2 Chronicles 30:8-9 Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified forever: and serve the Lord your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you. For if ye turn again unto the Lord, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land: for the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him.
Hezekiah sent messengers into all the land inviting the people to come to Jerusalem for the great renewal Feast of the Passover. The message was: return! Do not resist God’s kind invitation by being stiffnecked and stubborn. Accept the invitation by yielding yourselves to the Lord. Repent, desire to change your ways, and give in to God’s grace and kindness.
The Lord is angry with you, and rightly so, because of His holiness and your sin. But if you return He will turn away His fierce wrath. For the Lord is not only holy; He is also gracious and merciful, and He will not turn His face (presence) away from you. Believe Him, believe His love, turn and return. Experience grace and blessing.
The key response is Turn. Because we are sinners, and will never stop being sinners, we need to return and turn again. Weekly. Daily. We come to God regularly with a penitent heart, confessing our sin and confessing Christ’s love, forgiveness, mercy, and grace. Then the Lord comes to be with us, leaving behind a blessing. If we return to the Lord. We respond to His loving and glorious invitation to Come, and through the power of the Gospel the love of Christ compels us. And we turn.