PM Dec 14th Joel 1

December 14^th   Joel 1   A. The Literal & Local Plague of Locusts                        Locusts destroy the crops

1: The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel. 2: Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers? 3: Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. 4: That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten. 5: Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth. 6: For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion. 7: He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white. 8: Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth. 9: The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD's ministers, mourn. 10: The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth. 11: Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished. 12: The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men. 13: Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God. 14: Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD, 15: Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. 16: Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God? 17: The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered. 18: How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate. 19: O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field. 20: The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

Joel 2   B. The Day of the LORD foretold           Warning of the Day of the Lord

1: Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand; 2: A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. 3: A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them. 4: The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run. 5: Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. 6: Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness. 7: They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks: 8: Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded. 9: They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. 10: The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining: 11: And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?

The Lord is merciful

12: Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: 13: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. 14: Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God? 15: Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: 16: Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. 17: Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God? 18: Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people. 19: Yea, the LORD will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen: 20: But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things. 21: Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do great things. 22: Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength. 23: Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. 24: And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil. 25: And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. 26: And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed. 27: And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed. 28: And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: 29: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. 30: And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. 31: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come. 32: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.

Joel 3   C. The Day of the LORD comes (The Great Tribulation)    The Lord will judge the nations

1: For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, 2: I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land. 3: And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink. 4: Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompence me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head; 5: Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things: 6: The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border. 7: Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head: 8: And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD hath spoken it. 9: Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: 10: Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. 11: Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD. 12: Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. 13: Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. 14: Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. 15: The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.

(The Millennium Kingdom)          The Lord’s people are blessed

16: The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. 17: So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more. 18: And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim. 19: Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. 20: But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. 21: For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion.

A good name for this book could be ‘God will judge Judah - so repent & turn to God’. In this little book of only 3 chapters Joel writes to warn Judah of coming judgement. Joel says that Judah’s sin has caused God to consider punishing them and he urges them to repent and turn back to God. It was written between 835 - 769 BC. The prophecy had a partial fulfilment in Joel’s day, but ‘The Day of the Lord’ is yet to come - when the nations will converge on Jerusalem. His theme is ‘The Day of the LORD’.  In the first chapter the Prophet Joel warns Judah the southern kingdom that the Lord will send a plague of locusts to destroy the land. He says listen you old men this has never happened before. None of your fathers ever saw anything like this. What the larvae don’t eat the locusts will eat until everything is gone you will have no wine to drink. There will be no meat for sacrifice and no corn for bread. The priests will mourn and the vinedressers will howl for hunger. The wheat and the barley crops will fail. The fig tree will shrivel. The pomegranate and the palm tree and the apple in fact all the trees of the field will wither. There will be no joy in the hearts of men. Come before the Lord ministers at the altar. Lie in sackcloth you ministers of God. Set apart a day for fasting, call a solemn assembly call the elders and cry unto your God. The day of the LORD’s anger has come. The animals are confused and the beasts groan for hunger. In chapter two Joel warns of the coming day of the Lord. he says blow a trumpet of alarm in Zion. Joel is now looking far into the future to a time when the day of the wrath of God will come on the earth. He says the fire of the Lord will come down and burn everything up. In all their anguish they will seek death but not find it. The earth will quake. The heavens will tremble and the sun and moon will not give their light and even the stars will refuse to shine. The Lord will utter his voice And when he speaks all men will tremble. The day of Gods wrath is very great and terrifying. Then the Lord pleads with Israel to turn to me and repent. (Again this is exactly the same message to Israel that John Christ and his apostles brought. It was a message to Israel to return unto the Lord their God.) they are to turn to the Lord with a whole heart with fasting and mourning. (How appropriate that the Lord began his sermon on the mount with the phrase, ‘Blessed are they that mourn’.)  Perhaps the Lord might turn from his fierce anger and leave a blessing. The Lord will respond to the children of Israel and will send then corn and wine and oil. The Lord will drive away the northern army (The Russians) The Lord will restore the former and latter rains. (Which he withheld in judgment.) The stores will overflow with food and the Lord will restore all that the locusts have eaten. The Lord refers to these creatures as ‘my great army’) Israel will eat enough and be satisfied and they will praise the Lord. And the children of Israel will never be afraid ever again. Then the Lord will do a wonderful thing for Israel he will send his spirit on every Israelite man and woman. The children will prophesy and the old men will dream dreams and the young men will see visions. The Spirit of God will be poured out on all the children of Israel. The Lord will show great wonders in the heavens. The suns light will be turned into darkness and the moons light into deep red. All this will happen before the great and terrible day of the Lord. All those who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. Next Joel describes the judgment of the nations who are alive. the nations will be gathered into the valley of Jehoshaphat. They have sold a boy for the price of a prostitute and a girl for a drink of wine. The Lord will pay back every persons sin. the Lord will bring justice to the earth. Then when all the armies of the world converge on Israel the Lord will turn their instruments of death into instruments of peaceful cultivation. In that day the weak will say l am strong. The Lord will judge the nations on the basis of how they have dealt with Israel. (Christ speaks of this event in Matthew 25) Joel says there will be huge multitudes in the valley of decision. But its not their decision it’s the decision of Christ based on what they have done to his brethren. Lastly Joel sees the Millennium Kingdom. The Lords voice will roar out of Zion and the heaven and earth will shake. The Lord will be the hope of Israel and their strength. The city of Jerusalem will be holy forevermore and no strangers will ever pass through her again. The mountains will literally drop down wine into the oil because of the abundance of fruit and the milk will flow with the surplus of milk. A spring will flow from the house of the Lord and both Egypt and Edom will be desolate.  The Lord himself will dwell in Zion.