Lent is a Christian season that starts on Ash Wednesday and ends during Holy Week. It is the last week of Lent, which ends on the day Jesus died on the cross (Good Friday). 

Lent lasts for 40 days, a number that is very symbolic in the Jewish tradition. 

In the book of Genesis, 40 refers to the number of days and nights it took for the flood to destroy the earth (Genesis 5-9). Also, the Hebrews spent 40 years in the wilderness before reaching the promised land (Josuah 5: 6). 

Other people look at the number 40 as important because of Moses, who had fasted for 40 days before God gave him the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34: 28). 

More importantly, more people think that 40 has to do with the number of days and nights Jesus spent in the wilderness following his baptism (Matthew 4: 1-11).

This season reminds of what Jesus’ coming to us is all about:

• • • Repentance
    • Forgiveness 
    • Obedience
    • Reconciliation
    • Atonement

Throughout Lent, therefore, we’re studying these five things we can learn from and experience through Jesus Christ. 

 

On Repentance

 

First, take a look at Joel 2, on your own. 

For us to better understand what this chapter is all about, and how it relates to repentance, also read chapters 1 and 3. 

Chapter 1 is about God calling the people of Israel to repentance. And, the reason for that is for them to prepare for the Day of the Lord. 

There, you already begin to see that repentance is a movement taking you from one place to another. 

Chapter 3 describes God’s judgment over the nations. God wants the people of Israel not to be judged like the other nations. And, to avoid God’s judgment, they have to repent (see chapters 1 and 2). 

 

Repentance is a movement toward God.

 

Read Joel 2: 13, 13. In these verses, you hear Joel stress that repentance means the choice to return to God. And you have to do it with all your heart. 

In the Jewish tradition, fasting, weeping, and mourning were a practice that consisted of rending one’s garments and sitting in the ashes (or dust). 

The prophet reminds Israel that they should not only rend (or tear) their garments but their hearts (verse 13). 

 

Repentance means to rend your heart for God. 

 

The importance of the heart is because it represents the core of who we are. In other words, it’s the center of all our decision-making, feelings, and mental activities. 

Also, rending your heart means that you fulfill part of the Shema, which Jesus referred to as the greatest commandment (Matthew 22: 36-40),

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts” (Deuteronomy 6: 4-6). 

 

Why repent? 

 

You don’t want to repent only because you’re avoiding God’s judgment (Joel 3), or hell, as you may have read it in some parts of the Bible. 

More importantly, repent for the following reasons. First, you repent because you want to experience God on a very personal level. Every time you pray, God answers, as a result (Joel 2: 19). 

Next, God helps you stand out. Based on Joel 2: 19, God will make you a reproach among the nations any more. Instead, you become an inspiration for others locally and beyond your community. 

Last, God pours out of His Spirit on you (Joel 2: 28-32). This scripture came to pass on the day of Pentecost, according to Acts 2, giving birth to the Church. 

 

Bringing it together

Repentance means we tear down our souls and hearts. It enables us to experience salvation (Joel 2: 32). Not only do we experience salvation through repentance, but it also transforms us into God’s agents of salvation everywhere we are in the name of Jesus Christ!