Way To Revival-Part 4
Posted By on Tuesday, July 19, 2016
Second, alarm:
“Blow you the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm” (Joel 2:1). There are times when God’s people need to be aroused to an honest assessment of the factual situation. “That which the palmerworm has left has the locust eaten; and that which the locust has left has the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm has left has the caterpillar eaten” (Joel 1:4). The desolation of the land was brought about by different agencies in progressive stages. Worse things were still in store, yet the people continued in lethargy and self-indulgence.
A church beset by increasing worldliness and decreasing spirituality needs to be aroused into a state of alarm. When the people of God substitute feasting for fasting, entertainment for worship, rhetoric for prophecy, ritual for revival, luxury for self-denial, the television set in place of family prayer, the approbation of the world for the reproach of Christ, there is ample ground for great alarm. Joel, in faithfulness to his nation and in obedience to his God, did not play a lullaby on his trumpet to induce a slumbering unawareness of the realities of his day, but an alarm to arouse the people into a consciousness of their need.
Third, repentance:
“Therefore also now, says the Lord, turn you even to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning” (Joel 2:12). True repentance has three major components involving man’s entire personality; namely, intellect, emotion and will.
Intellectually, man sees his wrong; emotionally, man feels his wrong; and volitionally, man corrects his wrong. Consequently, repentance is a change of mind, a change of heart, and a change of deeds. Each one of these three factors are present in true repentance and in that sequence, whether we are conscious of them or not.
The repentant prodigal son reached the turning point in a far country when he came to himself in the realization of his state and the acknowledgment of his plight; when he felt in his heart the sting of remorse and the shame of his deed; when he returned to his father with confession of sin in humility of spirit. Returning with contrition, he was met with compassion; coming in rags, he was clothed with a robe; suffering with hunger, he was dined at a banquet; weeping in sorrow, he was met with rejoicing.
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