Gifted with Repentance

Have you ever thought of repentance as a gift? It sure doesn't feel that way! Usually, when we realize that we have done wrong, we feel guilt which feels lousy—not at all like receiving a present. We may also feel fear ("What kind of trouble am I in now?  Is God going to be mad at me?"). That certainly doesn't feel like a blessing! We may also feel the sting of wounded pride and shame ("How could I have done that? I'll just die if _____ finds out!"). Not good, right? Just guessing, you probably didn’t like to take your medicine either.

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. 2 Corinthians 7:10

All scripture citations are from the English Standard Version (ESV) unless otherwise noted.

Why We Have It Better Than the Angels

Have you ever thought about why we get to repent and the angels didn’t? Sometimes it helps to see something that feels onerous in a different light. Repentance can be onerous: We hate getting it wrong and having to go back to someone to apologize. Even worse is having “our noses rubbed in it” by someone who is lording over our moment of abasement. Being “called on the carpet” by God may seem like the ultimate affront to our dignity. But perhaps we are seeing repentance in the wrong light.

You don’t “have to” repent. That’s the God’s honest truth. You could easily refuse to repent and guarantee hell as your ultimate destination. That is your choice and no one, not even God who loves you best, will ever take your control over that decision away from you.[1] You alone get to choose life or death, blessing or cursing. God can’t choose it for you—or you would be enslaved to His will. He wants you free! But He will do everything in His power to help you see that choice (and every other choice) in the best possible light, so that you can make the right decision, if you want to. One definition of grace is that God is giving us time to turn around and helping us see our need to turn to Him.

The Angels Didn't Get to Repent

The angels didn’t get that. Why? One third of the heavenly host fell from grace in an instant, never to recover, never to repent.[2] We have been falling for six thousand years![3] God is always sending His Word to us, His Spirit to us, and His servants to us to try to get us to turn before we burn. Not only that (though that should be sufficient), He whispers within our conscience and shouts at us through the glory of creation’s beauty.[4] If we still don’t get the message that we are going the wrong way, He allows consequences to work us over.[5] Don’t blame Him for the pain: Whenever we choose to sin, we are also choosing the consequence that comes with it. It’s a real world, a moral and spiritual universe not of our making, with consequences going out in every direction.

Why weren’t the angels given our blessing of being wooed and winnowed into repentance? In one terrible moment of time they made their decision and God made His. God saw their rebellion and they were instantly, finally and fatally banished from His presence. No right of appeal, no opportunities for pardon, only the unbending decree: “Depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness.”[6] Why? Here it is in a nutshell: They were born into the light; we were born in darkness, spiritually blind.

A Strange Benefit of Spiritual Blindness

The angels always live in that realm of spirit now invisible to us; there is nothing hindering their spiritual vision. They could see the Lord God in all of His beauty and majesty and still freely chose to reject Him, following Lucifer instead into eternal darkness. It was impossible for God to reveal more of Himself than they were already seeing, so their decision to turn away from the Light was irreversible. Not so with us.

We have been “in the dark” from the beginning. That’s our problem—we are blinded by our sins and our ancestral separation from being able to see God as originally intended. But the problem is also our salvation. The “safety net” God created for us is the material world. That same veil of time and space which now keeps us from seeing God also gives us the opportunity for God’s saving grace to work. It is because we cannot see directly by heaven’s Light that we have the opportunity to repent and return to it. As Jesus comes into our lives, the “lights go on” and God begins a slow, lifelong process of drawing us out of darkness into His marvelous light.[7] One step of repentance at a time.

Next "Free Gift" to Open

Gifted with Resurrection  Naturally enough, the big resurrection that has all of us shouting is that Jesus has been raised from the dead. Because He lives, we have a solid hope that one day we too will be raised from death to live eternally with Him. But don’t stop there. Many things go down towards death: hopes die, relationships die, careers die, loved ones die, dreams die. Our need for “resurrections” is life-long!

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Repentance Scriptures

"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matthew 3:2-3

“I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." Luke 5:32

Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Luke 15:7

And that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. Luke 24:47

God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. Acts 5:31

Testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 20:21

But declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance. Acts 26:20

Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? Romans 2:4

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. 2 Corinthians 7:10

And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. 2 Timothy 2:24-26

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 Peter 3:9