Joel 2:1, "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand."
Everywhere I look I see the hand of God's impending judgment. Wars, tyranny, civil unrest, spiritual discontent, oppression, death, disease, starvation, helplessness, hopelessness and on we go with a list too large to include here. Jesus said it would be this way. He told His disciples in Matt. 24 that there would be wars and rumors of more wars. He said there would be famines, pestilence, earthquakes but these things are only the beginning of sorrow. The worst is yet to come.
The call of Joel 2:1 is to awaken the people of Judah to the judgment of God hanging over their head. God sought through Joel to correct their Godless living and return in repentance to Jehovah. Joel sees the plague of the drought and locusts as judgment for the sins of Judah. He makes a direct correlation between sin and judgment.
How can a people believe that they can live anyway they choose and not reap the consequences of their choices. God created man higher that any other creature and gave us the unique God given quality of freedom of choice. However, all must understand that there are consequences attached to each and every choice.
We know according to history that Jerusalem was destroyed along with the Temple of Solomon, the land was laid waste and the people carried away to Babylon in 587 BC by king Nebuchadnezzar. Judah suffered in captivity because of their unwillingness to heed the voice of God and return in repentance to Jehovah.
So then, what is the answer to the present human condition? What shall we do in the face of overwhelming judgment. Restitution and repentance come to mind. Make right what we can and seek God for forgiveness for the rest.
We must be empowered by the Holy Ghost to impart God's warning and invitation. Like a watchman upon the wall we are mandated to sound the alarm. People, God's most precious creation, must be made aware that sin has consequences. Romans 6:23 tells us, "For the wages of sin is death..." We will reap what we sow. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." Gal. 6:7-8. If we sow righteous deeds we will reap a righteous reward. If we sow sinful deeds we will reap a sinners reward.
The world system has become so jaded. Almost nothing is viewed as wrong. Our society has been conditioned over time to accept sinful lifestyles. Gradually the enemy has crept in and performed his despicable work, undermining the very foundation of our existence. From the beginning, our social order was built upon the family unit. God's design for the family has been manipulated to fit every desire and convenience imaginable to mankind.
Paul wrote to Timothy of the evil in the last days in 2 Tim. 3:1-5 identifying the total depravity of the human state. "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3. Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4. Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5. Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." As Christ's return draws near, the depraved conditions will increase. "But evil men...shall wax worse..."v.13. Paul describes mass corruption and lawlessness. The warning is that the condition of the world ultimately presses into the Church. "Having a form of godliness but denying the power..."v5. Having the resemblance of Christian service but without the spiritual dynamic of the Holy Spirit. Peter said, "These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest..."2 Peter 2:17. The barrenness of this false religion mocks the thirsty soul by promising refreshment but can not deliver. Perhaps Jude states it best in vs.12-13, "These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear; clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever."
In. Eph. 6:11 Paul instructs the Church to "put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." The emphasis is on the "whole armor of God" in its completeness providing power against "the wiles of the devil." In Romans 13:12-14, he writes "...put you on the Lord Jesus Christ..."
Paul addresses the armor of God as a complete covering. Its completeness corresponds to the divine perfection of Christ's humanity. We are "to grow up unto Him in all things." Eph. 415. We are to put on His image in all the harmony of truth, righteousness, peace and faith. We are to receive the spiritual energy and power of Christ as the "Word."
So what is the answer to the present human condition. Jesus Christ is the solution. He is the embodiment of our power and authority to defeat the "flesh."
If we are to win this war and the Church will most certainly have victory over sin, then we individually must put on Christ. We must seek for and receive the power of the Holy Ghost to permeate every fiber of our being so that we become an extension of Christ Himself.
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