Joel 2:12-14 ESV
12 “Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 13 and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and He relents over disaster. 14 Who knows whether He will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD your God?
The LORD is merciful; He is not willing for anyone to perish. He said that He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11). But men love darkness more than they tolerate the light. As it was then, so it is now, men refuse to heed God’s warning.
They decline His invitation to repent and to seek Him. They reject the offer to draw near to Him so that He can and will draw near to them. They want another way. A way free from personal responsibility.
They despise the way of the cross. They loathe holiness and hate righteousness. It’s their way or no way, so they turn and go their own way, rejoicing in their own will and delighting in their own strength.
Therefore, there’s coming a trumpet call. A day of reckoning. A day of great darkness and gloom. A day of intense dread and terror when the Spirit of the LORD shall be taken up, and the dead in Christ shall rise, and we who are alive and remain shall be caught up to meet our LORD Jesus in the clouds, and there we will be with Him forevermore (1 Thessalonians 4:16).
For those of us who are being saved… it will be a day of great joy, and much rejoicing. But for those who refuse to heed the alarm—those who reject the trumpet call to repentance, and who remain in their sins… it is a day of dread, fear, and trembling — a day of thick darkness and great gloom.
For on that day, the LORD, the LORD Jesus Himself, will come and take His Bride away, and those who have refused His salvation will be left behind.
The door will be closed. And it will be locked. And no one else will be let in. The opportunity has passed. The chance of repentance is gone—it’s over. Your choice has been made. The lines have been drawn in the sand. And now, it’s over.
So, the LORD who said, “Come all ye who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” will also say, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.”
And those who hear those harsh words of hopeless despair will go away into eternal punishment in the lake of fire that burns forever, and ever.
The opportunity is now. The time of repentance is now. Today is the day of salvation. The trumpet call has gone out, the alarm has been sounded. Are you ready? Are your family members ready? Co-workers? Friends? Neighbors? Today is the day of repentance, tomorrow is promised to no man.
Peace. Love. Go Forth and Hear The Trumpet Blast.