The Generational Cycle of Sin, Judgment, Repentance, and Rescue

“Once again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD.” Very familiar words to those who spend time in God’s Word. These words begin a cycle that has been repeated from the beginning of God’s creation. We see it in the Garden of Eden and we see it in our lives today. The cycle has four parts and has repeated for generations. This cycle does not seem to change, each step follows in succession. Knowing where we are in the cycle can bring clarity to what we need to be engaged in at present and give us understanding of what is to come. The cycle goes like this: 1) God’s children walk away from God, choosing to be drawn to the things of this world instead of a deeper relationship with our creator God. 2) Then, there is a season of God’s justice (punishment) upon His children - God removing the veil of protection He covers us with and allows the consequences of our actions to fall upon us. 3) God’s children begin to cry out in repentance, realizing we have sinned against God by wanting our way instead of His Will. 4) Then God hears them, delivers them, and draws them close to His Heart once again. There is a season of peace until the cycle begins again. William Hendricksen describes this cycle in these four stages: Relapse, Retribution, Repentance, and Rescue. It is prudent for us to see exactly where we are in this cycle at this given time so we can know how to pray and how to direct people to pray.

“William Hendricksen describes this cycle in these four stages: Relapse, Retribution, Repentance, and Rescue. It is prudent for us to see exactly where we are in this cycle at this given time so we can know how to pray and how to direct people to pray.”

So, where are we in this cycle? And what is expected of us as God’s children? There is no doubt that apostasy is all around us. People do not seem to be drawn to the heart of God as they once were. Where is the hunger for God’s Word and abiding in Christ that we read about in biblical history? It appears that we are living in times of Romans 1:18-32, people worshipping the created instead of the Creator, and God has given us over to our own earthly desires. People are filled with every kind of evil. Persecution of the Body of Christ is prevalent around the world in varying degrees. How can God’s Light break through all this darkness?  

My heart tells me that we have cycled through the Relapse stage and we have been experiencing the Retribution stage of Hendricksen’s model. God’s Justice is being seen in His removing His protection and allowing our earthly desires to become reality. It also appears that we are moving into the Repentance stage and then the Rescue stage will follow. So what does this mean for the child of God who is trying to navigate the trials and tribulations we are experiencing during this Retribution stage? What does The Bible teach us about how God’s children lived during this stage throughout biblical history? What tools has God given us to navigate through this stage so God can rescue His children and bring peace into our chaos?  

There has been a resurgence of prayer in our culture. The past few years has seen 2 Chronicles 7:14 being adopted by many Bible-based organizations as a theme to rally around. Recently we saw a football player collapse on the field and, on nationally televised programs, people were praying to God for help. The children of God are beginning to cry out to our Heavenly Father for mercy and rescue, realizing He is our only help. In the mission field of Vermont we are experiencing more people asking for prayer as they seek to understand if there is truth in anything. There appears to be an emotional response to God’s Word. This is a beginning, but emotion is just an open door to get the person through to dig deeper so their faith becomes full faith – emotion, intellect and will. I truly feel that God is using this stage to draw many into a deep relationship with His heart and will.  

Understanding where we are in this cycle can also give us insight into the plans of the adversary. If prayer is the focus of this stage, then we know the enemy will set up roadblocks attempting to stop us from praying both individually and collectively. We can see this as the time when the children of God should be crying out to God in prayer, repenting from wandering from their covenant with God, and seeking His face and His forgiveness and cleansing above all else. We see an apathetic body of born-again believers chasing after programs and entertainment as opposed to designated corporate times of prayer. Weekly prayer meetings have been cancelled due to lack of interest. The very thing that brings the power of God to the local church has been relegated to a back shelf somewhere. The enemy has succeeded in convincing churches that prayer is secondary and not that important to the life of a church and the community that it serves.  When in reality it is essential and primary if the local church is to be the spiritual guide of the community. Spurgeon said the prayer meeting is a “Grace-ometer” from which we may judge the amount of divine working among a people. Vance Havner said “the thermometer of the church is the Prayer Meeting.” If we truly want to see lives transformed, then prayer meetings must become as important as worship and disciple-making in our churches.

“The enemy has succeeded in convincing churches that prayer is secondary and not that important to the life of a church and the community that it serves.” 

If we are in the Repentance stage of Hendricksen’s cycle, then we must return to the scheduled, intentional times of corporate prayer among the children of God. My desire is for my children’s and grandchildren’s generations to experience an outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit, be it a regional awakening as we are beginning to see, or more like the Great Awakenings that swept across this nation. These outpourings have stemmed from seasons of deep corporate prayer where the Body of Christ weeps for their sin, the sin of their forefathers, the sin of their church, the sin of their nation. Psalm 51:16-17 tells us that God does not delight in our sacrifice, but in a broken and a contrite heart. When is the last time our churches wept while the Holy Spirit convicts us of walking away from God? We are all “Prone to wander, Lord [we] feel it. Prone to leave The God [we] love.” But through crying out to God in repentance, “He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). We need to be rescued once again by God, and He desires to rescue us. But we need to get right before The Lord God of Heaven and Earth - that is done through seeking His face above all else and allowing His Holy Spirit to break us out of the cultural conformity mold in which we live.  

We know that out of the darkest times in life, God’s Light breaks through to reconcile, reclaim and restore His children for His purpose. Please join me in a recommitment to lead weekly prayer meetings in every church in New England (and beyond).  

Let me leave you with a quote from one of my favorite writers on the Doctrine of Prayer:

“Prayer is no petty invention of man, a fancied relief for fancied ills. Prayer is no dreary performance, dead and death dealing, but is God’s enabling act for man, living and life-giving, joy and joy-giving. Prayer is the contact of a living soul with God. In prayer, God stoops to kiss man, to bless man, and to aid man in everything that God can devise or man can need. Prayer fills man’s emptiness with God’s fullness. It fills man’s poverty with God’s riches. It puts away man’s weakness with God’s strength. It banishes man’s littleness with God’s greatness. Prayer is God’s plan to supply man’s great and continuous need with God’s great and continuous abundance” (E. M. Bounds, “The Reality of Prayer”, 1924).

Russ Rathier serves as the Vermont regional coordinator for the Baptist Churches of New England.