Joel. God wants to give his mercy and grace, and to pour out his love on all people.
The book of Joel, the third of our minor prophets is a short read. This book of three chapters, is about God confronting and defeating evil.
The name Joel while being a short name contains a lot of meaning; from Hebrew it means “Yahweh is God,” in English it translates to “The Lord is God.” Joel’s name itself is a declaration of who his God is.
As a prophet Joel was ringing a warning that ‘The Day of The Lord’ was coming and it wasn’t going to be a picnic, he was speaking forth that God is sovereign and God is calling people to repentance because he wanted to bless them.
There’s a bit of debate about when the book was written as there’s no solid historical pointer because no kings or recorded events apart for a plague of locusts are mentioned. It is thought that it was most likely written after the Babylonian exile between 500 and 400 BC, because Joel mentions the Temple and priests but not a king. Also, because he did mention the Temple which is in Jerusalem, it is believed he lived in Judah, the southern kingdom of the two kingdoms that made up the original Israel.
Joel is addressing the people of Judah, these people had no king, they were now part of the Persian empire, having been allowed to return to Judah by the Persian Emperor Cyrus the Great, in 538BC, but with no local king, the Temple High Priest had oversight of the nation. So, Joel’s audience lived under Persian imperial control, with religious leaders as local authority. Knowing this makes Joel’s call to repentance and reliance on God important as Judah had no political power, only spiritual responsibility. Why, because God wanted to bless his people. Sounds a little like most of us I think, no political power but we are spiritually responsible for ourselves, as parents we are spiritually responsible for our families until they are adults and for those of us in ministry we have a degree of spiritual responsibility for those we minister to, no pressure.
(Here I walked out having put a GOD sign on the cross at the back of the platform, still talking on the microphone as an illustration.) So, Joel, a bit like I mentioned about Hosea addressing Israel, the northern kingdom in last weeks message and giving them a good slapping …Joel is letting the people of Judah know they are not where they should be in God’s eyes. As such they need to repent, which basically means change direction and head back to God. (back to the God sign). They had just had a devastating locust plague which Joel points out, was a heads up on their need to repent, and he warns them that the “Day of the Lord” is coming. The Day of the Lord can mean a few things, judgement by God, the coming of the Messiah, the last of all days among them.
But for now back to locusts and a plague of locusts: One female lays between 240-300 eggs in its lifetime. A pair of locusts in the right growing conditions can become 10 million in as little as 6-8 months, four or five generations. A plague of 80 million locusts can consume enough food to feed 35 thousand people in one day, a bit over three and a half Tawa’s full of people, now that’s a fair swag of tucker.
From 2019-2022 The most recent major locust swarm affected East Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Asia. It was described as the worst outbreak in decades. Here are the key figures:
• Average swarm size: About 80 million locusts in a single swarm.
• Largest swarms: Some swarms during this outbreak were estimated to contain up to 10 billion locusts, stretching over hundreds of kilometres. [blog.entom...logist.net] That’s by my calculations 125 times the average of 80 million
• Scale of the outbreak: The plague caused over $1.3 billion in crop damage across 23 countries, threatening food security for millions. [agrilifeto...y.tamu.edu]
So from that description we can determine that crops good, locusts bad, plague of locusts really bad and in Joel’s case take the recent bad locust plague as a warning. This was a crisis, there was famine, this resulted in an economic disaster, no food for man or beast, means no markets, no income to buy the food that didn’t exist, just no food, unless you were near a fishing port. The nation of Judah had been through and was in a time of deep dire dookie. This was as Joel described, to be seen as a time of divine judgement, like the eight plague of Egypt in the time of Moses, and resulted in Joel speaking up and calling the people to repentance. How many people live their lives in a famine, not knowing, not living as God would have them live, Joel calls Judah to repentance.
Why? Because they were living lives that were out of sorts with God and The Day of The Lord was coming. In chapters 1 and 2 we get this depiction of what God is saying through Joel. The original locust swarm, this from chapter 1:4-6
What the locust swarm has left
the great locusts have eaten;
what the great locusts have left
the young locusts have eaten;
what the young locusts have left
other locusts[a] have eaten.
5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!
Wail, all you drinkers of wine;
wail because of the new wine,
for it has been snatched from your lips.
6 A nation has invaded my land,
a mighty army without number;
it has the teeth of a lion,
the fangs of a lioness.
So, Joel gives this wake up call to Judah, what you thought you had, has been taken away from you, famine, billions of wee beasties have consumed it, they ate your vineyards there’s no grapes left to crush, they took your wine, there’s absolutely nothing left that you can consume, famine. Later in chapter one we read that there’s not even offerings to bring to the alter in the Temple (ref 1:13). Verse 17 of Chapter one tells the people of Judah the store houses are desolate, famine . It’s like us saying there’s nothing in the fridge or the pantry and there’s no point checking at the Supermarket the shelves are bare, the foodbank is also empty, what happened to that Agee jar of peaches Grandma gave us last Autumn? So fast, sanctify a fast, go without eating because there is no other option. (ref 1:14).
Joel is telling them all they had to eat is gone, but he also calls them to repentance, they are in a physical crisis but more to the point it occurred because they are in a Spiritual crisis: The plague was seen as divine judgment, here he is calling for national repentance.
Joel was using the plague as a warning of what was to come another “day of the Lord” coming and then the Promise of restoration: If the people of Judah repent, God will restore their land and pour out His Spirit on all people (Joel 2:28–32).When I was writing this I thought about a warning I am guessing we have all seen about road safety. George offering his mate who let him drive drunk, ghost chips. He can’t eat George’s ghost chips and in a famine, you can’t eat what doesn’t exist. There’s a life lesson, don’t do things that give you Ghost Chips, because you can’t grand eat ghost chips. (Legend (Ghost Chips) - Road Safety | Commercial | NZ On Screen) Live connected to God.
Joel was warning Judah to return to the Lord. Judah and Israel were stubborn and wayward throughout the Old Testament.
There are people who live lives that are in spiritual crisis, some don’t even know they are in a crisis, engaged with some lesser god, or no god, a god of their own making. They live unaware that all of life relates to where they are spiritually. However, if they are open to him, God has a plan, just like he had a plan and a place in time for Judah’s redemption he is calling people to repentance because he wanted to bless them: Please read with me, Joel 2:26-27.
You will have plenty to eat, until you are full,
and you will praise the name of the LORD your God,
who has worked wonders for you;
never again will my people be shamed.
27 Then you will know that I am in Israel,
that I am the LORD your God,
and that there is no other;
never again will my people be shamed.
And; Joel 2:28-32
28 “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.
29 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
30 I will show wonders in the heavens
and on the earth,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
31 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.
32 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,
even among the survivors
whom the LORD calls.[a]
Jumping forward to the New Testament; here are two things that Jesus defeated, delivered us from on a permanent basis through his death and resurrection. The power of sin (ref 2 Cor 5:21) and death (ref 2 Tim 1:10), in reality, ultimate blessings, freedom from shame and eternal life, but wait there’s more, he also promised to send the promised Holy Spirit. (ref Luke 22:49 and Acts 2:33).
The people of Israel and Judah were a bit behind the eight ball, they had journeyed as a people on and off with God, since Abraham’s old Dad Terah, left Ur of the Chaldeans around 1500 years earlier. They kept up a pattern of stupid behaviour: this pattern grew in the garden of Israel as a hardy annual, a regular crop, ‘they sinned, they were judged and then God helped them to rise past their foolishness by His grace.’ I was interested in how many times this occurred so I asked the AI device Microsoft Co-pilot, a better Biblical scholar might have known this off the top of their head. The answer, seven times in the book of Judges alone, 10-12 major cycles in the Old Testament and then there were characters like Saul and David, who had their own personal head counts of silliness. Each time the nation was restored. In this case not only did The Lord’s promised restoration happen but the outpouring of His Spirit on his people occurred.
Again to the New Testament and it would be a crime not to reference this passage from Acts 2, when the followers of Jesus were gathered and the sound like a violent wind came and tongues of fire came and rested on them, and they spoke in tongues that were recognised by God-fearing Jews who were there from all over that part of the world, and they knew they were hearing the wonders of God in their own languages. But others made fun of them saying they had, had too much to drink. But the Apostle Peter put them right saying.
These blokes aren’t drunk it’s only nine o’clock in the morning and the bar doesn’t open till around 11.30. A bit of Paraphrasing there. He said, “No this is what was spoken of by the Prophet Joel”; Acts 2: 17-21. READ IT at home I just read it as he almost exactly quoted Joel.
Joel’s prophecy came to fruition; it happened, Joel got the heads up from God all those years earlier and it happened. God is good. He poured out his Spirit on all his people, the heard the Good News of Jesus Christ. He is calling people to repentance because he wanted to bless them, he continues to call people to repentance because he wants to bless them, God The Holy Spirit still wants to reside with his people.
I will now skip back earlier in the second chapter of Joel, and much earlier than the second chapter of Acts, Joel writes these words that are key to his book, key to Judah and Israels redemption and key to our own redemption and journey as human beings who desire to be at peace with God and one another and this is the take home from this message. This to a people who were hungry and out of sorts with God.
Joel 2:12-14
“Even now,” declares the LORD,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
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,
and he relents from sending calamity.
14 Who knows? He may turn and relent
and leave behind a blessing—
grain offerings and drink offerings
for the LORD your God.”
What did God say he was, “gracious and compassionate.”
The truth is God doesn’t want a performance of repentance, he doesn’t want his people to tear their clothing, to rip their clothing as an external act of showing others you were getting right with him. They would do this, dress in sack cloth and ashes and make an outward appearance of getting right with God, while internally nothing shifted, and God being God knew it. Nothing shifted, so and there’s a bit of the Moffatt paraphrase version of the Bible coming. So here is God saying; :get your heart right with me, it’s who you are that I’m interested in and it needs to shift, right down to the guts of who you are, tear at your heart and get right with me. Have a change of heart” This in Old Testament speak generally means; “get your whole person sorted out with me, stop preforming and making a show of things. I’m gracious, I’m compassionate, I’m not easily angered, I’ve got buckets of love, and I’ll pour that love out on you rather than more stuff you will struggle with. You’ve been hungry but I’ll bless you with food and drink, these things belong to me, but I’ll give them to you. There will be no more hunger and thirst, for you will know me.”
God is abundant in mercy and grace, to receive them all that is required is to walk in his direction, to walk towards the blessing that is the relationship that is possible with him, he will bless you with his presence in your life, acceptance of Him results in His mercy, his grace and his residing with you.
Content developed with assistance from Microsoft Copilot (AI tool) for research purposes.
