punishment. This regret is increased by his desire to be exempted on the ground of it from the dreadful punishment to which he knows he is condemned for them. He is extremely sorry, not that he has transgressed the law, but that the law and the justice of God are so very strict that they cannot leave him at liberty to sin with impunity. (Dr. John Colquhoun; Repentance, 9)
Evangelical repentance is altogether different from either of these. It is a gracious principle and habit implanted in the soul by the Spirit of Christ, in the exercise of which a regenerate and believing sinner, deeply sensible of the exceeding sinfulness and just demerit of his innumerable sins is truly humbled and grieved before the Lord, on account of the sinfulness and hurtfulness of them. He feels bitter remorse, unfeigned sorrow, and deep self-abhorrence for the aggravated transgressions of his life, and the deep depravity of his nature; chiefly, because by all his innumerable provocations he has dishonored an infinitely holy and gracious God, transgressed a law which is ‘holy, and just, and good’, and defiled, deformed, and even destroyed his own precious soul. This godly sorrow for sin and this holy abhorrence of it arise from a spiritual discovery of pardoning mercy with God in Christ, and from the exercise of trusting in His mercy. And these feelings and exercises are always accompanied by an unfeigned love of universal holiness, and by fixed resolutions and endeavors to turn from all iniquity to God and to walk before him in newness of life. Such, in general is the nature of that evangelical repentance, to the habit and exercise of which the Lord Jesus calls sinners who hear the Gospel (Dr. John Colquhoun; Repentance, 10)
Men are often willing to be baptized, to pay their money, or do anything that is respectable, rather than humble themselves by repentance. But it is all of no avail. We come to the footstool of sovereign mercy only by genuine self-abasement.
A man who has counterfeit money is worse off than one who has no money. Preaching unscriptural ideas of repentance does, perhaps, more damage than not preaching repentance at all. It is harder to unlearn an error than it is to learn the truth. (B. T. Roberts, Fishers Of Men, 125)
I know of only two alternatives to hypocrisy: perfection or honesty. Since I have never met a person who loves the Lord our God with all her heart, mind, and soul, and loves her neighbor as herself, I do not view perfection as a realistic alternative. Our only option, then, is honesty that leads to repentance. As the Bible shows, Gods’ grace can cover any sin, including murder, infidelity, or betrayal. Yet by definition grace must be received, and hypocrisy disguises our need to receive grace. When the masks fall, hypocrisy is exposed as an elaborate ruse to avoid grace. (Philip Yancey; What’s so Amazing About Grace?, 204)
Jesus’ story of the Prodigal Son makes a similar point. The prodigal son had no leg to stand on, not possible basis for spiritual pride. By any measure of spiritual competition he had failed, and now he had nothing to lean against but grace. God’s love and forgiveness extended equally to the virtuous elder brother, of course, but that son, too busy comparing himself to his irresponsible sibling, was blinded to the truth about himself. In the words of Henri Nouwen, “The lostness of the resentful ‘saint’ is so hard to reach precisely because it is so closely wedded to the desire to be good and virtuous.” Nouwen confesses:
I know, from my own life, how diligently I have tried to be good, acceptable, likable, and a worthy example for others. There was always the conscious effort to avoid the pitfalls of sin and the constant fear of giving in to temptation. But with all of that there came a seriousness, a moralistic intensity—and even a touch of fanaticism—that made it increasingly difficult to feel at home in my Father’s house. I became less free, less spontaneous, less playful. . . .
The more I reflect on the elder son in me, the more I realize how deeply rooted this form of lostness really is and how hard it is to return home from there. Returning home from a lustful escapade seems so much easier than returning home from a cold anger that has rooted itself in the deepest corners of my being.
The spiritual games we play, many of which begin with the best of motives, can perversely lead us away from God, because they lead us away from grace. Repentance, not proper behavior or even holiness, is the doorway to grace. And the opposite of sin is grace, not virtue. (Philip Yancey; What’s so Amazing About Grace?, 205-06)
“Christians are called to a life of habitual repentance, as a discipline integral to healthy holy living…conversion must be continuous…There has to be for all of us some form of entry into the converted state, in which none of us is found by nature…But there is more: following from ‘the hour I first believed,’ conversion must now become a lifelong process. Conversion has been defined from this standpoint as a matter of giving as much as you know of yourself to as much as you know of God. This means that our knowledge of God and ourselves grows (and the two grow together), so our conversion needs to be repeated and extended constantly.” (J. I. Packer, Rediscovering Holiness, 121, 139, 140)
“Repentance means turning from as much as you know of your sin to give as much as you know of yourself to as much as you know of your God, and as our knowledge grows at these three points so our practice of repentance has to be enlarged.” (J. I. Packer, Keep in Step with the Spirit, 104)
“When we call sin “not sin” we burn the bridge back to God because we can’t repent of something we don’t think is wrong.” (Steve Brown, Romans Preaching Series)
So began the Reformation, and at its heart lay Luther’s great discovery: Repentance is a characteristic of the whole life, not the action of a single moment. (Sinclair Ferguson; The Grace of Repentance, 11)
If the universe is not governed by an absolute goodness, then all our efforts are in the long run hopeless. But if it is, then we are making ourselves enemies to that goodness every day, and are not in the least likely to do any better tomorrow, and so our case is hopeless again.
…Christianity tells people to repent and promises them forgiveness. It therefore has nothing (as far as I know) to say to people who do not know that they need any forgiveness. It is after you have realized that there is a real Moral Law, and a Power behind the law, and that you have broken that law and put yourself wrong with that Power–it is after all this and not a moment sooner, that Christianity begins to talk. When you are sick, you will listen to the doctor. (C. S. Lewis; Mere Christianity, Bk. I, 38-39)
Repentance that renews precious fellowship with our incomparably wonderful God ultimately furthers our joy. Just as we cannot enter into the repentance without sorrow for our guilt, we cannot emerge from true repentance without joy for our release from shame. (Bryan Chapell, Holiness by Grace, 88)
To raise a crop of wheat, the fallow ground must be broken up, no matter with what kind of a team and a plow it is done. With whatever church a sinner may unite, he must truly repent in the sight of God before he can find forgiveness and thus take the first step in the way of salvation.
But how few churches insist upon repentance as a condition of obtaining pardon for sins! Yet the duty and necessity of repentance is taught in the Holy Scriptures with all plainness. It seems strange that it could be overlooked by anyone who reads the Bible.
Repentance was the burden of the preaching of our Lord. “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt 4:17). With great variety of statement and illustration He continued to preach in the same strain. “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Lk 5:32; Mt 9:13). If this was His mission, is it not strange that men who neglect or purposely omit to preach repentance will style themselves his ministers? He taught, as plainly as words can teach, that men must repent in order to escape perdition. “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Lk 13:3). What can be more explicit?
After His resurrection He enjoined His followers to preach repentance as a condition of forgiveness the world over. “Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem (Lk 24:45-47). (B. T. Roberts; Fishers Of Men, 122)
“In this book you will find more than a dozen of these fast day messages described by Evan along with calls to corporate repentance issued by government bodies and church leaders. Early Americans, despite their faults, knew that God hated sin and punished it in the unrepentance, including unrepentant believers and churches. Because they feared God and His ability to punish, they sought to lead their people in quick and thorough repentance.
They were alert to signs of God’s manifest displeasure among them. Natural calamities, which some of us treat with a shrug of a shoulder, were dutifully examined, prayed over and improved by godly men of old. Even the unexpected death of a pastor, a youth, a government official, a farmer or a housewife had power to provoke them to inquire if God had a grievance against His people.
Their attitude of brokenness and contrition before God made them sensitive to what He was saying to them, just as the arrogancy and self-sufficiency of today’s church make it virtually immune to the voice of God and the promptings of His Spirit. If they passed into dry seasons spiritually, they took this as a message from God and sought His face in renewed repentance and dedication.” (Richard Roberts; Sanctify the Congregation, xii)
WHEN WE sin, we are in essence saying to God: I love what this other thing does for me more than what YOU do for me, God. We are like a spouse who is found in adultery with another lover. Repentance can only be seen properly when we see ourselves as an adulterer going back to our faithful mate when we have sought the arms of another. — Pastor Keith
B- Repentance is facilitated by humility and seeking God’s face. (Lk 15:11-32; Rom 2:4; Heb 12:1-2)
A proper view of God’s person is a powerful motive to true repentance. (Richard Roberts; Repentance, 159)
“Growth in holiness cannot continue where repenting from the heart has stopped.” (J. I. Packer; Rediscovering Holiness, 139)
“One part of repentance is to set the will against sinful behavior. But in spiritual renewal, your eyes are opened to deeper forms of “flesh” in the heart from which sinful behavior springs—root attitudes and values that serve as forms of works-righteousness and self-will. All Christians maintain ways to keep mastery of their own lives through residual schemes of self-salvation, ways of continuing to seek to earn our acceptance. To do this, we fix our hearts on created things such as work, love, possessions, romance, acclaim, and so on . .. . Revivals always require a relinquishment of idols (Jgs 10:10-16; Ex 33:1-6). As this deeper work of repentance proceeds, the Christian begins to hunger more for the love and presence of God.” — Tim Keller
So the suffering of some is not a call to condemn them but to condemn all, especially ourselves. We must all repent. Christ is telling us that when disaster, tragedy, suffering, or accidents happen to some we are all to get the message: repent or perish. Accidents are not accidental. They are God’s way of screaming at people who pay no attention to conscience, nor His Word. They go through life complaining of how much they have to suffer, of how much they are deprived. They are constantly distressed with this, that, and the other. They never, for a moment, seriously consider what they deserve. Pain is God’s way of shaking us up to the problem of pleasure. (John H. Gerstner, Repent or Perish, 7)
The following directions how to attain evangelical repentance I would now offer to the impenitent sinner.
1. Look upon it as the gift of Christ, and trust that your iniquities were laid on Him, and that He was pierced for them. Trust also in Him for true repentance, and in God through Him, for pardoning mercy and renewing grace. You should attempt believing, in order to the exercise of evangelical repentance, and should rely on the grace of God in Christ for the renovating influences of His Holy Spirit. 2. Choose God in Christ for your covenant-God and portion, and then you will be both disposed and encouraged to return to Him. To return to God as the Lord your God is the essence of evangelical repentance. 3. Be frequent and importunate in prayer to Him for the gift of true repentance, saying with Ephraim, “Turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the Lord my God.” Pray in faith for the performance of this absolute promise to you; “A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.” 4. Endeavor to see sin in its own hateful colors, to see what an evil and bitter thing it is. To see the sin of your heart and life in its exceeding sinfulness and odiousness would be a means of making you flee from it with deep abhorrence. And if you would discern spiritually the hateful deformity of sin, consider the infinite majesty and holiness of God which are insulted by sin, the good things which impenitent continuance in sin deprives you of, the dreadful evils to which it exposes you, the infinite wrath of God which awaits you if you live and die impenitent, and the infinite obligation under which you lie to keep all His commandments. 5. Study to see and to be suitably affected with the deep depravity or sin of your nature, as well as with the innumerable transgressions of your life; and call yourself every day to a strict account for your sins of omission and commission on that day; and that, in order to see what great reason you have to repent of them. 6. Meditate frequently and attentively on the awful anguish, and astonishing death of the Lord Jesus, that you may see the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and the everlasting punishment which the sinner deserves. 7. Dwell much on the thoughts of death and of judgment to come. Consider seriously how uncertain is the continuance of your life in this world. Be assured that if death surprise you in unbelief and impenitence, you are for ever undone. (John Colquhoun, Repentance, 68-69)
There is also a link between repentance and the knowledge of the truth, without which none can be saved. Paul advised Timothy to be “kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tm 2:24-25). (Richard Owen Roberts, Repentance: The First Word of the Gospel, 70)
Helps to the performance of the duty of humiliation: I. TAKE A VIEW OF GOD. 1. In Himself. (1) His searching eye and mighty hand (Jas 4:10; 1 Pt 5:6). (2) His majesty and glory (Isa 6:2; Ps 89:6, 7). (3) His holiness (Ex 15:11; Josh 24:19). (4) His jealousy and justice (Nah 1:2). (5) His mercy and goodness (Hos 3:5; Rom 2:4). (6) His omniscience. Such considerations have humbled the holiest of men. Moses (Ex 3:6); Job (Job 42:5); Elijah (1 Kgs 19:13); Isaiah (Isa 6:5); Ezra (Ezra 9:15); Peter (Lk 5:8). 2. In His relations to us. He is our Maker, King, Judge, Father, Master. 3. In His dealings with us. (1) In His judgments and various providences. (2) In His mercies which have shined upon us through all our clouds. (Joseph S. Exell, The Biblical Illustrator, 2 Chronicles, 11)
NATIONAL TROUBLE SHOULD CAUSE A PEOPLE TO CONSIDER THEIR WAYS, and to seriously reflect upon their national sins. (Joseph S. Exell, The Biblical Illustrator, 2 Chronicles, 34)
A proper consciousness of national sins ought to bring a people to their knees IN HUMBLE SUBMISSION, AND LEAD THEM TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT NATIONAL CHASTISEMENTS ARE OF His appointment. (Joseph S. Exell, The Biblical Illustrator, 2 Chronicles, 34)
“Leviticus 26 particularly describes an escalating intensity or seriousness of difficulties, an ever-worsening series of events that will come on a disobedient people. Each calamity is designed to bring them to repentance; but if they still will not repent, then worse will come. In both passages the final blow is exile from the Land of Promise. But in Lv 26:40-45 and Dt 30:1-10, God promises that when they are cast out of the land, if they will then take to heart what has befallen them and repent, that God will listen to their prayer and restore them to the land.” (Expositor’s, Vol. 4, 87)
7:14 The concept introduced here, that true repentance begins with humility, is characteristic of Chronicles. The importance of humbling oneself before God will be emphasized throughout the final section of this book, where the kings of Judah who humble themselves receive grace and forgiveness for themselves and for their land (for example, see 2 Chr 12;12; 32:26). (Steven S. Tuell, Interpretation: 1 & 2 Chr, 143)
The paragraph of the Lord’s speech to Solomon addressing the call to repentance and the promise of forgiveness is unique to Chronicles (7:13-16). In one sense, this passage is the answer to the king’s prayer of dedication for the temple in which he calls for Yahweh to be attentive to the prayers of petition and repentance offered by the people in the new constructed sanctuary (see esp. 67:22-40). The activities of “humbling, praying, seeking, and turning” should be understood as four facets or aspects of the act (or even process) of biblical repentance (7:14). (Andrew E. Hill, The NIV Application Commentary: 1 & 2 Chr, 400)
Each of these words is theologically charged. The word “humble” means to subdue one’s pride and submit in self-denying loyalty to God and his will (cf. Lv 26:41). “Pray” in this context is a shameless acknowledgment of personal sin and a plea for God’s mercy, much like that of David’s prayer of repentance (cf. Ps 51:1-2). “Seek” is often used in desperate situations in which God is the only possible hope for deliverance (cf. Dt 4:29-30). “Turn” is the OT term for repentance and signifies a complete change of direction away from sin and toward God (or an “about-face” in military parlance; cf. Ezek 18:30, 32). (Andrew E. Hill, The NIV Application Commentary: 1 & 2 Chr, 400)
“Gospel repentance is not a little hanging down of the head. It’s a working of the heart until your sin becomes more odious to you than any punishment for it.” — Richard Sibbes
“When our lord and Master Jesus Christ said, “repent (Mt 4:17), he willed that the whole life of believers should be one of repentance.’ (the first of Martin Luther’s ninety-five thesis nailed to the Wittenberg church door in 1517)
Growth in holiness cannot continue where repenting from the heart has stopped. (J. I. Packer; Rediscovering Holiness, 139)
C- We must humble ourselves, pray, seek God’s face and repent; confessing that we either trust in the life, work and death of Jesus, or we are toast because our worship will never be acceptable outside of being “In Christ.” (Isa 66:1-2; 2 Pt 3:9)
The response which God desires from his people after they have sinned is here described as fourfold: “if my people humble themselves…pray…seek my face…turn”. It is tempting to read quickly over these terms as if they all meant more or less the same thing. But there are both distinctions and sequence here. Other contexts (e.g. 12:6f) show that humbling implies a changed attitude with regard to oneself, a renunciation of some wrong course which had been determined upon and which involved an arrogant rejection of God. Let it not be thought that what God here requires of sinful man is any easy thing. The path of obedience is never the natural choice of any human being; and it is a great deal harder to choose it when there has been previous, perhaps public and openly self-reliant, commitment to some other path. (J. G. McConville, The Daily Study Bible Series, 1 & 2 Chr, 139)
Remind God that He is the only one–least of all, yourself–who can take the love of sin away. Yet, you do not even want to have the love of sin taken away! You love sin and you love the love of sin. But you do not want to pay the price. Say: “I love sin, but it’s not worth the price. God cure me. Change me. Make me a person who is not a lover of sin. I don’t want to go to hell and suffer forever.”
Don’t pretend that you love God. Admit that you hate Him. You hate the One of whom you are asking this great favor. Admit you are sinning even as you ask Him. You are bowing low not because of respect, not to mention love. Admit that even your asking is sinful. You do not really want a new heart, all you want is to stay out of hell and that’s the only way out. I have to ask the One who is sending me there, whom I hate. I must ask Him not to send me where I deserve to go. I admit even that reluctantly. (John H. Gerstner, Repent or Perish, 203-04)
Impenitence is greatly the effect of extenuating notions of the infinite malignity of transgression; whereas repentance flows from a true sense of its malignity and odiousness. Meditate also on the dreadful anguish and ignominious death of the Lamb of God, when he made Himself an offering for sin. In these you may see plainly that God’s abhorrence of sin is so inexpressibly great, that He would sooner deliver up His only begotten Son, in whom His soul delighted, to the most dreadful agony and excruciating death, than leave it unpunished. (John Colquhoun, Repentance, 22)
Consider, I entreat you, that without an affecting sense of the hatefulness of sin, there is no humiliation; that without humiliation, there is no true repentance; and that without such repentance, it will be impossible for you to escape the wrath to come. Study then in dependence on promised grace, and that without delay, to obtain a true and a deep sense of the exceeding sinfulness of your sin. (John Colquhoun, Repentance, 22)
Perhaps the one thing that impresses more than David’s sins in his life are his repentances (cf. 2 Sm 12:13ff., and, associated in its heading with the same incident, Ps 51). We do well to let his willingness to come fully to terms with his deficiencies inform our own responses to our moral failures before God. A similar issue arises in Rom 7:20 where Paul pleads that when he does what he does not want to do “it is no longer I that do it but sin which dwells within me”. This too, however, is in a wider context which freely recognizes personal responsibility for sin: e.g. Rom 2:6-16. (J. G. McConville, The Daily Study Bible Series, 1 & 2 Chr, 71)
Isaiah the prophet captured the urgency of timely repentance when he said, “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; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:6-7). (Richard Roberts; Repentance, 241)
Much of our problem in continuing fellowship with a holy God is that many Christians repent only for what they do, rather than for what they are. (A. W. Tozer; Whatever Happened to Worship?, 72)
Worship point: We look to Jesus to help us repent. Our worship is acceptable to God in proportion to our trusting in Jesus and not in ourselves.
No true forgiveness comes apart from repentance and acceptance of the atoning work of Christ. (William L. Playfair, M.D., The Useful Lie, 106)
Without faith it is impossible to please God; and therefore it is impossible, without the previous exercise of it, so to repent as to please Him. “Without me,” says the Lord Jesus, “Ye can do nothing.” If, separate from Christ or without vital union with Him by faith, a man can do nothing that is spiritually good, we may be sure that without it he cannot exercise spiritual repentance. (John Colquhoun, Repentance, 106)
“Men know their course is evil and such as God condemns. They know that this and that and the other practices which they indulge in are sinful. They dare not justify them, but they still their consciences with the thought that they intend to repent later. They reckon upon no great difficulty in this, assuming the repenting is theirs, under their control, and all will be well. They do not seem to realize that these purposes to repent in the future abundantly harden and make them bold to continue in sin against all counsel and reproof. But alas, repentance is not so easy a work. The heart that is now so much in love with sin and so full of enmity against holiness will not be easily changed. A deceitful heart will find other excuses when the present ones are answered. The old man will struggle hard before it is subdued. Perhaps they do not know that repentance is a grace of God’s giving. The heart of stone is too hard for any created power to break. Repentance is a gift that only God can give and fortunately when He gives it He does so freely. Because men can only repent when God enables, Paul said to Timothy, “God peradventure will give them repentance” (2 Tm 2:25). Many that presume upon having repentance at leisure find themselves disappointed. Either a sudden death arrests them or a hard heart and a sleepy conscience seizes upon them. It is a very bold adventure to reject God’s gracious offers, presuming upon future time or grace.” (Richard Roberts; Sanctify the Congregation, 131)
It is ever the Holy Spirit’s work to turn our eyes away from self: to Jesus: but Satan’s work is just the opposite of this, for he is constantly trying to make us regard ourselves instead of Christ. He insinuates, “Your sins are too great for pardon; you have no faith; you do not repent enough; you will never be able to continue to the end; you have not the joy of his children; you have such a wavering hold of Jesus.” All these are thoughts about self, and we shall never find comfort or assurance by looking within. But, the Holy Spirit turns our eyes entirely away from self: he tells us that we are nothing, but that “Christ is all in all.” Remember, therefore, it is not your hold of Christ that saves you—it is Christ; it is not your joy in Christ that saves you—it is Christ; it is not even faith in Christ, though that be the instrument—it is Christ’s blood and merits; therefore, look not so much to your hand with which you art grasping Christ, as to Christ; look not to your hope, but to Jesus, the source of your hope; look not to your faith, but to Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith. We shall never find happiness by looking at our prayers, our doings, or our feelings; it is what Jesus is, not what we are, that gives rest to the soul. If we would at once overcome Satan and have peace with God, it must be by “Looking unto Jesus.” Keep your eye simply on him; let his death, his sufferings, his merits, his glories, his intercession, be fresh upon your mind; when you wake in the morning look to him; when you lie down at night look to him. Do not let your hopes or fears come between you and Jesus; follow hard after him, and he will never fail you. C. H. Spurgeon as quoted in Pathway to Freedom, by Alister Begg, 228-29)
Spiritual Challenge: Get over yourself. Kill your pride which militates against humility. Pray to God and not to your ego for guidance and direction. Seek the face of God and not your own understanding, status or ego. Be quick to repent when you discover sin in your life. And above all, rejoice in the reality that God is so incredibly gracious, merciful, forgiving and loving that He would send Jesus to live and die for you so you could enjoy promised blessings rather than what you deserve — promised curses.
Self-reliance is not the way to holiness, but the negation of it. Self-confidence in the face of temptation and conflicting pressures is a sure guarantee that some sort of moral failure will follow. (J. I. Packer; Rediscovering Holiness, 92)
I found that every single sin that I could trace in my life did have a common denominator. Self was that thread. Every single sin had self at its very center. Unbelief was my word, my thoughts, my ways against God’s word, thoughts, and ways. Pride was me against others and me against God. Stubbornness and rebellion consisted of self struggling against God and anybody else who got in my way. Name the sin, and self was in the middle. (Richard Owen Roberts, Repentance: The First Word of the Gospel, 119)
Self is a great let to divine things; therefore the prophets and apostles were usually carried out of themselves, when they had the clearest, choicest, highest, and most glorious visions. Self-seeking blinds the soul that it cannot see a beauty in Christ, nor an excellency in holiness; it distempers the palate, that a man cannot taste sweetness in the word of God, nor in the ways of God, nor in the society of the people of God. It shuts the hand against all the soul-enriching offers of Christ; it hardens the heart against all the knocks and entreaties of Christ; it makes the soul as an empty vine, and as a barren wilderness: “Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit to himself” (Hos 10:1). There is nothing that speaks a man to be more empty and void of God, Christ, and grace, than self-seeking. (Thomas Brooks; Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices, 189)
In light of God’s holiness, righteousness and love, and in light of seeing our inability to be a faithful representative of one created in the image of God, and in light of our inability to love God with our whole hearts, minds, soul and strength; then anything short of a broken and contrite heart or an ongoing attitude of repentance demonstrates would be evidence that we have no love for God at all. — Pastor Keith
We hear arrogant people proclaiming the present generation as the most intelligent in the history of mankind. What nonsense! This is a grievously ignorant age. We cover ourselves with filth and pretend we are clean. We murder the unborn by the millions and spend colossal sums of money trying to save a single infant from some devastating disease. We treat morals as dung and filthy speech as if it were a world-class treasure. We forbid the display of the law of God in public places and then groan because of the growing lack of morality. We arrest a patriot for flying an oversize flag and make a national hero out of a profligate who burns the flag. We teach and encourage our children to disregard the Ten Commandments and then pretend to be outraged against the evils that result. We destroy the family and yet wish to be known as a caring society. How long can we expect God to overlook our times of ignorance? (Richard Roberts; Repentance, 215)
Quotes to Note:
A hard heart always characterizes unrepentant sinners. It is only when God softens the heart that repentance can and does occur.
In considering the hardening of your own heart, there are two great realms of danger you need to face. First, the hardening of your own heart to the point of no return; second, the possibility of your grieving God so deeply by your wickedness and neglect of Him that He hardens your heart and abandons you to your own ways.
Consider first, the hardening of your own heart to the point of no return. Every time you hear a call to repent and do not obey, you harden your heart. If you do this with any frequency, your heart may become so hard that even the most fervent calls to repent and return to the Lord will be unheard. (Richard Owen Roberts, Repentance: The First Word of the Gospel, 239)
THE SHEKINAH REMAINED IN THE TEMPLE. Though the outer glow of it was withdrawn, a gleam of it lingered within the Holy of Holies, illumining that windowless apartment, dropping its softened light upon the ark of the covenant, with its tables of the law, its golden mercy-seat, and the cherubim of life. So God will remain with us; and the sign of His presence will be that a light falls upon the Bible, our ark of covenant, making its laws of righteousness gleam into our consciences, its assurance of grace fill us with peace, and its promise of life glow in our hopes until we enter that temple where “the Lamb is the light thereof.” (Joseph S. Exell, The Biblical Illustrator, 2 Chronicles, 31)
There is a tension in these chapters which the NT and the Christian pastor also know. On the one hand God issues a solemn call for compliance and integrity; on the other hand there is fervent assurance of forgiveness and a fresh chance. There is inconsistency in this double message. Untidy as it is, it is true to life and so to God’s realistic program. It poses a problem, however, in that the faithful preacher of morality can sound legalistic and the preacher of forgiveness can give the impression that sinning does not matter. Yet both messages are necessary. The underlying logic of the double message is supplied in 1 Jn 2:1. (Leslie Allen, Mastering the OT, 1, 2 Chr, 241-42)
Let us not forget that it is broken and contrite hearts which God will not despise; therefore, any ministry which fails to produce them, no matter how acceptable, is nevertheless in the sight of God a failure. (John D. Drysdale; The Price of Revival, 33)
The first word of the gospel is not “love.”
It is not even “grace.”
The first word of the gospel is “repent.”
— Richard Owen Roberts
Christ:
Our guide to repentance
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