But if they think again in their land of captivity and repent and plead for mercy from you, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly,’
Tell them: As I live, declares the Lord God, it brings me no pleasure when wicked people die. I wish they would stop sinning and live! Stop! Stop sinning! Why should you die, people of Israel?
During the time of these kings the God of heaven will set up an eternal kingdom that will never be destroyed or taken over by others. It will crush all these kingdoms, bringing them to an end, and it will last forever.
The people of Nineveh will rise in the judgment together with this generation and they will condemn it because they repented in response to Jonah's message—and as you see, there's someone greater than Jonah here!
He told them another illustrated story: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman mixed with a large quantity of flour, until all the dough was raised.”
“This is why every religious teacher who's learned about the kingdom of heaven is like a house-owner who brings out from his storeroom both new and old treasures,” Jesus said.
But what a disaster is coming on you religious teachers and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You slam shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. You yourselves don't go in, yet you don't let anyone in who is trying to enter.
Jesus traveled throughout Galilee, teaching in the synagogues, telling the good news of the kingdom, and healing all the diseases and illnesses the people had.
After they had heard this explanation, they didn't argue with him anymore, and praised God, saying, “Now God has granted the opportunity to repent and have eternal life to foreigners as well.”
“Repent!” Peter told them. “All of you must be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
First in Damascus, then in Jerusalem, and then all over Judea and also to the foreigners I shared the message of repentance: how they should turn to God, demonstrating their repentance through their actions.
The kind of sorrow God wants us to have makes us change our minds and brings salvation. This kind of sorrow leaves no sense of regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
So let's not get stuck on the basic teachings about Christ, but let's progress to a more mature understanding. We don't need to go over again the ideas of repenting from what we used to do, about trusting in God—
The Lord is not delaying the fulfillment of his promise, as some define delay, but he is being very patient with you. He doesn't want anyone to be lost, but everyone to come and repent.
So remember how far you've fallen—repent and go back to what you were doing at first. Otherwise I'll come to you and I will remove your candlestick from where it is—unless you repent.
