Sermon Tone Analysis

Sound the ALARM!

We shift immediately in chapter two to alarm.

The first chapter was really interpreting the past though it was recent past.

Chapter two moves forward in time.

In the now be warned of the future.

This is not to make alarm from the city walls but from the holy mountain.

It would be normal for an alarm to arise from the watchtowers of the city if trouble was spotted but the this warning is of the coming of the day of the Lord!

The darkness amd clouds remind us of the Lord going before the nation as a cloud by day than clouds remind us of judgment.

And the mountain recalls us to Mt. Sinai where the israelites feared the Lord Exo 20:18

But instead of the power of God on display as their rescue we have instead the darkness being the mass of powerful people that are unique in history.

Where they go is as easy as the perfection of Eden, the tread into green prosperous lands but where they’ve been is desolation like the wilderness.

Then, lets remember we’re not talking about Centaurs or magical people in some literalist interpretation of scripture but we need to understand the ideas behind the description that says these people look like horses.

And like war horses they run.

What did horses in the ancient world represent?

Military power and wealth.

I love the vivid imagery here with these words that paint a picture.

The scary thought of chariots that have made it to the top of a hill unknown to you and burst over the top with the highground, surprise, and superiority of military technology is a terrifying prospect.

We talked about this last week as a curse for the failure to follow after God but this imagery still has to be pointed out.

Deut 28:38-65

This is the Day of the Lord that comes in judgment.

Be afraid and do something about it.

Have you ever been frightened so badly that the only thing you did was grow pale?

Have you ever been stuck in that terrible moment, and I don’t mean to dredge up the frightful memory if you have but that kind of terror is what we’re looking at.

This is a seeing your destruction coming right for you moment.

This destruction cannot be stoped by the best offense, defense, or sanctity of home.

It is coming you cannot escape.

It is because this is a supernaturally empowered army.

It’s God’s army enacting God’s will.

This phrasing we see in several places to describe the Ultimate day of the Lord.

Yet, there is a question, who can endure it?

The answer of course, is no one… no one but God.

So, if we face this could we stand?

No, it is Christ who stands in our place in that great moment of Judgment on the cross.

We are rescued from this judgment and will not face the wrath of God, if we have been grafted into him as heirs through Christ Jesus.

Now for these people at this time what hope is there?

Let’s keep reading.

Joel 2:12-13

There is always, always, always, hope for repentance and redemption.

Joel’s call to the people of Israel is not to stay lamenting their impending destruction but to the return of faith that participates with bread and wine in His fellowship.

So..

This is a very clear call to repentance and worship of the Lord.

Drope everything going on and return to the Lord.

God will respond.

John asked last week about the fact that if everything was gone, if the locusts took everything how did the people survive?

Besides some practical thoughts about the possibility of purchasing from countries around them like Jacob and his sons did from Egypt, where Joseph was in charge, there is also this miraculous provision from God to Save his people, least not for His own reputation among the nations.

Not only is the agricultural destruction undone in some way the military judgment will also be undone.

In Hosea we brought out the idea of un-creation as a way to describe the curse from God.

Here that’s been done in some sense but it isn’t clear until we get the picture of restoration that goes in creation order land, beasts, then people.

Then the full healing and restoration is promised.

The blessings of God, the punishment of God, the forgiveness of God that we have all experienced calls for its own response and God expects this response.

Amen.