September 20, 2020
A lot of us might tend to avoid spending time in the prophetic literature of the Bible, mainly because a lot of it is obscure and difficult to understand. But we find in these texts so much about who God is, who we are, what God has done and is doing to save us, and how we are to respond to Him in obedience! As we spend the next 3 days together in the book of Joel, ask the Lord to help you understand what He is trying to communicate through these visions of destruction, judgment, mercy, and restoration. Ask Him to help you to see the bigger picture of His Kingdom that He is trying to paint for us in this book!
The first chapter of Joel describes a plague of locusts that has left the land in utter desolation. This locust invasion has comprehensively decimated the good things of the land, leaving the people in a state of famine so severe that even the animals have nothing to eat. In poetic language, the prophet describes this swarm of locusts as an army, devouring all in its path and leaving absolute destruction in its wake.
While there is no indictment of any specific sin the people have committed that would result in such judgment, the prophet’s call to repentance and his designation of this event as a “day of the LORD” makes it clear: this destruction is a judgment from the hand of God. The people of Judah had in some way or another drifted from their loyalty to their God, and He had sent this swarm of locusts in order to get their attention and lead them to repentance.
This “day of the LORD” which Joel describes is what theologians call a type, which essentially means that it is a picture or representation of something greater which is to come in the future (the antitype). Understanding this is pivotal to understanding the message of the book of Joel as a whole; the great day of the Lord’s judgment is indeed coming, and it will come like a thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:2). The prophet calls the people to repentance before that day arrives!
We see the destructive consequences of sin all around us. In many ways, the world around us lies in desolation, and we perceive the destruction and death that rebellion against God always produces. As we await the day of our Lord’s coming, the day when His judgment and salvation will be fully revealed, may we repent as a people from any rebellion against God which we have participated in, and may we be a prophetic voice in our culture calling others to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ before it is too late!
Joel 1
1 The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:
An Invasion of Locusts
2 Hear this, you elders;
give ear, all inhabitants of the land!
Has such a thing happened in your days,
or in the days of your fathers?
3 Tell your children of it,
and let your children tell their children,
and their children to another generation.
4 What the cutting locust left,
the swarming locust has eaten.
What the swarming locust left,
the hopping locust has eaten,
and what the hopping locust left,
the destroying locust has eaten.
5 Awake, you drunkards, and weep,
and wail, all you drinkers of wine,
because of the sweet wine,
for it is cut off from your mouth.
6 For a nation has come up against my land,
powerful and beyond number;
its teeth are lions’ teeth,
and it has the fangs of a lioness.
7 It has laid waste my vine
and splintered my fig tree;
it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;
their branches are made white.
8 Lament like a virgin wearing sackcloth
for the bridegroom of her youth.
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.
10 The fields are destroyed,
the ground mourns,
because the grain is destroyed,
the wine dries up,
the oil languishes.
11 Be ashamed, O tillers of the soil;
wail, O vinedressers,
for the wheat and the barley,
because the harvest of the field has perished.
12 The vine dries up;
the fig tree languishes.
Pomegranate, palm, and apple,
all the trees of the field are dried up,
and gladness dries up
from the children of man.
A Call to Repentance
13 Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests;
wail, O ministers of the altar.
Go in, pass the night in sackcloth,
O ministers of my God!
Because grain offering and drink offering
are withheld from the house of your God.
14 Consecrate a fast;
call 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.
15 Alas for the day!
For the day of the Lord is near,
and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.
16 Is not the food cut off
before our eyes,
joy and gladness
from the house of our God?
17 The seed shrivels under the clods;
the storehouses are desolate;
the granaries are torn down
because the grain has dried up.
18 How the beasts groan!
The herds of cattle are perplexed
because there is no pasture for them;
even the flocks of sheep suffer.
19 To you, O Lord, I call.
For fire has devoured
the pastures of the wilderness,
and flame has burned
all the trees of the field.
20 Even the beasts of the field pant for you
because the water brooks are dried up,
and fire has devoured
the pastures of the wilderness.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Family Discussion Question:
- How can you see the consequences of sin in a communal sense in the world around us? Might it be the judgment of God against those things? How can you as a believer in Jesus be a prophetic voice calling people to repentance before the great day of the LORD arrives?
Loving, forgiving Father, thank you for another day.
I am weak. You are strong. Like Pau. I do not do what I know I should, and I do what I know I should not. Forgive me Father. May I be stronger today.
How you must cry to see me stumble. Help me to walk with you today. Hold my hand. Fill me with your Holy Spirit.
My soul cries out for forgiveness and for fellowship with you.
Today is a new day. Whisper in my ear Father that ‘everything will be O.K.’
Father, help me to help others for your son’s sake and in his name,
Amen
Padre perdona todos nuestros pescados somos débiles guíanos con tú palabra y tú Espíritu Santo para ser mejor cada día susúrrame al oído señor me arrepiento de mis pescados ayúdame padre a ser realmente lo que tú quieres que yo sea gracias por hoy gracias por tu amor bendice y protege esta nación gracias mi Dios por todo lo que tienes para mi en nombre de de hijo nuestro señor amén ?
The sin of abortion has caused havoc on our nation. Not only have unborn babies be slaughtered, but the mother has been forever wounded and that even hurts the family unit itself. Then there are the people who have allowed this terrible sin to go on. The Church should have risen up and fought against this terrible tragedy. When the family unit is broken so is the nation.
Yet, there is grace for those who have had abortion. When a woman realizes she can repent and be cleansed of her sin, it brings joy. Many women who do find Jesus become passionate about others who have had abortion and share with them what Jesus can do for them. They can become white as snow!
Thank You for this day and message. It has been on my mind of all the natural disasters, tragedies, and, atrocities. Help me recognize when I contribute to the problem. Why and what can I do to help? How can I serve and lead others to You Lord? Am I doing it? I know I can do more. I love You Lord. In Jesus name I pray.. Amen.
62,000,000 babies have been murdered since R V W. That is 1/5 of our current population. How can we possibly atone for sins of that magnitude?
Amen!
Praise the Lord and heal our land from all the ravages of sin. God has a plan for his glory and honor. JESUS
AMEN and HALLELUJAH!!! I try to keep sin away from me. I thank the.Lord for another day. The Lord is a blessing to me. Please Lord bring our nation back together again. We need to love one another as brother’s and sister’s under God. In Jesus name, amen
Amen!
I praise you my Father for another day in the Land of the living. I thank you for being our sovereign God. I thank You that you spoke through your prophets; and You still speak today. Father I am broken because of how we have ignored your warnings about our sins. You are still a God that speaks through your creation(famine, fire, pandemics, hunger, earthquakes, wars, sickness etc). Rather than asking what You are telling through the disasters and calling our nation/ourselves to repentance, we normalize it and keep living our sinful life. Your word says none is righteous, if we sin in one we have sinned in all. We forget this and quick to consider ourselves the right ones because we have not committed abortion, robbery, adultery, homosexuality etc. Father please open our spiritual eyes to see our brokenness in the light of a Holy and righteousness God, forgive our sin of self righteousness, so that we can truly know our emptiness and so embrace you completely. ??.
Amen!
God I pray for our nation for repentance to stop all hate, violence , arguing and their idols of material this they must have that are more important than you. All this politics fighting is not of you this. I believe this virus is a plaque like back in the Bible to open your the people’s eye to choose you or stay in this world and follow the world. You are coming soon and I am so ready to be with you.
Lord Jesus,
We are broken people living in a broken world.
Forgive us Lord, remind us of the goodness of God, our Father. I pray that your Holy Spirit will lead us to remember, to repent and to return to You, to seek your forgiveness. Amen
What a timely book of the Bible to study! We need to reawaken to the consequences of sin in our everyday lives. Everything – what we say and do – is judged by God. We have become so accustomed to business as usual that we have become apathetic to disobedience and rebellion against God. Our desire for independence from His control has led us down a destructive path. All the devastation that we see is just a foretaste and a warning of God’s judgment – “the day of the LORD”. I pray that we as a country turn and call on the Name of the LORD in order that we will be saved. God is merciful and will forgive and bless all who trust in Him. There is still hope.
Dear Heavenly Father,
Your Word is so perfect and timely today as in the days before. We as a people have fallen so far away from You. I can see despair and destruction and dismay all around because of the sins of Your people. I call upon all of the people to turn away from their sins and see that You, LORD are the only way. I will do all in my power to be an instrument of peace and a light to shine others to You. Help me as I go. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
I will cry out to the Lord and praise Him.
Lord, your judgment is right. Forgive me and use me to share your message of love, forgiveness, that also requires perfect judgment.