The Wake-Up Call Series

Joel 1:1-7

“The Wake-up Call”

• Background

o Understanding prophetic writings.

o More than foretelling future events.

o Purpose of the prophet (God’s covenant)

o Covenant prosecutors with a message of judgment and blessing.

o Offers a fuller picture of the ministry of God’s prophets.

o Prophecy takes on a deeper meaning understanding the context in which it is written.

• The Prophet Joel (vs. 1)

o Not much is known about this prophet, his name means “the LORD is God.”

o No reference to a king or specific ruler.

o Language and theme indicates he was a contemporary of Amos and Micah, Joel then is most likely written during the 8th Century B.C. after the fall of Israel to Assyria.

• The Warning (2-3)

o Something big had just happened.

o God was trying to shake the people out of their state of complacency like never before.

o “Hear this………all inhabitants of the land.”

o Everyone had to hear and understand God’s message because everyone was affected by it.

o “Hath this been in your days…”

o The uniqueness of what has taken place is like nothing they had ever seen before.

o Vs. 3 This was something that was to be passed down from generation to generation, so that what God was trying to teach them would not be in vain.

Psalm 78:6-8 (KJV)

6 That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: 7 That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: 8 And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.

o How about in our day, does God still use outstanding circumstances sent under His divine control as a warning to a nation?  9/11

o How about in our individual lives, what does God do when He is trying to tell us something and we are not listening?

Hebrews 12:7-8 (NKJV)

7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? 8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.

• The Invasion (4)

o Locusts had invaded, eaten and stripped the land bare.

o Joel could be referring to a literal invasion of locusts or speaking metaphorically of an invading army.

o Which ever you ascribe to the fact remains that the land was left bare.

o Clear reference to God’s judgment of sin (Revelation 9:7-8)

• The Wake-Up Call (5-7)

o Vs. 5 It is a call to repentance  they had broken God’s covenant to which God had said there would be consequences (Deuteronomy 28:38-42).

o Vs. 6 Again Joel is either referring to the invasion of real locusts calling them a nation, or to the invasion of the Assyrians, either of which was to be a wake up call to Judah.

o Vs. 7 The destruction of the land was a clear message from God  whatever comes between God and His people, He will remove it (wine).

o This is true of any sin, God will go to any lengths to bring us to repentance and a right relationship with Him.