A Call to Repentance
“REPENT and turn yourselves from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations.” Ezek. 14:6.
This is a strong and a firm warning which denotes the Lord’s purpose to stretch a darling hand to him who wants salvation. Man’s departure from sin should be a conscientious act that requires determination, will-power and personal struggle, including the power of God, which will enable man to overcome sin.
Repentance cannot take place without the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Repentance means pain. It is clear that it must come from the Lord. He has to make us abhor sin and feel sorry for the suffering our evil deeds or words cause to other people, to Him, and to His beloved Son who died due to our sinfulness. We should constantly plead to God that He may deliver us from the power of sin while we are still under His grace. Every sin, whichever commandment we transgress, can be expressed in one word, Idolatry. Whatever we exact above God and His holy will becomes an idol and has to be done away with, no matter how much pain it will or may cause us.
” Turning away your faces, all your abominations.” Consider that our eyes record everything we see like a camera, that everything we look at is not only an instant impression, but is stored in our mind and remains in our memory, and its picture can be made alive any moment. One of the main steps to overcome temptation and return to the Lord is by putting away our idols and by keeping our eyes away from them.
When we read Patriarchs and Prophets (section II) about the flood, so many things happened. We see before the flood, God sent Noah to warn the world that the people might be led to repentance to escape the threatened destruction; and as the time of Christ’s second coming draws near, the Lord always sends His servants to tell us the good news about His coming and to repent from our sins. These are warnings from the Lord unto the world to prepare them for the great event. Many people have been living in transgression of God’s law. And in His mercy, He still calls us to obey His sacred precepts; all who will put away his or her sins by repentance towards God, and faith in Christ, are offered pardon. It requires great sacrifice to put away sin if one loves sin; if we love God we will want to express our love by obedience to His law. If we consider the vast population which was on the earth before the flood, only eight souls believed and obeyed God through Noah. These eight were of Noah’s family, but others rejected and despised His message. Many have heard the truth, but have given a deaf ear to the Lord’s teachings, commandments and repentance of souls. So as it will be, the law-giver shall come to punish the disobedient. We are being warned to repent and turn our allegiance to God, having in mind that as it was in the days of Noah, even shall it be in the days when the Son of God is revealed.
God calls us for a full surrender, for all that we have and each day that we have, we have a part to act in deciding our destiny. We are God’s free agents and each one of us must work out his or her own salvation with fear and trembling, while God works in us to do His good pleasure. This notably doesn’t matter who you are, how famous you are, neither your position in the work place. What is needed is a whole surrender and repentance between you and your Creator. Let God take you the way you are, and your name will be written in the Book of Life before He comes, having it in mind that we are living in the great day of atonement. We have to afflict our souls before God by sorrow for our sins because soon the door will be closed and nobody will open it for you. Ask yourself on which side you belong or are you still among the lost sheep? He went to prepare for us a nice supper in heaven, and we know that in His Father’s house there are so many things; no death and suffering, what a nice place for me and you!
Remember, I was once like you, bound with sin and abominations; I was overburdened with sorrow that threatened to overload me, but I found Jesus, the son of God, who was sent to deliver me from my bondage of sin, I was freed and made holy and for that reason, everything is possible if we put our trust in the Lord. And whatever our weaknesses may be, we must literally depart from the place or circumstances that lead us to temptation, lest we fall under its bewitching influence. Such an attitude will protect us from many snares, but it requires from us much awareness, prayer and perseverance.
May the Lord help us not to make any kind of compromise, and if we are still worshipping at foreign altars, that we may follow the right steps to repentance.
AMEN