Fruits

As the world has been in this pandemic of sickness, I have seen many images in the news regarding it. I have even seen images of people standing with signs that say, "REPENT". It is important for God's people to bring that message of repentance to ourselves and others, especially during this time. How can I incorporate this message of repentance effectively in my own life, as well as in bringing this vital message to others? 
John the Baptist ordered the religious Pharisees to bring forth the fruits worthy of repentance (Mt. 3:8-9). The Baptist was expecting to see these specific fruits from the descendants of Abraham, but didn't see them. Why did the religious people of his day need this correction in the first place? They surely knew about repentance, but it hadn't borne any fruit in their lives. Why not? Why aren't we seeing fruits of repentance in God's people today? Is it perhaps because of the same misunderstanding of repentance? These are my questions.
When God speaks of the fruit He wants to see in His people, He is speaking of wonderful things, just as the fruits of the Spirit are wonderful (Gal. 5:22-23). Keeping these things in mind, I would like to offer some unusual thoughts about repentance.
On the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, which is a day we usually associate with fasting and repentance, God instructed us to afflict our souls (humble, look down, weaken, be depressed, be downcast, but the root meaning is: answer, respond as a witness, testify or solemnly affirm something, to speak, to shout, to receive an answer, to sing, to praise with song, to dwell, to be bountiful, to bestow). We can easily fall into the trap of interpreting that in a certain way, a religious way, involving the work or effort of man. However, the Torah refers to the Day as the Shabbat of Shabbats. God made repeatedly clear that this was to be a Sabbath rest, no work of any kind was to be done on this day (Lev. 23:28-32), and to me, that includes the religious efforts of man as well. The Sabbath rest is a day for focusing on God in order to keep it holy. God addressed this through His prophet Isaiah. The LORD asks:
"Is it a fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, and to spread out sack cloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, and an acceptable day (Yom) to the LORD?"  Isa. 58:5
Then the LORD went on to describe all of the fruit that the true affliction of the soul that He has in mind will bring forth. What I saw as the fruit of this day of repentance, according to the LORD through His prophet, is a soul humbled sorrowful, yet thankful in the face of the atonement sacrifice that was given to cleanse us of sin. Humble and thankful to the Father Who provided a substitute sacrifice for us, His own Son, so we will not be destroyed. Self-affliction in this awareness of His great accomplishment for us brings forth the breaking of the yoke, the loosing of the bonds of wickedness, the undoing of the heavy burdens, the freeing of the oppressed, and finally the glory of God (v. 6-8). Religious fasting, on the other hand, leads to strife and debate, striking with a wicked fist (of condemnation?) (v. 4).
In another scripture, Paul commands the believer to "examine himself" for participation in what we call communion. The failure to do so brings forth calamity (1 Cor. 11:28-30). In what context does this self-examination take place? What is God looking for? Christ set the example as He gave thanks (v. 24) for the fulfillment of God's glorious promise to man. The self-examination in this scripture comes in the context of the atonement of Christ in our stead, as in the manner of Yom Kippur, above. This is when Christ revealed that it is by His body, and by His blood, that He has victoriously brought us the New Covenant. It is in this kind of remembrance that our self-examination brings forth the fruit that God intended, which is the proclaiming of His atoning death until He comes again (v. 26).
God has a goal in mind, a Oneness with us, which He accomplished through His precious Son, Jesus. He didn't send His Son to die in our place so that we could live under condemnation, and misery. Repentance is a necessity among His people, especially in these current times. However, true repentance does not come about by the religious effort of man. I am looking for the cleansing work of the Holy Spirit promised in scripture that brings man to the awareness of his sin (Ezek. 36:23-31). Did you ever watch a new mother bathing and cleansing her infant? She doesn't do it with sandpaper and a pressure washer! I don't think this is God's method either. The goal is to cleanse, not to torture. Trying to do it in our own strength and understanding, to me, is an exercise in fruitlessness, not fruitful faith. The end result, or fruit of repentance, is not supposed to be torment, unending guilt, and continual chewing and re-chewing of bitter herbs. The fruit of repentance is glory. The fruit of salvation is glory. The fruit of redemption is glory, The fruit of holiness is glory. The fruit of our walk with Christ is glory, and that glory has a purpose and effect:
"...that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one, just as we are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world." Prayer of Jesus (excerpt) Jn. 17:21-24
How am I relating this glory to repentance? If the concept of repentance in our Christian walk amounts to spiritually sitting on an ash heap picking at old scabs and boils with pieces of broken pottery, and insisting that others follow suit in like manner, we might be doing something wrong. The man who did this in scripture was Job, who had much sorrow. He looked back continually in torment upon all the trouble that had befallen him, upon all that he had lost, wishing he had never been born, seeking in vain the reason and the cure with the non-help of his condemning friends. Job did not even want to hope anymore (Job 6:11). They insisted that Job must repent, in accordance with their understanding of repentance.
In the end, God did lead Job to repentance, but He did this by asking Job to compare himself to God's greatness, His glorious works. Does that mean that Job's friends were correct all along? God said they were not correct. Perhaps their mistake was the same one many of us make: they thought that repentance is solely an act of the human will and effort. Scripture tells us that this is not the case:
"...profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears."  Heb. 12:16-17
Job's friends placed the power and work of repentance solely upon Job. However, I think that repentance requires that we must meet God at a spiritual place of reconciliation. Jesus commanded that we go and preach repentance in His name, and by the power from on high that God would give us (Lk. 24:46-49). Like salvation and the baptism of the Holy Spirit, repentance is a work of the glory of God. Why is glory the beginning and end result that God is looking for in us, even in our repentance? Because the dead are raised by glory:
"Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection."  Rom. 6:4-5
If your method of repentance has you continually re-visiting the occasions of your failures and wounds, you are doing something wrong. Christ being raised by the glory of the Father, as stated above, allows us to walk in newness of life, not a continual rehearsal and regurgitation of things that brought death, and are dead. If it is truly dead in your life, let it be buried in order to begin walking in the new life. Repentance is the opportunity to consign dead things to their grave, leaving only those things that are alive in Christ to remain.
By the same method as the Father raised Christ, by His glory, He also raises us. Shouldn't people be seeing this glory in our walk and our talk? If they are not, we have missed the glory appointed for us. The glory of repentance is full of hope. Hope looks forward to the miraculous things to come, not continually backward to things that are, and deserve to be, passed away. Ineffective repentance keeps resurrecting the things that should remain dead, therefore preventing the lively things to be resurrected in the glory.
2 Chronicles 7:14 calls God's people to repentance. He urges us to repentance with the call to "seek His face". We cannot leave God out of the repentance equation. We automatically achieve prayer, humility, and the turning from the evil of our ways, when we turn towards His face. We can't face both directions at the same time: when we turn towards His face, we automatically turn away from our sin, flesh, and death, and His face is the face of glory:
"For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us."  2 Cor. 4:6
When Moses asked God to see His glory, God replied that Moses was not allowed to see His face, but as His goodness passed by Moses, Moses would be allowed to see His back (Ex. 33:18-23). God connected His glory to His face. Proverbs talks about the life that is found in the light of a king's face (Prov. 16:15). Now, because of Christ, we are allowed to look into the Face of Glory (see 2 Cor. 4:6 above):
We are changed by this glory in Christ's face, and this is what repentance is about-change:
"Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord."  2 Cor. 3:17-18
God is looking for the glory of repentance in us, being transformed by a work of His Spirit. Are we living this out in front of others? Are we showing others how to bring forth the true fruits of repentance by setting before their eyes the amazing glory of God? In these examples that God has given us, the revealing of His great glory, He is offering man the opportunity to say in repentance, "What is man, and who am I, that God would do these wonderful things for me?" (Ps. 8, Ps. Ps. 144:1-4, 1 Chron. 17:15-20). Man sees how truly small and fragile he is when he stands next to a Giant Sequoia. When faced with God's glory, we can see how far we have fallen short in comparison (Rom. 3:23). According to this scripture, the yardstick that sin is measured against is not the Law, but the glory.
The promise in repentance that we offer to others is GLORY, and its true liberty. Repentance originates in God's glory, and produces glory. This is what I can believe for myself, and tell and show others, as I manifest repentance glory in my own life.
Our walk with Christ is a walk of peace, joy, beauty and glory. Why would Christ make the fruits of repentance something different? We can show that repentance is not something from which to run away, but towards, with all speed.
Repenting because we are running from Hell is smart, no doubt about it, but repenting because we are running headlong into the glory is, well, glorious. The repentance that we seek, and the repentance that we can share with so many others, is found in our turning to the face of glory, the Father's glory that we are able to behold on the face of His Son. Look for the glory, and there you will also find the sweet fruits of repentance. 

Our Father is waiting to see His glory of repentance in us.

Times

Some may have the impression that God is not very specific about time, that He passively watches time flow past, and is not directly involved in it. He is eternal after all, so we may believe that time has no meaning to Him. However, I believe that God is more specific about time than we will ever be with all of our watches, schedules and calendars. If we were to look at God's appointment calendar, I think we would see that every line of it would be occupied with a specific purpose. We would find that God has ordained, appointed, set a work for every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every week of every group of weeks of every month of every season of every year of every specific grouping of years. He has assigned even a time of rest for a specific day and year. He successfully accomplishes all of the works which He has ordained for those specific measurements of time. It was revealed to King Solomon that there is an appointed time for every purpose under heaven (Eccl. 3:1).
At least one appointed specific time is so secret, which is the day and hour of the Son's return, that not even the Son of God nor the angels know it, only the Father knows it (Mt. 24:36). The beginning, progression and ending of the Great Flood were all appointed for a specific year, month, day (Gen. 8).
In our lives, we have idle time, not designated for any plan or activity. Not so with God. Even during the time when we are oblivious in sleep, for example, He has appointed those hours to call out every star over our heads by name, and wants us to know He is doing it:
"Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things, who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power; not one is missing."   Isa. 40:26, also Ps. 147:4
Let's look at some examples of God's appointed times:
Groups of years:
There are many references in scripture to the grouping of seven years, for example, and the events accomplished within or at the end of those seven years. Groups of seven years were appointed in service to attain a desired wife (Gen. 29:30). God commanded that every seventh year His people should let the land rest and lay fallow, so that the poor of the people can eat what is left on that land, and also the beasts of the field (Ex. 23:10-11). At the end of every seven years, there is to be a release from all debts. This specific seventh year is called the Lord's release (Deut. 15:1-2, Jer. 34:14). There is also a specific work to take place, the reading of the Word of God before all of the people, during the Feast of Tabernacles as it occurs during each seventh year of release, to prepare His people for what will lay ahead (Deut. 31:10-13).  There was a specified group of years counted off, appointed, prophesied and then fulfilled for the first coming and death of the Messiah (Dan. 9:26). We can be assured that there is a also a specific time counted off and appointed for the return of our Messiah, Jesus. 
Year:
Isaiah prophesied regarding "the acceptable year of the LORD" (Isa. 61:1-3). Jesus announced that He was specifically fulfilling that promise, and the works of the Lord by the anointing of His Spirit appointed for that year, including preaching the gospel, healing the broken hearted, proclaiming liberty to the captives and the oppressed, and to restore sight to the blind (Lk. 4:18-21).
Season:
Everything is appointed for a specific season (Eccl. 3:1). There is a season of deliverance (Deut. 16:6). There is a season appointed for birth and death (2 Kings 4:16-17, Job 5:26). There is a season appointed to bring rain for a yield (Lev. 26:4, Deut. 4:14). There is a season in which a word is appointed to be spoken (Prov. 15:23, Isa. 50:4). There is a season for fulfillment of prophecy (Lk. 1:20). There is a season for the visitation of angels (Jn. 5:4).
Month:
Every month is set as a new beginning, as a time for reflection, repentance, change. It is signified by the appearance of the new moon in the night sky. Each new moon was to be an observance before the LORD as a Sabbath, and signified by the sounding of the trumpet so that all may know the moment of its appearance (Ps. 81:3). The new moon of a beginning of a specific month also signals the start of the LORD's Feast of Trumpets. The beginning of each month, or new moon, was a call to worship (Isa. 66:23).
Week:
Each week was marked by the end of seven days, the seventh day being a Sabbath. It is a day of rest and holiness (Ex. 20:8-11).  So even rest is appointed specifically at a set time with the LORD. Seven days were appointed for the circling of Jericho to bring down its walls (Heb. 11:30). The prophet of God sat with the captives 7 days waiting for the word of the LORD (Ezek. 3:15). The water was turned to blood for 7 days in Egypt as one of the ten plagues (Ex. 7:24-25).
Day:
There are numerous specific days and groups of days ordained by the LORD for specific purposes, including those found in His appointed feasts (Lev. 23). The LORD appointed specific days for the accomplishment of specific works, as we see in each of the individual  six days of creation in the first chapter of Genesis. God was revealing His working pattern to us, and its designated relationship to specific increments of time. God could have created all in one moment, or without the division of days, but the pattern was set from the beginning that each day in the LORD has its specific purpose and accomplished "good" and "very good" work. It must be that the pattern continues. There are so many appointed single days of works, they are too numerous to mention except for a few: a day of resurrection (Gen. 22:4, Mt. 27:63, Rev. 11:11), days appointed for covenant and circumcision (Gen. 15:18, Gen. 17:23, 26), a day appointed for justice/judgment/vengeance (Isa. 2:12, 13:6, 9, 61:2, Joel 1:15, Jer. 46:10), a day that the LORD's voice is heard, and He is seen (Zeph. 1:14, Ex. 6:28, 19:11), a day appointed for repentance (Isa. 22:12), a day of deliverance (Ex. 12:51, 14:30), a day of atonement that covers sin (Lev. 16:29-30, 23:27), a day when the LORD is a crown of glory and beauty upon His people (Isa. 28:5), a day for healing wounds (Isa. 30:26), a day of salvation, inheritance, and restoration of the earth (Isa. 49:8), and each day is appointed for the renewal of His mercy towards us (Lam. 3:22-24). It was the first day of a week that Mary came to the empty tomb, and the resurrected Jesus appeared to her (Mk. 16:2, 9). It was also a specific day of a week that Jesus appeared to the disciples for the first time after His resurrection (Jn. 20:19).
Hour:
Jesus, especially, identified the hours of God's specific and appointed work: an hour of healing (Mt. 8:13, 15:28), an hour of deliverance from demons (Mt. 17:8, Lk. 7:21). The specific hour for the crucifixion of Christ was appointed (Mk. 15:25), also the day and hour of the return of Christ (Mt. 24:36, 42-44, 50), an hour when the true worshippers are established (Jn. 4:23), an hour when the dead hear the Son's voice and are raised (Jn. 5:25).
We can be sure that the LORD has appointed a work for each day and hour. That would be greatness in itself, but He goes even further in His works. He appoints works for every moment and for time periods of less than a moment: Cities are overthrown in a moment (Lam. 4:6), His anger lasts for a moment (Ps. 30:5) and people are consumed in a moment (Ex. 33:5, Num. 16:21).
His greatest work concerning us is appointed for a specific moment and even less than a moment:
"Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed - in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised...and we shall be changed...then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."  1 Cor. 15:51-54 (excerpt)
We should be aware that the works of the LORD, though declared and prophetically completed before the foundations of the earth, are appointed for every moment, hour, day, week, month, season, year and group of years. The Antichrist, inhabited by the Devil, will desire and seek to change the times (Dan. 7:25), but he will not succeed because the times have been appointed by God. Satan is aware that God has specifically appointed times (Rev. 12:12). If Satan is aware of this truth, shouldn't the people of God also be aware of it? The LORD is indeed greater than time, but He still inhabits every second of time for His will and His plan. He is doing an appointed work even right now, in this moment of time.

Our Father has appointed times.