The Fabric of True Repentance Text: Joel 2:12-17
Introduction: Judgment as a Mercy
We live in a soft age. We want a God who is all mercy and no judgment, a Santa Claus in the sky who exists to affirm our choices and overlook our rebellions. But the God of the Bible is not a tame God. He is a consuming fire. And the prophet Joel comes to a people who are about to learn that lesson firsthand. They have been visited by a judgment of locusts so severe it is a foretaste of the final Day of the Lord, a day of darkness and gloominess, of clouds and thick darkness. The land is stripped bare. The economy is in ruins. The people are starving.
And right in the middle of this catastrophic judgment, when all seems lost, God extends an invitation. This is a crucial point we must grasp. God’s judgments in this life are never merely punitive; they are restorative. They are a severe mercy. They are the blast of a trumpet meant to wake a slumbering people from their suicidal stupor. God brings us to the end of our rope, not to hang us, but so that we will finally let go and grab hold of Him. The locusts are not the final word. The famine is not the final word. The final word is an invitation: "Yet even now," declares Yahweh, "Return to Me."
This passage in Joel is one of the most potent and concentrated descriptions of true repentance in all of Scripture. It is a divine summons to a nation on the brink. And because God does not change, it is a summons to our own nation, to our own churches, and to our own hearts. We too are surrounded by judgments of our own making, the cultural locusts of our rebellion having eaten away the goodness of a Christian inheritance. And the only way out is the way back. God is calling for a national, corporate, all-hands-on-deck, radical repentance. Nothing less will do.
We are going to see that God is not interested in religious play-acting. He is not impressed with outward shows of piety that leave the heart untouched. He demands a repentance that is total, internal, corporate, and desperate. He is calling us to tear the fabric of our hearts, not the fabric of our clothes.
The Text
“Yet even now,” declares Yahweh, “Return to Me with all your heart And with fasting, weeping, and wailing; And tear your heart and not your garments.” Now return to Yahweh your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness, And relenting concerning evil. Who knows whether He will not turn and relent And leave a blessing behind Him, Even a grain offering and a drink offering For Yahweh your God? Blow a trumpet in Zion, Set apart a fast as holy, call for a solemn assembly, Gather the people, set apart the congregation as holy, Assemble the elders, Gather the infants and the nursing babies. Let the bridegroom come out of his room And the bride out of her bridal chamber. Let the priests, the ministers of Yahweh, Weep between the porch and the altar, And let them say, “Pity Your people, O Yahweh, And do not make Your inheritance a reproach, A byword among the nations. Why should they among the peoples say, ‘Where is their God?’ ”
(Joel 2:12-17 LSB)
The Nature of True Repentance (vv. 12-13)
The call begins with the nature of the required repentance. It must be total and it must be internal.
"“Yet even now,” declares Yahweh, “Return to Me with all your heart And with fasting, weeping, and wailing; And tear your heart and not your garments.”" (Joel 2:12-13a)
The phrase "Yet even now" is dripping with grace. After the devastation, after the sin, after the stiff-necked rebellion, the door is still open. God’s patience has been stretched, but it has not yet snapped. This is the constant refrain of the gospel. No matter how far you have wandered, no matter how great the wreckage, the call to return is still sounding. But the return must be genuine. It must be "with all your heart." This is not a partial or half-hearted affair. God does not want a piece of your heart, or the majority share. He wants all of it. He is not interested in you turning over a new leaf, but in you getting a new heart.
This inward reality is to be expressed through outward actions: "fasting, weeping, and wailing." These are not the cause of repentance, but the fruit of it. Fasting is a declaration of desperation. It says, "God, I need you more than I need food. My soul is hungrier than my stomach." Weeping and wailing are the language of grief over sin. Our problem is not that we sin, but that we sin and then shrug. We have become experts at sin management instead of sin mortification. True repentance feels the offense against a holy God. It is a godly sorrow that leads to life, not the worldly sorrow of getting caught that leads to death (2 Cor. 7:10).
Then comes the piercing command: "tear your heart and not your garments." In that culture, tearing one's clothes was a common sign of grief or outrage. It was an external demonstration. But like any external ritual, it could be performed without any corresponding internal reality. God says, in effect, "I am not interested in your religious theater. I don't want torn fabric; I want broken hearts." A torn garment can be sewn back together. A broken and contrite heart, God will not despise (Psalm 51:17). This is a direct assault on hypocrisy. It is possible to fast with a proud heart, to weep with self-pity, and to tear your clothes for an audience. God sees past the performance to the reality of the heart. Is your repentance genuine, or is it just for show?
The Motivation for True Repentance (vv. 13b-14)
Why should the people return? Why should they tear their hearts? Because of who God is. The motivation for repentance is not our goodness, but His.
"Now return to Yahweh your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness, And relenting concerning evil. Who knows whether He will not turn and relent And leave a blessing behind Him, Even a grain offering and a drink offering For Yahweh your God?" (Joel 2:13b-14 LSB)
This is the gospel according to Joel, and it is a direct quotation from the heart of the Old Testament, from Exodus 34:6-7, where God declared His own name to Moses. Our repentance is not a desperate gamble. We are not returning to a capricious tyrant or an irritable deity. We are returning to Yahweh, our covenant-keeping God. And His character is our only hope. He is gracious, meaning He gives favor to those who deserve wrath. He is compassionate, or merciful, meaning He feels our misery. He is slow to anger, meaning His patience is vast. He is abounding in lovingkindness, the great covenant word hesed, meaning His loyal love is steadfast and inexhaustible. And He is "relenting concerning evil," or disaster. This doesn't mean God changes His mind in the sense of being fickle. It means that God, in His sovereignty, has ordained to respond to the prayers and repentance of His people. The threatened judgment is not an ironclad fate. It is a covenantal warning, and repentance is the appointed means of escape.
"Who knows?" This is not an expression of doubt, but of humble hope. It is the proper posture of a creature before the Creator. We do not presume upon His grace or make demands. We appeal to His character and throw ourselves on His mercy, knowing that He is free to act. The hope is that He will not just avert the disaster, but "leave a blessing behind Him." Notice the nature of the blessing: "a grain offering and a drink offering for Yahweh your God." This is profound. Their first thought is not for their own empty stomachs, but for God's empty altar. The judgment was so severe that the offerings had ceased (Joel 1:9). True repentance longs for restored worship. The greatest blessing they can imagine is the ability to give back to God once more. This is the mark of a truly converted heart: it desires God more than it desires His gifts.
The Scope of True Repentance (vv. 15-16)
This repentance cannot be a private affair. The sin was corporate, and so the repentance must be corporate. The call goes out to everyone, without exception.
"Blow a trumpet in Zion, Set apart a fast as holy, call for a solemn assembly, Gather the people, set apart the congregation as holy, Assemble the elders, Gather the infants and the nursing babies. Let the bridegroom come out of his room And the bride out of her bridal chamber." (Joel 2:15-16 LSB)
The trumpet blast is an urgent, public summons. This is not a quiet suggestion for personal devotion. This is a national emergency. A "solemn assembly" is to be called. This is a time for the entire covenant community to stop everything else and get right with God. The call is comprehensive. The "people," the "congregation," the "elders", all the usual suspects are there. But then the scope widens dramatically. "Gather the infants and the nursing babies." What sin have they committed? None. But they are part of the covenant community, and they are under the same covenantal judgment. Their presence underscores the gravity of the situation and the corporate nature of their identity. We are not isolated individuals; we are bound together.
The most striking command is for the bridegroom to leave his room and the bride her chamber. According to the law (Deut. 24:5), a newly married man was exempt from public duties, including military service, for one full year, so that he could rejoice with his wife. It was a time of legitimate, God-given joy and intimacy. But God says that this crisis is so severe that even the most legitimate joys and duties must be set aside. National repentance takes precedence even over the honeymoon. When the house is on fire, you don't stay in the bedroom. Everyone gets out. This is how seriously we are to take the call to corporate repentance. Our personal comfort, our private plans, our individual pursuits, all must be subordinated to the urgent task of seeking the face of God together.
The Plea of True Repentance (v. 17)
Finally, we are given the content of the prayer. The priests, as the spiritual leaders and mediators, are to lead the people in this desperate plea.
"Let the priests, the ministers of Yahweh, Weep between the porch and the altar, And let them say, “Pity Your people, O Yahweh, And do not make Your inheritance a reproach, A byword among the nations. Why should they among the peoples say, ‘Where is their God?’ ”" (Joel 2:17 LSB)
The location is significant: "between the porch and the altar." This was the place in the temple court where the priests would stand with their backs to the holy place and their faces toward the people at the altar of burnt offering. They are standing in the gap, identifying with the people in their sin and pleading with God on their behalf. Their weeping is not for show; it is the intercession of broken-hearted leaders who love their people.
And what is their argument? It is an appeal to God's own honor. "Pity Your people," or "Spare Your people." But why? Not primarily because the people deserve it, they don't. But because they are "Your inheritance." God has chosen them, He has put His name on them. If they are destroyed, it will be a "reproach" to God's name among the nations. The surrounding pagans will mock, "Where is their God?" Their argument is essentially this: "Lord, for Your own name's sake, do not abandon us. Your reputation is tied to our fate. If you let us be wiped out, the world will not say that we were faithless, but that you were powerless." This is the highest form of prayer. It is not centered on our needs, but on God's glory. It is the prayer of Moses (Ex. 32:12), of Joshua (Josh. 7:9), and of Daniel (Dan. 9:19). It is a prayer that God loves to answer.
Conclusion: A Call for Our Day
This is not just a history lesson about ancient Israel. This is a direct word to the church in the West. We are living in the rubble of our own covenant unfaithfulness. The locusts of secularism, sexual chaos, and theological compromise have devoured our inheritance. Our culture looks at the church and asks, with a sneer, "Where is their God?" And too often, the answer is not apparent.
The only solution is the one prescribed by Joel. We need to hear the trumpet blast. We need to set aside business as usual and call a solemn assembly. We need a repentance that is not just a new program or a slight adjustment, but a deep, heart-rending return to God. It must be corporate. Elders, parents, young people, and even the children must be gathered. We must set aside our lesser loyalties and legitimate joys for the sake of this greater urgency.
Our leaders must weep between the porch and the altar, pleading with God to spare His people for the sake of His own great name. And our confidence must be in nothing other than the character of our God. He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. He is a God who loves to relent and to leave a blessing behind. The blessing of restored worship, of sins forgiven, and of a reputation vindicated before a watching world. Let us therefore rend our hearts, and not our garments, and return to the Lord our God.