For all the talk about forging our own brave, new world, the evidence seems to the contrary. People are despondent and the world seems a mess. Every day the ideological battles play out in the public square are they are prising apart public opinion and fragmenting society.
Climate change—gender and sexuality—immigration—distribution of wealth.
Yet there remains an unreserved trust in democracy. But democracy is no more than the sum of the people. In a year of elections, we reply upon the will of the people to impose order and stability. But whose order and whose stability?
Listen to talkback radio. Does order and stability flow from the ones with the loudest voice? The pessimists say that we are beyond order and stability. They say the world is one big, chaotic and uncontrollable mess. They say the best we can do is make the most of a sad and meaningless life.
The optimists are confident that evolution is working. They hope that over time the pessimists will fade away and people will learn to take refuge in the good that lies within us. The optimists have an incredible faith in scientists and economists who with new discoveries will lead us into the world of our dreams.
But not in my lifetime.
The Book of Joel bravely steps into our world and says that neither the pessimists or the optimists account for the historical day of the Lord. And to ignore the day of the Lord is the biggest mistake anyone can make.
It was a mistake made by Judah in the days of the prophet, Joel. These people were optimists who thought life would be better if they did it their way. And so they did it their way. They made decisions which, they believed, would further their quality of life. They naively thought that the kindness of God wasn’t kind enough—that the generosity of God wasn’t generous enough.
And they thought that God wasn’t serious about sending his curses upon them. Why would God punish such a great group of people? Judah lived like there was no day of the Lord.
So God sent a plague of locusts and then he sent his spokesman, Joel. Absolutely God is serious about sin. So the locusts came and Joel called his people to return to the Lord.
The prophet then Judah about the future. He says in Joel 1.15, “For the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty”. And again in 2.1, “Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming”. Joel describes an army descending upon his people and, verse 11, “the Lord thunders at the head of his army … The day of the Lord is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it”?
Joel answers his own question. When the day of the Lord comes survival is possible. The summary verse is 2.13, “Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love”.
We aren’t told whether Judah privately and publicly repented and returned to the Lord. The prophet doesn’t say probably because the book was written with that knowledge known to the readers. But this doesn’t affect our reading of 2.18–32 which we turn to now. The Hebrew verbs are unclear. Is the restoration spoken about from verse 18, is it past or is it future? Did Judah repent and this is God’s response? Or will Judah repent and this is how God will respond?
I’m going to treat verses 18 to 27 as what God promised to do if the people properly respond to Joel’s call to repentance. These verses are specific to Judah living in the land. Then the second part, verses 28 to 32, broadens God’s response to include all people as we see in Acts 2.
The big idea is that God promises to renew people who repent and return to him. It’s exactly the same message as the Book of Acts which we return to in a few weeks. God restores pessimists and the optimists who turn from their rebellion and come to Him in humility and seeking his mercy. God is a God of restoration and he will renew you when you give up your rebellion against God and become Christ-centred in your living.
Alison Thompson is an Australian volunteer aid worker who wrote a book called The Third Wave. It all started about 18 years ago. In 2001 she was filming in New York at the time of the attacks on the World Trade Centre. She lost 23 friends and witnessed the north tower coming down as she was giving CPR to a person.
Three years later news came through of the tsunami in Asia. With $300 in cash and a few supplies she headed off to Sri Lanka. She ended up running a refugee centre for 3,000 people. Then later she was involved in Haiti after 65,000 people were killed in an earthquake and tsunami. The quake was so bad that it totally wiped out the trees and all the crops which amounted to even more poverty and even more crime.
Alison Thompson is in the business of restoration—renewing people and restoring the land.
And God promises to renew people who rend their hearts and restore the land. What does restoration look like for Judah who are living in the land?
Verse 19, “I am sending you grain, new wine and oil, enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the nations”;
Verse 20, “I will drive the northern horde far from you”;
Verse 22, “The trees are bearing fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their riches”;
Verses 23 and 24, “He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before. The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil”.
And what about the land torn to pieces by the locusts?
Verse 25, “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten … (verse 26) You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God”.
God promises Judah, when they cry out to him for mercy, material restoration. We need to be careful when jumping from Judah to ourselves. “Does God promise us material restoration when we repent and turn to him? Can I expect that God will give me a new car, a fantastic vegetable garden, a new house and plenty of water in the tank?”
We can never move from the OT to ourselves without factoring in Jesus who stands between the OT and ourselves. Many a misreading of the OT arises from a failure to read the passage in the light of the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus.
Cargo cults are common in the Pacific region and in Africa. They promise that God will bless his people with wealth—which is especially attractive in third world countries. In Christian bookstores there are books which argue that God wants his people to be rich right now—in this world. This is known as the prosperity gospel and is taught by men such as Oral Roberts, Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn and Joel Osteen.
We are not historical Judah and we do not live in the Promised Land. Yet whether it be OT Israel or the NT church, God is always the source of restoration. He is the one who acts to restore his people. In verses 18 to 27, the verbs are about what God is doing and Judah and are the recipients of his grace.
And it’s always been that way.
The story is told that one day a beggar by the roadside asked for a few coins from Alexander the Great as he passed by. The man was poor and wretched and had no right to ask for anything from this ruler. Yet the Emperor threw him several gold coins. A courtier was astonished at his generosity and commented, “Sir, copper coins would adequately meet this man’s needs. Why give him gold?” Alexander responded in royal fashion, "Copper coins would suit the beggar's need, but gold coins suit Alexander's giving”.
And God gives so much more than we deserve. So much so, that verses 28 to 32 envisage a generosity that extends not only to Judah, but to all people who rend their hearts and return to the Lord.
And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the survivors whom the LORD calls.
Joel is speaking of times beyond himself. This is sometimes the case in Scripture. Occasionally prophets speak of things they do not fully understand. At least to Joel and his people God is promising a time when he will pour out of his Spirit on all Israelites in a way previously unknown.
But the glory of the promise is not seen until Acts 2. For in Acts 2 we see that the promise of the Spirit is to both Jew and Gentile. And as it was in the days of Judah—salvation is for men and women who repent and turn to the Lord.
Keep an index finger in Joel 2 and flip over to Acts 2. It’s the Day of Pentecost and the Spirit descends upon the apostles and they begin to speak in languages previously unknown to them. And this empowers the apostles to speak to foreigners about the wonders of God in their own tongue.
This requires explanation so Peter gets up and makes a speech. He doesn’t make a speech about the Spirit he makes a speech about Jesus. The apostles are not drunk as some thought and Peter explains why by beginning with a quote from Joel 2:28-32. And while Joel have begun with the word “afterwards”, Peter substitutes this word with “in the last days”. In these days beginning with Pentecost. We are living in the last days. In the last days the Spirit is poured out as a means of renewal.
And how is this great inner renewal of God received? Peter says in verses 33 of his speech, that it is the risen Jesus who pours out his Spirit. This same Jesus who God has made Lord and Messiah. And we receive his Spirit, like Judah of old, by repentance and returning to God. And we return to the Lord through faith in Christ Jesus.
So Peter says in Acts 2.38, “Repent and be baptised every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”. Moses once said, “I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them”! (Num. 11:29). At Pentecost all the Lord’s people are prophets who are given the gospel about Jesus.
How does a person endure the great and glorious day of the Lord? By repenting and submitting to Jesus as the crucified Lord. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Peter Bolt says in his book, The Cross from a Distance, “Our destruction of the Son of God should have driven us further away from God. Instead, in that very event, God came close to us”! God comes close to us through the preaching of his gospel and the sending of his Spirit. The Spirit who renews us then marks us out as belong to God and who equips us for the great and glorious day of the Lord.
I wonder if you can guess who said these words, “The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem”. It was Captain Jack Sparrow (“Pirates of the Caribbean”). If you have not returned to the Lord through faith in Christ then it is neither the Lord or Christ who is the problem. The problem is your attitude to the problem.
There is nothing that God has not done to warn us and prepare us for the future. Sin—death—condemnation. Mercy—Jesus—reconciliation. Don’t be held captive by the chains of secularism. Peter told his hearers, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation” (Acts 2.40). Secularism: the belief, amongst other things, that there is nothing after the grave. The resurrection of Jesus is historical proof that what Joel says is true.
These last days won’t last forever. Heed Joel’s warning, “Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love … Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”.
How did the church respond in the Book of Acts? Under the guidance of the Spirit, they devoted themselves “to the apostles teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2.42). And they could not stop talking about Jesus, “for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4.12).
