Joel 2:13, commentary and pictures

Rend your heart and not your garments means God requires inward repentance of heart rather than mere outward display. A rent heart is a humbled, broken, softened and subdued heart with true contrition for sin and fear of displeasing God rather than seeking human approval. To turn to the Lord is to turn to Him with all the heart and with full purpose of heart, with fasting and with weeping and with mourning, turning from self, the world and transgression to Christ to receive pardoning grace through faith. The reason given for turning is who God is, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, delighting in mercy, and He relents from sending threatened evil upon the repentant. This is His solemn call in view of the great and terrible day of the Lord and the close of probation, to arouse from spiritual lethargy, careless security and backsliding and to seek Him with repentance, humiliation and earnest prayer while He may be found.

Rending the Heart

The command is for inward repentance rather than outward display, to rend the heart and not merely tear the garments. It is a call to turn to the Lord with the whole heart and with all the heart, with fasting and with weeping and with mourning as the great day of God draws near. That turning must come from the heart and begin with each person's own life before working to help others, humbling the heart before God and turning from wrongs instead of excusing self or resisting correction. The urgency rests on who God is, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, abundantly kind, willing to relent and turn from sending threatened calamity upon the repentant. The same return is communal, with wholehearted repentance and prayer in which priests plead for God to spare His people and not give them to reproach among the nations, asking whether He will turn back and leave a blessing behind.

Rending the heart means a humbled, broken, softened and subdued heart with true contrition for sin. Such sorrow humbles the heart, opens it to see the grievous character of sin, and casts the sinner upon God's mercy to receive pardoning grace. It is turning from self and from the world to Christ, setting the heart in order in childlike simplicity with fear of displeasing God rather than seeking human approval. It is not doing penance or trying to earn salvation by outward religious show or by efforts to save oneself, but receiving Christ through faith so that He lives within and good works follow.

Outward fasting and prayer, tearing of garments, profession, or supposed preparation without a broken and contrite spirit are of no value in His sight. What He looks upon and values is an inward work of grace and humiliation of soul. Without the heart set right before God, made peace with Him, and broken from the world, the heart hardens, outward profession gives no secure hope for judgment, and mere display of remorse leaves people repeating their failures in the Christian life. Those who humble their hearts before Him and turn to Him with the whole heart He will graciously receive, hear their petitions, heal their backslidings, and through purification of ministers and people in soul turn away His judgments, for He waits to receive all who fully turn to Him.

The verse thus exposes false repentance when outward sorrow is displayed while hearts remain unbroken and unrepentant, as seen among many in Battle Creek who showed outward signs of grief without humbled and broken hearts and without humble confession before God. It is seen most starkly when Caiaphas, who should have been deeply convicted by Christ's words, confessed Jesus as Messiah, and rent his heart humbled by truth, instead rent his priestly robes in determined resistance, an act that revealed his passion and condemned him. It is also seen when outward improvement is done merely to appear devotional and righteous in the eyes of others like the hypocritical Pharisees. True heart-rending begins in the family by setting the heart in order, humbling self before God and pleading for His grace to help, being circumspect at home, no longer over-anxious to make brethren think one is right when one is not, throwing no flimsy deceptive covering over acts and motives, knowing words and acts and motives and intents and most secret things stand open to angels, watching no more for others' wrongs but battling and overcoming strong internal foes, and dealing justly with the widow and fatherless.

Turning to God

The call is to turn to the Lord God even now with all the heart and with full purpose of heart, with fasting and with weeping and with mourning. It is inward thorough repentance rather than outward display, a rending of the heart and not of the garments. Those fallen by iniquity are summoned to this turning because the day of the Lord is near and judgments are coming upon the world for iniquity.

Turning means turning from self to Christ and from the world, pride, corruption and transgression of the holy law to God, breaking from the world, forsaking it, weaning the affections from earthly things, humbling the self before the Lord and making peace with Him and setting the heart right before Him. It is receiving pardoning grace through faith when Christ is received to live within, not doing penance or trying to earn salvation, and good works then follow. Without this the heart hardens and outward profession or supposed preparation gives no secure hope for judgment. This inward humiliation and repentance was met in the waiting people aroused by the midnight cry in the autumn of 1844, not in ecstatic joy but in deep searching of heart, self-abasement and prostration of soul, healing of controversies and animosities, persevering prayer, unreserved consecration, penitent broken-hearted supplication for pardon and acceptance, and preparation to meet the Lord.

Turning includes humiliation of soul, deep searching of heart, and casting the self upon mercy in prayerful confession of sin and of wrongs done to others. Confession is to be full rather than confessing a little and then justifying self, ceasing to fasten guilt on others, confessing faults one to another, acknowledging guilt, asking forgiveness of those wronged, and making restitution for dishonesty and wrongdoing, without which there is no pardon or entrance to the kingdom. The truly contrite so turn and then help save other souls from death, for souls hang in the balance and the Judge stands at the door.

Those who so turn with the whole heart and live are graciously received, accepted and pardoned, entreated and saved, finding hope and salvation instead of choosing death and shutting the kingdom of heaven. Backslidings are freely healed by a God who does not require His favor to be earned and who loves sinners even while they are sinners, and who will not despise a broken and contrite spirit. He hears petitions, turns away wrath and judgments through purification of ministers and people in soul, and again works among His people in power.

God's Gracious Character

The call to turn rests entirely on what God is like, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness. Mercy lies at the very center of His character, and as Micah 7:18 declares, He delights in mercy. It is because He is so kind and so slow to anger that wholehearted return to Him is reasonable and urgent.

He repents of the threatened evil and relents from sending calamity. When the repentant turn to Him He turns from bringing evil upon them. His willingness to turn back judgment is the ground of hope for those fallen by iniquity.

There remains hope that He will return and leave a blessing behind Him. That blessing includes even a meat offering and a drink offering to the Lord. What was threatened as judgment can thus become renewed provision and worship.

He does not demand that sinners earn His favor before He will receive them. He freely heals backsliding and loves men even while they are sinners. All who humble themselves and fully turn to Him with the whole heart He graciously receives, hears their petitions, and heals their backslidings. He is waiting in this attitude of mercy to receive everyone who so turns.

Solemn Assembly Call

Joel 2:13 stands within a call to blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, and summon a solemn assembly of the whole congregation without exception. Elders are to be assembled together with children and even nursing infants, and neither bridegroom nor bride is to remain apart, but he is to come forth from his chamber and she from her closet. The turning commanded is to be with all the heart, with fasting and with weeping and with mourning, rending the heart inwardly and not merely the garments outwardly. That repentance rests on the hope that the Lord, who is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness and who relents from threatened evil, may return and leave a blessing behind Him, even provision for offering to Him.

In that gathering the priests, the ministers of the Lord, take their place weeping between the porch and the altar as intercessors for the people. Their plea is for God to spare His people and not give His heritage to reproach. They pray that the heathen should not rule over them nor taunt them by asking where their God is. This united, wholehearted repentance and communal prayer is what keeps God's people from becoming a reproach among the nations.

The assembly call belongs to the present time and summons men to pray in humility before God now. The world is fast becoming as it was before the flood, Satan has set up his throne in the earth, and the sins of cities and towns have reached to heaven. God's law is trampled underfoot, with human laws exalted above it, and His Sabbath sanctified and blessed in Eden is set aside and polluted while a rival first-day sabbath is exalted.

Urgency in Last Days

Joel 2:13 is God's solemn call in view of the great and terrible day of the Lord and the close of probation, when judgments are coming upon the world for iniquity and are about to fall on a doomed world, so that repentance and a plea for mercy are urgent. It commands turning even now to the Lord with all the heart, with fasting and with weeping and with mourning, by inward rending of the heart and not mere outward rending of garments, because He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and turns from bringing threatened evil. When the great day of God is at hand this means deep searching of heart, humiliation of soul, confession of sin and of wrongs done to others, forsaking of the world, weaning of affections from earthly things, healing of controversies and animosities, self-abasement and prostration of soul, penitent broken-hearted supplication for pardon and acceptance, persevering prayer, unreserved consecration, and preparation to meet the Lord.

It calls people to arouse from spiritual lethargy and to seek His face with repentance and humiliation. It cures careless security, lukewarm indifference, spiritual blindness and backsliding through earnest prayers of heart-rending anguish in the face of judgments about to fall. As the great day draws near hearts are to be broken rather than making outward display.

It gives divine authority to preach that the hour of God's judgment has come, calling for rending the heart and turning to the Lord God rather than outward form. Its fulfillment comes when the Spirit of God comes upon lay preachers with such irresistible power that they cannot resist it, rousing people from careless security to confess their sins and to seek mercy and forgiveness in the name of Jesus. This call was met in the waiting people aroused by the midnight cry in the autumn of 1844 with inward humiliation rather than ecstatic joy.

It is the preparation needed by those with the last message and the remnant who are not ready for what is coming upon the earth. For the fierce anger of the Lord is soon to come and His wrath is to be poured out unmixed with mercy, while legions of evil angels press in awful darkness to ensnare, so a great work must be done. Those who now embrace the Third Angel's Message must step fast and learn in a few months truths learned over years, hear all the straight truths of the Word and endure the strong meat of the straightness of the way, and as soon as conviction is yielded to with a willing heart let truth work like leaven to purify and purge away the passions of the natural heart, so they can stand in the day of battle and enter the time of trouble such as never was. Pride and selfishness must be laid aside and hearts subdued by grace instead of being absorbed in petty trials, minute particulars of little difficulties, protracted conversation for hours and long self-justification that wastes precious time, holds God's servants, grieves angels, displeases God, and diverts the mind from the all-important truths for these last days, for God will not wait and listen to long justifications, and instead time should be spent showing transgressors the error of their ways and pulling souls out of the fire. It is urgent because souls are hanging in the balance and the Judge stands at the door, and as Jerusalem was given up to its fate for lack of true repentance and failure to appreciate salvation, so those who despise warnings and walk in fraud, oppression and wickedness will be scattered.

Living Out Repentance

The work of rending the heart begins with each person's own life before attempting to help others, setting the heart in order by humbling the self before God, pleading for His grace to help, and turning from wrongs instead of excusing self or resisting correction. It is to be done first in the family, being circumspect at home, battling and overcoming one's own wrongs and strong internal foes rather than watching to see others' wrongs. It means dealing justly with the widow and the fatherless, and throwing no flimsy, deceptive covering over acts to make others think one is right when motives and acts will not bear that construction. Deceiving the holy angels is impossible, for words and acts and motives and the intents and purposes of the heart and the most secret things stand open and revealed to their gaze, so there is no value in being over-anxious to make brethren think one is right when one is not, or in surface outward improvement done to appear devotional and righteous like hypocritical Pharisees. When people are filled with the Spirit through such personal repentance and humility, they can then work for their children.

Rending the heart means laying aside pride and selfishness and self-importance, having the heart subdued by grace, and seeking the Lord humbly like little children with repentance and confession. It means no longer dwelling upon little trials and going into minute particulars of little difficulties to explain them to the satisfaction of one or another, with protracted conversation for hours and long self-justification that wastes precious time, holds the servants of God, grieves angels, displeases God, and diverts the mind from the work of preparation and the all-important truths for the last days. It requires prayerfully confessing personal wrongs fully instead of confessing a little and then justifying self, ceasing to fasten guilt on others, confessing faults one to another, and asking forgiveness of those wronged in order to repent and be converted. God will not wait and listen to long justifications, and time so spent should instead be spent in showing transgressors the error of their ways and pulling souls out of the fire, then helping save other souls from death.

For ministers and teachers and physicians and medical missionary workers and workers in every line of God's cause, as well as for husbands and wives and parents, this means a decided, thorough work done in the heart and real conversion of soul. The spirit is to be brought under the control of God and human desires and inclinations under the control of the Holy Spirit, living the truth that is known, with persevering earnest prayer and unreserved consecration and humiliation of heart and self-abasement instead of self-flattering confidence and unsanctified self. Such heart-rending repentance gives power from on high and fitness to carry forward God's work, and reliance by faith on God for strength and efficiency comes through turning to the Lord with all the heart in repentance, fasting, and earnest prayer. For parents the only safety in the life-or-death warfare against Satan for their children's future happiness and eternal well-being is to break their hearts before God in true repentance and to seek the kingdom of Heaven as little children, building thereby a fortification of prayer and faith about children through watchful, earnest labor without sleeping at the post, without which they cannot be victors and remain not very near the kingdom. This duty to humble oneself, confess, and consecrate oneself to God with inward repentance and a changed heart, not merely outward signs such as torn garments, is distinct from fanaticism.

The call is urgent to awake now, to seek the Lord while He may be found and call upon Him while He is near, to repent while opportunity to repent still remains, to receive reformation, and so to prepare to meet God. Souls are hanging in the balance and the Judge stands at the door, and as Jerusalem was given up to its fate for lack of true repentance and failure to appreciate salvation, so those who despise warnings and walk in fraud, oppression and wickedness will be scattered. Those who seek the Lord most earnestly, confess wrong, repent of sin, and turn to God with all the heart, laying hold of His promises by living faith, are assured that God will come near and the glorious power of His salvation will be manifested in their midst. For the remnant with the last message who are not ready for what is coming, while fierce anger and wrath poured out unmixed with mercy is soon to come and legions of evil angels press in awful darkness to ensnare, this inward preparation must not be delayed.