Whom will the Lord Save? (A Study of the Prophet Joel)
“Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.”
History is instructive. King Solomon reminds us of this truth in the first chapter of Ecclesiastes,
What has been is
what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing
new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”? It
has been already in the ages before us. (Ecc. 1:9-10)
Yet
there is another important aspect of learning from history, there must be those
with wisdom who help us understand the past and apply it to the present. I am a firm believer that if the younger
generation was willing to listen and the older generation was willing to share,
there would be much more wisdom displayed in our present age. The older need the younger and the younger
need the older. In 2008, America went
into a mini-depression. It may not have
felt like something small to those who lost their jobs and homes, but compared
to the Great Depression of 1929 our last recession was indeed small. Modern-day Americans have no idea the
sacrifices made by parents for their children.
I was sitting with one of our members recently and she told me how her
mother would often go to bed without eating supper because she would give her
portion to her children. By 1933 almost
20% of the population was unemployed and half of the country’s banks closed.
Food was in short supply and people often went to bed hungry. The 3-4 years during the height of the Great
Depression were some of the most difficult years that our country has ever
faced. It was a national problem leaving
no one unscathed.
The
book of Joel starts with Israel facing its own “Great Depression.” The exact date of the book of Joel is hard to
date because it is without any biographical information. All we have is the
first verse, “The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.” We do not know when this great distress
happened, but we know that God spoke through His prophets in the midst of it. The Lord used the events of Joel’s day as a
foreshadowing of a greater day that was to come.
The Shadow of the
Future
The prophecy
starts with a plea to share the events of the day with the future generation so
that they would be instructed about a future day. Verses 2-3,
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? Tell your children of it, and let
your children tell their children, and their children to another generation.
Things were so bad that no one
could remember a worse time. The Lord
felt that it was important for the older generation to pass this on to the
younger generation. What was so
bad? A swarm of locusts came in to
destroy the land. Listen how bad things had
gotten in the land. Verse 4-12,
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. 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. 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. 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. Lament like a virgin wearing sackcloth for the
bridegroom of her youth. The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off
from the house of the LORD. The priests mourn, the ministers of the LORD. The
fields are destroyed, the ground mourns, because the grain is destroyed, the
wine dries up, the oil languishes. Be ashamed, O tillers of the soil; wail, O
vinedressers, for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field
has perished. 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.
This was a national tragedy where
every man, woman and child were affected.
If you did not live through the Great Depression, it is hard to
understand this level of tragedy. There have been national things that have
happened in our country where everyone stopped and took notice like Pearl
Harbor or September 11th, but nothing as long and as devastating as
the Great Depression.
We have it so good
now that we have lost the knowledge of how hard things were in the past. It is
imperative that we never forget how hard things were in the past. We need to place ourselves in the shoes of
those who came before us. And not only them, but we also must place ourselves
in the shoes of our brothers and sisters who are currently suffering in the
Middle East. Empathy paves the way to
understanding. The Lord speaks to Joel
and reminds them that this horrible day that they are experiencing is nothing
compared to the future day when the Lord will execute His justice on the
earth. The Day of the Lord is the theme
that weaves together the entire book of Joel.
The Day of the Lord will be far worse than the destruction of the
locusts. As the locusts have come to destroy the land so will the army of the
Lord come and destroy all that is in their path. The army will be so vast that it will look
like a swarm of locusts.
The current
tragedy serves as a reminder of a greater tragedy for everyone who does not
call upon the name of the Lord. As the
Day of the Lord approaches, people must repent.
Joel 1:13-15,
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. 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. Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is
near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.
All of history is moving toward
that Day when the Lord will come and destroy the earth. The day of the Lord is near and destruction
from the Almighty is coming. Joel 2:11,
The Lord utters
his voice before his army, for his camp is exceedingly great; he who executes
his word is powerful. For the day of the
Lord is great and very awesome; who can endure it?
There is the eternal question
placed in the mouth of Joel by the Lord.
“Who can endure the great and very awesome Day of the Lord?” “Who will
be saved?”
The
goal of the West is comfort. We want to
make things efficient and quick. We have
air conditioning and the world placed at our disposable on the smart phones in
our pocket. We are so privileged and our
great privilege blinds us from the future reality of suffering. It is hard for us to believe in suffering,
because we have never truly experienced it. Do you ever think about Hell? Judgment? Wrath? Agony?
As much as we want, we cannot erase Hell. Tragedy in this world reminds
us of the Terrible Day of the Lord that is coming, but there is hope.
The Savior of the
Future
I
love the grace of the Lord. He lays out
the dreadful day that is approaching and he asks, “who can endure it?” and then
he answers the question. Verse 2:12-17,
Return to the
Lord “Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with
fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your
garments.” Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow
to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. Who
knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a
grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD your God? Blow the trumpet in
Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Consecrate
the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing
infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. Between
the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep
and say, “Spare your people, O LORD, and make not your heritage a reproach, a
byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is
their God?’
The Lord promises forgiveness and
mercy for those who turn to Him in repentance.
Even after all our sinful neglect and willful disobedience God calls out
to us, “Return to the Lord your God.”
Why should we return? We return on the basis of HIS character. “He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger,
and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.” Our trust is
never in ourselves, but always in the character of our God.
Joel
shows how the Lord granted His promise to bless His people in 2:17-27. The reason why the Lord turns to bless the
people is found in verse 27,
You shall know
that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God and there is
none else. And my people shall never again be put to shame.
The greatest blessing of the Lord
is the Lord Himself. He blesses His
people so that they will know that HE is in their midst. Hear the personal language used, “I am the
Lord your God” and “my people.” The Lord is taking personal
responsibility for His people. And we
know He ultimately shows this by becoming one of His people, being clothed in
humility as a man. God shows us that He
is always in our midst by coming to be in our midst. We never have to doubt this promise again,
because it is realized in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Our God can be
known personally through His Son and through the Spirit He places in our
hearts. Romans 5:5 states that we have hope
that, “does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our
hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” The Holy Spirit confirms God’s presence in
our lives and this is promised in the book of Joel 2:28-29,
And it shall come
to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and
your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young
men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I
will pour out my Spirit.
This was quoted during Peter’s
sermon after Pentecost confirming this prophecy that God will dwell with His
people. The Lord promised us His presence
and it was confirmed with the giving of the Holy Spirit. And because Jesus Christ came, lived, died,
and rose again; the Spirit is promised to us.
We can receive His presence, when we call on Him to help us. Joel 2:32,
And it shall come
to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in
Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has
said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls.
Who can endure the great and
awesome Day of the Lord? The one who calls on His name. Notice that the promise
of salvation is not just to the nation of Israel, but to everyone who calls on
the name of the Lord. And those who will
be saved on the last day and those who shall escape will be those whom the Lord
calls. God calls us and we in turn call upon His name.
The Sovereign of the
Future
The only hope for
anyone to stand before the Lord will be to have Jesus Christ standing in front
of them as their mediator. There is one
mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus who gave himself as a ransom
which is the testimony given at the proper time. The Lord will call all the nations on that
Day. Joel 3:9-12 begins as a call to battle, but ends very clearly as the
battle being already over. Joel 3:9-12,
Proclaim this
among the nations: Consecrate for war; stir up the mighty men. Let all the men
of war draw near; let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your
pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, “I am a warrior.” Hasten and come,
all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves there. Bring down your
warriors, O LORD. Let the nations stir themselves up and come up to the Valley
of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.
There is only one who is in control
of the final outcome. The Father told
the Son to sit at His right hand until He puts all His enemies under His
feet. Jesus is victorious and one day
His victory will be consummated. And on
that Day, who will the Lord save, only those who call upon the name of the
Lord. Roman s 10:9-13,
If
you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that
God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one
believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For
the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of
all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on
the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:9-13 ESV)
The Day is coming…will you be
saved? Have you called upon the name of the Lord? Hear the promise, “everyone who calls on the
name of the Lord will be saved.” Amen.
[1]
Title taken from the Mark Dever’s Promises Made: The Message of the Old
Testament Eternal Questions Series.
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