Musar על יומא 171:16

Said Rabbi Levi, "Great is repentance for it reaches to the very Throne of Glory," as it is said (Hos. 14:2) "Return, O Israel, unto the Lord thy God" (Yoma 86a). And our Sages, of blessed memory, said, "When Moses went up to the first firmament he found groups of angels. They opened before him the Book of the Torah and read of God's work on the first day of Creation. And then they paused and began to tell the praises of the Torah. Then Moses ascended to the second firmament and he found bands of angels who were reading of the work of the second day of creation and then they paused and began to tell the praises of the Torah and of Israel. He then ascended to the third firmament and he found troops of angels reading of the work of the third day of Creation, and they paused and began to speak in praise of Jerusalem. He ascended to the fourth firmament where he found angels reading of the work of the fourth day of Creation and they paused and they began to tell the praises of the Messiah. Then he went up to the fifth firmament and he found companies and companies of angels reading of the work of the fifth day of Creation. And they paused and began to tell of the sadness and sorrow of Gehenna. Then he ascended to the sixth firmament and found there angels, and they were reading of the work of the sixth day of Creation and they paused and began to tell about Paradise, and they beseeched the Holy One, Blessed be He, to make Paradise the portion of Israel. Then he went up to the seventh firmament and found there heavenly creatures called Ofanim, Seraphim, and Galgalim, and angels of mercy, and angels of kindness and justice, and angels of fear and trembling. At once Moses took hold of the Throne of Glory. They began to read of the work of the seventh day, the portion beginning, "And the heaven and the earth were finished" (Gen. 2:1). And they paused and they began to tell the praise of repentance, to teach you that repentance reaches to the very Throne of Glory, as it is said, "Return, O Israel, unto the Lord thy God" (Hos. 14:2).

Great is repentance, for it brings man near to the Divine Presence, as it is said, "Return, O Israel, unto the Lord thy God" (Hos. 14:2; and see Yoma 86a). And it is said, "Yet have ye not returned unto Me, saith the Lord God" (Amos 4:6). And it is said, "If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord, Yea, return unto Me" (Jer. 4:1), that is to say, "If you will return with repentance, you will cleave to me." Repentance brings near those who are far off. Last night this man was hated before God, Blessed be He, — defiled, far removed, an abomination — but today he is loved and precious and near and dear. And so you find this clearly shown in the language with which the Holy One, Blessed be He, thrusts away the sinners and the language with which He receives those who are repentant, whether it be one person or whether it be many, as it is said, "And it shall come to pass that instead of that which was said, unto them 'Ye are not my people', it shall be said unto them 'Ye are the children of the living God' " (Hos. 2:1).