BOW: Repentance - Returning to the Covenant

Thoughts on Davidic Kingship.
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In this week’s post as we consider becoming sanctified, we will look at repentance, which is the next action in our triad of faith, repentance and baptism.  When Jehovah condescended and became Yeshua, He admonished His Jewish brethren to repent or in Hebrew teshuvah - to return. What was Yeshua asking them to return to - the covenant He had given to Israel as their god - Jehovah.

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The Process of Perfection
Our Process of Perfection looks like this:

                                                                     Individual Salvation
                                                                             Born Again
​                                                       (Redemption / Sanctification)
          Born of the Blood / Born of the Water > Keeps the Commandments > Born of God/Spirit

                                                                       Married Exaltation
                                                                     Going Onto Perfection
                           Becoming Perfect > Reaches the Full Stature of Messiah > Sees God the Son

Judah and Returning to the Covenant
In the Bible and to an Israelite, Repentance means “to return to the law”. In his book, The Tanakh, the Dictionary for the New Testament, Bradford Scott, wrote, “The comparable word [for repent] used in the [Old Testament] and the Hebrew culture is “teshuvah”. This word is generally translated “to return”, or “to go back”. “The very first word that we hear from [John the Baptist] is repent! To whom was he speaking this? To the nations? Of course not. The nations would not have a clue as to what to go back to! He was speaking this to the local Jewish leadership. [John] was pleading, on behalf of Jesus, for God’s covenant people to go back to the covenant. [Jesus’] first word to the Jewish leaders is repent!” (p. 75, 79, 80)

Gentiles (the Nations) Coming into the Covenant
Gentiles who come into covenant with Jehovah-Yeshua, accept the God of Israel as their god and enter into the same law and covenant as a descendant of Abraham  - Lev. 24:22, Exodus 12:49. These Gentiles - who many of them are really a mixed seed of Israel - repair what damage they did in their previous life according to God’s covenant and begin a new life as God’s Covenant People.

Repairing the World
“Repairing the World” is a Jewish initiative to make the world a better place, but in another context, repairing the world can also apply to bringing God’s law to all humanity, which law God promised would bring man life, liberty, happiness and abundance.  But to get there, we must repent and repair our old lives the best we can.


Victims of Sin
When we wrong either God or our neighbor, they are victims of our sin and bear the consequences of our sinful actions. And it is our responsibility as sinners to restore victims of our sins to a pre-offense condition.  Under divine law, this concept is known as restitution and a petition for forgiveness for our neighbor and genuine sorrow and a petition for forgiveness for God.

Restitution
Under Torah law restitution was satisfied by replacing that which was taken, which could include servitude until the debt was paid.  However, mercy was also part of the Law - Proverbs 28:13, . A person who was sincerely repentant and who could not repay the entire amount could be granted mercy where the victim of sin bore the balance of that that was lost.

The Atonement
For those who have exhausted their efforts to repair wrongs committed and to be reconciled with God, there is the Atonement, which we discussed when we considered the Atonement under being Born of the Blood. There we saw that Yeshua suffered more than any other person and obtained the Father’s mercy and justice for all humanity.  Indeed, when we fully repent, we invoke the Atonement to receive God’s full and unconditional reconciliation.​

So this is what our summary looks like:

Returning/Turning to the Covenant

Abandoning Our Old Ways

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Repairing Our Previous Life the Best We Can ​According to the Law of God's Covenant

V                                                                                 V

Reconciling with God	Reconciling with Our Neighbor
​Confess Our Sins Against God Feel Remorse for Our Actions Forsake the Sin Petition God for Forgiveness	Confess Our Sins Against Our Neighbor Restore What was Taken Forsake the Sin Petition Our Neighbor for Forgiveness
Invoke the Atonement for Full Reconciliation with God	Invoke the Atonement for Full Reconciliation with God
V	V
Receive a Release from a Conscience of Guilt	Receive a Release from a Conscience of Guilt
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Begin a New Life as an Initiate in God's Way

Repeat repentance until the transformation by the Spirit is received.