Summary
Repent
The Christian life is a journey, and Scripture is the road map God has given His pilgrim people until they are called home. The very first marker on that map—the first step of preparation as we await Christ's coming—is repentance. Hosea 14 lays it out plainly: "Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity" Hosea 14:1.
The word "stumbled" sounds mild in English—a small trip, a moment off balance. In the Hebrew, however, it means to come to utter ruin. Hosea is not describing a minor misstep but total disaster. Sin brings individuals and nations alike into complete darkness. That is the honest diagnosis behind every call to repent: we are not slightly off course; apart from God, we are in catastrophe.
The Lord required that none of His people appear before Him empty-handed Exodus 23:15. What sacrifice, then, fits the case? Not a burnt offering, but the one named in Psalm 51:17: "The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." Hosea echoes this when he says, "Take with you words and return to the Lord" Hosea 14:2—words that ask God to take away iniquity and accept what is good, words that offer the fruit of our lips in thanks and praise.
Hosea names three particular sins to renounce: "Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses; and we will say no more, 'Our God,' to the work of our hands" Hosea 14:3. Israel had trusted Assyria's might, Egypt's cavalry, and the household idols their own hands had carved. The temptation has not changed. We still trust the powers of this age and still fashion idols—careers, families, achievements, friendships—good gifts turned into false gods. Repentance means turning from every such trust and returning to the Lord alone. As the Repent study explains, the "they" of ancient Israel quickly becomes "we."
We do not, however, come empty-handed after all. The Lamb of God has taken away the sin of the world John 1:29. Christ bore the sin of Israel, the sin of twenty-first-century Americans, the sin of all times and places, on the cross, satisfying divine justice once for all. When the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to this grace, we approach the Father through the blood of the Son—the only acceptable sacrifice for sin—and find Him ready to forgive.
Repentance, therefore, is not a one-time event but the daily rhythm of the Christian life. Luther placed Confession in the Small Catechism between Baptism and the Lord's Supper for good reason: having been washed clean in the waters of Baptism, the baptized still struggle as saint and sinner, falling into sin and returning again and again to receive forgiveness, sustained by Christ's body and blood. This is the daily repentance that continues until the Lord calls us home.
And what is God's response when His people return? "I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely... I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon" Hosea 14:4-5. Like the father racing to meet the prodigal Luke 15:20, God lavishes the returning sinner with mercy. He waters us as the dew waters the parched land, roots us deep as the cedars of Lebanon, makes us fragrant and fruitful as the olive tree. In Him the orphan finds a Father, and the lonely traveler finds a Guide who never leaves the road.
Video citations
- "Repent" 11-28-21 — If you would please open your Bibles to the Prophet of Hosea, the Prophet Hosea, the 14th chapter. I love traveling. I love going on a trip. And there are always so many preparations and planning…