HARMONY WITH GOD Part 3 of 3 by Zane C. Hodges - Chafer ...

Harmony with God 41
In the famous text in Hebrews 6:1–6, Paul is thinking of
Christians who have turned away from their Christian faith and
returned to some form of Judaism. He believes such people lay a
basis for repenting all over again from the dead works of the law
(Hebrews 6:1), which they had abandoned when they trusted in
Christ alone. He understands that those who do such a thing are
very “hard” spiritually and that no human effort will succeed in
renewing them to repentance (Hebrews 6:6), that is, restoring them
to the point where they were before they abandoned dead works
for God’s grace. But the impossibility he refers to (Hebrews 6:4)
does not apply to God, of course, and he hints that God’s discipline
may effect their return just like the burning of a field opens the
way for it to be reused for cultivation (Hebrews 6:7–8)
None of these texts, however, are dealing with the way a
person obtains eternal salvation. Instead they illustrate some of the
many forms that Christian repentance may have to take.
Conclusion
Repentance definitely can and should bring glory to God, as
it did at Jerusalem in Acts 11:18. And it does so when it is properly
understood, not as a condition for eternal salvation, but as the
means by which we can reach harmony with our Maker no matter
how far we have strayed from him
The unsaved man can find in repentance a road that leads him
to faith in Christ and to fellowship with the Father in heaven. Even
when he comes to faith in Christ before repentance, he will find
fellowship and harmony with his God. And a Christian who has
walked with God for years, and then has left that path to go off
into sin (like the Prodigal Son), can always repent and come home
to his heavenly Father.
Someday, too, the nation of Israel will repent and will recover
their special relationship to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
The prophet Zechariah vividly describes Israel’s repentance as a