The Necessity of Immediate Repentance Before the Risen Christ

"Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly." The risen Christ speaks with the authority of the sharp two-edged sword proceeding from His mouth (Revelation 1:16). Repentance (metanoia—a turning around of the mind) in Scripture holds three distinct meanings. First, it is the initial act by which the soul separates from sin toward Elohim—the first stroke dividing wickedness from the heart. Second, it comprises the entire course of a pious life, from the first turning from evil to the final period of godliness. Third, it is restoration to God after guilt of a particular sin, presupposing prior genuine repentance.

Three arguments demand immediate exercise of this duty. First, no man secures the future. Disease from within or calamity from without may tear down the strongest constitution; men foolishly stake eternity upon a life as uncertain as the air that sustains it. Second, even granting time, we cannot guarantee the power to repent. Through sin's insensible encroachment, a man's heart hardens until neither power nor will remains, though opportunity exists. The longer heart and sin converse, the more familiar they grow; separation becomes progressively harder. Initially strong against weak sin, the deluded heart postpones repentance until the sinner grows desperately weak and sin invincibly strong. Third, delay renders the work incredibly more difficult. Unpaid debts multiply; unconfessed sin accumulates. The Risen Judge approaches; immediate repentance alone suffices.