We are all familiar with the phrase, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me." We also know that nothing can be further from the truth. In the heat of an argument, words can fly like arrows from opposing parties to see who succumbs to their wounds first, often leading to irreparable damage to relationships, reputations, and to one's mental health in some of the more severe cases. Maybe you were called worthless as a child over and over again, and now even as an adult, if you hear this word, it takes you back to that scared little boy or little girl that crouched in the dark corner to make yourself small, afraid of your parents' wrath. Perhaps you worked tirelessly on a project at work only to see it all come to naught, and your boss told you that you were a failure. Even worse than the two combined, maybe you have been struggling your whole life wrapping your mind around the concept of God's love, only to be told by a preacher on the street or by a pastor at a church that you need to "Turn or Burn!" that God hates sinners like you, and that there's no hope for you--not now or in the hereafter. For many, the word "repent" used in this context hurts infinitely worse than sticks and stones.
While I never want to devalue anyone's experience of having this word used as a weapon against them, I do want to unpack how Jesus intended for this word to be used, what it means, and how infinitely miraculous it is that we are afforded this privilege of repenting from dead works to serve the living God.
Does God Want Condemnation?
If any Bible character can be likened unto a disgruntled street preacher that wished every sinner would die at the hands of an angry God, it would certainly be Jonah the prophet.
Most are familiar with his rebellious shenanigans against what God called him to do that landed him in the belly of a fish so he could think about his actions, like a toddler stuck in timeout. What strikes me every time I read this bizarre anecdote isn't the fact that a man was swallowed by a fish and spit up on the land where he was called to prophesy, but it's his open hostility toward the people that God called him to prophesy to versus God's overwhelming compassion for the same.
After finally succumbing to God's plan of him prophesying to the evil Ninevites regarding their impending destruction if they didn't repent, the Ninevites did the unthinkable. The whole city repented, and not only repented, but they grieved over their wickedness with fasting, sackloth, ashes, and a multitude of tears, crying out to God to have mercy on them. Their cries were heard, so God relented from judgement. Jonah's response to their repentance? Pure rage. In my own words, he essentially tells God, "THIS is why I fled the opposite direction of this place because I knew how merciful, patient, and kind you are. I'm so upset that you forgave these wicked people that I want to die!" (Jonah 4:1-3). In his heart, Jonah already condemned to death all 120,000 people in this city. He wanted God to punish them all, because they rightly deserved it. They were the chief of sinners! He believed they didn't deserve repentance, which is why he initially refused to warn them of the consequences of continuing in their sin. Jonah wanted condemnation. God wanted mercy, and Micah 7:18 even says that He delights in showing mercy. Then James 2:13 says that "...mercy triumphs over judgement." Therefore, when Jonah himself repented, changing his mind to follow God's will (although begrudgingly), the Ninevites were given the opportunity to repent. They indeed repent (and were better at it than Jonah, in my opinion) and God did not condemn them.
The disciples, in their immaturity and eagerness to impress Jesus, also had a similar mentality as Jonah. When they were on the way to Jerusalem, they stopped at a Samaritan village to preach that the Messiah was here, but they rejected Him. Because of this, they then asked Jesus "'Lord, do You want us to command fire down from heaven to consume them, as Elijah did?' But He rebuked them and said 'You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them'" (Luke 9:51-56). John reiterates this point when he documents Jesus saying "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved" (John 3:17).
Between the Old and New Testament, there's a theme of mankind being quick to condemn the very ones that God wants to extend mercy to. While God does indeed issue decrees of condemnation after providing every opportunity for repentance, He is infinitely more patient with mankind than our mortal minds can fathom, even giving wicked nations hundreds of years to repent, or sparing whole cities altogether if a single righteous person is found in it. Mankind looks for excuses to condemn. God looks for excuses to reconcile.
The Gift of Repentance & The Joy of Salvation
Repentance is not just a command. It's the very treasure of heaven being offered to us through faith in Christ's slain and resurrected body, giving us newness of life in return. He's not offering the gift of behavior modification, which is no gift at all, but rather, offers to take our filthy rags of dead works and in its place, clothes us with righteousness, even the righteousness of Christ Himself (Isaiah 61:10, 2 Corinthians 5:21).
Just like any other gift, it can be refused. However, the joy of the gift-giver is unmatched when it's accepted. Jesus talks extensively about how heaven erupts with shouts of joy over even one sinner that repents and comes to faith in Him. It's hard to miss the joy in His words when He talks about the shepherd who braves the wilderness to find the one lost sheep of his flock, or the woman that loses one of her 10 coins and searches her house high and low, overturning furniture until that coin is found, or the prodigal son that gambles his father's inheritance away, returning to his father's house in shame, and that father seeing him a long way off, running toward him with open arms, not thinking of what the son did, but just ecstatic that his son repented and came home.
Of the prodigal son that returns, He says of the father who received him back, "'Bring the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this son of mine was dead, and is alive again; he was lost and is now found.' And they began to be merry" (Luke 15:22-24).
What awaited the prodigal son on the other side of his repentance (literally, the changing of his mind to be restored back to his father's house) wasn't shame and condemnation. The father just as easily could have said, "You begged me for this inheritance money, and you squandered it. Get out of my sight!" That's what most would have done, and it would have been justified. However, this father, like our heavenly Father, wanted reconciliation more than condemnation, so though the son wasted his inheritance, the father held out hope for his son's repentance and restoration. More than the inheritance money, the father's ultimate gift to his son was the opportunity for full reconciliation through repentance. Of God's gifts and blessings, Proverbs 10:22 rightly says it "makes one rich, and there is no sorrow mixed in it." Indeed, with accepting the gift of repentance comes the celebration of heaven.
God's Plea for Repentance
One thing we can ascertain when reading the Bible is that God is not an apathetic spectator in the eternal destiny of mankind. Particularly, when His people Israel are in danger of falling off a metaphorical cliff in pursuit of the idols of other nations and at risk of His judgement, he sent prophets to warn them to turn around and stop their wicked behavior, and even sent disciplining agents, such other nations, to invade Israel in hopes that they would remember the Lord and repent of their ways.
While this seems harsh, what would be really harsh is if He saw His people heading toward destruction and didn't say a word for fear of making them uncomfortable. What parent sees their child running into a busy street and doesn't immediately call out their name, run to their aid, and afterwards tell them to never run into a street again? If that child doesn't repent, or "turn the opposite direction" from the busy street, then tragedy is inevitable.
One of the clearest examples of God's desire for people to repent is seen in His seven letters to the seven churches of Revelation. He recognizes all of their good works, but highlights one thing He wants to see each repent of. He explains the glorious rewards that come with repentance, and the consequences of not repenting, but with such glorious rewards as getting to sit with Jesus on His throne (Revelation 3:21), it makes you wonder why more people wouldn't be excited to repent, and repent quickly! Then, in case His Church might be confused at why He's asking them to repent, or why He would be pointing these things out, He clearly says it's because of His LOVE that He asks people to repent. He says "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore, be zealous and repent" (Revelation 3:19).
What about unbelievers, then? Does He pursue them so that they repent? Yes, indeed He does, because He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but His pleasure is in those that turn from their ways and choose life (Ezekiel 16:23).
Even up to the very end of the world itself, we see the Lord giving unbelievers the chance to repent. In Revelation 9 and 16, even when God is releasing judgement over the entire earth, with famines, plagues, locusts, and sores, hail, and heat, we know that He will still be actively looking for repentance, even as His wrath is being released, because it says "The rest of mankind who were not killed by the plagues, did not repent of the work of their hands, that they should not worship demons and idols ... And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts" (Revelation 9:20-21). Then again, now during the Seven Bowl judgements, it says "And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent or give Him glory (Revelation 16:9), and again, it says "They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds" (Revelation 16:11).
It sounds to me that God is looking for a reason to extend mercy to these unbelievers, but instead of repenting so that they can be healed and reconciled to Him, they continue to shake their fist and blaspheme Him.
God's intent is clear. Both within His Church and outside His Church, He desires everyone to repent, and is earnestly looking for repentant hearts, but there will still be those who reject this gift.
He Shepherds Us Through Repentance
In Psalm 23, it says "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me. Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me" (Psalm 23:4). As God's sheep, sometimes our Shepherd has to walk us through terrible, dangerous, and uncomfortable places to lead us back to green pastures. This valley of death that He has to walk us through is the valley of death to self, so that He can produce His life in us and lead us to the life He always intended, but in order to do that, we have to walk through times of repentance that can often feel like death at first, but ultimately leads to refreshing (Acts 3:19).
Remember in Exodus, when God shepherded His people with Moses through the wilderness for 40 years to lead them to the land He had promised--the land of milk and honey. That was the "valley of the shadow of death" for them. The wilderness was so harsh, that they wanted to repent in the wrong direction, which was to go back into bondage at the hands of the Egyptians, rather than to persevere and trust God through the process. Many of them didn't repent, therefore, the same died in the valley of the shadow of death because they refused to trust their own Shepherd. They didn't repent, so they missed out on His promise of rest and refreshing in the land He was trying to bring them to.
Conclusion
Repentance was never meant to carry guilt, shame, and condemnation with it, but rather, this is the tangibility of our hope, and the exercising of our faith, because we know that "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). We know that He is also able to keep us from falling, and to "present us as faultless in the presence of His glory with exceeding joy"
(Jude 1:25). Did you read that? It's His joy to present you faultless, because He is so faithful to forgive. He's not going to shake His head when you get to heaven, looking at the Father, saying "Well. I barely got this one into heaven. He had to repent 100 million times. What a mess, but he's here, at least." Not so. When you repent, you're going to be met with joy. With celebration. Rejoicing, even, because the Father honors the Son's blood and your trust in it to wash you clean and to present you as "faultless." It's as if you never sinned.
If there is something the Lord is highlighting to you now that you need to repent of, I encourage you to do so. It's not "Repent or go to hell!" It's "Repent, and encounter the joy, refreshing, and comforting arms of the Lord so He can restore you and make you new." It's a hard transition to make to go to the wide road of destruction to the narrow road of repentance that leads to life, but the door to thr narrow road is always wide open, because Jesus is The Door, and He's ready when you are.
The Secret Girl