THERE is a time when the “longsuffering of God” comes to an end. The solemn period of His waiting grace is called, in Revelation 2:2121And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. (Revelation 2:21), a “space to repent.” “I gave her space to repent... and she repented not.”
Think, also, of God’s forbearance with Israel. After describing their provoking wickedness, He says, “Howbeit I sent unto you all My servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness” (Jer. 44:4, 54Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate. 5But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods. (Jeremiah 44:4‑5)). Again, it is recorded in 2 Chronicles 36:15,1615And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: 16But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy. (2 Chronicles 36:15‑16): “The Lord God of their fathers sent to them by His messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because He had compassion on His people, and on His dwelling-place: but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and misused His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy. He gave her space to repent... and she repented not.”
But not so with the men of Nineveh. When judgment was pronounced upon them, with only a forty days’ respite, the warning cry of God’s prophet was heeded: “they repented in sackcloth and ashes”: they “cried mightily to God,” and “turned from their evil ways.”
God gave Nineveh “space to repent,” and she repented. Let us seriously ask, dear reader, Have you yet been brought to true repentance? or are you filling up this long-suffering “space” with hardness and unbelief? If so, we would urge you, with all the earnestness we possess, to pause, and solemnly consider how you stand with God and the realities of another world.
A friend of ours writes: “I had the following lately from T―, in D —, and know it is true:
“A young lady, one of two sisters, had had an attack of the epidemic lately prevailing. She was recovering, but had been warned not to go out. She had, however, made up her mind to go to a large wax-work show coming to the town, and to a ball two nights after, and she said, laughing, ‘I will go to the wax-work, then nurse up for the ball, and then send out cards for my funeral.’”
She did go to both, and died two days after the ball!
There the curtain must drop as to this poor trifler. But you are here, and we still feel constrained to plead with you, and say, in the interest of your precious soul, “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near.” Beware, lest the time come when your cry of remorse will find no answer, and lest, like Balaam, you “see Him, but not nigh.” Be sure of this, that unless you repent and turn to God,
“Your day will soon be past,
And your judgment come at last.”
Whether you believe it or not, it stands recorded in the Scriptures, “And the Lord said, My spirit shall NOT ALWAYS strive with man.” May it never be said of you, in the day of judgment, “I gave her space to repent... and she repented not.”