Joel 2:15-17 Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly:… When God visits mankind in judgment, there are three calamities which He sends upon them, the sword, the famine, and pestilence. How are we to "sanctify a fast," or make a holy thing of it, by a due and proper celebration? This is to be done — I. BY A CONFESSION OF SIN. When we confess, we should begin with confessing that sinfulness of our nature which is the root of all the sins of the world. We should proceed to confess the sins of our time, the first and greatest of which is the want of faith, or the neglect of Christianity. This want of faith is naturally followed by a neglect of Divine worship; for who will worship as a Christian, that does not believe as a Christian? When we are considering the sins of the age, it is hard to know where to begin, or where to end. II. A RESOLUTION OF AMENDMENT. Not by the devotion of a single day, but by a continued sense of the "terrors of the Lord" upon our lives and actions. While we have the light of the Gospel, let us value it, and walk by it. III. A DEPENDENCE UPON THE GOODNESS AND MERCY OF GOD. Penitents in the worst of times have everything to hope. What obligations then lie upon you at this moment, to be serious, to be sorrowful for past sin, devout and humble, constant in the worship of God, and sincerely devoted to His service for the time to come. (W. Jones, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly:WEB: Blow the trumpet in Zion! Sanctify a fast. Call a solemn assembly. |
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