Peace be to all brothers and sisters
The scripture passage we will examine today is
verses 15 to 17 of Joel 2
The title is "Pray to God for Mercy" Joel 2:15
Blow the trumpet in Zion designate
a day of fasting proclaim a
solemn assembly gather the elders
the children and
those still nursing
The bridegroom comes out of the bridal chamber
the bride comes out to meet the attendants
the priests who serve the Lord are to weep
between the portico and
the altar saying O Lord
Please calm your people
and do not let your
inheritance be disgraced Let the nations
rule over them Why do
the nations say "Where
is their God " Blow the trumpet in Zion
This was mentioned at the beginning
of this chapter the things
that Israel is going to do to
make people realize that something
extraordinary is about to happen the set time for the meal
the solemn assembly this is in verse fourteen of this chapter
The Lord told Israel
what those who serve
God should do Then the priests of Israel
did this but it was
not yet done Therefore
the prophet is reminding the priests here
You must do this
A priest must organize the people
They must repent
They must restrain themselves
They must bring people out
Out for what
Gather the children and those who are nursing
Bring the bridegroom out of the bridal chamber
The bride leaves the palace
Bring all these young people out
What is the reason for this
It may not really be about making people do
something The few things
mentioned here are meant
to inform people that coming before God to repent
and confess sins is such an important matter
You said the groom should
come out of the bridal
chamber What does that mean It means we should be told to come
before God to confess and repent This is more important
than the groom getting married
We will issue such a call
What if we brought today's church here
Probably someone would
say "You're crazy " "What
do you want with us "
If were to tell them "
The church is going to
build a new sanctuary "
Then people would still think you have some
reason but if we tell
them that we called you
out just to have you
repent to God then being
called crazy is probably going to happen
We consider various things as important
people get married after
preparing for several
months even half a year
or a year that is
certainly important the church needs to build a hall
It takes several years to
prepare and even to mobilize
and raise funds which is
important but if God says
We looked at each other in confusion wondering why
God would do this and then
trouble us again right This kind of
reaction shows that
people don't think God's
matters are important Over
the past few years and decades
Things were going well why are you
priests and scribes coming to bother
us again We've
already celebrated the
festival and we've kept the Sabbath
What are you guys up to
now Do you think that just
because of a small matter you can cause trouble
People think this because
they believe God should
just quietly remain in the temple in the church
Even if they stay on the
cross it's best묜 not to cause
trouble Even if there is
trouble it's best to stay
in the synagogue and church
not to interfere with our
lives In other words even if God has God's matters
We have our matters
and our matters are
important to us but
were wrong God is taking
care of us our matters our family even our
nation and country to
the extent of the nations
All are under God's care If everything is normal
if we operate according to what God has already revealed then we can be
normal But if God tells us
there is a debt then that
is the most important thing
It concerns our
country society
our lives and
our existence
Did the groom leave the bridal chamber
People came to the solemn assembly
to confess their sins
I think clearly they did not
People must face their own fate
They will not change
so the priests who serve the Lord must weep between the
portico and the altar they weep for
themselves and also for
the people of Israel
Have mercy on these rebellious people
when they were asked to obey
they did not obey
when they prayed for mercy
they prayed for the mercy of your people
Do not
let your industry be disgraced They
did not want foreigners to rule over them
Nor did they want people to mock them But
they would say: Why do the nations say:
Where is their God
Bringing all these things
into the context of God
is hoping that
God will help them
protect them May God have mercy and truly lead us =龈= Amen