The Call to Repentance

# Lesson 178 The Call to Repentance

"Thus says the Lord: 'Even now, return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm.'" - Joel 2:12-13

Joel is considered one of the first prophets of the kingdom of Judah, possibly prophesying during the time of King Joash (around 830 B.C.) (as mentioned in 2 Kings 12); therefore, the prophet Joel is regarded as being contemporary with the prophets Elijah and Elisha. This book is considered one of the most difficult to date, and we do not know precisely when the prophet Joel wrote it. We also know little about the prophet Joel; he only introduces himself as the son of Pethuel, as stated in Joel 1:1: "The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel." The name Joel means "The Lord is God"—a very common name. The main theme of this book is: "The Day of the Lord." Although the book contains only three chapters, he mentions this subject five times, in Joel 1:15; 2:1-2; 2:10-11; 2:30-31; and 3:14-16. Furthermore, the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah also speak of "The Day of the Lord"; sometimes they describe it as "That Day." This book can be divided into two main parts: Part 1 from Chapter 1 to 2:17, speaking of testing and repentance; Part 2 from 2:18 to the end of Chapter 3, speaking of God's forgiveness and promises.

In Chapter 2, verses 12-17 are the Lord's call for the people to repent and return to Him. "Thus says the Lord: 'Even now, return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Rend your heart, and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God'" (Joel 2:12-13a). These are the earnest words of the Lord calling the people to return to Him with all their hearts. Not only must they fast, weep, and mourn to seek the Lord's face—these are outward actions of repentance—but they must possess a spirit of true repentance in their souls. The Lord tells them to "rend your heart" and "not your garments"; this shows that the Lord values the heart more than outward actions. When the heart is truly repentant, then the actions that flow from it have value before God. But if there are only outward actions, such as weeping, tearing garments, mourning, and fasting, while the heart has not truly changed, then these have no meaning before God; for "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart—these, O God, You will not despise" (Psalm 51:17). Furthermore, when repenting, one must change completely, turn around quickly, return to God, and forsake sin, as the Lord calls in verse 12: "return to Me with all your heart," and in verse 13: "return to the Lord your God." Fasting and weeping will have no value if one does not return to God with a whole heart. When the people are fully convinced that this is their responsibility and their desire to maintain a personal relationship with God, when they sincerely repent and desire to return to Him, then this is genuine repentance that bears fruit and will glorify God's name forever. The Lord also encourages and comforts the people as He calls them to return: "for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm" (Joel 2:13b). Indeed, because of God's graciousness, mercy, patience, and relenting nature, creation has been preserved until today, and we are among those preserved! God Himself revealed these attributes to Moses when "He passed before him and proclaimed: 'The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation'" (Exodus 34:6-7). God's graciousness does not mean that His children can continue to sin; "But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared" (Psalm 130:4).

Our God is truly One who loves us beyond measure! He constantly gives us the opportunity to repent; He earnestly desires that we repent with all our hearts and return to Him, no matter how many sins we have committed! He forgives our sins when we sincerely repent and forsake transgression! Joel 2:12-13 is also the Lord's call to us to repent and return to Him! Know that God is our Creator, so He loves us dearly and desires that we live holy lives and worship only Him; He is gracious, merciful, and forgiving; yet He will punish us when we sin! Do not abuse God's graciousness, but fear Him and remember that He is holy and just, knowing all our deeds, and will judge us when we sin against Him! We give thanks to God for His mercy, by which we have not been destroyed, but have received His eternal salvation! May God grant us strength and teach us always to walk in His ways, so that we do not sin against Him, but live to please Him and display His graciousness, mercy, and redemptive love to those around us! Amen!

Let us quickly return, And flee from the heavy burden of sin surrounding us, Repent and ask the Lord to heal, Our defiled spirits becoming pure within! Fasting, weeping, rending our hearts, Let us not tear our garments without sincerity, The Lord always knows near and far, With justice He judges each of us!

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