I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.
When His people return to Him with words of confession asking Him to take away all wrong and receive them kindly, renouncing idols and all trust in human help and earthly power, He answers by promising to cure their turning away, to love them without deserving, and to put aside His displeasure against them. To cure their unfaithfulness means to forgive every sin and take it fully away, to love without reserve means to love from His own boundless goodness while they are still sinners, and for His anger to be turned away means judgments are removed and transgressions remembered no more. This promise is conditional on humble, contrite, whole-hearted repentance and cleansing of soul, not merely outward fasting and prayer, and it stands as present truth for today. The healing and free love restore His people as dew revives, making them grow as the lily, root as Lebanon, spread as branches, and bear beauty and fruit separated from idols. So no fallen one need despair, for God as a true shepherd pities, seeks, welcomes and pardons the returning sinner, and He now invites every backslider without delay to turn and be made strong to do His will.
Promise Setting and Conditions
The promise to heal turning away, to love freely, and to turn anger away is God's answer to a return to the Lord with words of confession asking Him to take away all iniquity and receive graciously. It answers those fallen by iniquity, including those who have looked upon themselves as superior to their brethren, when they come back confessing sin and seeking gracious acceptance, and it follows the call to return, confess iniquity, and seek that acceptance. That return renounces iniquity and idols, forsaking idols and false sources of help.
It no longer trusts in Asshur, in horses, or in human help, and no longer calls the work of hands its gods, but comes as fatherless finding mercy. The promise is given on condition of repentance, and though spoken in times past it applies in the present day. It is present truth for the time in which the ranks of those who know the truth must be closed up.
The condition is humbling the heart before Him and turning to Him with the whole heart in humiliation, repentance, and inward purification of soul. Outward fasting and prayer without a broken and contrite spirit and this inward work of grace is worthless in His sight, for He hears the humble, contrite prayer of those who seek Him with genuine contrition. Sinners come to the throne of grace with tears of contrition and penitential grief in agony over sin, not sympathy for self, confessing wrongs and appealing to grace, and He hears, answers, restores, and makes them strong to do, endure, and suffer His will. Even people whose false paths have led others astray are received when they heed His reproof and correct their conduct, being healed from sinful ways, freely loved, with anger turned away.
Healing Love and Pardon
To heal backsliding is to cure unfaithfulness and turning away, restoring those who have turned away when they return. He can heal every kind of backsliding, forgive every sin, and remove sin completely. His assurance that He will graciously receive and bless those who turn from evil is itself the cure for unfaithfulness and the turning away of His anger.
To love freely is to love without reserve. It is love without deserving, given while they are still sinners, without requiring them to earn favor. It flows not from any human merit but from His own boundless goodness. His mercy is shown in willingness to pardon and save sinners as sinners, and in that free love He heals those who wandered and restores them.
For anger to be turned away is for judgments and anger to be removed. The barrier of divine anger is taken away. Transgressions are remembered no more when the one seeking return earnestly seeks salvation and sincerely repents, and God turns His face toward him. In this He graciously pardons and heals all backslidings.
He hates sin but loves the sinner and loves the penitent. He looks with pity and compassion on the one who turned away, loving him not because he is righteous but because his soul is precious and should not be lost. His compassion makes Him more ready and pleased to pardon than to condemn, and His light continues to shine on sinners for Christ's sake. Therefore no fallen person needs to give up to despair.
He acts as a true shepherd, seeking the lost and calling the distressed to return. He pities the one seeking to return. He welcomes the returning sinner with free love and abundant pardon. Heaven rejoices when they are found.
Restoration Growth and Fruit
Healing of unfaithfulness and love given without reserve bring gracious restoration, pictured as dew that revives, nourishes, restores and sustains the people when they return. The anger being turned away opens a continuing offer of mercy in which growth and fruit come from Him. That forgiveness brings fruitful growth under His care for those who forsake idols and return.
The restoration is growth as the lily, roots as Lebanon and the cedar, spreading branches, beauty as the olive tree, and revival as corn and the vine. He becomes as dew to Israel to bring this growth, beauty and fruitfulness after backsliding is healed and anger is removed. Those restored show a fragrant spiritual influence marked by growth, beauty and fruit.
The restored are separated from idols, with Ephraim renouncing idols and finding all fruit from Him. Israel will flourish and bear fruit through God as Ephraim turns from idols. This proves the ways of the Lord are right for the just to walk in while transgressors fall.
Those who turn back have spiritual perceptions revived to see failure to honor God as His law requires. By divine grace they are refined and cleansed from every stain of impurity in thought, word and deed. So cleansed, they again honor Him as His law requires and carry a fragrant spiritual influence as those who love God and keep His commandments.
He hears the humble, contrite prayer of those who seek Him and turn back from sin. He answers such confession and petition with tears of contrition and penitential grief, not sympathy for self, in agony over sin. He restores backsliders from their turning away and makes them strong to do, endure and suffer His will.
Hope for Fallen Believers
The promise leaves hope for all who have fallen, so that no fallen person needs to give up to despair. Even one like Solomon who fell can truly repent and find hope in the healing of backsliding and love given freely. Even aged men once honored of God who have defiled their souls by sacrificing virtue on the altar of lust still have hope if they repent, forsake sin, and turn to God.
The promise is for professed believers in the church who have turned away, whose interest in His work has abated and whose devotion is gone. It meets those who have left the way of truth and righteousness and followed worldly ways instead of the counsel of God. It meets those who have failed to keep their thoughts, words, and deeds pure, clean, and holy, realizing at last that they are breaking God's law and transgressing against Him. When they turn back with repentance toward God and toward Jesus Christ, asking Him to take away all iniquity and receive them graciously, He heals their turning away, loves them without reserve, and turns His anger away from them. Their spiritual perceptions are then revived, refined, and cleansed by divine grace from every stain of impurity in thought, word, and deed, so that they again honor Him as His law requires and carry a fragrant spiritual influence marked by growth, beauty, and fruit as those who love God and keep His commandments. Even in lukewarmness and sin, those who return are freely loved, healed, called to return, and restored.
The promise belongs to Christians who have entered temptation and remained long insensible to sin. It belongs to those who have been blinded and deceived by Satan, who have betrayed Jesus, grieved the Holy Spirit, brought reproach on His cause, enshrouded their souls in darkness, and grown cold. When such sinners come with tears of contrition and penitential grief rather than sympathy for self, in agony over sin, their confession is heard and their petition answered. They are then restored and made strong to do, to endure, and to suffer His will, regaining confidence through a humble course of duty in the fear of the Lord. Jesus promises to restore those who have turned away from Him, to love them freely, and to remove the barrier of divine anger, giving hope of return to those who have grown cold. So God was willing to pardon Israel's repeated unfaithfulness, healing their backslidings and restoring them to His favor when they returned to Him.
Present Invitation to Return
The promise stands as a continuing offer of mercy and open opportunity to repent, extended to people today and especially to those who have become fruitless, calling them to turn from evil with assurance that they will be graciously received and blessed, healed of unfaithfulness, loved freely, with anger turned away and with restoration, sustenance, growth and fruit coming from Him.
The backslider is invited now, just now, to return without delay, and those who have turned away must repent of backsliding and return in contrition. That healing is God's work of leading out a peculiar people, purifying and cleansing them and fitting them for translation, separating every carnal thing until each stands like gold seven times purified. He sifts His people as corn is sifted in a sieve until all the chaff is separated from the pure kernels of grain.
The call is addressed to ministers and people to humble their hearts before Him, and it is applied personally, as to Philip and to any person seeking to return. He hears the petitions of those who humble their hearts, graciously receiving all who turn to Him with the whole heart in humiliation, repentance and inward purification of soul, turning His judgments and anger away from them. Outward fasting and prayer without a broken and contrite spirit and this inward work of grace is worthless in His sight, and He waits to fulfill the promise when the condition is met. He pities the one who earnestly seeks salvation and sincerely repents, turns His face toward him, remembers his transgressions no more, heals his backsliding and loves him freely.
Return to God is met by restoring love and forgiveness, for He heals those who have turned from Him and loves them freely when they return with humble confession, His anger being turned away. He is merciful and ready to pardon those who renounce their own counsels and seek His way. He offers restoration and peace to those who have lost sight of the plan of the ages for the deliverance of sinners ensnared by the power of Satan. Jesus promises to restore those who have turned away from Him, to love them freely, and to remove the barrier of divine anger, giving people who have grown cold hope of returning to Him.
When His people return to Him with words of confession asking Him to take away all wrong and receive them kindly, renouncing idols and all trust in human help and earthly power, He answers by promising to cure their turning away, to love them without deserving, and to put aside His displeasure against them. To cure their unfaithfulness means to forgive every sin and take it fully away, to love without reserve means to love from His own boundless goodness while they are still sinners, and for His anger to be turned away means judgments are removed and transgressions remembered no more. This promise is conditional on humble, contrite, whole-hearted repentance and cleansing of soul, not merely outward fasting and prayer, and it stands as present truth for today. The healing and free love restore His people as dew revives, making them grow as the lily, root as Lebanon, spread as branches, and bear beauty and fruit separated from idols. So no fallen one need despair, for God as a true shepherd pities, seeks, welcomes and pardons the returning sinner, and He now invites every backslider without delay to turn and be made strong to do His will.
Promise Setting and Conditions
The promise to heal turning away, to love freely, and to turn anger away is God's answer to a return to the Lord with words of confession asking Him to take away all iniquity and receive graciously. It answers those fallen by iniquity, including those who have looked upon themselves as superior to their brethren, when they come back confessing sin and seeking gracious acceptance, and it follows the call to return, confess iniquity, and seek that acceptance. That return renounces iniquity and idols, forsaking idols and false sources of help.
It no longer trusts in Asshur, in horses, or in human help, and no longer calls the work of hands its gods, but comes as fatherless finding mercy. The promise is given on condition of repentance, and though spoken in times past it applies in the present day. It is present truth for the time in which the ranks of those who know the truth must be closed up.
The condition is humbling the heart before Him and turning to Him with the whole heart in humiliation, repentance, and inward purification of soul. Outward fasting and prayer without a broken and contrite spirit and this inward work of grace is worthless in His sight, for He hears the humble, contrite prayer of those who seek Him with genuine contrition. Sinners come to the throne of grace with tears of contrition and penitential grief in agony over sin, not sympathy for self, confessing wrongs and appealing to grace, and He hears, answers, restores, and makes them strong to do, endure, and suffer His will. Even people whose false paths have led others astray are received when they heed His reproof and correct their conduct, being healed from sinful ways, freely loved, with anger turned away.
Healing Love and Pardon
To heal backsliding is to cure unfaithfulness and turning away, restoring those who have turned away when they return. He can heal every kind of backsliding, forgive every sin, and remove sin completely. His assurance that He will graciously receive and bless those who turn from evil is itself the cure for unfaithfulness and the turning away of His anger.
To love freely is to love without reserve. It is love without deserving, given while they are still sinners, without requiring them to earn favor. It flows not from any human merit but from His own boundless goodness. His mercy is shown in willingness to pardon and save sinners as sinners, and in that free love He heals those who wandered and restores them.
For anger to be turned away is for judgments and anger to be removed. The barrier of divine anger is taken away. Transgressions are remembered no more when the one seeking return earnestly seeks salvation and sincerely repents, and God turns His face toward him. In this He graciously pardons and heals all backslidings.
He hates sin but loves the sinner and loves the penitent. He looks with pity and compassion on the one who turned away, loving him not because he is righteous but because his soul is precious and should not be lost. His compassion makes Him more ready and pleased to pardon than to condemn, and His light continues to shine on sinners for Christ's sake. Therefore no fallen person needs to give up to despair.
He acts as a true shepherd, seeking the lost and calling the distressed to return. He pities the one seeking to return. He welcomes the returning sinner with free love and abundant pardon. Heaven rejoices when they are found.
Restoration Growth and Fruit
Healing of unfaithfulness and love given without reserve bring gracious restoration, pictured as dew that revives, nourishes, restores and sustains the people when they return. The anger being turned away opens a continuing offer of mercy in which growth and fruit come from Him. That forgiveness brings fruitful growth under His care for those who forsake idols and return.
The restoration is growth as the lily, roots as Lebanon and the cedar, spreading branches, beauty as the olive tree, and revival as corn and the vine. He becomes as dew to Israel to bring this growth, beauty and fruitfulness after backsliding is healed and anger is removed. Those restored show a fragrant spiritual influence marked by growth, beauty and fruit.
The restored are separated from idols, with Ephraim renouncing idols and finding all fruit from Him. Israel will flourish and bear fruit through God as Ephraim turns from idols. This proves the ways of the Lord are right for the just to walk in while transgressors fall.
Those who turn back have spiritual perceptions revived to see failure to honor God as His law requires. By divine grace they are refined and cleansed from every stain of impurity in thought, word and deed. So cleansed, they again honor Him as His law requires and carry a fragrant spiritual influence as those who love God and keep His commandments.
He hears the humble, contrite prayer of those who seek Him and turn back from sin. He answers such confession and petition with tears of contrition and penitential grief, not sympathy for self, in agony over sin. He restores backsliders from their turning away and makes them strong to do, endure and suffer His will.
Hope for Fallen Believers
The promise leaves hope for all who have fallen, so that no fallen person needs to give up to despair. Even one like Solomon who fell can truly repent and find hope in the healing of backsliding and love given freely. Even aged men once honored of God who have defiled their souls by sacrificing virtue on the altar of lust still have hope if they repent, forsake sin, and turn to God.
The promise is for professed believers in the church who have turned away, whose interest in His work has abated and whose devotion is gone. It meets those who have left the way of truth and righteousness and followed worldly ways instead of the counsel of God. It meets those who have failed to keep their thoughts, words, and deeds pure, clean, and holy, realizing at last that they are breaking God's law and transgressing against Him. When they turn back with repentance toward God and toward Jesus Christ, asking Him to take away all iniquity and receive them graciously, He heals their turning away, loves them without reserve, and turns His anger away from them. Their spiritual perceptions are then revived, refined, and cleansed by divine grace from every stain of impurity in thought, word, and deed, so that they again honor Him as His law requires and carry a fragrant spiritual influence marked by growth, beauty, and fruit as those who love God and keep His commandments. Even in lukewarmness and sin, those who return are freely loved, healed, called to return, and restored.
The promise belongs to Christians who have entered temptation and remained long insensible to sin. It belongs to those who have been blinded and deceived by Satan, who have betrayed Jesus, grieved the Holy Spirit, brought reproach on His cause, enshrouded their souls in darkness, and grown cold. When such sinners come with tears of contrition and penitential grief rather than sympathy for self, in agony over sin, their confession is heard and their petition answered. They are then restored and made strong to do, to endure, and to suffer His will, regaining confidence through a humble course of duty in the fear of the Lord. Jesus promises to restore those who have turned away from Him, to love them freely, and to remove the barrier of divine anger, giving hope of return to those who have grown cold. So God was willing to pardon Israel's repeated unfaithfulness, healing their backslidings and restoring them to His favor when they returned to Him.
Present Invitation to Return
The promise stands as a continuing offer of mercy and open opportunity to repent, extended to people today and especially to those who have become fruitless, calling them to turn from evil with assurance that they will be graciously received and blessed, healed of unfaithfulness, loved freely, with anger turned away and with restoration, sustenance, growth and fruit coming from Him.
The backslider is invited now, just now, to return without delay, and those who have turned away must repent of backsliding and return in contrition. That healing is God's work of leading out a peculiar people, purifying and cleansing them and fitting them for translation, separating every carnal thing until each stands like gold seven times purified. He sifts His people as corn is sifted in a sieve until all the chaff is separated from the pure kernels of grain.
The call is addressed to ministers and people to humble their hearts before Him, and it is applied personally, as to Philip and to any person seeking to return. He hears the petitions of those who humble their hearts, graciously receiving all who turn to Him with the whole heart in humiliation, repentance and inward purification of soul, turning His judgments and anger away from them. Outward fasting and prayer without a broken and contrite spirit and this inward work of grace is worthless in His sight, and He waits to fulfill the promise when the condition is met. He pities the one who earnestly seeks salvation and sincerely repents, turns His face toward him, remembers his transgressions no more, heals his backsliding and loves him freely.
Return to God is met by restoring love and forgiveness, for He heals those who have turned from Him and loves them freely when they return with humble confession, His anger being turned away. He is merciful and ready to pardon those who renounce their own counsels and seek His way. He offers restoration and peace to those who have lost sight of the plan of the ages for the deliverance of sinners ensnared by the power of Satan. Jesus promises to restore those who have turned away from Him, to love them freely, and to remove the barrier of divine anger, giving people who have grown cold hope of returning to Him.