Ambrose J Chakre
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1st John 1:9
In the past even when we had sinned, God did not destroy us and if that is the nature of God’s mercy, should not we be remorseful even as we are forgiven much? The term confession implies the asking of forgiveness and it was what Christ prayed when he was crucified. The spits, lashes and mockery he received was for our sins and how great our guilt would be if we are to ignore what he did for us on the cross. In the scripture it is written “without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness” and as we know it, the truth must be sought further. (Hebrews 9:22 ) The blood of Christ is our salvation, our confession and if such is the greatness of God’s love should not we be down on our knees confessing our sins? To speak of confession, David confessed when he sinned, Peter cried when he fell and the same is also true with us.
The three dimension of confession are the initial confession, the latter confession and the third is a confession of those who fell after being on a high. The prophets and the sinners of the Old Testament confessed but as we represent the new order, the confession we make before God should be genuine in nature . it is the blood of Christ which sets us free from sin and death and it is only by it that we can be perfected unto righteousness. The writer of Hebrews thus writes “ How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our conscience from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God. For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance- now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant”. ( Hebrews 9:14,15 ) We know what this means and we also know whom the verses refer to and if it is for us, should we compromise on the quality of our confession? Some answers are what we know, some we don’t but if the revelation speaks to us, the Holy Spirit will be our helper even in confession and restoration. To fall from a high cliff is disastrous and many met their end that way and great will be our guilt if we are to ignore such a great salvation.
The sinners perished and their sins were the cause of it. So even as we are kept safe should not gratitude be our language? For as we had sinned we must confess and as we had fallen we must rise again. The scripture says “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the Law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot , who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? As we had not been so holy in the past, we know the degree of our sins and the repetition of it only hurts us more and grieves God more. Let me make an illustration: If I have a son or a daughter and on getting the news of them having sinned- in my unrighteous nature I might get a stick ready to whip them mercilessly when they return. But if I were to be controlled by the nature of God, I might still whip them even as I hurt and cry inside. The nature of God is such that he has mercy on everyone who comes to him in repentance and if such is the greatness of God’s love, should not we understand it? The truth regarding peace and turmoil is that holiness is of the former, while wickedness is of the latter. Thus it is written “ This is the great truth concerning the wicked and Judas was also a victim to it. But for us who are of the truth, confession will always be our language of repentance even as we lead others to it. The true language of confession can only be spoken by the Holy Spirit and it is this power which saves and empowers us. The God we worship hears every cry, every prayer and even confession. Let every word we speak say “Lord I mean it, I truly mean it”. The powers of God are also in repentance.
