We Are Blessed
The Prophet Joel • Sermon • Submitted
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17 “Then you will know that I, the Lord your God, dwell in Zion, my holy hill. Jerusalem will be holy; never again will foreigners invade her.
18 “In that day the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills will flow with milk; all the ravines of Judah will run with water. A fountain will flow out of the Lord’s house and will water the valley of acacias.
19 But Egypt will be desolate, Edom a desert waste, because of violence done to the people of Judah, in whose land they shed innocent blood.
20 Judah will be inhabited forever and Jerusalem through all generations.
21 Shall I leave their innocent blood unavenged? No, I will not.” The Lord dwells in Zion!
We are blessed because we can know God.
Vs. 17
• “You will know that I am the LORD your God.”
o Blessing begins with the knowledge of God. We are blessed that God allows us to have knowledge of Him!!!! We were created for intimate relationship with him. That is our true purpose in this world.
o This type of knowledge is more than just knowing about something. This relationship with God leads us to live it out and share with others about who God is and what God has done for us.
o Many people know about and even believe in God, even those who do not have this intimate personal relationship.
19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
o This idea of knowing God is much more personal that just a head knowledge. It is a heart knowledge - it is a two-way relationship - we were created for so much more than a head knowledge only.
We are blessed because He is our God.
• “I am the LORD your God.”
o That means so much more than just believing in God, its knowing that He is your God; having a personal relationship with Him.
o This is only possible because God has chosen to make Himself known to us.
2 The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.
3 All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.
o But God has chosen to reveal Himself through His Son Jesus Christ which
2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.
o God did this in order to bring to us His salvation.
13 I am bringing my righteousness near, it is not far away; and my salvation will not be delayed. I will grant salvation to Zion, my splendor to Israel.
We are blessed because He dwells with us.
• “Dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain.”
o God will once again dwell in the midst of His people in His holy city.
10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.
11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.
o But for us, we already have the presence of God with us, in the Holy Spirit of Promise.
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—
17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
We are blessed because He makes us holy.
• “Then shall Jerusalem be holy.”
o It will be holy because God’s presence is there.
o Peter makes this application to our very lives based on the fact that the presence of God does in fact dwell in us.
15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;
16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
• “No strangers pass through her anymore.”
o Every living person will know and worship God.
9 They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
We are blessed because He restores us.
Vs. 18
• A restoration of all those things God had taken away in Chapter 1.
o “new wine” 1:5
o “flow with milk and honey” 1:10-12
o “fountain shall come forth…” 1:19-20
• God can take what we tear down and not only restore it, but make it better than it ever was.
o He is always doing that with our lives, but we must surrender to His will and not our own.
Vs. 19
• Again we see that God will judge His enemies; those who have shed innocent blood.
We are blessed because He has established us.
Vv. 20-21
• God promises to establish Judah forever and dwell in Zion; however only after they have been cleansed.
o Are we not so blessed that unlike Judah we do not have to look forward to that day, because it is already here.
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
We are blessed because we can declare His praises.
21 the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.