Blueprint Of Repentance Series

Minor Prophets Major Message

Blueprint of Repentance

Joel 2:12-17 | #minorprophets

INTRODUCTION… Background of Prophets

In the Bible, when God wanted to get His people’s attention He would often do something demonstrative like speak from a burning bush or lead by a pillar of cloud or shake the ground or do a miracle in nature. God did all of those things. God also spoke through people we call prophets.

We know some of the names of these folks whom God called to be His prophets: Moses, Miriam, Deborah, Nathan, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Huldah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, Anna, John the Baptist, and many more. God calls the people through His prophets and gives them directions in their relationship with Him. God calls the people through His prophets and encourages their faithfulness and warns them that faithlessness would have dire consequences.

This morning we are continuing our journey in the last twelve books of the Old Testament which I have called “Minor Prophets Major Message.” I want to focus each week on one of these specific prophets and the message that he brought to the people of God because those messages are also important for us.

I want to let you know that the many of these last books in the Old Testament make mention of a phrase or event that often unifies them into a common theme, but can be confusing. The common theme we sometimes see is: “The Day of the Lord.” The phrase “The Day of the Lord” can mean three different things depending on the context. First, it can mean a time of judgment from God that will come within the prophet’s lifetime and in the lifetime of the people that are listening. This might mean a king is removed or a severe famine or something significant meant to discipline God’s people towards repentance. Second, it can mean a significant severe judgment that will happen at some point in the future. We know from the history of God’s people that 722BC, 586BC, and 70AD are all dates that fulfilled these prophets’ warnings and were great times of war and destruction. Third, it can also mean the final judgment of humanity at the end of time. However it is used, and confusingly it can mean more than one at the same time, it is important to note that “The Day of the Lord” is a span of time during which God personally intervenes in history accomplish some specific aspect of His plan and it usually involves death, destruction, and terrible judgment; especially for those who turn away from God.

We find “The Day of the Lord” talked about in Isaiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Zephaniah, Zechariah, and Malachi in the Old Testament among other places. We should not forget that the same event or events are talked about by Jesus in the Gospels and also Acts, 1 & 2 Corinthians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 2 Peter, and the Book of Revelation.

This is a significant theme for these prophets and it binds them together. Yes, “The Day of the Lord” is a time of judgment and fear, but for those who believe in God and look to Him for deliverance, “The Day of the Lord” is a time of excitement and salvation and hope. God did, does, and will do much judging on “The Day of the Lord” but He also did, does, and will do much saving on “The Day of the Lord.”

I know that I may not have made this idea all that clear, but I don’t want us to read that phrase “The Day of the Lord” as we make our way through these prophets and not have any reference. Basically: it is a time of judgement from God designed for people to repent.

CONTEXT: JOEL

Today, we will be in the Book of Joel. If you were here last week, we talked about Hosea who spoke to the Northern Kingdom of Israel though prophetic messages and though his intense family life. Joel had a different assignment. Joel spoke to the Southern Kingdom of Judah to call them to faithfulness. As you read over the three chapters of Joel, you will notice that Joel writes about the imagery of God being in complete control of nature and using nature to disrupt life in Judah to grab their attention away from all the idols to repent. We know God uses nature and supernatural things to press His will because He did it in Exodus 7-11 with the Egyptians on behalf of Israel by way of Moses. We see something similar in Joel.

Joel 1 starts out with “the word of the Lord” coming to Joel and it is not a nice word. It is a word of judgment. It is a word directed to the “elders” of Judah (1:2) and to “all inhabitants of the land” (1:2). This was a message of doom that was to be shared (1:3). Joel shares a message that armies of locusts will descend upon Judah and destroy everything. It will be so bad and sad and terrible that even drunk people will weep (1:5). There is some question whether or not the armies and numbers of destroying things are actual locusts or if Joel is speaking about an invading army that acts like locusts. I happen to think Joel is predicting an actual plague of nasty locusts and then again about an invading army. I personally think he is talking about both. In any case, the result is the same: hunger, groaning beasts, fields on fire, fear, helplessness, anguish, and death. That is how Joel chapter 1 and Joel chapter 2 begin. Yay! Each one of those chapters begins with Joel sharing doom and gloom and warnings.