Dwell in the Word Joel 2:12-17

Consider these questions as you dwell in Joel 2:12-17:

1. How does Pastor Mark emphasize the importance of genuine repentance, and what distinction is made between outward gestures and true heartfelt remorse for sin?

2. What attributes of God are highlighted in the call to repentance, and how do these qualities provide hope and assurance to those who acknowledge their sinfulness?

3. Why is it significant that the call to repentance extends to the entire congregation, from elders to nursing infants? How does this reflect the universal nature of human sinfulness and the need for collective acknowledgment and repentance?

Transcript:

Here we find this call to repentance, and it is a serious call. You may be familiar with verses 12 and 13 here. Here in our congregation, we use this as one of the scriptures for our call to confession. You may be familiar with it and what it's saying here. Look, yet even now, declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart. God is saying, Hey, you have a chance. These people are lined up at the borders. The locusts are ready to come. But yet, even now, return to me with all your heart. And notice what it says, With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning, and render hearts and not your garments. What does that mean? Well, when they were to be repentant, they would tear their clothes. Well, this became something that showed that they were willing to repent, but their hearts weren't really in it. They would just tear their clothes. It was a legalistic thing. They would just tear their clothes and say, See, my clothes are torn. I'm feeling bad for my sin. I'm repenting, right? And God is saying, No, you need to bend your heart. Your heart needs to be torn open.

Your heart needs to be exposed, and you need to be showing that you hate your sin. And so what does it say here? That when you do that, what are you doing? Who are you returning to? Are you returning to a God who'll say, Now you've checked all the boxes, and now I won't do this? No, you're returning to the Lord, your God. He is gracious and merciful. He's slow to anger and abounding and steadfast love, and he relents over disaster. He turns away from it. And we know this. There are times in scripture where God is considering doing something that his wrath is going to be poured out, but he relents. Specific example that comes to mind, the Book of Jonah, they repented. And what does He do? He relents from disaster. What did Jonas have to think about that? He wasn't too wild about it, was he? But he learned the truth, and we learned in the Book of Jonah, that God is gracious and mercifulful. He is slow to anger. His steadfast love is great. And so that is the call from God to his people through the Prophet Joel of what they are to do about their sin.

And notice the extent to which this is to occur. Consecrate the congregation. This isn't just the priests. It isn't just the people at the top. Consecrate the congregation. It says, Also assemble the elders, but gather the children, even the nursing infants. This goes down to everyone. Let the bride room leave his room and the bride her chamber. In other words, let everybody come, no matter what is going on. Bring the people together and everyone turn from their sin because the problem isn't just the people at the top who are sinful. The sinfulness goes all the way to the bottom. God says, Bring everybody together. Consecrate the whole of the people. Let them all acknowledge their sin. And so we come down to the end and we see this passage here and how it ends. It says, Hey, God, may this be done. Spare your people, O Lord, and make not your heritage approach. In other words, don't have people look and say, Look at these people and their God. Their God. Let them be destroyed. What good is that God? That's the idea being expressed here. Why should they say among the peoples, Where is their God?

The call here is that God, if we return and if we repent of our sins, spare us that people might see who you are, that you are gracious and merciful, that you're slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and you care for your people. This is the call to us, too. We are sinful from the top to the bottom, whether it's the elders all the way down to the children, we all are sinful. We all need to come before God and confess our sin and repent of our sin and acknowledge our sinfulness because we understand that we have a God who is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding and steadfast love. How do we know that? We know that because of the cross. We know that because we have been given the gift of faith, and we trust in Jesus that he has forgiven our sins through his death and resurrection, and now that he is interceding for us at the Father's right-hand. We know this to be the truth. And so may we daily turn from our sins. May we consecrate our lives knowing that we have a God who relents from disaster.

The punishment we deserve for our sin has been poured out on Christ, and so we can follow him in faithfulfulness. May this not make us soft towards sin, but instead may it give us a desire to live a holy life that we might honor Jesus for who he is and what he has done to save us.