Yahweh Dwells in Zion

Joel 3:18 And it will be in that day, That the mountains will drip with sweet wine, And the hills will flow with milk, And all the brooks of Judah will flow with water; And a spring will go out from the house of Yahweh To water the valley of Shittim. 19 Egypt will become a desolation, And Edom will become a desolate wilderness, Because of the violence done to the sons of Judah, In whose land they have shed innocent blood. 20 But Judah will be inhabited forever And Jerusalem from generation to generation. 21 And I will avenge their blood which I have not avenged, Indeed, Yahweh dwells in Zion.

Prayer: Father God, I pray for the working of Your Spirit to bring to remembrance those things which we have studied. To open the eyes of our hearts and minds for their right understanding, and give us the strength to live out the spiritual application.

Introduction

What are the expectiations for you as we have been studying?

Why do we study Scripture?

What do we do with what we have studied?

What did we study?

Joel

Who was Joel? - The son of Peth-lay-el and probably a member of the Southren Kingdom

When did he live and write? - 835 - 796 BC during the reign of King Joash; and we think this is an accurate time since we see it as a preexilic book based on the style and nations mentioned as enemies of Israel (Tyre, Sidon, Phillistia)

What was happening at that time? - The Southern Kingdom had just recently been under rule of the wicked queen Athaliah and was under judgemnt from God for their own national wickedness

2 Kings 8:26 “Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Athaliah the granddaughter of Omri king of Israel.”

2 Kings 11:1-3 “Now Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son had died. So she rose and caused all the royal seed to perish. But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him from among the king’s sons who were being put to death, and put him and his nurse in the bedroom. So they hid him from Athaliah, and he was not put to death. So he was hidden away with her in the house of Yahweh six years, while Athaliah was reigning over the land.”

2 Chron 24:7 “For the sons of the wicked Athaliah had broken into the house of God and even used the holy things of the house of Yahweh for the Baals.”

And that is were we find ourselves at the start of Joel...

Joel 1:1-3 “The word of Yahweh that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel: Hear this, O elders, And give ear, all inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this happened in your days Or in your fathers’ days? Recount about it to your sons, And let your sons recount about it to their sons, And their sons to the next generation.”

Main themes?

Day of the Lord: Immeidate, Imminent, Ultimate

Joel 2:30 “And I will put wonders in the sky and on the earth, Blood, fire, and columns of smoke. 31 “The sun will be turned into darkness And the moon into blood Before the great and awesome day of Yahweh comes. 32 “And it will be that everyone who calls on the name of Yahweh Will be delivered; For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem There will be those who escape, As Yahweh has said, Even among the survivors whom Yahweh calls.

Shown as shadows (Plato’s Cave Allegory)

Col 2:16-17 “Therefore, no one is to judge you in food and drink, or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day— things which are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.”

Contemporary thoughts about the Day of the Lord

Amos 5:18 “Woe, you who are longing for the day of Yahweh, For what purpose will the day of Yahweh be to you? It will be darkness and not light;”

Immediate Day of the Lord

The locusts. Allegory for specific invaders? Time periods? Or just an immediate fulfillment and judgemnt pointing to future things?

Joel 1:4 “What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has consumed; And what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has consumed; And what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has consumed.”

Draught - Not only were there locsuts destroying EVERYTHING, but a draught as well

Joel 1:17-20 “The seeds shrivel under their clods; The storehouses are desolate; The barns are pulled down, For the grain is dried up. How the beasts groan! The herds of cattle wander aimlessly Because there is no pasture for them; Even the flocks of sheep suffer. To You, O Yahweh, I cry; For fire has consumed the pastures of the wilderness, And the flame has burned up all the trees of the field. Even the beasts of the field pant for You; For the water brooks are dried up, And fire has consumed the pastures of the wilderness.”

Those effected started with the drunks (luxeries cut off)

Joel 1:5 “Awake, drunkards, and weep; And wail, all you wine drinkers, On account of the sweet wine That is cut off from your mouth.”

Then the Preists

Joel 1:8-9 “Wail like a virgin girded with sackcloth For the bridegroom of her youth. The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off From the house of Yahweh. The priests mourn, The ministers of Yahweh.”

And the Farmers

Joel 1:10-12 “The field is destroyed; The land mourns, For the grain is destroyed, The new wine dries up, Fresh oil fails. Be ashamed, O farmers, Wail, O vinedressers, For the wheat and the barley, Because the harvest of the field perishes. The vine dries up, And the fig tree fails; The pomegranate, the palm also, and the apple tree, All the trees of the field dry up. Indeed, rejoicing dries up From the sons of men.”

Even gladness and joy was cutoff from the people...

Joel 1:16 “Has not food been cut off before our eyes, Gladness and joy from the house of our God?”

Everything was effected...

Joel 1:18-20 “How the beasts groan! The herds of cattle wander aimlessly Because there is no pasture for them; Even the flocks of sheep suffer. To You, O Yahweh, I cry; For fire has consumed the pastures of the wilderness, And the flame has burned up all the trees of the field. Even the beasts of the field pant for You; For the water brooks are dried up, And fire has consumed the pastures of the wilderness.”

The immediate day of the Lord was a harsh reality and it brought attention to the prophet of God and His message for future judgment.

Imminent Day of the Lord

This imminent day of the Lord points to future invasions that will occur, most noteably the future invasion of Judah by the Assyrians which we find in Isa. 36-37; 2 Kings 18-19; and 2 Chron 32.

Wiersbe says of this: “Now that he had their attention, Joel told the people to stop looking around at the locusts and to start looking ahead to the fulfillment of what the locust plague symbolized: the invasion of a fierce army from the North. Unless Joel had some other attack in mind, anout which we know nothing, he was probablu referring to the Assyrian invasion, during the reign of King Hezikiah, which took place in 701 BC. God allowed the Assyrians to ravage the land, but He miraculously delivered Jerusalem from being taken captive.”

Ultimate Day of the Lord

Joel 1:15 “Alas for the day! For the day of Yahweh is near, And it will come as destruction from the Almighty.”

19 Explicit mentions in the OT and 4 in the NT

This is the final wrath and judgemnt of God poured out upon the earth. It is toatl destruction with no repentance. It is the cup pf God’s wrath that was not satisfied on the cross because Jesus only paid for the sins of those who were His own.

“God’s final wrath and judgment is coming! It is near! It is imminent! And you can argue with me that it has been thousands of years of imminence that have gone by…but, the imminence of God’s wrath is not predicated on the timeliness by which man would see it, but is rather aligned with His holy charachter. Remember, the ultimate Day of the Lord should have happened 6,000 years ago in the Graden…so from that time it was imminent.” SR Moore

Joel 2:2 “A day of darkness and thick darkness, A day of clouds and dense gloom. As the dawn is spread over the mountains, So there is a numerous and mighty people; There has never been anything like it, Nor will there be again after it For the years from generation to generation.”

Joel 2:10 “Before them the earth trembles; The heavens quake; The sun and the moon grow dark, And the stars lose their brightness.”

Matt 24:7 ““For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.”

Matt 24:29 ““But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the POWERS OF THE HEAVENS will be shaken.”

We see the teaching on the final battle of Armegaeddeon

Joel 3:1-2 ““For behold, in those days and at that time, When I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations And bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations; And they have divided up My land.”

Joel 3:12-17 “Let the nations be roused up And come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, For there I will sit to judge All the surrounding nations. Send in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full; The vats overflow, for their evil is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of Yahweh is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon grow dark, And the stars lose their brightness. And Yahweh roars from Zion And gives forth His voice from Jerusalem, And the heavens and the earth quake. But Yahweh is a refuge for His people And a strong defense to the sons of Israel. Then you will know that I am Yahweh your God, Dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain. So Jerusalem will be holy, And strangers will pass through it no more.”

Another major theme is the promise of the Holy Spirit

Promise of the Spirit

Joel 2:28 “And it will be afterwards That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; Your old men will dream dreams; Your young men will see visions. 29 “Even on the male slaves and female slaves I will in those days pour out My Spirit. Deliverance in the Day of Yahweh

“The Prophet of Pentecost”

A partial fulfillment in Acts 2:16-21

16 but this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: 17 ‘AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,’ God says, ‘THAT I WILL POUR OUT MY SPIRIT ON ALL MANKIND; AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS; 18 EVEN ON MY MALE SLAVES AND FEMALE SLAVES, I WILL IN THOSE DAYS POUR OUT MY SPIRIT And they shall prophesy. 19 ‘AND I WILL PUT WONDERS IN THE SKY ABOVE AND SIGNS ON THE EARTH BELOW, BLOOD, AND FIRE, AND VAPOR OF SMOKE. 20 ‘THE SUN WILL BE TURNED INTO DARKNESS AND THE MOON INTO BLOOD, BEFORE THE GREAT AND AWESOME DAY OF THE LORD COMES. 21 ‘AND IT WILL BE THAT EVERYONE WHO CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.’

Peter’s speech here, taken from Joel, is a partial fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy. It points to the “time of the Messiah” and ushers in what we refer to as the “Church age” or “age of Grace.”

The prophecy itself culminates in teaching of the Kingdom of God but spans the entirety from Christ’s advent until the final time of His earthly reign in the new Zion, which is the culminating theme of Joel’s book.

Repentance

Personal and National

This was to be led by the preists and ministers of the people since they were the religious leaders and all of this occured under their watch...

Joel 1:13 “Gird yourselves with sackcloth And lament, O priests; Wail, O ministers of the altar! Come, spend the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God; For the grain offering and the drink offering Are withheld from the house of your God.”

God is withholding the prescribed means of worship in order to bring His people back to Him through the lamenting and wailing of genuine repentance...

“Not being able to worship in His prescriptive or regulative way is a form of judgment that God is enacting on His people. The left His true intent for cooperate worship and turned it into something selfserving and wrong. Not, instead of worship with sacrafice and song; they will repent with lamenting and wailing.” SR Moore

Fasting and a “solemn assembly” or “day of restraint” were part of this...

Joel 1:14 “Set apart a fast as holy, Call for a solemn assembly; Gather the elders And all the inhabitants of the land To the house of Yahweh your God, And cry out to Yahweh.”

All about the heart condition...

Joel 2:12-13 ““Yet even now,” declares Yahweh, “Return to Me with all your heart And with fasting, weeping, and wailing; And tear your heart and not your garments.” Now return to Yahweh your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness, And relenting concerning evil.”

The grast chorus of repentance found in chapter 2

Joel 2:15-17 “Blow a trumpet in Zion, Set apart a fast as holy, call for a solemn assembly, Gather the people, set apart the congregation as holy, Assemble the elders, Gather the infants and the nursing babies. Let the bridegroom come out of his room And the bride out of her bridal chamber. Let the priests, the ministers of Yahweh, Weep between the porch and the altar, And let them say, “Pity Your people, O Yahweh, And do not make Your inheritance a reproach, A byword among the nations. Why should they among the peoples say, ‘Where is their God?’””

Restoration

Joel 2:18-19 “Then Yahweh will be zealous for His land And will spare His people. Then Yahweh will answer and say to His people, “Behold, I am going to send you grain, new wine, and oil, And you will be satisfied in full with them; And I will never again make you a reproach among the nations.”

Land, beasts, and people all restored!

The drought will end as well!

Joel 2:23 “So rejoice, O sons of Zion, And be glad in Yahweh your God, For He has given you the early rain in righteousness. And He has poured down for you the rain, The early and late rains as before.”

It is more than they need...

Joel 2:24 “The threshing floors will be full of grain, And the vats will overflow with the new wine and oil.”

Future restoration is also hinted at in this section

Joel 2:26-27 ““And you will have plenty to consume and be satisfied And praise the name of Yahweh your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you; Then My people will never be put to shame. “Thus you will know that I am in the midst of Israel, And that I am Yahweh your God, And there is no other; And My people will never be put to shame.”

Tonights text - Joel 3:18-21 “And it will be in that day, That the mountains will drip with sweet wine, And the hills will flow with milk, And all the brooks of Judah will flow with water; And a spring will go out from the house of Yahweh To water the valley of Shittim. Egypt will become a desolation, And Edom will become a desolate wilderness, Because of the violence done to the sons of Judah, In whose land they have shed innocent blood. But Judah will be inhabited forever And Jerusalem from generation to generation. And I will avenge their blood which I have not avenged, Indeed, Yahweh dwells in Zion.”

What do we walk away with?

If you can think all the way back to the very end of the first sermon in this series, I asked a question and then answered it for us.

The question was “what should we walk away with at the end of this study?”

Here are the answers I gave: God’s set plan for His people and His Church from the beginning; God’s future plan for His Spirit-filled Belivers; God’s future judgment and ultimate restoration

What did we mostly find?

Alot of darkness, destruction, death...

The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkein

It’s like in the great stories…The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger…And sometimes you didn’t eant to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened?

But in the end, it’s only a passing think, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Thouse were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why.

But I think…I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going, because they were holding on to something.

That there is some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.

Romans 8:18-22 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.”

Finding Christ...

We found him repentance, restoration, and...

His returning…immently

Rev 3:11 “‘I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”

Rev 22:7 ““And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.””

Rev 22:12 ““Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to his work.”

Rev 22:20 “He who bears witness to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”

This entire book shows the Holiness of God and the sinfullness of man