Have you ever wondered how the final events of the earth will wrap up for God’s people? There are many answers to that question, but for God’s people there are a few steps that we should all know. And these steps are given in Acts 3:19,20 which says:
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; 20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Acts 3:19,20
Notice that there are three things that happen: first we are told to repent, second we are told that if we repent there will be a refreshing and finally we are told that after these things happen Jesus will return. Repentance, refreshing, and the return of Christ in that order. So let’s briefly look at each of these concepts.
First repentance is a turning away from sin. The actual old testament concept of repentance means to literally turn off the path towards something else. But did you know that repentance, true repentance is a gift from God? The Bible says:
For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. 2 Corinthians 7:10
The genesis of this godly sorrow in this context came from a letter that Paul sent to the Corinthians. Here Paul points out that his words caused them to have godly sorrow and repent. In other words the scriptures cause us to have godly sorrow and to repent. In another place Paul says:
What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: Romans 7:7
It is knowledge then of the law and the scriptures that produces repentance. If that is true and repentance is the first step to Jesus’ return you and I need to know the word of God.
The second step we are told about is the refreshing from God. This is to follow repentance. The refreshing that is mentioned in our original passage is the refreshing of the Holy Spirit. We would call this refreshing the latter rain. And in order to receive this latter rain we need to repent. But we must also ask for the Spirit. Jesus says:
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more
shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? Luke 11:13
God wants to give us His Spirit, but we need to ask. If we ask having repented of our sins He will give us His Spirit in a powerful way. And if we have received the refreshing of the latter rain then Jesus will return.
The return of Jesus then is predicated on two prior interrelated things: our repentance and our reception of the refreshing power of the Holy Spirit. Taken together we know that we must go to God’s word in order to receive godly sorrow that will lead to repentance. And then when we repent we must ask for the Spirit of God to refresh and revive us. The Psalmist David did this very thing when he wrote:
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation;
And uphold me with thy free spirit. Psalm 51:12
As you and I look forward to the return of Jesus will we, like David, repent and then request the refreshing Spirit of God? I hope that we will.
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