Continuing in the book of Revelation, the very last book of the Bible, we are still finding God's call for people to repent. That place of the first step.
Midway through the seven years of judgment / Tribulation, we read "the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts." Rev 9:20,21.
People just kept right on living lives of debauchery and egotism. No relenting. No turning. No repenting despite God's judgment bearing down on them. Even right up to the final judgment of the people on earth, we read that God is looking for repentance. So important is this one action that God will tighten every last screw on the life of a person to, if possible, bring them to the point of repentance. Man, woman, child. him or her. me or you.
Seal, trumpet and bowl judgments have been cascading down upon the people of earth throughout Revelation. By the very end, with only 4 judgments remaining, we hear the familiar refrain.
"Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over the these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory." Rev 16:8,9
"Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain. They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds." Rev 16:10,11
Five verses later, we read of an angel pouring out the final bowl saying, "It is done!" Judgments have their conclusion also. The end of this last judgment finds the heart of those remaining on the earth unchanging. There is nothing further to do. They did not repent even when given such evidence of their need and their opportunity. God has been patient for thousands of years. God has been merciful. God has been faithful. God has been persistent. God has been beyond accusation. God.
