Call to repentance

Welcome to class!

In today’s class, we will be talking about the call to repentance. Enjoy the class!

What is repentance?

Repentance means an act of showing that you feel sorry for something you have done wrong. If we do not obey the commandment of God, we have sinned. However, when we feel sorry for our wrong behaviour, and promise not to sin again, we have repented. Therefore, for our sins to be forgiven, we need to repentance.

King David was one of the people who sinned against God and his neighbour, Uriah but later repented of his sins. The Israelites were fighting against the Ammonites. David sent his warrior, Joab to fight at the war front. Back at home, David was walking around the upper part of his palace. When he saw Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah taking her bath, David was attracted to her and sent her. Eventually, he slept with her and she became pregnant.

When King David discovered this, he decided to hide his shameful act so that it will not be known. He sent for Uriah, Bathsheba’s Uriah husband from the war front and asked him about the war. He said Uriah should go and sleep at home before returning to the battlefront. David hoped that Uriah refused to go home and slept at the palace till the following day. On the following day, David sent a letter through Uriah to Joab who was the captain of his army. David stated in the letter that Joab should put Uriah in the hottest part of the war to ensure he died. Joab obeyed the instruction of the king David and Uriah died in the battle. Bathsheba heard about the death of Uriah, her husband, and mourned him. She later gave birth to a male child but what kind of David did annoy God. God sent the Prophet Nathan to King David.

Nathan came to David with a message from God. He delivered the message in a parable thus: “there were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds; but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. Now there came a traveller to the rich man and he was unwilling to take one of his flocks or herd to prepare for the traveller, but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who comes to him”. II Samuel 12: 1-4, II Samuel 12: 5-6

Nathan answered David and said he was the man referred to in parable. Nathan told him what he did to Uriah the Hittite was like what that rich man did. He reminded him of how God showed love to him and made him king over Israel instead of Saul.

Nathan pronounced the judgment of God upon David that his wives shall be taken before his eye and given to his neighbour, and the neighbour shall lie with his wives in the sight of the sun. God also said he would raise evil against David from his own house and the sword shall never depart from his house.

David repented and said to Nathan, “I have sinned against God”. Nathan then David, “The Lord had also forgiven you of your sin, you shall not die”. However, because despised God by this sin, the child born to him by Bathsheba died. David was saved from death because of his quick and genuine repentance. He went before the Lord and begged God for the forgiveness of his sin. As a result, David wrote Psalm 51 to with God.

Part of the song of David in Psalm 51 goes thus:

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy steadfast love, according to thy abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!”

We hope you enjoyed the class.

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Call to repentance