JOEL’S CALL FOR REPENTANCE
#675 JOEL’S CALL FOR REPENTANCE
Scripture Joel 2:12-18, NIV
Orig. 9/7/1977
Passage: Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming.
It is close at hand—2a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and blackness. Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes,
such as never was in ancient times nor ever will be in ages to come.
3 Before them fire devours, behind them a flame blazes.
Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, behind them, a desert waste—nothing escapes them. 4 They have the appearance of horses; they gallop along like cavalry.
5 With a noise like that of chariots they leap over the mountaintops, like a crackling fire consuming stubble,
like a mighty army drawn up for battle. 6 At the sight of them, nations are in anguish; every face turns pale. 7 They charge like warriors; they scale walls like soldiers.
They all march in line, not swerving from their course.
8 They do not jostle each other; each marches straight ahead. They plunge through defenses without breaking ranks. 9 They rush upon the city; they run along the wall.
They climb into the houses; like thieves they enter through the windows. 10 Before them the earth shakes, the heavens tremble, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine. 11 The Lord thunders at the head of his army; his forces are beyond number, and mighty is the army that obeys his command. The day of the Lord is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it?
Rend Your Heart
12 “Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” 13 Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. 14 Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing—grain offerings and drink offerings for the Lord your God.
15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. 16 Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber.
17 Let the priests, who minister before the Lord, weep between the portico and the altar. Let them say, “Spare your people, Lord. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”
The Lord’s Answer
18 Then the Lord was jealous for his land
and took pity on his people.
Introduction
Joel, like Elijah and Elisha before him, enters the scene of history and destiny with no letters of credit. They lived in the two generations just prior to him, and served in Israel while Joel’s ministry was undoubtedly to Judah. Other dates besides the 8th Century are offered for him, but only that date satisfies all of the internal evidence. He is called Jo’el, meaning “Jehovah is God,” and is identified as the “son of Pethu’el.”
He was doubtless a deeply spiritual man. His knowledge of Jerusalem and the Temple mark him as a man who knew what was going on around him and who was gravely concerned about what this was doing to the people. The contemporary enemies are identified. They are the nations of Phoenicia, Philistia, Edom, and Egypt. After establishing what is happening, and the part Israel’s sin has in this, Joel gives a spiritual object lesson using the invasion of locusts as a metaphor of what their enemies are doing.
Finally, he calls attention to the ultimate judgment the peoples of the earth must face in the will of God, and that it is now His purpose for them to be delivered through repentance to the abundant blessing which He has ever been holding out to His people.
I. The Plague of Locusts. 1:1-2:27.
There are successive plagues and droughts that bring some unparalleled devastation. Some say the vastness of locusts prove that this is apocalyptic.
· “Locust” burner of the land.
· Reported to have caused the death of 80,000 in North Africa. W.M. Thomson1, “The Land and the Book”—“took four days to pass . . . consuming every green thing in their path.”
The debilitating effect will be to all kinds and classes of people. V5, The drunkard without his drink; v8, the new bride bereft of her husband; v9, the priest denied the offerings of ministry and livelihood; v11, the farmer watching crops wither.
The prophet calls upon the people in their dark hour to repent. Vv 12-14. (The event seems to be II Chronicles 2/II Kings 8.) Under Jehoram, Edom revolted.
Next come spiritual application of literal events, 2:1-27. The “day of the Lord” is no longer imminent, it is there. 2:1 and 2:11. The “day of the Lord” is expressed in terms of the locust invasion. The people are called to repent. “Rend your heart and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God.”
The effect of change in them will have the appearance of God changing. God will work to bless rather than to bring to repentance. Then will be seen God’s ability to redeem and restore. 2:18-27.
· Material blessing—v19, I am sending you; v20, I will remove; v23, and He will cause to come down for you the rain; v25, I will restore the years; v27, I am the Lord your God.
· Spiritual blessing.
II. The Blessing and Judgment of God, 2:28-3:21.
· Sidelight from the Hebrew, 2:28-32 seen as 3:1-5.
· The Messianic Prophecy, read 2:28-32.
· Fulfillment in Acts, read 2:16f.
· Joel tells what is yet to be, 3:1-21. Judah and Jerusalem will be avenged, vv1-8; v2, in the valley of Jehosaphat, II Chronicles 20:26; v3, cast lots for my people; v8, what you did will be done to you.
· War and Judgment upon the Nations, vv9-16; we supply our best, v9; God will supply the rest, v11.
· God’s everlasting Blessing upon His people, vv8-21.
References
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1Thomson, W.M. (2019, January 30). The Land and the Book. https://archive.org/details/39020001828188-thelandandthebo
GIDEON: MIGHTY MAN OF VALOR
#043 GIDEON: MIGHTY MAN OF VALOR
Scripture Judges 6:11-18, 22-23 NIV Orig. 11/4/62 (11/77)
Rewr. 10/4/85
Passage: 11 The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” 13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” 14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” 15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
16 The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”
17 Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. 18 Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.” And the Lord said, “I will wait until you return.”
22 When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he exclaimed, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!”
23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”
Purpose: To lead my people in an in-depth study of Gideon and his spiritual resolution, and what we may learn thereby.
Keywords: Character God Power Missions
Timeline/Series: Old Testament Characters
Introduction
Gideon is called here a “mighty man of valor.” It is a term that can be misapplied. We usually go through a relatively simple process when we make such judgments about other people. Compared to another, how does that particular person measure up? Is Gideon such a “man of valor,” or is it that compared to those around him, he left such an impression?
Tennyson had to resort to fiction to find one who accommodated his own characteristics of human supremacy. He wrote of Sir Galahad
“My good blade carves the casques of men.
My tough lance thrusteth sure:
My strength is as the strength of ten,
Because my heart is pure.”
It is far easier to find those whose “hearts” are not pure, who are not “men of valor.” During New Orleans days, a young seminary friend stopped by my office. He was serving a church in the Bogalusa area, and was in the pastor’s office there. A church member came in with an armload of mops. He began to berate the pastor for allowing such a budget travesty. “Why had they bought so many mops that could only be used one at a time?” After the man had his say and left, someone in the room commended the pastor for keeping his cool under such an unnecessary outburst. My friend said that the pastor’s reply was a classic. “It really isn’t that hard to understand his feeling, when one is aware that the total sum of his contributions for the year is tied up in unused mops.”
Compared to Tennyson’s Galahad, few of us would be considered as “people of valor,” but compared to the “Bogalusa Badman” most of us could smile and be happy about what we are.
Gideon is clearly a “man of valor.” His are characteristics which God often chooses to bless.
I. It is to a Prepared Man that God Comes. There can be little doubt that Gideon spent long lonely hours at his vigil. He has poured out his soul beseeching God for an answer to Israel’s dilemma. Note his reply to the angel (v13) “O my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all of this happened to us?”
How often people are prepared for spiritual challenge by their distresses. Isaiah—“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord.” Hosea—Understood and revealed Israel’s infidelity by experiencing it in his own family. Martin Luther—Climbed the 52 steps of the “Scala Sancta” on his knees and spoke out against the church, fellow priests, and scholars; as a separated clergyman, in his arms little Magdalena lay dying—it nearly destroyed him, until he received God’s peace.
For others, it is the challenge alone that prepares them for their work. Too many of us think in terms of why we can’t accomplish something. There are some who consider only what they must. Gideon knew why this would be a most difficult undertaking. The Midianites were determined and ruthless. Israel was in a state of confusion. Even Gideon’s own house was torn down for idolatry. V25 tells of the statue of Baal in Gideon’s father’s house.
200 years ago, William Carey, the father of modern missions, had not yet gone to the mission field, had not yet begun to pastor, had not yet been baptized. We must remember that mission is a recent concept. His major challenge was to overcome not the hardships of the mission field, but the excuses of the people on the home front. It was too great a distance (but not for commerce); the people were uncivilized (but Paul went to Gaul and the Britons); the discomforts—but that’s for the missionary to decide; the language barrier—that didn’t stop the East India Company.
Yet others were prepared by vision. Against Gideon’s excuses the Lord responded 6:14, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
II. It is to One with Purpose that God Comes. It is not with only the sense of a purpose that God comes, as if the man alone is what God needs. It is the purpose, linking the man’s life with some noble cause.
God offers His strength to implement that of Gideon. V15 “So he said to Him, ‘O my Lord, how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest, and I am the least in my father’s house.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.’” We see a nation come to grief. A family is described (Gideon was the son of Joash the Abiezrite whose own father was a Baal worshiper): Gideon is a man who views himself as an unlikely candidate for honor.
God’s strength is offered for God’s purpose. God has already given unconditional promises. Genesis 9:13 “I set my bow in the clouds as a sign of covenant between me and the earth.” Judges 2:1 “I will never break my covenant with you.” God never wills to leave us in distress except to our good. Gideon is that chosen vessel for good.
Gideon is a proof text for people caught in the mire of Spiritual lethargy. Perhaps we see characteristics that are reminiscent of Gideon in us. What would be our reaction to an angel? “You’ve come to the wrong house. Let me get a roadmap and help you on your way.” But God chooses to use us in His cause. There are injustices. You do feel unworthy. “Accept my purpose and I will use you.”
Gideon would succeed where others had failed because God’s purpose would become his purpose.
III. Finally, it is to Anoint with Power that God Comes. Gideon reaches out for some tangible evidence that he has not dreamed this. He prepares an offering (v19). A rock becomes an altar of proof (v21). The first test came quickly. God said “cut down the grove belonging to your father.” Gideon selected men of his own servants as others were not to be trusted. When Gideon’s life was endangered, his father said “If my son has offended Baal, let Baal act.”
Still, Gideon needed assurance. Gideon challenges God to show by a particular sign that it is His work he is doing. If the fleece is wet with dew and the ground around it is dry, “I will know your intent.” V37.
When the day of battle comes, Gideon is instructed to disarm and go into battle with 300 who drink water funny. (Chapter 7)
How like us this is. Of all the ages we think ourselves the least likely candidate; of our father’s houses, I find me the least able. We unite our voices in asking God, “Why?” Do we hear Him say, “Go in this thy might”?
As a physicist said, “If there is no law in physics between me and my goal, I can get there.”
Conclusion
Herbert Lockyer wrote that, without doubt, Gideon is among the brightest luminaries of Old Testament history. His character and call are presented in a series of tableaux. We see:
1-Gideon at the flail—the young man was threshing wheat when the call came to him to become the deliverer of his nation. History teaches that obscurity of birth is no obstacle to noble service. It was no dishonor for Gideon to say “My family is poor.”
2-Gideon at the altar—Gideon was God-fearing. His own father had become an idolater but Gideon vowed to remove the idols. No wonder they called him Jerubbaal, meaning “discomforter of Baal.”
3- Gideon and the fleece—Facing the great mission of his life, he had to have an assuring token that God was with him. God condescended to grant Gideon the double sign.
4-Gideon at the well—How fascinating is the incident of the reduction of Gideon’s army from 32,000 to 10,000, then to only 300. The few, choice, brave, active men and God were in the majority against the swarms of Midian. God is not always on the right side of big battalions.
5-Gideon with the whip—The men of Succoth and Penuel made themselves obnoxious, but with a whip of thorns Gideon meted out to them the punishment they deserved.
6-Gideon in the gallery of worthies--It was no small honor to have a place, as Gideon has, in the illustrious roll named in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, where every name is an inspiration, and every character a miracle of grace.