1 Samuel 28:19 “Opportunity to repent are gifts from God”

”Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines. And tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The Lord will also deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.”“ I Samuel‬ ‭28‬:‭19‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

a. Tomorrow you and your sons will be with me: Saul learned from Samuel that he would die the next day. In 1 Samuel 28:15, Saul asked to know what I should do. Samuel never told him what to do because it was too late to do anything. All Samuel told him was what would happen, and God’s judgment was already in motion.

i. Before this moment, Saul had plenty of time to repent – but now time had run out. We can never assume that we will have as much time as we want to repent. The desire and opportunity to repent are gifts from God. If we have the desire and the opportunity today we must seize upon it, because they may not be there tomorrow.

ii. You and your sons will be with me does not mean that Saul was going to heaven to be with the believing dead. In the story Jesus told in Luke 16:19-31, the blessed dead and the cursed dead were both in the same general area. The believing dead were in the place of comfort known as Abraham’s bosom but the cursed were in a place of torment. Saul would be in the same general area as Samuel, but not the same specific place.

b. The LORD will also deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines…. you and your sons: When judgment fell upon Saul it would also trouble the people around him. His sons and all Israel would also suffer. 

(Guzik)

i. “Can any person read this, properly considering the situation of this unfortunate monarch, the triumph of the enemies of God, and the speedy ruin in which the godlike Jonathan is about to be involved, without feeling the keenest anguish of heart?” (Clarke)

“Opportunity to repent are gifts from God”

Our life is compared to a vapor, you briefly see it and then it’s gone!

”And now I have a word for you who brashly announce, “Today—at the latest, tomorrow—we’re off to such and such a city for the year. We’re going to start a business and make a lot of money.” You don’t know the first thing about tomorrow. You’re nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing. Instead, make it a habit to say, “If the Master wills it and we’re still alive, we’ll do this or that.”“ James‬ ‭4‬:‭13‬-‭15‬ ‭MSG‬‬

Please take this opportunity to repent and accept His Gift!

”For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.“ John‬ ‭3‬:‭16‬ ‭BSB‬‬

”Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.”“ ‭‭John‬ ‭3‬:‭36‬ ‭BSB‬‬

“Saul had plenty of time to repent – but now time had run out.”

Before your time runs out of vapor and your wisp of fog vanishes, have you repented and accepted the Gift from God? 

Blessings