Those who are in love repent easily, freely, and deeply, with little thought to the cost of their repentance. They want their love to be unhindered and filled with prolific righteousness.

Those who are aiming at first-commandment love for the One Who is filled with grace and has perfectly loved us first, have all the more reason to repent in this manner.

To begrudge repentance is to begrudge lavish love. And lavish love is what He is so worthy of.

True, Spirit-borne repentance never asks how little contrition we have to offer to God – or where my sin ends and my family’s sin begins. He who has seen much of God repents much unto God.

When the Lord revealed Himself to the prophet Isaiah this was his response: “Woe is me, for I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the Lord of Hosts.” (Isaiah 6:5)

In light of the end of the age, and Who is coming, our only thought should be, “How GREAT COULD BE our repentance!?” Seriously!

So often our thoughts about repentance are connected to the rote religious equation of “What must I do in order to be saved and make it to heaven one day?”. When teaching/dialoguing about repentance and revival and the judgments of the Lord, the Body urgently needs to begin developing a mind-set that is living beyond a temporal, this age only status quo… we need to be thinking “tomorrow I’m going to e standing in the Presence of the King.”

In all great likelihood, the NEXT great revival will be the LAST great revival before the great and terrible Day of the Lord and His return. The whole earth has never seen a revival like the one the Lord is birthing in the Prayer Room right now. America has never seen this kind of revival. 

Add a.) the degree to which the status quo of nearly all of western culture has embraced demonic darkness, to b.) the promises of the Lord to bring His whole household to first-commandment love before the return of His Son and viola! we’ve got an explosive convergence that makes humanity’s combined nuclear arsenal look like pop rocks.

John. Jesus’ best friend on the earth. “Laid his head on Jesus heart John”. “I’ve already gone up and seen Him on the mount of transfiguration John”. After living a full life of proclaiming this Jesus, when he saw a revelation of Jesus in a bit of His heavenly glory fell at Jesus’ feet as though he were dead. (Revelation 1:17) On the day that we first catch a glimpse of Jesus which of us would say, “In that moment, I will possess more equilibrium than John!”

I appreciate the artists’ depictions of the believer’s first moment in heaven – jumping into the arms of Jesus to hug Him… (I love that Jesus is that intimate with His followers) However, embracing familiarity is never how scripture describes humanity’s face to Face encounter with the eternal God. Wherever and whenever this happens it always produces trembling and fear and “woe is me” awareness.

From this standpoint, one of the things the tribulation on earth will do is help prepare humanity for the greater cataclysmic event… We think, the great tribulation and the groan of creation and stars and seas are something… wait until we see their Creator… there will never be a more “woe is me” event on the earth (nothing even close…) than the Day the Sun of righteousness breaks in on an unrighteous world as Bridegroom, King and Judge.

Isaiah’s vision is a bit of what constrained John the Baptist. John wasn’t roaming the wilderness stewing over the mud puddle of humanity’s sin. Day after day he was being captivated by overwhelming visions of the majesty and beauty of the One Who was coming.

This is 99.9% of what the forerunner’s heart needs to be gripped with.

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JSB • May 17, 2022