Arrependimento
O arrependimento é a porta da graça. A Bíblia declara que Deus não deseja a morte do ímpio, mas que se converta e viva. Arrependei-vos, pois o Reino dos Céus está próximo.
Chamado ao arrependimento
Arrependei-vos, porque o Reino dos Céus está próximo. Quem se arrepende e confessa encontra restauração e perdão.
A graça do arrependimento
Os que eu amo, eu repreendo e disciplino. Arrepende-te! Deus não quer que nenhum se perca — mas que todos cheguem ao arrependimento.
For I desire not the death of him that dies, saith the Lord.
then if my people, on whom my name is called, should repent, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, I also will hear from heaven, and I will be merciful to their sins, and I will heal their land.
And Ezekias sent to all Israel and Juda, and wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasse, that they should come into the house of the Lord to Jerusalem, to keep the passover to the Lord God of Israel. For the king, and the princes, and all the congregation in Jerusalem, designed to keep the passover in the second month. For they could not keep it at that time, because a sufficient number of priests had not purified themselves, and the people was not gathered to Jerusalem. And the proposal pleased the king and the congregation. And they established a decree that a proclamation should go through all Israel, from Bersabee to Dan, that they should come and keep the passover to the Lord God of Israel at Jerusalem: for the multitude had not done it lately according to the scripture.
And the posts went with the letters from the king and the princes to all Israel and Juda, according to the command of the king, saying, Children of Israel, return to the Lord God of Abraam, and Isaac, and Israel, and bring back them that have escaped even those that were left of the hand of the king of Assyria. And be not as your fathers, and your brethren, who revolted from the Lord God of their fathers, and he gave them up to desolation, as ye see. And now harden not your hearts, as your fathers did: give glory to the Lord God, and enter into his sanctuary, which he has sanctified for ever: and serve the Lord your God, and he shall turn away his fierce anger from you. For when ye turn to the Lord, your brethren and your children shall be pitied before all that have carried them captives, and he will restore you to this land: for the Lord our God is merciful and pitiful, and will not turn away his face from you, if we return to him.
So the posts went through from city to city in mount Ephraim, and Manasse, and as far as Zabulon: and they as it were laughed them to scorn, and mocked them. But the men of Aser, and some of Manasses and of Zabulon, were ashamed, and came to Jerusalem and Juda. And the hand of the Lord was present to give them one heart to come, to do according to the commands of the king and of the princes, by the word of the Lord.
And a great multitude were gathered to Jerusalem to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great congregation. And they arose, and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all on which they burnt incense to false gods they tore down and cast into the brook Kedron. Then they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the second month: and the priests and the Levites repented, and purified themselves, and brought whole-burnt-offerings into the house of the Lord.
And they stood at their post, according to their ordinance, according to the commandment of Moses the man of God: and the priests received the blood from the hand of the Levites. For a great part of the congregation was not sanctified; and the Levites were ready to kill the passover for every one who could not sanctify himself to the Lord. For the greatest part of the people of Ephraim, and Manasse, and Issachar, and Zabulon, had not purified themselves, but ate the passover contrary to the scripture. On this account also Ezekias prayed concerning them, saying, The good Lord be merciful with regard to every heart that sincerely seeks the Lord God of their fathers, and is not purified according to the purification of the sanctuary. And the Lord hearkened to Ezekias, and healed the people.
And the children of Israel who were present in Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great joy; and they continued to sing hymns to the Lord daily, and the priests and the Levites played on instruments to the Lord. And Ezekias encouraged all the Levites, and those that had good understanding of the Lord: and they completely kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days, offering peace-offerings, and confessing to the Lord God of their fathers.
And the congregation purposed together to keep other seven days: and they kept seven days with gladness. For Ezekias set apart for Juda, even for the congregation, a thousand calves and seven thousand sheep; and the princes set apart for the people a thousand calves and ten thousand sheep: and the holy things of the priests abundantly. And all the congregation, the priests and the Levites, rejoiced, and all the congregation of Juda, and they that were present of Jerusalem, and the strangers that came from the land of Israel, and the dwellers in Juda. And there was great joy in Jerusalem: from the days of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was not such a feast in Jerusalem. Then the priests the Levites rose up and blessed the people: and their voice was heard, and their prayer came into his holy dwelling-place, even into heaven.
and rend your hearts, and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God: for he is merciful and compassionate, long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy, and repents of evils.
In the eighth month, in the second year of the reign of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, the son of Barachias, the son of Addo, the prophet, saying,
The Lord has been very angry with your fathers. And thou shalt say to them, Thus saith the Lord Almighty; Turn to me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn to you, saith the Lord of hosts. And be ye not as your fathers, whom the prophets before charged, saying, Thus saith the Lord Almighty: Turn ye from your evil ways, and from your evil practices: but they hearkened not, and attended not to hearken to me, saith the Lord.
Where are your fathers, and the prophets? Will they live for ever? But do ye receive my words and mine ordinances, all that I command by my Spirit to my servants the prophets, who lived in the days of your fathers; and they answered and said, As the Lord Almighty determined to do to us, according to our ways, and according to our practices, so has he done to us.
On the twenty-fourth day in the eleventh month, this is the month Sabat, in the second year of the reign of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, the son of Barachias, the son of Addo, the prophet, saying,
I saw by night, and behold a man mounted on a red horse, and he stood between the shady mountains; and behind him were red horses, and grey, and piebald, and white. And I said, What are these, my lord? And the angel that spoke with me said to me, I will shew thee what these things are. And the man that stood between the mountains answered, and said to me, These are they whom the Lord has sent forth to go round the earth. And they answered the angel of the Lord that stood between the mountains, and said, We have gone round all the earth, and, behold, all the earth is inhabited, and is at rest.
Then the angel of the Lord answered and said, O Lord Almighty, how long wilt thou have no mercy on Jerusalem, and the cities of Juda, which thou hast disregarded these seventy years? And the Lord Almighty answered the angel that spoke with me good words and consolatory sayings. And the angel that spoke with me said to me, Cry out and say,
Thus saith the Lord Almighty; I have been jealous for Jerusalem and Sion with great jealousy. And I am very angry with the heathen that combine to attack her: forasmuch as I indeed was a little angry, but they combined to attack her for evil. Therefore thus saith the Lord: I will return to Jerusalem with compassion; and my house shall be rebuilt in her, saith the Lord Almighty, and a measuring line shall yet be stretched out over Jerusalem. And the angel that spoke with me said to me, Cry yet, and say, Thus saith the Lord Almighty; Yet shall cities be spread abroad through prosperity; and the Lord shall yet have mercy upon Sion, and shall choose Jerusalem.
He that covers his own ungodliness shall not prosper: but he that blames himself shall be loved.
Behold, I will bring forth to you the utterance of my breath, and I will instruct you in my speech.
Confissão e restauração
Se confessarmos, Ele é fiel e justo. Há alegria no céu por um pecador que se arrepende — o arrependimento abre o caminho da vida.