Joel 3: 1-8
Joel has taken the recent locust plague that the people had just suffered through as a picture of the Assyrian attack that was coming soon, and both of these as showing how much worse the final antichrist would treat the people.
Then he encouraged them with the news that the Lord God Himself will come to rescue His people, to fulfill all His promises and restore everything they had lost.
Now he will show them how the rescue will begin.
(1) "For behold, in those days and at that time,
When I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
He is setting the stage here.
(2) "I will gather all the nations
And bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat.
This valley of Jehoshaphat is not named here as a geographical place, but a scene of judgment and decision. The Lord will gather all the nations who have fought against His people. We know from other scriptures, that this will be in the Armageddon valley.
Then I will enter into judgment with them there
On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel,
This is the charge that they will be accused of:
Whom they have scattered among the nations;
And they have divided up My land.
(3) "They have also cast lots for My people,
Traded a boy for a harlot
And sold a girl for wine that they may drink.
They have dominated the people and taken them out of their own land, scattering them into all the other parts of the world to deprive them of their nationality, trying to blend them into all the other cultures, erasing their own.
They have divided up the land into parcels that have been given to their enemies to occupy and defile.
They have devalued the people, reducing them to cheap property, paying for a night with a harlot with a boy, and a flask of wine for a girl.
(4) "Moreover, what are you to Me, O Tyre, Sidon and all the regions of Philistia? Are you rendering Me a recompense? But if you do recompense Me, swiftly and speedily I will return your recompense on your head.
These areas are the well-known ancient centers of the slave-trade. God says that because they have a grudge against His people Israel, to want to exact revenge on them in order to attack the Lord God; then God will turn the tables on them and do to them what they do to His people.
(5) "Since you have taken My silver and My gold, brought My precious treasures to your temples,
They have robbed the people of all their wealth when they were prosperous, and robbed the Lord's temple of everything valuable to use in worship of their idols.
(6) "And sold the sons of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them from their territory,
They sold the Jews, not just for monetary profit, but to erase them from the world as Jews, making them part of the other worldly cultures. This is an effort to nullify the promises God made to Israel, to make it impossible for Him.
(7) "behold, I am going to arouse them from the place where you have sold them, and return your recompense on your head.
God knows who His people are, and He will allow them to maintain their identity as Jews and bring them back to their land. God will show that revenge belongs to Him, and He will give them back what they gave His people, trying to attack their Lord God.
(8) "Also I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the sons of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a distant nation," for the Lord has spoken.
The Sabeans are the nation that derived from Sheba, the grandson of Noah, and they settled most likely in Africa. God uses them as an example of a far-away foreign place where He will have His people send the children of those who sold the children of Israel.
We never need to think that we should get even with anyone for anything. This is revenge, and we cannot handle it, it destroys us. We are to trust that our God will handle the situation, and forgive, which releases us from all the power they have over us.
God's enemies who worship idols and demons are the devil's minions, who are deceived by him. They attack God's people because they can't get to God to harm Him in any way.
Our Lord God is going to settle every score, pay off every debt, level every playing field. Our Lord God is perfectly just and fair, and He will see to it that everyone gets exactly what is due him, whether that be judgment, or whether that be reward for obedience.
O my Father, thank You for being God! You are so good, so compassionate, so gentle; and You are also just and powerful and mighty. You will make sure that everything is done and finished. You gave to Your Son to be our Lord, to move along the progress of Your Plan of the Ages, to dispatch the spiritual help to combat the spiritual forces that war against You by attacking Your people.
My Father, You are protecting Your sons and daughters from the machinations of the enemy. You are taking everything he means for evil, and bringing tremendous good out of it for Your people. You are showing Yourself powerful against his increasing fury, because he knows his time is short.
O Father, strengthen Your children against our enemies. Let Your love in us demonstrate Your positive strength against the negativity and attacks of the enemy. Help us to overcome the evil with good. Hold us up in Your mighty hand in the fight, and after all is done, we will stand.
Even though we may stumble, we will not fall. We can be troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We can be perplexed, but we'll not be without help. We can even be persecuted, but we won't be forsaken; and cast down, but not destroyed (II Corinthians 4: 8-9). Father, You have provided everything we will ever need, in every area of living and thinking and thriving.
And even when we don't see how it could ever work out, You already have done the rescuing and reviving and redeeming. You have already finished everything, and told us how it will go, as we live through it. When things aren't going right, that's when we'll look up, for our redemption draweth nigh!
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Wednesday, May 20, 2020
Tuesday, May 19, 2020
God's Amazing Plan Of The Ages!
Joel 2: 28-32
This is what Peter quoted on the day of Pentecost, when God fulfilled the first part of this prophecy. He had to go through the rest of what is still future, to get to the first part of verse 32.
Joel has just talked about how God rescued them from the locust plague, vindicating them by restoring the normal climate of regular rains, because they humbled themselves before the Lord.
Now he is looking at the future again, when the end times come.
(28) "It will come about after this
Peter quoted after this as "in the last days" (in Acts 2: 17).
That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind;
And your sons and daughters will prophesy,
Your old men will dream dreams,
Your young men will see visions.
(29) "Even on the male and female servants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
Peter said that the different languages the people heard on the Day of Pentecost was because the world has just entered into the End Times, when God had said that He would pour out My Spirit on all mankind, rather than on just individual persons for a particular job.
Joel said, and Peter repeated, that God's Spirit would come on every kind of person from all nations, both men and women, old and young, slave and free. This was the beginning of the End Times, the Last Days.
This particular time period started on the Day of Pentecost and will go to the Second Coming. We are now in the Last Days, and God is pouring out His Spirit on people everywhere in the world, in every nation, every language, every tribe and family.
(30) "I will display wonders in the sky and on the Earth,
Blood, fire and columns of smoke.
(31) "The sun will be turned into darkness
And the moon into blood
Before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.
Joel says that just before the Day of the Lord, when the Lord actually comes, during the Tribulation and the Great Tribulation that immediately precede His Glorious Appearing, that there will be climactic and astrological "signs and wonders" to herald His coming.
(32) "And it will come about that whoever calls on the Name of the Lord
Will be delivered;
Peter quoted to here to announce to his audience that the time has now come, that whoever calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved. Everyone, no matter who he or she is, no matter where they are or what they've done; if they would humbly turn to the Lord away from whatever else has been their focus, and realize how much He loves them, they can be delivered from their addictions, saved from the power sin has had over them, and be washed clean of all the filth they have been mired in.
That day is right now. Jesus has come to be our Lamb of God, to sacrifice Himself on His altar, the Cross, to fulfill the law of the personal sacrifice (Leviticus 1) for each one of us individually.
For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
There will be those who escape,
As the Lord has said,
Even among the survivors whom the Lord calls."
And Joel tells us that the Jews who are alive and living in Judah and Jerusalem on that Day who survive all the persecution and warfare (Zechariah 13: 8-9 says that only a third will survive), "will look on Me whom they have pierced" (Zechariah 12: 10), and all Israel will be saved (Romans 11: 26), realizing that He really is their Messiah who died for them and rose again, and be brought into the Kingdom alive in their flesh bodies to repopulate the world.
When King Jesus bursts through the clouds with His army of Holy Ones (saints and angels) into the atmosphere on His way to the Mount of Olives, "every eye will see Him" (Revelation 1: 7) of everyone in the world alive at that moment.
Then "His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south." (Zechariah 14: 4). Through this new valley, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who have been surrounded by the armies of the rest of the world, will run, escaping that certain doom. The Hero will arrive onstage at the last minute, when we all thought it was too late!
Joel is filling in some of these details, as the part of the picture God had him relate. It is up to us to look at all the varied parts of the story God gave us, and put it all together, connecting the dots, and filling in the spaces, all under the direction and leading of God's Holy Spirit in us, that Joel said would come.
O my Father, You are amazing! You have planned out the whole human story, before You ever created Time and made us to be in it. You created our Earth just for us to live here, and put in it everything we would need while we're here. And You told us everything we need to know and put into practice in our lives here with one another, and how to get along. And how to return to our Maker by following Your rules and precepts and laws.
Then You sent Your own Son, who you had appointed and anointed to be our Lord before You even started to create, to come and be one of us to fulfill all the Law and Prophets that explained what He would accomplish here. He came here to be with us so that He could make us fit to come and be with Him where You are.
So Father, our human story is just the beginning of our whole story! In Your wisdom You created the Earth and its environment, the Universe. And You planned out how everything would come about and be and go. You made it, and You will dispose of it when You are finished with its whole story. Then You will continue to create and make as many worlds and universes that You want to make.
We are Yours. And You are our God. And You have made us to be Your own children, royal princes and princesses, to rule with You in Christ's authority, as He rules in Your authority as our Lord. And as such, we will be Your kings and queens to govern all of Your future Kingdom realms!
O Father, You have so much wonderful compassion and graciousness and power and justice and wealth and bounty! Father, You will accomplish all of Your will, You will judge every evil that rebels against Your order, and You will reward everyone who turns to You and calls upon the Lord for mercy and forgiveness.
My Father, please send out all of Your children to broadcast to every living being how great You are, and how much You love us all, every one of us! Father, please, let every single person in the whole world understand what a wonderful, gracious, generous gift You are offering them all, so that every one of them will have a fully informed and free decision to choose, before their minds are captured by the enemy and they no longer have a free choice!
Because every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will have to confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, the Lawgiver, our Savior and Redeemer, the sovereign King over all Mankind and all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, to whom He will present it all, perfected, for ever and ever, Amen.
Even so, come swiftly, Lord Jesus!
This is what Peter quoted on the day of Pentecost, when God fulfilled the first part of this prophecy. He had to go through the rest of what is still future, to get to the first part of verse 32.
Joel has just talked about how God rescued them from the locust plague, vindicating them by restoring the normal climate of regular rains, because they humbled themselves before the Lord.
Now he is looking at the future again, when the end times come.
(28) "It will come about after this
Peter quoted after this as "in the last days" (in Acts 2: 17).
That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind;
And your sons and daughters will prophesy,
Your old men will dream dreams,
Your young men will see visions.
(29) "Even on the male and female servants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
Peter said that the different languages the people heard on the Day of Pentecost was because the world has just entered into the End Times, when God had said that He would pour out My Spirit on all mankind, rather than on just individual persons for a particular job.
Joel said, and Peter repeated, that God's Spirit would come on every kind of person from all nations, both men and women, old and young, slave and free. This was the beginning of the End Times, the Last Days.
This particular time period started on the Day of Pentecost and will go to the Second Coming. We are now in the Last Days, and God is pouring out His Spirit on people everywhere in the world, in every nation, every language, every tribe and family.
(30) "I will display wonders in the sky and on the Earth,
Blood, fire and columns of smoke.
(31) "The sun will be turned into darkness
And the moon into blood
Before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.
Joel says that just before the Day of the Lord, when the Lord actually comes, during the Tribulation and the Great Tribulation that immediately precede His Glorious Appearing, that there will be climactic and astrological "signs and wonders" to herald His coming.
(32) "And it will come about that whoever calls on the Name of the Lord
Will be delivered;
Peter quoted to here to announce to his audience that the time has now come, that whoever calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved. Everyone, no matter who he or she is, no matter where they are or what they've done; if they would humbly turn to the Lord away from whatever else has been their focus, and realize how much He loves them, they can be delivered from their addictions, saved from the power sin has had over them, and be washed clean of all the filth they have been mired in.
That day is right now. Jesus has come to be our Lamb of God, to sacrifice Himself on His altar, the Cross, to fulfill the law of the personal sacrifice (Leviticus 1) for each one of us individually.
For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
There will be those who escape,
As the Lord has said,
Even among the survivors whom the Lord calls."
And Joel tells us that the Jews who are alive and living in Judah and Jerusalem on that Day who survive all the persecution and warfare (Zechariah 13: 8-9 says that only a third will survive), "will look on Me whom they have pierced" (Zechariah 12: 10), and all Israel will be saved (Romans 11: 26), realizing that He really is their Messiah who died for them and rose again, and be brought into the Kingdom alive in their flesh bodies to repopulate the world.
When King Jesus bursts through the clouds with His army of Holy Ones (saints and angels) into the atmosphere on His way to the Mount of Olives, "every eye will see Him" (Revelation 1: 7) of everyone in the world alive at that moment.
Then "His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south." (Zechariah 14: 4). Through this new valley, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who have been surrounded by the armies of the rest of the world, will run, escaping that certain doom. The Hero will arrive onstage at the last minute, when we all thought it was too late!
Joel is filling in some of these details, as the part of the picture God had him relate. It is up to us to look at all the varied parts of the story God gave us, and put it all together, connecting the dots, and filling in the spaces, all under the direction and leading of God's Holy Spirit in us, that Joel said would come.
O my Father, You are amazing! You have planned out the whole human story, before You ever created Time and made us to be in it. You created our Earth just for us to live here, and put in it everything we would need while we're here. And You told us everything we need to know and put into practice in our lives here with one another, and how to get along. And how to return to our Maker by following Your rules and precepts and laws.
Then You sent Your own Son, who you had appointed and anointed to be our Lord before You even started to create, to come and be one of us to fulfill all the Law and Prophets that explained what He would accomplish here. He came here to be with us so that He could make us fit to come and be with Him where You are.
So Father, our human story is just the beginning of our whole story! In Your wisdom You created the Earth and its environment, the Universe. And You planned out how everything would come about and be and go. You made it, and You will dispose of it when You are finished with its whole story. Then You will continue to create and make as many worlds and universes that You want to make.
We are Yours. And You are our God. And You have made us to be Your own children, royal princes and princesses, to rule with You in Christ's authority, as He rules in Your authority as our Lord. And as such, we will be Your kings and queens to govern all of Your future Kingdom realms!
O Father, You have so much wonderful compassion and graciousness and power and justice and wealth and bounty! Father, You will accomplish all of Your will, You will judge every evil that rebels against Your order, and You will reward everyone who turns to You and calls upon the Lord for mercy and forgiveness.
My Father, please send out all of Your children to broadcast to every living being how great You are, and how much You love us all, every one of us! Father, please, let every single person in the whole world understand what a wonderful, gracious, generous gift You are offering them all, so that every one of them will have a fully informed and free decision to choose, before their minds are captured by the enemy and they no longer have a free choice!
Because every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will have to confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, the Lawgiver, our Savior and Redeemer, the sovereign King over all Mankind and all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, to whom He will present it all, perfected, for ever and ever, Amen.
Even so, come swiftly, Lord Jesus!
Monday, May 18, 2020
What God Promises Them
Joel 2: 18-27
When the people have already been devastated by the locusts, and been warned of the Assyrian invasion and the future antichrist, and they respond by humbling themselves before the Lord, seeking His mercy, throwing away all their idols; then this will be the Lord's response.
(18) Then the Lord will be zealous for His land
And have pity on His people.
This is what He wanted to do all along, He just had to wait until they were ready to receive His goodness!
(19) The Lord will answer and say to His people,
"Behold, I am going to send you grain, new wine and oil,
And you will be satisfied in full with them;
And I will never again make you a reproach among the nations.
He says he will restore their economy and their reputation.
(20) "But I will remove the northern army far from you,
And I will drive it into a parched and desolate land,
And its vanguard into the eastern sea,
And its rear guard into the western sea.
And its stench will arise and its foul smell will come up,
For it has done great things.
All the live locusts would blow away, leaving all the rotting dead ones.
(21) "Do not fear, O land, rejoice and be glad,
For the Lord has done great things.
This army locust plague did great bad things, but the Lord will do greater good things, when His people turn to Him.
(22) "Do not fear, beasts of the field,
For the pastures of the wilderness have turned green,
For the tree has borne its fruit,
The fig tree and the vine have yielded in full.
Even the wild animals will find plenty to eat, with the trees and vines and all the other vegetation getting enough moisture to grow and proliferate.
(23) "So rejoice, O sons of Zion,
And be glad in the Lord your God;
For He has given you the early rain for your vindication.
And He has poured down for you the rain,
The early and latter rain as before.
God will see that the climate goes back to normal weather, with the fall and spring rains coming on schedule to provide the water needed for everything to grow well.
(24) "The threshing floors will be full of grain,
And the vats will overflow with the new wine and oil.
Bread will be plentiful and they'll have more than enough grape juice and plant oils, providing everything they need, and more.
(25) "Then I will make up to you for the years
That the swarming locust has eaten,
The creeping locust, the stripping locust and the gnawing locust,
My great army which I sent among you.
God promises that He will "restore the years the locust has eaten." All the seasons of failed crops will seem like nothing in the face of the prosperity God wants to give to His people.
(26) "You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied
And praise the Name of the Lord your God,
Who has dealt wondrously with you;
Then My people will never be put to shame.
When the people are faithful to the Lord their God, then they won't lack anything in any way; in their economy, in their relationships, and in their reputation among all the other nations.
(27) "Thus you will know that I am in the midst of Israel,
And that I am the Lord your God,
And there is no other;
And My people will never be put to shame."
Then they will have proper gratitude to the Lord, giving Him the credit and glory for everything He does; and admit that the Lord God is the only real God who is above every other god or idol that has ever been worshiped.
This is what God promises those who respond to Him positively, in humility and submission. This is God's character, and it is a promise, not just for Jewish people, but for all people who will turn to Him, away from all the other priorities they had before, putting Him first.
God made the human race to be His own children, but He gives us the choice to decide to love Him back. People who don't turn to Him, refusing to admit they deserve death, are not His children. Jesus called some of the people in His day, children of the devil, and these were the religious leaders! They were the ones who thought they could work their own way to God, and didn't think deserved to die, but wanted to kill Him to get Him out of their way.
But those who realize how much He loves us and done for us already, and humbly turn to Him for salvation from sin through His Son, then He turns to us and causes us to be born into His own family, as His children. He cleanses us in the Blood of Jesus, and puts His own Holy Spirit into our human spirit, making it alive. And this Holy Spirit cuts off our sinful flesh from this new spiritual life, nullifying the power it had over us in our bad habits and addictions.
O my Father, You are so great. You are so generous and gracious to us. We don't deserve any of Your goodness to us, but You want to lavish Your gifts upon us.
Father, send out Your children to share with every living person how much You love us all. Let every person hear and understand clearly enough to make a fully informed decision to accept Your gracious and generous gift, or to reject Your compassionate offer in their pride and delusion.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come soon, Lord Jesus!
When the people have already been devastated by the locusts, and been warned of the Assyrian invasion and the future antichrist, and they respond by humbling themselves before the Lord, seeking His mercy, throwing away all their idols; then this will be the Lord's response.
(18) Then the Lord will be zealous for His land
And have pity on His people.
This is what He wanted to do all along, He just had to wait until they were ready to receive His goodness!
(19) The Lord will answer and say to His people,
"Behold, I am going to send you grain, new wine and oil,
And you will be satisfied in full with them;
And I will never again make you a reproach among the nations.
He says he will restore their economy and their reputation.
(20) "But I will remove the northern army far from you,
And I will drive it into a parched and desolate land,
And its vanguard into the eastern sea,
And its rear guard into the western sea.
And its stench will arise and its foul smell will come up,
For it has done great things.
All the live locusts would blow away, leaving all the rotting dead ones.
(21) "Do not fear, O land, rejoice and be glad,
For the Lord has done great things.
This army locust plague did great bad things, but the Lord will do greater good things, when His people turn to Him.
(22) "Do not fear, beasts of the field,
For the pastures of the wilderness have turned green,
For the tree has borne its fruit,
The fig tree and the vine have yielded in full.
Even the wild animals will find plenty to eat, with the trees and vines and all the other vegetation getting enough moisture to grow and proliferate.
(23) "So rejoice, O sons of Zion,
And be glad in the Lord your God;
For He has given you the early rain for your vindication.
And He has poured down for you the rain,
The early and latter rain as before.
God will see that the climate goes back to normal weather, with the fall and spring rains coming on schedule to provide the water needed for everything to grow well.
(24) "The threshing floors will be full of grain,
And the vats will overflow with the new wine and oil.
Bread will be plentiful and they'll have more than enough grape juice and plant oils, providing everything they need, and more.
(25) "Then I will make up to you for the years
That the swarming locust has eaten,
The creeping locust, the stripping locust and the gnawing locust,
My great army which I sent among you.
God promises that He will "restore the years the locust has eaten." All the seasons of failed crops will seem like nothing in the face of the prosperity God wants to give to His people.
(26) "You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied
And praise the Name of the Lord your God,
Who has dealt wondrously with you;
Then My people will never be put to shame.
When the people are faithful to the Lord their God, then they won't lack anything in any way; in their economy, in their relationships, and in their reputation among all the other nations.
(27) "Thus you will know that I am in the midst of Israel,
And that I am the Lord your God,
And there is no other;
And My people will never be put to shame."
Then they will have proper gratitude to the Lord, giving Him the credit and glory for everything He does; and admit that the Lord God is the only real God who is above every other god or idol that has ever been worshiped.
This is what God promises those who respond to Him positively, in humility and submission. This is God's character, and it is a promise, not just for Jewish people, but for all people who will turn to Him, away from all the other priorities they had before, putting Him first.
God made the human race to be His own children, but He gives us the choice to decide to love Him back. People who don't turn to Him, refusing to admit they deserve death, are not His children. Jesus called some of the people in His day, children of the devil, and these were the religious leaders! They were the ones who thought they could work their own way to God, and didn't think deserved to die, but wanted to kill Him to get Him out of their way.
But those who realize how much He loves us and done for us already, and humbly turn to Him for salvation from sin through His Son, then He turns to us and causes us to be born into His own family, as His children. He cleanses us in the Blood of Jesus, and puts His own Holy Spirit into our human spirit, making it alive. And this Holy Spirit cuts off our sinful flesh from this new spiritual life, nullifying the power it had over us in our bad habits and addictions.
O my Father, You are so great. You are so generous and gracious to us. We don't deserve any of Your goodness to us, but You want to lavish Your gifts upon us.
Father, send out Your children to share with every living person how much You love us all. Let every person hear and understand clearly enough to make a fully informed decision to accept Your gracious and generous gift, or to reject Your compassionate offer in their pride and delusion.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come soon, Lord Jesus!
Sunday, May 17, 2020
Will He Relent?
Joel 2: 12-17
Joel has just told them how "the despicable person" (Antiochus) will come and destroy and persecute Israel, and that the antichrist will appear in the last days and be even worse.
So he encourages them in what they can do to put off these prophesies, if possible.
(12) "Yet even now," declares the Lord,
"Return to Me with all your heart,
And with fasting, weeping and mourning;
(13) "And rend your heart and not your garments."
Now return to the Lord your God,
For He is gracious and compassionate,
Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness
And relenting of evil.
(14) Who knows whether He will not turn and relent
And leave a blessing behind Him,
Even a grain offering and a drink offering
For the Lord your God?
The Lord always wants us to turn to Him, because He is our Source for everything. Not just of prosperity and wealth, but of life itself, and the breath in our lungs, and the beat of our heart.
He is infinitely compassionate and gracious, and when we turn to Him with all our heart, honestly, sincerely, passionately, then He will respond to us and show us His Truth, and draw us into His own family.
And if the Jews would turn to Him emotionally, fasting and weeping and mourning over their sins; not outwardly with ripping of their clothes, but inwardly in their inner being, letting their heart break, then He might put off this judgment for a while longer, and give them enough crops and grapes to offer a sacrifice to the Lord, trusting that He will also supply food for them.
(15) Blow a trumpet in Zion,
Consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly,
The ram's horn (shofar) was sounded as an alarm to warn of an invading force. Now they are to sound it to institute a solemn assembly, a prayer meeting.
(16) Gather the people, sanctify the congregation,
Assemble the elders,
Gather the children and the nursing infants.
Let the bridegroom come out of his room
And the bride out of her bridal chamber.
Everyone was to come to the prayer meeting, the leaders, the kids, the families, even the bride and bridegroom, before they get married, this comes first. Stop everything and come to pray.
(17) Let the priests, the Lord's ministers,
Weep between the porch and the altar,
The leaders, the priests were to stop before they even approached the altar, to break their hearts for the people they were responsible for, the congregation.
And let them say, "Spare Your people, O Lord,
And do not make Your inheritance a reproach,
A byword among the nations.
Why should they among the peoples say,
'Where is their God?'"
They are to beg God to have mercy on them, and to spare them from this harsh judgment they deserve. They are to care for the people, but they are to care more for the Lord's reputation among the other nations surrounding them. The prayer is to show the people who worship other gods and idols that the Lord God of Israel is kind and compassionate, and more powerful than all those other gods put together, and the only One worthy of worship.
Even today, when evil people attack good people, or when a natural disaster devastates a populous region, they ask, "Where is God?" Anne Graham Lotz (Billie Graham's daughter) had the correct answer. When we shove Him out of our lives and schools and government, and say we don't want or need Him to interfere, then, being the Gentleman He is, He will back away, and wickedness is let loose. So it is our own fault.
Each one of us is born with the damaged DNA from our first father, Adam, which is called "original sin," or the "sin nature," or "sinful flesh." This is why we think we can do whatever we want as long as we don't get caught. Our culture teaches us that it is getting caught that is wrong, not whatever harmful thing we want to do.
But God is just, He must judge all that is contrary to the good He created for us to have. Because He loves us so much, he will not shy away from taking us to the woodshed for a good licking now and then. It's called "tough love." It's being strong and courageous to teach our children what is right by allowing them to experience the consequences of wrong and evil choices.
God's character is sterling, it is strong and compassionate to discipline His children and to punish every wicked thing. He is fair to give each of us exactly what we need; and in the end, He will even all the odds, settle every debt, and level every path.
Joel is telling the people to throw away their idols and to worship only the Lord God Almighty. To be serious and passionate for the Lord, depending on His faithfulness to His own character.
And then maybe He might answer them.
O my Father, thank You for being our God. Thank You for Your goodness, and Your faithfulness to do what You said You would do.
Father, You are just, and You must administer true justice. But You are also compassionate and merciful, to relent in Your judgment for a while, as You did for Nineveh, when You sent Jonah to preach to them. They deserved the wrath You were ready to pour out on them, but when they all responded to Your word in humbling themselves before You, from the king down to the lowest servant; You relented and held off the disaster for the next generation.
O Father, You have had mercy on America in giving us our President, who is trying to clean out as much of the filth and evil that he can. He is powerfully working to bring Your goodness back into our national life, for the good of our people. And the wicked minions of Satan are vicious in their attempts to get rid of him.
Father, strengthen all of Your children, all over the world, to withstand the attacks of the enemy, and share Your love with all. Let Your peace in the midst of turmoil show our enemies Your care for us. And draw all Your embryonic children to the birth into Your own family.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, our Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Joel has just told them how "the despicable person" (Antiochus) will come and destroy and persecute Israel, and that the antichrist will appear in the last days and be even worse.
So he encourages them in what they can do to put off these prophesies, if possible.
(12) "Yet even now," declares the Lord,
"Return to Me with all your heart,
And with fasting, weeping and mourning;
(13) "And rend your heart and not your garments."
Now return to the Lord your God,
For He is gracious and compassionate,
Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness
And relenting of evil.
(14) Who knows whether He will not turn and relent
And leave a blessing behind Him,
Even a grain offering and a drink offering
For the Lord your God?
The Lord always wants us to turn to Him, because He is our Source for everything. Not just of prosperity and wealth, but of life itself, and the breath in our lungs, and the beat of our heart.
He is infinitely compassionate and gracious, and when we turn to Him with all our heart, honestly, sincerely, passionately, then He will respond to us and show us His Truth, and draw us into His own family.
And if the Jews would turn to Him emotionally, fasting and weeping and mourning over their sins; not outwardly with ripping of their clothes, but inwardly in their inner being, letting their heart break, then He might put off this judgment for a while longer, and give them enough crops and grapes to offer a sacrifice to the Lord, trusting that He will also supply food for them.
(15) Blow a trumpet in Zion,
Consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly,
The ram's horn (shofar) was sounded as an alarm to warn of an invading force. Now they are to sound it to institute a solemn assembly, a prayer meeting.
(16) Gather the people, sanctify the congregation,
Assemble the elders,
Gather the children and the nursing infants.
Let the bridegroom come out of his room
And the bride out of her bridal chamber.
Everyone was to come to the prayer meeting, the leaders, the kids, the families, even the bride and bridegroom, before they get married, this comes first. Stop everything and come to pray.
(17) Let the priests, the Lord's ministers,
Weep between the porch and the altar,
The leaders, the priests were to stop before they even approached the altar, to break their hearts for the people they were responsible for, the congregation.
And let them say, "Spare Your people, O Lord,
And do not make Your inheritance a reproach,
A byword among the nations.
Why should they among the peoples say,
'Where is their God?'"
They are to beg God to have mercy on them, and to spare them from this harsh judgment they deserve. They are to care for the people, but they are to care more for the Lord's reputation among the other nations surrounding them. The prayer is to show the people who worship other gods and idols that the Lord God of Israel is kind and compassionate, and more powerful than all those other gods put together, and the only One worthy of worship.
Even today, when evil people attack good people, or when a natural disaster devastates a populous region, they ask, "Where is God?" Anne Graham Lotz (Billie Graham's daughter) had the correct answer. When we shove Him out of our lives and schools and government, and say we don't want or need Him to interfere, then, being the Gentleman He is, He will back away, and wickedness is let loose. So it is our own fault.
Each one of us is born with the damaged DNA from our first father, Adam, which is called "original sin," or the "sin nature," or "sinful flesh." This is why we think we can do whatever we want as long as we don't get caught. Our culture teaches us that it is getting caught that is wrong, not whatever harmful thing we want to do.
But God is just, He must judge all that is contrary to the good He created for us to have. Because He loves us so much, he will not shy away from taking us to the woodshed for a good licking now and then. It's called "tough love." It's being strong and courageous to teach our children what is right by allowing them to experience the consequences of wrong and evil choices.
God's character is sterling, it is strong and compassionate to discipline His children and to punish every wicked thing. He is fair to give each of us exactly what we need; and in the end, He will even all the odds, settle every debt, and level every path.
Joel is telling the people to throw away their idols and to worship only the Lord God Almighty. To be serious and passionate for the Lord, depending on His faithfulness to His own character.
And then maybe He might answer them.
O my Father, thank You for being our God. Thank You for Your goodness, and Your faithfulness to do what You said You would do.
Father, You are just, and You must administer true justice. But You are also compassionate and merciful, to relent in Your judgment for a while, as You did for Nineveh, when You sent Jonah to preach to them. They deserved the wrath You were ready to pour out on them, but when they all responded to Your word in humbling themselves before You, from the king down to the lowest servant; You relented and held off the disaster for the next generation.
O Father, You have had mercy on America in giving us our President, who is trying to clean out as much of the filth and evil that he can. He is powerfully working to bring Your goodness back into our national life, for the good of our people. And the wicked minions of Satan are vicious in their attempts to get rid of him.
Father, strengthen all of Your children, all over the world, to withstand the attacks of the enemy, and share Your love with all. Let Your peace in the midst of turmoil show our enemies Your care for us. And draw all Your embryonic children to the birth into Your own family.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, our Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Saturday, May 16, 2020
Locusts, Assyria, and the Day of the Lord
Joel 2: 1-11
Now Joel is saying that the past locust infestation is similar to a military incursion that they need to know is coming, the Assyrian invasion that will come to pass in the eighth and seventh centuries B.C.
(1) Blow a trumpet in Zion,
And sound an alarm on My holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
For the Day of the Lord is coming;
Surely it is near,
The "shofar" rams' horn has been used in Israel for both ceremonial and military uses. The sounding of this horn blasts out a warning of impending doom, when blown from the walls of the city.
Joel says that this impending army will be like the locusts that they experienced. So his description will have images of both the insect and the human armies.
And both of these events look forward to the Day of the Lord, that will surpass them both.
(2) A day of darkness and gloom,
A day of clouds and thick darkness.
As the dawn is spread over the mountains,
So there is a great and mighty people;
There has never been anything like it,
Nor will there be again after it
To the years of many generations.
This will be a day of thick thunderstorms that blocks out all the light of the sun and brings darkness.
As the sun comes up over the mountains to spread its light over the land, so this massive army will come up over the mountains to spread out over the city. There has never before been an army like this one before, and there will not be another similar to it until the End of Days.
(3) A fire consumes before them
And behind them a flame burns.
The land is like the Garden of Eden before them
But a desolate wilderness behind them,
And nothing at all escapes them.
The effect of the invaders' advance is detailed here as that which had been a scene of beauty would become a picture of utter desolation. Nothing in the land will escape.
(4) Their appearance is like the appearance of horses;
And like war horses, so they run.
Here Joel is referring to locusts again, which do have a startling resemblance to horses: note the Italian, (cavalletta, "little horse") and the German (heupferd, "hay horse") words for locusts. The ancient world abounded with examples of likening armies to locusts and vice-versa; in their appearance, their behavior, and their effect.
(5) With a noise as of chariots
They leap on the tops of the mountains,
Like the crackling of a flame of fire consuming the stubble,
Like a mighty people arranged for battle.
The Assyrian war chariot was a dreaded item. Sennacherib's own specific war chariot was named raggi u seni, "The Vanquisher of the Wicked and Evil" and sapinat zairi, "The Vanquisher of the Enemy" (Assyrian Annals).
The clamor of the locusts' flight had been like the din of the dreaded war chariot or like the crackling of blazing stubble ignited by a wild fire.
(6) Before them the people are in anguish;
All faces turn pale.
If the locusts had caused terror, how much more the human invaders in their savage and irresistible onslaught!
(7) They run like mighty men,
They climb the wall like soldiers;
And they each march in line,
Nor do they deviate from their paths.
(8) They do not crowd each other,
They march every one in his path;
When they burst through the defenses,
They do not break ranks.
The attack of this coming mighty army is compared to the locust infestation they have just experienced: Just as disciplined, focused, and thorough.
(9) They rush on the city,
They run on the wall;
They climb into houses,
They enter through the windows like a thief.
Their power and swiftness, running unrestrictedly through the city, entering into the houses through the open or latticed windows, with the speed and daring of a thief in search of that which is not his.
(10) Before them the Earth quakes,
The heavens tremble,
The sun and moon grow dark
And the stars lose their brightness.
(11) The Lord utters His voice before His army;
Surely His camp is very great,
For strong is he who carries out His word.
It is the Lord who will be directing His Assyrian army to wield His wrath upon His erring people, evidenced by the raging thunderstorm, blocking out all the light of the sun and moon and stars, and shaking the ground itself with their onslaught.
The Day of the Lord is indeed great and very awesome,
And who can endure it?
The locusts and the coming Assyrian conquest both show how very great and awesome is the Day of the Lord, and in the End Time when the actual prophesied Day begins, it will so much overshadow both of these, that they will look like a picnic in the park in comparison.
Our God is the Mighty God over every other god that has been worshiped. His Son, our Lord God has been given Lordship over all of God's creation by the Father. He is the acting of the Father, and has all of the Father's authority to rule over Mankind.
He is the Lord God Almighty who delivered Israel out of Egypt's slavery. He is the Lord God who appeared to Moses in the Burning Bush as the "Great I AM," who gave to Moses the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, and sustained the people for 40 years in the Desert with manna, and their clothes and sandals did not wear out.
The Lord God ordained the priests through Aaron, and gave them all the rules for the sacrifices so they would recognize Him when He came to fulfill them in His own body.
And He it is who informed the prophets to write what has been planned for the future, because He will make sure that everything is carried out according to Plan, and He wants us to be expecting it, and be prepared to face it.
O my Father, thank You for sending Your Son to be our Lord God, to deal with us, Your wayward precious ones, who so desperately need Your mercy and grace.
O Father, when You planned out all of our human story, You knew that we would be weak, and sin against You by turning to others. You decided to love us anyway, and provide the way to escape the pull of our damaged DNA to go our own way.
So You had our Lord God show us who we are, and how much You love us, and how we can be rescued from all the travail we experience as the consequences of our poor choices. You laid out the path of redemption through the blood of sacrifice, then sent Your Son to be our Sacrifice, fulfilling that picture of the lamb slain upon the altar individually for each of us, as His Blood was sprinkled on the sides of the Cross (see Leviticus 1).
And You also provided for that same Sacrifice to fulfill the requirements of the Atonement Day sacrifice for all the people, when His Blood was poured out at the foot of His altar, the Cross. Now He has purchased us as His own possession, and is our Judge.
O Father, You have thought of everything. And Your Son has carried out all Your plans, both to save and rescue those who turn to You by bearing Your wrath for us, and to judge all wickedness and evil as Your wrath pours out on them.
And then, Father God, You will send Your Son Jesus back to this Earth for the Day of the Lord to begin, and to last until the end of this world. The Earth will explode, the Universe will implode, and the Big Bang will happen all over again, when You create the New Heaven (Universe) and the New Earth, predicated upon a whole new basis of existence.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come soon, Lord Jesus!
Now Joel is saying that the past locust infestation is similar to a military incursion that they need to know is coming, the Assyrian invasion that will come to pass in the eighth and seventh centuries B.C.
(1) Blow a trumpet in Zion,
And sound an alarm on My holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
For the Day of the Lord is coming;
Surely it is near,
The "shofar" rams' horn has been used in Israel for both ceremonial and military uses. The sounding of this horn blasts out a warning of impending doom, when blown from the walls of the city.
Joel says that this impending army will be like the locusts that they experienced. So his description will have images of both the insect and the human armies.
And both of these events look forward to the Day of the Lord, that will surpass them both.
(2) A day of darkness and gloom,
A day of clouds and thick darkness.
As the dawn is spread over the mountains,
So there is a great and mighty people;
There has never been anything like it,
Nor will there be again after it
To the years of many generations.
This will be a day of thick thunderstorms that blocks out all the light of the sun and brings darkness.
As the sun comes up over the mountains to spread its light over the land, so this massive army will come up over the mountains to spread out over the city. There has never before been an army like this one before, and there will not be another similar to it until the End of Days.
(3) A fire consumes before them
And behind them a flame burns.
The land is like the Garden of Eden before them
But a desolate wilderness behind them,
And nothing at all escapes them.
The effect of the invaders' advance is detailed here as that which had been a scene of beauty would become a picture of utter desolation. Nothing in the land will escape.
(4) Their appearance is like the appearance of horses;
And like war horses, so they run.
Here Joel is referring to locusts again, which do have a startling resemblance to horses: note the Italian, (cavalletta, "little horse") and the German (heupferd, "hay horse") words for locusts. The ancient world abounded with examples of likening armies to locusts and vice-versa; in their appearance, their behavior, and their effect.
(5) With a noise as of chariots
They leap on the tops of the mountains,
Like the crackling of a flame of fire consuming the stubble,
Like a mighty people arranged for battle.
The Assyrian war chariot was a dreaded item. Sennacherib's own specific war chariot was named raggi u seni, "The Vanquisher of the Wicked and Evil" and sapinat zairi, "The Vanquisher of the Enemy" (Assyrian Annals).
The clamor of the locusts' flight had been like the din of the dreaded war chariot or like the crackling of blazing stubble ignited by a wild fire.
(6) Before them the people are in anguish;
All faces turn pale.
If the locusts had caused terror, how much more the human invaders in their savage and irresistible onslaught!
(7) They run like mighty men,
They climb the wall like soldiers;
And they each march in line,
Nor do they deviate from their paths.
(8) They do not crowd each other,
They march every one in his path;
When they burst through the defenses,
They do not break ranks.
The attack of this coming mighty army is compared to the locust infestation they have just experienced: Just as disciplined, focused, and thorough.
(9) They rush on the city,
They run on the wall;
They climb into houses,
They enter through the windows like a thief.
Their power and swiftness, running unrestrictedly through the city, entering into the houses through the open or latticed windows, with the speed and daring of a thief in search of that which is not his.
(10) Before them the Earth quakes,
The heavens tremble,
The sun and moon grow dark
And the stars lose their brightness.
(11) The Lord utters His voice before His army;
Surely His camp is very great,
For strong is he who carries out His word.
It is the Lord who will be directing His Assyrian army to wield His wrath upon His erring people, evidenced by the raging thunderstorm, blocking out all the light of the sun and moon and stars, and shaking the ground itself with their onslaught.
The Day of the Lord is indeed great and very awesome,
And who can endure it?
The locusts and the coming Assyrian conquest both show how very great and awesome is the Day of the Lord, and in the End Time when the actual prophesied Day begins, it will so much overshadow both of these, that they will look like a picnic in the park in comparison.
Our God is the Mighty God over every other god that has been worshiped. His Son, our Lord God has been given Lordship over all of God's creation by the Father. He is the acting of the Father, and has all of the Father's authority to rule over Mankind.
He is the Lord God Almighty who delivered Israel out of Egypt's slavery. He is the Lord God who appeared to Moses in the Burning Bush as the "Great I AM," who gave to Moses the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, and sustained the people for 40 years in the Desert with manna, and their clothes and sandals did not wear out.
The Lord God ordained the priests through Aaron, and gave them all the rules for the sacrifices so they would recognize Him when He came to fulfill them in His own body.
And He it is who informed the prophets to write what has been planned for the future, because He will make sure that everything is carried out according to Plan, and He wants us to be expecting it, and be prepared to face it.
O my Father, thank You for sending Your Son to be our Lord God, to deal with us, Your wayward precious ones, who so desperately need Your mercy and grace.
O Father, when You planned out all of our human story, You knew that we would be weak, and sin against You by turning to others. You decided to love us anyway, and provide the way to escape the pull of our damaged DNA to go our own way.
So You had our Lord God show us who we are, and how much You love us, and how we can be rescued from all the travail we experience as the consequences of our poor choices. You laid out the path of redemption through the blood of sacrifice, then sent Your Son to be our Sacrifice, fulfilling that picture of the lamb slain upon the altar individually for each of us, as His Blood was sprinkled on the sides of the Cross (see Leviticus 1).
And You also provided for that same Sacrifice to fulfill the requirements of the Atonement Day sacrifice for all the people, when His Blood was poured out at the foot of His altar, the Cross. Now He has purchased us as His own possession, and is our Judge.
O Father, You have thought of everything. And Your Son has carried out all Your plans, both to save and rescue those who turn to You by bearing Your wrath for us, and to judge all wickedness and evil as Your wrath pours out on them.
And then, Father God, You will send Your Son Jesus back to this Earth for the Day of the Lord to begin, and to last until the end of this world. The Earth will explode, the Universe will implode, and the Big Bang will happen all over again, when You create the New Heaven (Universe) and the New Earth, predicated upon a whole new basis of existence.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come soon, Lord Jesus!
Friday, May 15, 2020
Joel's Locust Plague
Joel 1: 1-20
Joel wrote his book right after a devastating plague of wave after wave of locusts had devoured every stalk of plant life in the whole land.
(1) The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel;
(2) Hear this, O elders,
And listen, all inhabitants of the land.
Has anything like this happened in your days
Or in your fathers' days?
(3) Tell your sons about it,
And let your sons tell their sons,
And their sons the next generation.
He says that nothing like this has ever happened this bad before, it is noteworthy, and it needs to be told to every generation of children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and on to each next, to not forget this.
This is what happened:
(4) What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten;
And what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten;
And what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten.
Nothing is left, whatever was left or grew back was eaten by the next wave of locusts. They were everywhere, in all the nooks and crannies, in all the houses and barns and stables, all over the whole land.
(5) Awake, drunkards, and weep;
And wail, all you wine drinkers,
On account of the sweet wine
That is cut off from your mouth.
All who drink wine or strong drink, there is nothing left to distill or bottle. There is no more grain or grapes to make anything with.
(6) For a nation has invaded my land,
Mighty and without number;
Its teeth are the teeth of a lion,
And it has the fangs of a lioness.
God has sent His army of locusts, four kinds of locusts, coming one after another. Nothing could be done to stop them, no one could get rid of them, they were everywhere.
(7) It has made my vine a waste
And my fig tree splinters.
It has stripped them bare and cast them away;
Their branches have become white.
All the vines and trees have nothing left on them, their branches have been stripped white with nothing green left.
(8) Wail like a virgin girded with sackcloth
For the bridegroom of her youth.
Go ahead and mourn loudly like a bride whose espoused husband has died.
(9) The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off
From the house of the Lord.
The priests mourn,
The ministers of the Lord.
There is nothing left to give to the priests, the ministers to offer to the Lord in sacrifice; no grain for bread and no grapes for wine to pour out.
(10) The field is ruined,
The new wine dries up,
Fresh oil fails.
Nothing is left in the open fields, they're all bare; and all the grapes are gone, there is no more grape juice or wine left at all, and all the palm and olive trees are stripped of all their provision for oil.
(11) Be ashamed, O farmers,
Wail, O vinedressers,
For the wheat and the barley;
Because the harvest of the field is destroyed.
(12) The vine dries up
And the fig tree fails;
The pomegranate, the palm also, and the apple tree,
All the trees of the field dry up.
Mourn and hang your head, all those who farm the fields and tend the grape vines; and all those who husband the trees for figs, pomegranates, palm trees and apples--nothing is left on any of them at all. Completely gone.
Indeed, rejoicing dries up
From the sons of men.
With nothing to eat, starvation follows, which leaves nothing to celebrate.
(13) Gird yourselves with sackcloth
And lament, O priests;
Wail, O ministers of my God,
For the grain offering and the drink offering
Are withheld from the house of your God.
There is nothing available to offer, so the priests, the ministers have nothing to do, and mourn for not being able to worship the Lord.
(14) Consecrate a fast,
Proclaim a solemn assembly;
Gather the elders
And all the inhabitants of the land
To the house of the Lord your God,
And cry out to the Lord.
This is the time for fasting and prayer, not sacrifices. Everyone is to gather with the priests at the temple to pray out loud to the Lord, begging for His mercy!
(15) Alas for the day!
For the Day of the Lord is near,
And it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
This locust plague is a reminder that the Day of the Lord is coming soon. Every plague and pandemic God sends is to wake us up! It's like He's whacking us up the side of the head to get our attention!
(16) Has not food been cut off before our eyes,
Gladness and joy from the house of our God?
(17) The seeds shrivel under their clods;
The storehouses are desolate,
The barns are torn down,
For the grain is dried up.
There's no food left in any form, as the locusts have scarfed up every crumb, every morsel of edible everything, even what had been stored and put up for later. Nothing is left. Nothing is there for anyone to eat or to offer in sacrifice.
(18) How the beasts groan!
The herds of cattle wander aimlessly
Because there is no pasture for them;
Even the flocks of sheep suffer.
Their herds and flocks have nothing to eat, either.
(19) To You, O Lord, I cry;
For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness
And the flame as burned up all the trees of the field.
The locusts devoured as though a fire swept through the pastures and fields and orchards, and burned up everything.
(20) Even the beasts of the field pant for you;
For the water brooks are dried up
And fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
Not even the wild animals can find anything to eat or drink, everything is gone, there's nothing green or moist left anywhere, it's all dried up, the locusts ate it all up totally.
This is the scene Joel is painting for the people. He's reminding them of the locust plague that God has just brought on the whole land, for an extended time.
And it is just a taste of what God has planned at the end of the age of Man, when the Day of the Lord comes.
O my Father, thank you for Joel, for the short book You had him write for us to read now, knowing that the Day of the Lord is coming so soon now. Please let us understand what he wrote, so we will be prepared and ready for our Lord and His judgments on the Earth and the world we have built on it.
My Father, You have loved us more than we can ever imagine, pouring out Your wrath that we deserve on Your own Son on the Cross! So when Your great wrath will fall upon all the wicked and rebellious people around us, it will not be on us; even though thousands fall at our side, and ten thousand at our right hand, it will not touch us.
Father, grow us up, to maturity, so that the body of Christ will reach the full stature of the Son of God, in both quality and quantity. Send us out, send Your words out from our mouths and fingertips, to show everyone in the world how much You love each of them, too, regardless of what they have done against you. Jesus paid it all.
O Father, help everyone to hear, help everyone to understand, let everyone have a completely informed decision whether to accept or reject Your gracious and generous gift of salvation and redemption.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, forever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Joel wrote his book right after a devastating plague of wave after wave of locusts had devoured every stalk of plant life in the whole land.
(1) The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel;
(2) Hear this, O elders,
And listen, all inhabitants of the land.
Has anything like this happened in your days
Or in your fathers' days?
(3) Tell your sons about it,
And let your sons tell their sons,
And their sons the next generation.
He says that nothing like this has ever happened this bad before, it is noteworthy, and it needs to be told to every generation of children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and on to each next, to not forget this.
This is what happened:
(4) What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten;
And what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten;
And what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten.
Nothing is left, whatever was left or grew back was eaten by the next wave of locusts. They were everywhere, in all the nooks and crannies, in all the houses and barns and stables, all over the whole land.
(5) Awake, drunkards, and weep;
And wail, all you wine drinkers,
On account of the sweet wine
That is cut off from your mouth.
All who drink wine or strong drink, there is nothing left to distill or bottle. There is no more grain or grapes to make anything with.
(6) For a nation has invaded my land,
Mighty and without number;
Its teeth are the teeth of a lion,
And it has the fangs of a lioness.
God has sent His army of locusts, four kinds of locusts, coming one after another. Nothing could be done to stop them, no one could get rid of them, they were everywhere.
(7) It has made my vine a waste
And my fig tree splinters.
It has stripped them bare and cast them away;
Their branches have become white.
All the vines and trees have nothing left on them, their branches have been stripped white with nothing green left.
(8) Wail like a virgin girded with sackcloth
For the bridegroom of her youth.
Go ahead and mourn loudly like a bride whose espoused husband has died.
(9) The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off
From the house of the Lord.
The priests mourn,
The ministers of the Lord.
There is nothing left to give to the priests, the ministers to offer to the Lord in sacrifice; no grain for bread and no grapes for wine to pour out.
(10) The field is ruined,
The new wine dries up,
Fresh oil fails.
Nothing is left in the open fields, they're all bare; and all the grapes are gone, there is no more grape juice or wine left at all, and all the palm and olive trees are stripped of all their provision for oil.
(11) Be ashamed, O farmers,
Wail, O vinedressers,
For the wheat and the barley;
Because the harvest of the field is destroyed.
(12) The vine dries up
And the fig tree fails;
The pomegranate, the palm also, and the apple tree,
All the trees of the field dry up.
Mourn and hang your head, all those who farm the fields and tend the grape vines; and all those who husband the trees for figs, pomegranates, palm trees and apples--nothing is left on any of them at all. Completely gone.
Indeed, rejoicing dries up
From the sons of men.
With nothing to eat, starvation follows, which leaves nothing to celebrate.
(13) Gird yourselves with sackcloth
And lament, O priests;
Wail, O ministers of my God,
For the grain offering and the drink offering
Are withheld from the house of your God.
There is nothing available to offer, so the priests, the ministers have nothing to do, and mourn for not being able to worship the Lord.
(14) Consecrate a fast,
Proclaim a solemn assembly;
Gather the elders
And all the inhabitants of the land
To the house of the Lord your God,
And cry out to the Lord.
This is the time for fasting and prayer, not sacrifices. Everyone is to gather with the priests at the temple to pray out loud to the Lord, begging for His mercy!
(15) Alas for the day!
For the Day of the Lord is near,
And it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
This locust plague is a reminder that the Day of the Lord is coming soon. Every plague and pandemic God sends is to wake us up! It's like He's whacking us up the side of the head to get our attention!
(16) Has not food been cut off before our eyes,
Gladness and joy from the house of our God?
(17) The seeds shrivel under their clods;
The storehouses are desolate,
The barns are torn down,
For the grain is dried up.
There's no food left in any form, as the locusts have scarfed up every crumb, every morsel of edible everything, even what had been stored and put up for later. Nothing is left. Nothing is there for anyone to eat or to offer in sacrifice.
(18) How the beasts groan!
The herds of cattle wander aimlessly
Because there is no pasture for them;
Even the flocks of sheep suffer.
Their herds and flocks have nothing to eat, either.
(19) To You, O Lord, I cry;
For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness
And the flame as burned up all the trees of the field.
The locusts devoured as though a fire swept through the pastures and fields and orchards, and burned up everything.
(20) Even the beasts of the field pant for you;
For the water brooks are dried up
And fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
Not even the wild animals can find anything to eat or drink, everything is gone, there's nothing green or moist left anywhere, it's all dried up, the locusts ate it all up totally.
This is the scene Joel is painting for the people. He's reminding them of the locust plague that God has just brought on the whole land, for an extended time.
And it is just a taste of what God has planned at the end of the age of Man, when the Day of the Lord comes.
O my Father, thank you for Joel, for the short book You had him write for us to read now, knowing that the Day of the Lord is coming so soon now. Please let us understand what he wrote, so we will be prepared and ready for our Lord and His judgments on the Earth and the world we have built on it.
My Father, You have loved us more than we can ever imagine, pouring out Your wrath that we deserve on Your own Son on the Cross! So when Your great wrath will fall upon all the wicked and rebellious people around us, it will not be on us; even though thousands fall at our side, and ten thousand at our right hand, it will not touch us.
Father, grow us up, to maturity, so that the body of Christ will reach the full stature of the Son of God, in both quality and quantity. Send us out, send Your words out from our mouths and fingertips, to show everyone in the world how much You love each of them, too, regardless of what they have done against you. Jesus paid it all.
O Father, help everyone to hear, help everyone to understand, let everyone have a completely informed decision whether to accept or reject Your gracious and generous gift of salvation and redemption.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, forever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Thursday, May 14, 2020
Angels' Curiosity
Daniel 12: 5-13
The angel has given Daniel the rest of the story, but there are still a couple more questions to answer.
(5) Then I, Daniel, looked and behold, two others were standing, one on this bank of the river and the other on that bank of the river.
Daniel was at the Tigris River, and he suddenly saw two more angels, opposite each other on each side of the river. And then we learn that this angel dressed in linen that he's been talking with since chapter ten is above the waters of the river, he's levitating above the river.
(6) And one said to the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, "How long will it be until the end of these wonders?"
One of these new angels asks the original one a question, essentially, "Until when is the end of the marvels?" "When will this despot meet his end?"
Even the angels are curious as to how God is going to complete His plan, how everything is going to work out, and when. I Peter 1: 12 says that these are "things the angels desire to look into."
(7) I heard the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, as he raised his right hand and his left toward Heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever
The angel then makes a solemn pronouncement, lifting both hands high.
that it would be for a time, times, and half a time;
This is "a time" [moed] (a year), "times" [mo a dayim] (two years), and "half a time"; a total of three and one half years.
and as soon as they finish shattering the power of the holy people, all these events will be completed.
He then added that the power of the holy people would be broken, the brave defenders of Jerusalem would be overwhelmed by the irresistible forces of antichrist and will appear doomed and hopeless, to be utterly defeated and extinct as a people.
(8) As for me, I heard but I could not understand; so I said, "My lord, what will be the outcome of these events?"
Daniel heard of the hopeless situation his people would be in, and is concerned that they could be wiped out! So he asks how this will end.
(9) He said, "Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end time.
His question is not answered, but we know that Zechariah 14 tells us that at the last second, the hero will come onstage in the nick of time and rescue the heroine!
(10) "Many will be purged, purified and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand.
He says that the "vine" will be "pruned" (purged) and the "gold" will be refined; and that those who refuse God's gracious offer of Salvation will continue to do what they've been doing, with no idea of what's really going on. But the ones who have insight, who have God's Spirit to teach them the truth, will be the ones to recognize what is happening.
(11) "From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.
Here's a timetable: 1,290 days is 43 months, three and a half years plus a month. It will be this long after the regular sacrifice is abolished, until Jesus appears to destroy the antichrist and his forces. If he will have the three-and-a-half years, then the sacrifices will stop a month before he sets himself up in the temple to be worshiped.
(12) "How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days!
This is another 45 days, possibly the time our Lord will take to clean up and set up His Kingdom.
(13) "But for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age."
Daniel is told not to worry about it, that he will rest (in the Abraham's Bosom side of Sheol), and then be resurrected after all the persecution is ended, to receive his allotted portion to rule in Christ's authority.
O my Father, You have planned out the whole course of Mankind's story, from before the beginning to after the end. And in Your written Word You have told us before it happens what You have planned. And You are working out Your plan as we live through the days and weeks and years and generations of time, in the working out of the story.
O Father, You have done it all. You are our Source and You are our Finisher. We can do nothing without You. Your power and enabling are Your gifts to us to be able to fulfill Your will in our lives and in the world.
Father, send us out to share with every living person how much You love each one of us, and sent Your own Son to be our Savior and Redeemer. Let all Your embryonic children be brought to the birth into Your family, and allow no one any excuse for rejecting Your gracious and generous gift.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, our Messiah, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, forever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come hastily, Lord Jesus!
The angel has given Daniel the rest of the story, but there are still a couple more questions to answer.
(5) Then I, Daniel, looked and behold, two others were standing, one on this bank of the river and the other on that bank of the river.
Daniel was at the Tigris River, and he suddenly saw two more angels, opposite each other on each side of the river. And then we learn that this angel dressed in linen that he's been talking with since chapter ten is above the waters of the river, he's levitating above the river.
(6) And one said to the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, "How long will it be until the end of these wonders?"
One of these new angels asks the original one a question, essentially, "Until when is the end of the marvels?" "When will this despot meet his end?"
Even the angels are curious as to how God is going to complete His plan, how everything is going to work out, and when. I Peter 1: 12 says that these are "things the angels desire to look into."
(7) I heard the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, as he raised his right hand and his left toward Heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever
The angel then makes a solemn pronouncement, lifting both hands high.
that it would be for a time, times, and half a time;
This is "a time" [moed] (a year), "times" [mo a dayim] (two years), and "half a time"; a total of three and one half years.
and as soon as they finish shattering the power of the holy people, all these events will be completed.
He then added that the power of the holy people would be broken, the brave defenders of Jerusalem would be overwhelmed by the irresistible forces of antichrist and will appear doomed and hopeless, to be utterly defeated and extinct as a people.
(8) As for me, I heard but I could not understand; so I said, "My lord, what will be the outcome of these events?"
Daniel heard of the hopeless situation his people would be in, and is concerned that they could be wiped out! So he asks how this will end.
(9) He said, "Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end time.
His question is not answered, but we know that Zechariah 14 tells us that at the last second, the hero will come onstage in the nick of time and rescue the heroine!
(10) "Many will be purged, purified and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand.
He says that the "vine" will be "pruned" (purged) and the "gold" will be refined; and that those who refuse God's gracious offer of Salvation will continue to do what they've been doing, with no idea of what's really going on. But the ones who have insight, who have God's Spirit to teach them the truth, will be the ones to recognize what is happening.
(11) "From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.
Here's a timetable: 1,290 days is 43 months, three and a half years plus a month. It will be this long after the regular sacrifice is abolished, until Jesus appears to destroy the antichrist and his forces. If he will have the three-and-a-half years, then the sacrifices will stop a month before he sets himself up in the temple to be worshiped.
(12) "How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days!
This is another 45 days, possibly the time our Lord will take to clean up and set up His Kingdom.
(13) "But for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age."
Daniel is told not to worry about it, that he will rest (in the Abraham's Bosom side of Sheol), and then be resurrected after all the persecution is ended, to receive his allotted portion to rule in Christ's authority.
O my Father, You have planned out the whole course of Mankind's story, from before the beginning to after the end. And in Your written Word You have told us before it happens what You have planned. And You are working out Your plan as we live through the days and weeks and years and generations of time, in the working out of the story.
O Father, You have done it all. You are our Source and You are our Finisher. We can do nothing without You. Your power and enabling are Your gifts to us to be able to fulfill Your will in our lives and in the world.
Father, send us out to share with every living person how much You love each one of us, and sent Your own Son to be our Savior and Redeemer. Let all Your embryonic children be brought to the birth into Your family, and allow no one any excuse for rejecting Your gracious and generous gift.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, our Messiah, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, forever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come hastily, Lord Jesus!
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