REPENTANCE

if I were to ask you if God repents, you would be right regardless of how you answered. Numbers 23:19 says, "God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken, and shall not make it good?" Here, the context has to do with God's grace, that is, His unconditional blessing on His people. It was not conditional based upon their worthiness, but upon His promise. Sometimes, God promises to bless conditionally; "if" you do such-n-such, I will bless you (see Lev. 26:18; Neh. 1:8-9; Jer. 42:10; Mal. 3:10; Jn. 14:3; etc.). In such cases, He is not said to repent, but He is merely withholding His blessing because man has not fulfilled his required part of the covenant.

In Genesis 6:6, Moses wrote, "And it repented the LORD that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart." Here, the term is used to describe God's regret that His creation was evil continually (Gen. 6:5). He did not eliminate man altogether, but chose eight souls with whom to fulfill His plan (1 Pet. 3:20). Many times, God tells his prophet that He will destroy His people, but then, because they repent, He does not carry out the threat (see Ex. 32:12; Ps. 90:13; 135:14; Jer. 18:8; 26:13; 42:10; Jon. 3:9; etc.). Again, the threat is conditional.

Israel was constantly needing to repent of their sinful practices and affiliations. Their failure to purge the Gentiles from the Promised Land, led to the gradual assimilation of a heathen culture, and to the worship of idols. Abraham trusted Egypt to provide food instead of trusting God, and many kings of Israel trusted to alliances with other nations instead of God for protection. By the time Jesus came on the scene, the religious leaders of Israel seem to be the ones who really needed to repent (Lk. 12-13 for example).

Repentance unto salvation is the change of mind and heart due to believing and trusting the Gospel (2 Cor. 7:10). While most preachers focus on the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ for sinners, known as the remission or payment for sin, one will find the preaching of repentance rare in today's churches. According to Luke's Gospel, repentance AND remission are to be preached to the lost (Lk. 24:47). In the early church, the message included repentance as a requirement to be saved (Acts 3:19; 17:30; 26:20; etc.).

The Holy Spirit, dwelling within the believer, is constantly at work striving to bring the Christian in line with the teachings of Christ (Jn. 14:17; Eph. 4:20). It is ironic that the last five references of the Scripture's call for repentance are to the Church (Rev. 2:5; 2:16; 2:21-22; 3:3; and 3:19). Those who claim to be Christians, and who live a life that is no different from those who are lost, need to turn from their life of sin and live for Christ. If you are trusting in half of the Gospel, you are deceiving yourself; repentance, the turning to God from sin, is as much a part of the Gospel as the finished work of Christ on your behalf. And, when you recognize the love God has for you, you can do nothing but respond; obedience is a given.