Daily Reading: Hebrews 11-13
Hebrews 12:17
For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
This verse is speaking about Esau, and the episode in his life when he sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew. Hebrews tells us that …he found no place of repentance… On the surface this seems to indicate that if we sin that there is no way we can be forgiven of it, ever. This is not true. Well, factually there is one sin a person can commit from which there is no hope of forgiveness, that is blasphemy of the Holy Ghost (Matthew 12:31). This means an individual rejects the Holy Ghost considering His work of giving faith to believe the Gospel as false. Meaning they attribute the Holy Spirit’s testimony as false, calling Him a liar, rejecting His free gift of eternal life based upon the Gospel of Christ. Other than this, every sin can be forgiven.
So, what does the writer of Hebrews mean by stating that Esau found no place of repentance. Think about it like this. If a person steals $100.00, they can repent of that toward the person from whom they stole, part of which is restitution. They can pay back the $100.00, they can even pay 20% interest on the money and give the one they robbed $120.00. But if a person murders a person. There is no place for repentance in that there is no way to make that right. They cannot bring the person back to life. When Esau sold his birthright, there was no way he could undo it. It was done, though he would cry bitter tears it could not be undone. Some sins are like this. No matter the sorrow, no matter the contrition, no matter the future good works, nothing can make it as if that sin had never been committed.
But can God forgive it? Yes. Can the person repent of it in that they never commit that sin again, can they turn from their wicked ways, can they cease to do that which they once did? Yes. Visit again I Corinthians 6:11. Just after giving a list of ten of the most heinous sins, after stating that anyone who commits those sins of unrighteousness will not inherit the kingdom of God, Paul writes: And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. Those in the church of Corinth had committed the heinous sins listed, and more, and less, but they were washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of Jesus by the Spirit of God.
Repentance is on two levels. One toward God (of which there is no restitution that can be given to Him to make that sin right, all we can offer Him is the sacrifice of His Son through faith) and one toward those whom we have sinned against. Some sins can be “made right” through restitution, some cannot, but all can be forgiven by God and hopefully by those who have been sinned against. All, that is except that one, the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost.
So, until tomorrow, live by faith for Christ today.