TSK · Zechariah 1:3

Then if you and your descendants turn to the LORD your God and obey him with your whole mind and being just as I am commanding you today,

He met Asa and told him,“Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin! The LORD is with you when you are loyal to him. If you seek him, he will respond to you, but if you reject him, he will reject you.

Messengers delivered the letters from the king and his officials throughout Israel and Judah. This royal edict read:“O Israelites, return to the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so he may return to you who have been spared from the kings of Assyria.

You Israelites! Return to the one against whom you have so blatantly rebelled!

The Lord Calls on Israel and Judah to Repent“Go and shout this message to my people in the countries in the north. Tell them,‘Come back to me, wayward Israel,’ says the LORD.‘I will not continue to look on you with displeasure. For I am merciful,’ says the LORD.‘I will not be angry with you forever.

“If you, Israel, want to come back,” says the LORD,“if you want to come back to me, you must get those disgusting idols out of my sight and must no longer go astray.

He said through them,‘Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and stop doing the evil things you are doing. If you do, I will allow you to continue to live here in the land that I gave to you and your ancestors as a lasting possession.

I have indeed heard the people of Israel say mournfully,‘We were like a calf untrained to the yoke. You disciplined us and we learned from it. Let us come back to you and we will do so, for you are the LORD our God.

Why should any living person complain when punished for his sins?

For I take no delight in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!

Superficial Repentance Breeds False Assurance of God’s Forgiveness“Come on! Let’s return to the LORD! He himself has torn us to pieces, but he will heal us! He has injured us, but he will bandage our wounds!

Divine Promise to Relent from Judgment and to Restore Blessings“I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger will turn away from them.

Who will once again have mercy on us? Who will conquer our evil deeds? Who will hurl all our sins into the depths of the sea?

I will get up and go to my father and say to him,“Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.