Joel/Obadiah

Big Idea: Hope Admist judgement

INTRODUCTION

A little over a week ago, a football player on the Buffalo Bills football team made a tackle…stood up, took 2 steps, and then fell to the ground.We don’t know much about the prophet Joel other than his Father’s name.

Last week, Amos was talking to the Northern 10 tribes of Israel, and this week, Joel is prophesying to the southern kingdom, or Judah.

Scholars have highly debated the timing of Joel’s prophecy. Some say it before the exile of Israel and some say it is after.

But, one scholar pointed out that the message of Joel is timeless and applies to all nations and people at all times.

God this week is after his people.

Our study of Joel this week is no different than our study of any other of the OT books this year.

It’s all about the heart of God for His people.

God is after his people this week.

They are again walking for destruction and God says..nope..not so fast. No way am I going to let you just

DIVISION I: Hope for Today- Joel 1-2

Locusts have invaded the land…the nation is facing severe economic crisis..there is no end in sight.

Joel jumps right in to the conversation...

He is like- hey guys…yea the locusts…I know man....it’s really bad..

Have you ever seen anything like it? I haven’t?

Make sure you write it down and document it…future generations need to know about this.

I mean- just when you thought it couldn’t get worse..it does.

It’s horrible..there is no food.

it like an army has invaded- but instead of an army of people, its an army of locusts..

Joel jumps right in..he didn’t have to convince the people that the locusts were bad…everybody already knew that.

The people here were probably shaking their head’s in agreement as Joel describes the devastation caused by the locusts.

They were living this..they felt this hard.

The locust’s had devastated the nation.

It had stripped the land bare-leaving no food for them to eat.

and vs. 12- says that their joy had surely withered away.

This is a depressing state we find Israel in at the beginning of this book...

They have no food. their land has been destroyed…there is no hope in sight…and they have lost all joy.

When was the last time you felt that way..

Maybe you too feel as if all the joy had been sucked out of you?

Could it be- that God has brought you to this place- a place where all the joy is gone- to get your attention?

Well, Joel knows their hopelessness, and in the case of Israel, He has grabbed their attention and is going to help them understand what they were experiencing by explaining it using the word the Lord God had given Him..

Joel says- this is no random disaster.

This disaster is God’s judgement on you…your relationship with Him is broken because of your sin.

in vs. 13- he calls them to mourn and fast…this was something that the religious leaders would do when the people faced an emergency situation and needed to humble themselves and seek God...

Joel is saying— this is an emergency!!

in vs 14 he says...

‘Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord.

Alas for that day! For the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.’

Joel here is saying....The locusts may have cut off your joy and gladness, but something worse than your current suffering is coming.

The locusts are simply a foreshadowing of future judgement to come.

And as we move into chp. 2-

Joel continues emphasizing the urgency of the coming judgement…telling them to sound the alarm...

This past week I was out of town and staying in a hotel, and at about 9 in the morning the fire alarm started going off.

The sound was piercing. I was on the 4th floor and the sound itself caused me to run, as fast as possible, to get out of the building...

The alarm did it’s job.

It got my attention and it forced me into action…to get moving…

Joel is sounding the alarm…telling them they better get moving..the day of the Lord is not something to look forward to- it’s a day of darkness and gloom...

The alarm is meant to get their attention…to cause them to do something!

If an alarm goes off- you can choose to do nothing.…but Joel assures the people here that if they do that the consequences would be deadly...

in vs 1-11: He tells Israel that the coming judgement would be unprecedented...powerful...and awful..”

He says- an army is coming..and vs 11 says that the Lord thunders at the head of it…this army is being sent by God and it is not coming to provide protection…but is instead..it is an act of judgement.

It’s unclear here whether the coming army described in the 1st 11 verses of chp. 2 is literal locusts or an army of men…but what he does tell us in vs 11 is that: “The day of the Lord is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it?

So what action does God call people to take?

vs 12…Even now, return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning....Rend your heart and not your garments.

God’s judgement is an invitation to Israel to turn back to Him.

He is bringing judgement- sucking the joy out of them and sounding the alarm because He knows that they are headed for destruction- and only in Him is life.

To repent means to turn- or change direction.

God is saying…stop going in that direction-

All of this judgement is meant to get your attention before it’s too late.

A final day of the Lord is coming- and for those that are not mine- who have not returned to me- it will be a day of darkness.

But God tells Israel, all hope is not lost..in me is hope.

Look at how vs. 13 continues: Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love....

God’s character is their hope in the middle of judgement!

All year I have been emphasizing the importance of reading scripture with the knowledge of God’s character.

Joel is showing us the heart of God here.

Judgement is not an attribute of God- Go back to the list of attributes we talked about last week- it’s not listed…

Judgement exists where righteousness does not. It’s a holy response to injustice- to sin.

But reading this should motivate us to seek God- b/c out of his love and grace and compassion for people you find hope as God calls His people, once again, back to Him.

He is pursuing them…he makes a way....and he didn’t have to do that.

Only when we recognize our sin- turn from it and turn towards God can we be in relationship with Him.

Don’t put off your sin and run away from God- run to him- b/c he is your only hope.

As we move into vs. 18, it seems that the people listened to Joel’s warning of coming judgement b/c in vs 18 he says:

“Then the Lord was jealous for his land and took pity on his people...”

These are God’s covenant people- his chosen people-he is a husband who longs for his wife, Israel, to love him, to want Him…to be in relationship with Him.

Here God takes pity on them and instead of giving them the judgement they deserve, he instead relents.

One person said that: God’s pity is his compassion in action

-through the end of chp 2, Joel describes God’s future restoration...

God longs to restore you-he has sounded the alarm- calling you back to Him...

God didn’t leave us in our sin…he has made a way back to Him, just like he did for the people of Israel.

For Israel, God used the prophet Joel, as well as other prophets, to reveal people’s sin and call them back to himself.

And today God calls us to himself through the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is

and he relents from sending

To realize your sin- and turn around and head towards God.

Repentance first occurs in the heart but it is followed by external actions...

To rend your heart

If Joel were here today, I wonder what life circumstance he might use to get our attention...

An earthquake....hurricane…blizzard…pandemic..

Joel says in vs 6…it has laid waste my vines and ruined my figs. It has stripped off their bark and thrown it away, leaving their branches white.

in 2020, a news headline in Africa read: Africa Locust Invasion Spreading, May become ‘Most devastating plague’ in living memory.”

The report stated that “a single swarm can contain up to 150 million locust per square kilometer of farmland, an area the size of almost 250 football fields.”

The results from the locust plague were catostrophic.

If you thought cicadas were bad…locusts were far worse!