Sound The Alarm!

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 upon our world. Wars, tyranny, civil unrest, spiritual discontent, oppression, death, disease, starvation, helplessness, hopelessness and on we go. 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 them 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.

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.

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 quality of freedom of choice. However, all must understand that there are consequences attached to each and every choice.

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.