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