The Book of Joel
rWe continue our series on The Minor Prophets with the book of Joel. The book begins in the wake of devastation and crisis. And Joel is using these circumstances to call people back to a dependency upon God. It's often from within the pain we experience that God is calling to us and inviting us to experience Him aWe gontinue ounew. Calamity will come for us. Sometimes God uses pain to get our attention and to call us back to Him. The central message of Joel is: "The pathway from devastation to restoration begins with a wholehearted return to God." In our day God can still bring about restoration - He is still a merciful and restoring God. One day he will judge fully and fully restore all things. Throughout the book of Joel, we see the familiar refrain of all the Minor Prophets: Return to the Lord and His covenant, repent of your sins, and experience the restoration of the Lord. May we be people of this rhythm in our living.
The Minor Prophets
Minor in length, not in message
Three words sum up the message of all of The Minor Prophets:
Return. Repent. Restore.
Return to the Lord and His covenant.
Repent of your sins.
Experience restoration with God.
The Book of Joel (uses a lot of poetic language)
A massive ARMY had invaded — but not an army like you would think:
…locusts had devastated the nation. Fields were stripped bare. Crops destroyed. Economic stability vanished. Famine and drought was reality.
But Joel sees something deeper.
The locusts were not merely an agricultural disaster.
They were a spiritual wake-up call.
Joel takes a national tragedy and asks a spiritual question:
"What is God trying to say to us through this?"
That question remains relevant today.
Joel, whose name means “Yahweh is God,”
*Scholars suggest possible dates - for Joel’s ministry ranging from the reign of Joash (835–796 B.C.) to after the Babylonian captivity sometime in the 6th century B.C.
It’s most likely set during that time period (6th century) of Ezra-Nehemiah time frame, after the return from the exile, because he mentions Jerusalem and the temple - but not a kingdom. He quotes/alludes to many other minor prophet books.
He mentions the “Day of the Lord” a few times in the book and that always hints at (in short) God’s judgement.
“The ol - wait until your father gets home” kind of sense — if you grew up with healthy fear of Dad’s impending judgement that would come…
That exact term is used 19 times in the Old Testament and 5 times in the New Testament.
The “Day of the Lord” = a cycle consisting of:
• God revealing man’s sin,
• A means of salvation,
• An opportunity for repentance,
• Judgment,
• Restoration
"Day of the Lord" (Hebrew: Yom Yahweh)
is a prophetic concept describing a span of time when God directly intervenes in human history to judge evil, defeat his enemies, and bring salvation to the faithful.
It’s an: “All ready and not yet” reality - we see instances in the past and there will be a ‘in the future’ display as well…
New Testament writers adopt the Old Testament apocalyptic framework and identify Jesus Christ as the agent of this Day. The Apostle Paul equates the Day of the Lord with the return of Jesus.
Joel 1:1-15 NLT
The LORD gave this message to Joel son of Pethuel.Hear this, you leaders of the people. Listen, all who live in the land. In all your history, has anything like this happened before?Tell your children about it in the years to come, and let your children tell their children. Pass the story down from generation to generation.After the cutting locusts finished eating the crops, the swarming locusts took what was left! After them came the hopping locusts, and then the stripping locusts, too!Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you wine-drinkers! All the grapes are ruined, and all your sweet wine is gone.A vast army of locusts has invaded my land, a terrible army too numerous to count. Its teeth are like lions’ teeth, its fangs like those of a lioness.It has destroyed my grapevines and ruined my fig trees, stripping their bark and destroying it, leaving the branches white and bare.Weep like a bride dressed in black, mourning the death of her husband.For there is no grain or wine to offer at the Temple of the LORD. So the priests are in mourning. The ministers of the LORD are weeping.The fields are ruined, the land is stripped bare. The grain is destroyed, the grapes have shriveled, and the olive oil is gone.Despair, all you farmers! Wail, all you vine growers! Weep, because the wheat and barley— all the crops of the field—are ruined.The grapevines have dried up, and the fig trees have withered. The pomegranate trees, palm trees, and apple trees— all the fruit trees—have dried up. And the people’s joy has dried up with them.Dress yourselves in burlap and weep, you priests! Wail, you who serve before the altar! Come, spend the night in burlap, you ministers of my God. For there is no grain or wine to offer at the Temple of your God.Announce a time of fasting; call the people together for a solemn meeting. Bring the leaders and all the people of the land into the Temple of the LORD your God, and cry out to him there.The day of the LORD is near, the day when destruction comes from the Almighty. How terrible that day will be!
The imagery is relentless. Wave after wave of destruction.
Nothing untouched. Nothing spared. Joel wants the people to feel the weight of their circumstances. Not because God enjoys suffering…
Suffering has a way of exposing
what comfort often so easily conceals.
When life is easy, we can drift.
When life is painful, we start asking deeper questions.
“We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
Joel reminds us: disruption can often be a divine invitation.
Joel 2:11-13 NIV
The LORD thunders at the head of his army; his forces are beyond number, and mighty is the army that obeys his command. The day of the LORD is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it?“Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.”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.
"return to me with all your heart..."
"Rend your hearts and not your garments."
In Joel's day people would tear their clothing as an outward sign of repentance.
God says:
"I'm not interested in outward displays - if your heart remains unchanged."
The problem wasn't merely behavior modification...going through the motions outwardly, but never changing the heart/intentions on the inside…
Jesus said one day:
Jesus replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." -Mark 7:6
=The problem was their distance from God.
(no heart proximity to God, means limited relational connection with God)
Joel 2:12-14 NLT
That is why the LORD says, “Turn to me now, while there is time. Give me your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning.Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead.” Return to the LORD your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not punish.Who knows? Perhaps he will give you a reprieve, sending you a blessing instead of this curse. Perhaps you will be able to offer grain and wine to the LORD your God as before.
=WHY can we return to God?
Because GOD’S MERCY IS GREATER THAN OUR FAILURE (v.13)
The greatest motivation for repentance is not fear.
It's confidence in God's mercy.
The ultimate demonstration of Joel 2:13 is found at the cross.
God did not ignore sin. Jesus bore it.
God did not compromise justice. Jesus satisfied it.
God did not withhold mercy. Jesus secured it.
The cross is where justice and mercy meet.
Joel 2:25-26 NIV
“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten— the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm— my great army that I sent among you.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.
The God Who Restores
This is one of God's specialties.
Throughout Scripture, God takes broken things and creates beauty.
The enemy writes stories of destruction.
God writes stories of redemption.
The enemy destroys. But God rebuilds.
Joel says:
The story is not over.
God specializes in restoration.
GOD’S ULTIMATE ANSWER IS HIS PRESENCE
Joel's greatest promise is not agricultural recovery.
It's spiritual renewal.
Joel 2:28-29
“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.
This was revolutionary.
The Spirit would not be reserved for only kings, priests, or prophets.
God's presence would become available to all His people.
Acts 2 - Peter stands up and says "This is That" and quotes from Joel...
God is still preparing a Spirit-filled people.
Filled with God presence thru the Spirit…
Why?
…The deepest restoration is not external prosperity.
It is renewed intimacy with God through the Holy Spirit.
Joel 3 hints at the Day of the Lord again...
God will ultimately judge all nations, all peoples and justice will be served…
It will be the “righting of the wrongs”
Joel 3:14
Thousands upon thousands are waiting in the valley of decision.
There the day of the Lord will soon arrive.
2 Corinthians 5:10
For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil.”
For the Christian, we have HOPE — we appear to find our names written in the Book of Life - our lives covered by the sacrifice of Christ and we are covered by what he endured, accomplished and forgiven through His shedding of blood, the forgiveness of our sins.
But God will one day make all things right and set things right…
The central message of Joel is:
"The pathway from devastation to restoration begins with a wholehearted return to God."
The God who called Israel home is still calling people home today.
The God who restored ruined fields - still restores ruined lives.
The God who poured out His Spirit at Pentecost still fills His people today.
And the invitation remains the same:
"Yet even now," declares the Lord, "return to Me with all your heart.”
==the path from ruin to renewal always starts in the heart.
God wants your heart, not your lip service or monotonous religious observances
Mark 7:6
Jesus replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
Friends:
Fans give lip service & go through the motions
(fans cheer from a distance)
But Followers of Jesus always aim to keep their hearts close to Jesus.
(Intimacy is only experienced in proximity)
