God Hates Sin but Loves The Repentant Sinner

The prophet Joel sets the record straight about the day of the Lord very clearly in chapter 2. 

Joel 2:1–2 (ESV) Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming; it is near, 2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations.

Trumpets were blown to announce the outbreak of war. That is what the day of the Lord would bring. Only, instead of a locust plague, an army descends upon the nation.

Joel 2:6–9 (ESV) Before them peoples are in anguish; all faces grow pale. 7 Like warriors they charge; like soldiers they scale the wall. They march each on his way; they do not swerve from their paths. 8 They do not jostle one another; each marches in his path; they burst through the weapons and are not halted. 9 They leap upon the city, they run upon the walls, they climb up into the houses, they enter through the windows like a thief.

The locust plague of Joel 1 has become an actuality in the invasion of a foreign army from the North. We can assume Joel is referring to the Assyrian invasion of the Northern Kingdom. Judah looked on in horror as their former copatriots became easy prey to an advanced and tactically superior army. After describing the invasion as unrelenting, unstoppable, and carefully coordinated, Joel puts the Lord squarely in charge:

Joel 2:11 (ESV) The LORD utters his voice before his army, for his camp is exceedingly great; he who executes his word is powerful. For the day of the LORD is great and very awesome; who can endure it?

What a shock Joel's message must have been to the confident religious posers of his day. Joel calls them to battle; it's time to fight. But how? We know this from both history and what Joel offers as a prescription in the face of devastation. 

Joel 2:12–14 (ESV) “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?

In the record in 2 Kings, we know that Hezekiah was the primary agent in responding to this message. At first, Hezekiah turned to diplomacy, offering tribute to Sennacarib of Assyria. When the money ran out and the threat grew stronger, he turned to God. 

2 Kings 19:1–4 (ESV) As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the LORD. 2 And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. 3 They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 4 It may be that the LORD your God heard all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.”

Do you know why we must continually repent, even in the hardest of times in which God brings discipline and punishment? Because His compassion is great. Joel calls on the nation to turn to the gracious and merciful God who is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 

In verse 17, Joel calls on the spiritual leaders to seek God.

Joel 2:17 (ESV) Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep and say, “Spare your people, O LORD, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’ ”

And as He always does, the Lord relented and saved His chosen land. 

Joel 2:18–19 (ESV) Then the LORD became jealous for his land and had pity on his people. 19 The LORD answered and said to his people, “Behold, I am sending to you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations.

The most considerable portion of this chapter is filled with God's promise to return and restore the nation to strength and nobility. 

Joel 2:25 (ESV) I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you.

At all times, He is a saving God. He relents and desires to show us mercy. Will we seek Him? How hard-hearted must some be to read the overwhelming record of compassion and mercy for a nation that did not deserve it and still think God is an intolerant judge bent on hostile action towards the world. 

He is anything but! He hates sin, but He loves the repentant sinner.