Joel

[Please join me in praying for the Church on Sundays this year.]

“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” (Revelation 4:11 NIV)

My Bible Recap plan brought me to Joel recently. We don’t know anything about Joel’s author or the time in which it was written. Although it resonates with messages in several other prophetic books of the Bible, it is its own unique book. Perhaps if you and I were Joel, the conversation between the prophet (leaders) and God would go something like this:

GOD: Listen up, you Leaders of the people who live in this land. Think about it: in all your history, has anything like this happened before? I tell you to tell your children and grandchildren about it in the years to come, so the story is passed down from generation to generation.

See! A vast army of locusts has invaded my Church, a terrible army too numerous to count. It has destroyed the fruitfulness of my People, stripping away the fruit they used to produce as if cutting locusts, swarming locusts, hopping locusts, and stripping locusts had all descended upon and destroyed the plants. Wake up, you who are comfortable in your religiosity, your empty rituals, your worthless deeds! Wake up and weep – mourn because these things are not what I told you to do. You leaders have not tended the sheep of my pasture, those I love, in the ways I told you to. It is as if you have barren and ruined fields, with destroyed grain, grapes, wheat, barley, and olive oil. These “crops of the field” – those I have planted and expected you to tend – are not producing what they should. All the people’s joy has dried up.

You who are called and ordained into leadership roles should repent now! Weep and wail because of your poor stewarding of my children. Fast for yourselves and these people. Cry out to me because the day of the Lord is near. How terrible will be the day when destruction comes from my Almighty hand. There will be no food or joyful celebrations for you because the seeds will die, the grain crops fail, the barns will be empty because the herds of animals are confused, hungry, and miserable. This is not ok!

GOD’S PEOPLE: Lord, help us! Your fire is consuming our land. The spiritual streams have dried up. We tremble in fear because the day of the Lord is upon us. A day of darkness and gloom is upon us. A mighty army of wickedness and evil has appeared, destroying all in its path. Nothing escapes their desolation. We stand in fear with pale, terrorized faces, because their warriors consistently break through defenses without missing a step. The earth quakes, the heavens tremble, the sun and moon grow dark, the stars no longer shine. You are at the head of this awesome, terrible army. Who can possibly survive?

GOD: Children, turn to me now, while there is time. Give me your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead. Return to the Lord your God, for I am merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. I am eager to relent and not punish. Gather all the people to prayer – especially those pastors, priests, apostles, and prophets who have been called to minister in my presence. Stand and weep in confession. If my people – you! – will humble yourselves, seek my ways fully, pray in the Spirit, and turn from unrighteousness, I will hear you. I will see you. I will l honor you. And I will heal your land and my Church.

I will pity my people and jealously guard my honor. I will send a new wind of my Spirit, a new day, a new hope. I will pour out my Spirit on young and old, men and women, on all who seek me. I will pour out dreams, visions, prophecies, and my Spirit. Rejoice and be glad because I have done and I will do great things! In my faithfulness I will refresh, restore, and renew your land. I am the Lord your God, and there is no other.

Oh, God, in this day, may your Church leaders repent, may your Church seek you, your Way, Truth, and Life, and may your renewing Holy Spirit be poured out upon us – for your GLORY and HONOR we pray, in Jesus’s name. AMEN.

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV)

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” – Jesus (John 14:6 NIV)

“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Timothy 1:17 NIV)

  Joel 1:1 The Lord gave this message to Joel son of Pethuel.

Mourning over the Locust Plague

2 Hear this, you leaders of the people.
    Listen, all who live in the land.
In all your history,
    has anything like this happened before?

3 Tell your children about it in the years to come,
    and let your children tell their children.
    Pass the story down from generation to generation.

4 After the cutting locusts finished eating the crops,
    the swarming locusts took what was left!
After them came the hopping locusts,
    and then the stripping locusts, too!

5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!
    Wail, all you wine-drinkers!
All the grapes are ruined,
    and all your sweet wine is gone.

6 A vast army of locusts has invaded my land,
    a terrible army too numerous to count.
Its teeth are like lions’ teeth,
    its fangs like those of a lioness.

7 It has destroyed my grapevines
    and ruined my fig trees,
stripping their bark and destroying it,
    leaving the branches white and bare.

8 Weep like a bride dressed in black,
    mourning the death of her husband.

9 For there is no grain or wine
    to offer at the Temple of the Lord.
So the priests are in mourning.
    The ministers of the Lord are weeping.

10 The fields are ruined,
    the land is stripped bare.
The grain is destroyed,
    the grapes have shriveled,
    and the olive oil is gone.

11 Despair, all you farmers!
    Wail, all you vine growers!
Weep, because the wheat and barley—
    all the crops of the field—are ruined.

12 The grapevines have dried up,
    and the fig trees have withered.
The pomegranate trees, palm trees, and apple trees—
    all the fruit trees—have dried up.
    And the people’s joy has dried up with them.

13 Dress yourselves in burlap and weep, you priests!
    Wail, you who serve before the altar!
Come, spend the night in burlap,
    you ministers of my God.
For there is no grain or wine
    to offer at the Temple of your God.

14 Announce a time of fasting;
    call the people together for a solemn meeting.
Bring the leaders
    and all the people of the land
into the Temple of the Lord your God,
    and cry out to him there.

15 The day of the Lord is near,
    the day when destruction comes from the Almighty.
    How terrible that day will be!

16 Our food disappears before our very eyes.
    No joyful celebrations are held in the house of our God.

17 The seeds die in the parched ground,
    and the grain crops fail.
The barns stand empty,
    and granaries are abandoned.

18 How the animals moan with hunger!
    The herds of cattle wander about confused,
because they have no pasture.
    The flocks of sheep and goats bleat in misery.

19 Lord, help us!
The fire has consumed the wilderness pastures,
    and flames have burned up all the trees.

20 Even the wild animals cry out to you
    because the streams have dried up,
    and fire has consumed the wilderness pastures.

2:1 Sound the trumpet in Jerusalem[a]!
    Raise the alarm on my holy mountain!
Let everyone tremble in fear
    because the day of the Lord is upon us.

2 It is a day of darkness and gloom,
    a day of thick clouds and deep blackness.
Suddenly, like dawn spreading across the mountains,
    a great and mighty army appears.
Nothing like it has been seen before
    or will ever be seen again.

3 Fire burns in front of them,
    and flames follow after them.
Ahead of them the land lies
    as beautiful as the Garden of Eden.
Behind them is nothing but desolation;
    not one thing escapes.

4 They look like horses;
    they charge forward like warhorses.

5 Look at them as they leap along the mountaintops.
    Listen to the noise they make—like the rumbling of chariots,
like the roar of fire sweeping across a field of stubble,
    or like a mighty army moving into battle.

6 Fear grips all the people;
    every face grows pale with terror.

7 The attackers march like warriors
    and scale city walls like soldiers.
Straight forward they march,
    never breaking rank.

8 They never jostle each other;
    each moves in exactly the right position.
They break through defenses
    without missing a step.

9 They swarm over the city
    and run along its walls.
They enter all the houses,
    climbing like thieves through the windows.

10The earth quakes as they advance,
    and the heavens tremble.
The sun and moon grow dark,
    and the stars no longer shine.

11 The Lord is at the head of the column.
    He leads them with a shout.
This is his mighty army,
    and they follow his orders.
The day of the Lord is an awesome, terrible thing.
    Who can possibly survive?

A Call to Repentance

12 That is why the Lord says,
    “Turn to me now, while there is time.
Give me your hearts.
    Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning.

13 Don’t tear your clothing in your grief,
    but tear your hearts instead.”
Return to the Lord your God,
    for he is merciful and compassionate,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
    He is eager to relent and not punish.

14 Who knows? Perhaps he will give you a reprieve,
    sending you a blessing instead of this curse.
Perhaps you will be able to offer grain and wine
    to the Lord your God as before.

15Blow the ram’s horn in Jerusalem!
    Announce a time of fasting;
call the people together
    for a solemn meeting.

16 Gather all the people—
    the elders, the children, and even the babies.
Call the bridegroom from his quarters
    and the bride from her private room.

17 Let the priests, who minister in the Lord’s presence,
    stand and weep between the entry room to the Temple and the altar.
Let them pray, “Spare your people, Lord!
    Don’t let your special possession become an object of mockery.
Don’t let them become a joke for unbelieving foreigners who say,
    ‘Has the God of Israel left them?’”

The Lord’s Promise of Restoration

18 Then the Lord will pity his people
    and jealously guard the honor of his land.

19 The Lord will reply,
“Look! I am sending you grain and new wine and olive oil,
    enough to satisfy your needs.
You will no longer be an object of mockery
    among the surrounding nations.

20 I will drive away these armies from the north.
    I will send them into the parched wastelands.
Those in the front will be driven into the Dead Sea,
    and those at the rear into the Mediterranean.
The stench of their rotting bodies will rise over the land.”

Surely the Lord has done great things!

21 Don’t be afraid, O land.
Be glad now and rejoice,
    for the Lord has done great things.

22 Don’t be afraid, you animals of the field,
    for the wilderness pastures will soon be green.
The trees will again be filled with fruit;
    fig trees and grapevines will be loaded down once more.

23 Rejoice, you people of Jerusalem!
    Rejoice in the Lord your God!
For the rain he sends demonstrates his faithfulness.
    Once more the autumn rains will come,
    as well as the rains of spring.

24 The threshing floors will again be piled high with grain,
    and the presses will overflow with new wine and olive oil.

25 The Lord says, “I will give you back what you lost
    to the swarming locusts, the hopping locusts,
the stripping locusts, and the cutting locusts.
    It was I who sent this great destroying army against you.

26 Once again you will have all the food you want,
    and you will praise the Lord your God,
who does these miracles for you.
    Never again will my people be disgraced.

27 Then you will know that I am among my people Israel,
    that I am the Lord your God, and there is no other.
    Never again will my people be disgraced.

The Lord’s Promise of His Spirit

28 “Then, after doing all those things,
    I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
    Your old men will dream dreams,
    and your young men will see visions.

29 In those days I will pour out my Spirit
    even on servants—men and women alike.

30 And I will cause wonders in the heavens and on the earth—
    blood and fire and columns of smoke.

31 The sun will become dark,
    and the moon will turn blood red
    before that great and terrible day of the Lord arrives.

32 But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord
    will be saved,
for some on Mount Zion in Jerusalem will escape,
    just as the Lord has said.
These will be among the survivors
    whom the Lord has called.