Although God desires all mankind to repent (2 Peter 3:9) and to be saved (1 Tim 2:4), and the Lord Jesus Christ died for them all, rose again, and is welcoming all to His salvation with His open arms, “him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37), human beings with their depraved and sinful nature are not able to change their corrupt mind toward God, self and sin even though they may see miracles or be punished severely.
Miracles: Many think that there must be performance of miracles, signs and wonders to bring sinners to Christ, but the truth is not so. A sinner who is able to repent from sin and to return to God with a submissive heart is surely by His grace alone, not by signs or wonders. Our Lord Jesus tells a story of a rich man and a beggar named Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). After their death, Lazarus was carried into Abraham’s bosom while the rich man was in torments in Hell. The rich man prayed Abraham to send Lazarus to his father’s house to testify unto his five brethren, lest they also come into his place of torment. Abraham said unto him, “They have Moses and the prophets (God’s Word, the Scripture); let them hear them” (v 29). The rich man said, “Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent” (v 30), but Abraham said unto him, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets (God’s Word), neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead” (v 31). No miracles, even the resurrection from the dead, can truly bring a sinner to repentance. We should not be surprised or deceived by the claims of charismatic leaders, who are boastful of many who have been converted through their performance of signs and wonders. Whether they truly repent from sin and return to God in faith and submission does count, and this comes from God and by His grace alone, not by signs or wonders.
Punishment: Sometimes we think that when unbelievers suffer from severe rebukes, trials, disciplines, punishment, they may repent from their sins and come back to God, but the truth is not so. When their sins were exposed, they showed their hatred and anger (John 7:7; Acts 5:33; 7:54-59). Many were angry with God when they lost their loved ones in natural disasters like Tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, or cyclones, etc. The Scripture tells us that when God pours His judgment or punishment upon this wicked world with great tribulations, plagues and disasters, the people do not repent, but blaspheme His name, “And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works… Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts” (Rev 9:20-21). “And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory… And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds (Rev 16:9, 11).
To God’s children, whom He has chosen and saved, God lovingly chastised or corrected them so that they may “be partakers of His holiness” (Heb 12:10). We should give thanks to God when we are chastised, knowing that it is His love and grace to bring us to repentance and forgiveness and sanctification, “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation” (2 Cor 7:10).
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