Joel 1:14 Sanctify you a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God… In this chapter the prophet gives a graphic description of the devastation of the land of Judah by swarms of locusts. After eating all the green leaves and succulent parts of the trees, they destroyed even the bark (ver. 7), so that the effects of this awful visitation would last, not for a single season, but for years. God sent this pest, as he sends other troubles, in order to arouse the sensuous and careless people to thought and to contrition. The withdrawal of earthly blessings often tends to turn men's thoughts to those that are heavenly. Losses and griefs of every kind may bring a man or a nation to penitence, and this is one of their designs, But while this chapter primarily refers to a physical plague, any one who reads between the lines can see here suggestions of spiritual desolation, symbolized by the visitation of locusts. The vine was a well-known emblem of God's people, and as such was used by our Lord (John 15.); and the desolation of it, caused by locusts, fitly sets forth that condition of the Church which is brought about by its numberless enemies. When fruit-bearing has ceased, and life is enfeebled, and God's paradise becomes a wilderness, there is need for the penitential prayer called for in our text, Ecclesiastical history reveals to us periods when the Church seemed thus to lie under a curse; and in our own day there is enough of spiritual barrenness to call for heart-searching and earnest supplication. It only needs that God should send showers of blessing, and then even the wilderness shall rejoice and blossom like the rose. The subject suggested by our text is religious reformation, and some of its characteristics which are here hinted at demand consideration. I. THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD'S CLAIMS. The priests were to take the lead in this act of national repentance. Insensibility to the presence and the power of the Most High was being removed by signs and wonders which even the most carnally minded would understand. Now they were summoned to a true turning to him in prayer. They were not called upon merely to "appoint" a fast, but to "sanctify" a fast. In other words, they were to hallow their abstinence by an acknowledgment of God; they were to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance. Fasting is never acceptable in itself, but only when it is employed as a sacrifice unto God. Depriving one's self of food or of pleasures may be practised for the good of one's health or for the sake of winning notoriety, and when it is so there is no moral or religious worth about it. II. THE PRACTICE OF SELF-RESTRAINT. "Fasting" is a word which ought to have given to it the widest signification. Generally used to denote abstinence from food, it may be as fairly applied to any refusal of indulgence to animal appetite, however innocent such indulgence, under other circumstances, may be. The keeping of a fast in mere deference to a social custom or to ecclesiastical ordinance is of no great value. But true fasting is inculcated by our Lord himself, though he personally refused to keep the ecclesiastical fasts of his own day. The restraint of appetite, the curbing of the animal nature, is essential to the doing of great works for him. Of the lunatic boy Jesus said to his disciples, "This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." This has its application to indulgence in strong drink. Total abstinence has a part to play as well as prayer in driving out the demon of drunkenness. Such fasting would do much to remove a curse which is as terrible as was the devastation of the land of Judah by locusts. III. THE CULTIVATION OF RELIGIOUS FELLOWSHIP. The "solemn assembly" which was to be summoned was a religious gathering of the people. Their national unity was greatly fostered by the annual feasts, which brought the nation together in one place. The sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, was this - that he erected calves at Bethel and Dan, not only leading the people to idolatry, but breaking up their national unity. It was largely a political manaeuvre on his part, fur he could not have established a separate kingdom of Israel if all continued to go up to the same temple at Jerusalem. Under the Christian dispensation we are exhorted not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. When we meet for worship, the faith and prayer of one raise the faith and prayer of another. Separate embers die out, but gathered together they blaze. Public worship will be wonderfully revived in a real religious reformation. IV. THE RECOGNITION OF SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITY. "The elders" were to be summoned. Through them Moses first made his appeal to the enslaved Israelites. They were the witnesses of the first flowing of water from the rock. Their offerings represented the dedication of the whole congregation of the people. Longer experience and official status gave them privileges, with accompanying responsibilities. Leaders of men now in society, in literature, in political life, have peculiar responsibilities, and are summoned by true prophets to lead the people to repentance and to righteousness. The Elector Frederick understood this in Luther's day, but he needed a lowly born Luther to inspire him first. Here we may fairly appeal to the eldest in a family, to the captain of the school, to the leading merchants, to influential writers, etc., to be the first to return to the Lord, and henceforth to lead others in his service. V. THE GENERAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF SIN. "All the inhabitants of the land" were called upon to repent. They could not serve God by proxy. The service of the elders and of the priests would not relieve them of responsibility. Each had to repent of his own sin and, for himself, return to the Lord. No better meeting-place can be found for all classes and conditions of men than the Church. There the rich and the poor meet together, remembering that the Lord is the Maker of them all. The recognition of the Divine Fatherhood must precede the realization of the human brotherhood. VI. THE PRESENTATION OF EARNEST PRAYER. Those who "cry unto the Lord" are not satisfied with listless and formal petitions. Sobs and sighs are sometimes the sweetest music to the Hearer of prayer. These precede the blessedness of pardon in the history of each believer. The Church, too, must know what it is to present strong supplications, with crying and tears, and then she shall be endued with power from on high. The prayer of Pentecost must precede the benediction of Pentecost. - A.R. Parallel Verses KJV: Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD, |
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