Joel
We consider Joel to be a minor
prophet, but there is nothing minor about his message. The term minor is used to classify smaller
books from the longer writings like Isaiah and Jeremiah. Nothing is really known about this prophet
other than in this book of Joel.
But what we know about him is less important than his actual ministry
and message.
Joel outline:
Chapter 1 – Invasion
of locust and a call to repentance.
Joel compares the destruction and
judgment of God like a plague of locust.
This is the warning and penalty for disobedience and evilness.
Chapter 2-3 – God’s
warnings, promise, final judgment, and rule.
God calls His people to repent
and return to Him, if not, they will all be judged. The day of the Lord will be like no other,
but the promise and deliverance of the Lord is waiting and He will restore the
land.
Joel’s theme and purpose in
writing this book was to call people to repentance and to prepare for the
coming judgment - ‘The Day of the Lord’.
He warns people about the dangers of turning from God and tells them to
warn others. He described what God’s
judgment looks like - destruction, pain, wailing, fire, drought, and with death
not far behind. Only returning to God
can fix the situation.
He gave us a detailed description
of the severe locust plague followed by a severe famine that hit throughout the
land of Judah. He saw this as a sign for
the final judgment and warned the people to turn to God. He announced that the day of the Lord was
coming and would bring even greater judgment.
He shared how God often uses nature and events to get our attention. National or even personal disaster can either
turn our hearts and focus back to God or can blind us from the truth. What is important is that we need to be aware
that these events pale to God’s judgment to come for those who continue to reject
Him and refuse to repent.
When is the Day of the Lord? This is not a specific date. It is a time in the future when the Lord
Himself will bring judgment on all man’s sin.
It’s a period of judgment and restoration. It consists of the judgement of God’s people,
the judgment of foreign nations, and the purification and restoration of God’s
people. It will be a day of terror
bringing bad news against evil and also of blessing with the good news of God’s
promised deliverance. We are to return
to the Lord for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding
in love and He may even relent and have pity and leave a blessing instead (Joel
2:13-14).
“Then I will make up to
you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the stripping locust and
the gnawing locust” – Joel 2:25. Joel prophesied that judgment can be averted
if people repent, fast and return to the Lord (Joel 2:13-17). He gives a promise of hope, restoration,
blessing, prosperity for the righteous, and those who call on the name of the
Lord (Joel 2:32).
Joel said the day is coming and
we should all look to the physical signs and wonders of the earth as a reminder
of God’s sovereignty. For those who seek
the Lord and turn from their sinful ways, the day of the Lord will be a day of
great joy, not terror.
The Bible gives us some of
these signs:
“You will hear of wars
and rumors of wars ….. Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against
kingdom. There will be famines and
earthquakes in various places. All
things are the beginning of birth pains.” – Matthew 24:6-8
“And because
lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” – Matthew
24:12
“There will be terrible
times in the last days. People will be
lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud abusive, disobedient to
their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous,
without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash,
conceited lovers of pleasure rather than lover so God.” – 2
Timothy 3:1-5
Does all this sound familiar to
you? We are seeing this now. There are nations who are trying to receive
great military power causing unrest and wars.
Have you noticed the outbreaks of violence – random shootings, murders,
and mass killings? Our TV and movies,
and internet is full of sex, drugs, violence, and brutality. We see droughts, wildfires, floods, famines,
and even diseases. We are going through
covid, flu, RSV, and we should not forget HIV and Aids.
Our society in becoming
increasingly hostile toward Christians and there is persecution of Christians
in many countries and even in America. All
this will get much worse in the Day of the Lord. We can read more about this day in the book
of Revelation.
Joel spoke of God’s Spirit being
poured out on all people bringing hope for the future. The new work of the Holy Spirit began at
Pentecost, fulfilling part of Joel’s prophecy.
He says a number of things must happen before this prophecy can be
complete. This prophecy will continue to
be fulfilled and will be complete when Jesus returns to earth.
We are all sinners, but God did
not leave us without help. His Spirit
was active then and continues to be active and unstoppable today. The Holy Spirit awakens our dead hearts and
minds. If you are a believer, you know
the amazing gift of His Spirit. He
convicts us of sin and guides us how to live.
We learn about the Holy Spirit from the following verses.
John 16:7-15 – When
Jesus left this earth, He sent His Spirit to convict the world of guilt and to
guide us to all truth.
Acts 1:8 – We
receive the power of the Holy Spirit so we can be His witness to the ends of
the earth.
Romans 8:9-16 – If
Christ is in us, the Spirit of God lives in us and our body is dead because of
sin, yet our spirit is alive because of righteousness. The Spirit testifies that we are God’s
children and heirs of God.
2 Corinthians 3:17-18 – Where
the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
We reflect the Lord’s glory and are being transformed into His likeness.
Galatians 5:22-23 – The
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Joel prophesied that all nations
will gather against Israel and Jerusalem in the last great battle, but God will
be victorious. There will be restoration
of the Jews and final victory of true religion.
There is no time to lose. God’s judgment will come swiftly as a thief
in the night. “for
you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the
night.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:2.
Today is the day of salvation, “I tell you, now
is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” – 2
Corinthians 6:2b. Without
repentance, judgment will be harsh and certain.
We should not trust in our possessions and status but in Jesus. Only by seeking, trusting, and believing in
Jesus’ salvation can we escape His wrath on the Day of the Lord.
Lessons from Joel:
The Day of the Lord is still
coming.
God uses physical suffering to get
our attention.
The promise of God’s presence is
our ultimate hope.
God’s judgment is great for those
who don’t belong to Him.
God’s judgment is not something
to dread for those who belong and believe in Jesus.
Principle: The Day of the Lord is the day of judgment on
all sinners and the rescue of all God’s faithful.
Obadiah
Obadiah is the shortest book in
the Old Testament. Obadiah is another
minor prophet of God. His name means ‘servant
of the Lord’. Nothing is known about him
other than in this book. This book is a
prophesy against the nation of Edom. The
Edomites were descendants of Esau. The
Israelites are descendants of Esau’s twin brother, Jacob. The quarrel between the brothers affected
their descendants for over 1,000 years.
Obadiah announced God’s judgment
against Edomites and prophesied that their kingdom would be destroyed. This book gives hope to Judah by the promise
of God’s judgment on this enemy nation and the promise of restoration of God’s
people. The theme of Obadiah is “The Day
of the Lord”. The purpose is to declare
that God will judge the pride of the Edomites and all nations who share their
hostility toward the Lord.
The book opens with the vision of
Obadiah about Edom. The Edomites had
been found guilty of pride. “Pride goes before destruction.” – Proverbs 16:18. They thought themselves greater than they actually
were. They were proud of their hidden
treasures, their allies, their men of wisdom, their military power, and their pride
in the persecution of God’s people. They
did nothing to help when Judah was attacked and even rejoiced in their
distress. They plundered their wealth
and joined in the violence against God’s people.
Would others say you are
prideful?
Do you struggle to set aside your
own wants and desires for those of God and others?
Are you guilty of doing nothing
when you see others in distress?
Sometimes doing nothing is a sin.
He warned against pride, revenge,
and bitterness. He reminds us that we
serve the powerful, sovereign God who loves and protects His children. Obadiah spoke about the day of judgment. He wanted them to know that day is near. God gave reasons for His judgment of the
Edomites – they did nothing to help Judah and they laughed at Judah’s
destruction. He warned, “The day of the Lord is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you;
your deeds will return upon your own head.” – Obadiah 15. There would be judgment, but also deliverance
for those who trust in God. “But the Mount Zion will be deliverance; it will be holy, and
the house of Jacob will possess its inheritance.” – Obadiah 17.
(Mount Zion is Jerusalem which will be the capitol of the Kingdom of God.) The people of God will rule with the King and
the Lord’s eternal Kingdom will be established.
“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom
of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever” - Revelation
11:15.
Obadiah’s prophesy is final and
sure. The kingdom of Edom will be
destroyed completely, because they had been arrogant and prideful toward Israel. Israel will receive punishment, but God will
not completely destroy them.
God will overcome on our behalf
if we stay true to Him. We must be
willing to help others in times of need and not be like Edom. Pride is a sin. We have nothing to be proud of except for
Jesus and what He’s done for us.
Esau and the Edomites made their choice
and suffered the consequences. Each
person will also make their own choices and will suffer the consequences. “They will have to
give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.” – 1
Peter 4:5. We make choices daily and
are responsible for the choices we make.
We will have to stand before the Lord and give account of our
choices. Christians will not be
condemned like the unbelievers (Romans 8:1). But we will have to give an account of how we
spent our lives.
Obadiah spoke of God’s ultimate
victory for His people. He would bring
them home to the promised land and deliver the lands of their enemies into
Israel’s hands. “And
the kingdom will be the Lord’s.” – Obadiah 21. God will prevail, no matter how things look
today. He gives hope to everyone in the salvation
in Jesus Christ.
Lessons from Obadiah:
God has the right and authority
to choose whomever He wills, for whatever purpose He wills. (Obadiah 1-2).
God hates pride because it always
deceives us and leads us astray (Obadiah 3).
God’s righteous judgment will
always overcome any physical strength or mental craftiness (Obadiah 4-9).
God loves His children and will
protect them (Obadiah 10-11).
God holds us accountable when we
gloat over our enemies (Obadiah 12-16).
Principle: God’s judgment is coming, but He offers hope
and restoration.
This week’s attribute of God is
He is Patient. His plan is to restore
creation and reconcile all people to Himself.
He waits patiently for everyone to repent. God warns of judgment but offers hope. “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.” – Joel 2:13b. “He is patient
with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
– 2 Peter 3:9b
Key verses:
“I tell you, now is the
time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” – 2
Corinthians 6:2b.
“The day of the Lord is
near for all nations. As you have done,
it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head.” – Obadiah
15.
“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.” – Joel 2:13b.
Next time we will continue our
study of Kingdom Divided in the book of Hosea. Hope to see you here. – I encourage you to
trust in Jesus.
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