The Day Of The Lord
This morning we want to take a look at the OT book of Joel. First, we will walk through a summary view and then go back and focus on the main message as it applies to us today.
The book of Joel naturally divides into two sections.
Chapter 1:1 through chapter 2 verse 27 is the first section. In the first section we read about a terrible locust plague that occurred in Israel as a judgment from God. We also read in the first section how the people repented and turned back to God and God restored their land and their prosperity.
Then in chapter 2 verse 28 to the end of the book we read about a future time when God will pour out His Spirit and bless His people and how he is going to gather the nations which have rejected him for judgement.
“The first half of the book describes how God fought against his own people to make them honor him alone as God and the second half of the book describes how he will fight against the nations who refuse to honor him alone as God.”
Joel 1 describes a devastating locust plague.
Joel 1:4
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.
There is nothing left – total devastation.
The prophet sees in this catastrophe the judgement of God and so he calls for the people to repent and cry out to the Lord
Joel 1:13-14
Gird yourselves with sackcloth
And lament, O priests;
Wail, O ministers of the altar!
Come, spend the night in sackcloth
O ministers of my God,
For the grain offering and the drink offering
Are withheld from the house of your God.
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.
But in verse 15 Joel looks forward to a time somewhere in the future and begins to point to “the day of the Lord” as a warning that there is a great and terrible day of judgment – that the locust plague is like the dawn or the beginning of this “day of the Lord”
In other words he is saying – you haven’t seen nothing yet – this is just the beginning – you about to see even worse devastation come on your nation
Joel 2:1
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,
In describing this time of great judgment:
Joel 2:10-11
10 Before them the earth quakes,
The heavens tremble,
The sun and the 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.
The day of the LORD is indeed great and very awesome,
And who can endure it?
So you see what is happening here? The nation has experience a devastating
plague of locust – the prophet calls on them to repent – cry out to the Lord
Then he says – the judgment of the locust really points to an ultimate day of judgment from God – some time in the future
So we have this picture – this message of God warring against his people – and if the story ended here it would be a very bleak and awful story
What could be worse than having Almighty God – fighting against you?
But there is more to it than simply judgment of God – there is a purpose
which the prophet begins to get to in verse 12
Joel 2:12 – 14
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?
15 Blow a trumpet in Zion,
Consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly,
Then in chapter 2 and verse 18 Joel talks about how God restores and blesses the people after they repent
Joel 2:18
18 Then the LORD will be zealous for His land
And will have pity on His people.
Joel 2:25
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.
And then in verse 27 the first section of the book of Joel ends with the ultimate reason behind God’s judgment on his people
Joel 2:27
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.
The cause of the judgment that had come – was that the people had become half-hearted in their devotion to God – He was not their focus of attention – they loved other things more – they served other Gods – So God fought against them
AND – God was ready to bring even worse devastation on them unless they changed and devoted themselves completely to God alone
But they repented and the final judgment did not happen and God instead restored their fortunes.
Then chapter 2 verse 28 begins the second section of Joel and he turns his attention once again to the final day of judgment – the day of the Lord
He begins with a prediction of events that will precede the ultimate day of the Lord
Joel 2:28
28 “It will come about after this
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.
Joel 2:30-32
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.
32 “And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the LORD
Will be delivered;
So Joel sees two things coming as the day of the Lord approaches –
One is a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the other is a time of terrible judgment on the earth.
Then in chapter 3 of Joel describes the final world – end judgment
Joel 3:2
2 I will gather all the nations
And bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat.
Then I will enter into judgment with them there
Joel 3:14
14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!
For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
So Joel looks at the future and sees two things:
Salvation and blessing for those who call on the name of the Lord –
Judgment and destruction for the people who go their own way – reject God
Joel 3:16
16 The LORD roars from Zion
And utters His voice from Jerusalem,
And the heavens and the earth tremble.
But the LORD is a refuge for His people
And a stronghold to the sons of Israel.
Finally – just as the first section of Joel ended with the purpose of God in 2:27
Joel 2:27
27 “Thus you will know that I am in the midst of Israel,
And that I am the LORD your God,
The second section ends with the same pupose:
Joel 3:17
17 Then you will know that I am the LORD your God,
The purpose of God in the great locust plague that struck Israel in Joel’s day and the purpose of God in the final day of the Lord are the same:
to make known that He alone is God and He alone is to be worshipped and served above all things
That’s an overview of Joel’s message.
Here are a few things that we need to hear in this message today;
The God Of The Bible Is The Lord Your God
We make a mistake when we look at history – when we look at the scriptures -- when we look at our lives from an ego centric – man centered paradigm
The Bible – history – the truth is God centered
Ultimately we will see in all that happens that
God alone is the Lord our God – He alone is worthy of our worship – our devotion – our fear and reverence
There is a second message for us:
God Will Fight Against Us To Bring Us To Repentance
God makes it pretty clear what he is after
Joel 2:12
12 “Yet even now,” declares the LORD,
“Return to Me with all your heart,
Things can go pretty sour for us if the course we are taking in this life is not leading in this direction.
Repent From The Heart
Joel 2:13
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.
Don’t be bitter against God because he frustrates your way – every discipline from God comes to bring us back to him so that he may be gracious to us and bless us
we can know God as a roaring lion
or
as a gracious – shelter
Turn with your whole heart to God
