God restores

12  “Yet even now,” declares the Lord,

i“return to me with all your heart,

jwith fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;

13  and krend your hearts and not lyour garments.”

Return to the Lord your God,

mfor he is gracious and merciful,

slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;

nand he relents over disaster.

14  oWho knows whether he will not turn and relent,

and pleave a blessing behind him,

qa grain offering and a drink offering

for the Lord your God?

15  rBlow the trumpet in Zion;

sconsecrate a fast;

call a solemn assembly;

16  gather the people.

tConsecrate the congregation;

assemble the elders;

ugather the children,

even nursing infants.

vLet the bridegroom leave his room,

and the bride her chamber.

17  wBetween the xvestibule and the yaltar

zlet the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep

and say, “Spare your people, O Lord,

and make not your heritage a reproach,

a byword among the nations.1

aWhy should they say among the peoples,

‘Where is their God?’ ”

The Lord Had Pity

18  bThen the Lord became jealous for his land

cand had pity on his people.

19  The Lord answered and said to his people,

“Behold, dI am sending to you

grain, wine, and oil,

dand you will be satisfied;

and I will no more make you

a reproach among the nations.

20  “I will remove the northerner far from you,

and drive him into a parched and desolate land,

his vanguard2 into ethe eastern sea,

and his rear guard3 into fthe western sea;

gthe stench and foul smell of him will rise,

for he has done great things.

21  “Fear not, O land;

be glad and rejoice,

for hthe Lord has done great things!

22  Fear not, iyou beasts of the field,

for jthe pastures of the wilderness are green;

kthe tree bears its fruit;

the fig tree and kvine give their full yield.

23  l“Be glad, O children of Zion,

and lrejoice in the Lord your God,

for he has given mthe early rain for your vindication;

he has poured down for you abundant rain,

mthe early and nthe latter rain, as before.

24  “The threshing floors shall be full of grain;

the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.

25  I will restore4 to you the years

that othe swarming locust has eaten,

othe hopper, othe destroyer, and othe cutter,

pmy great army, which I sent among you.

26  q“You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,

and praise the name of the Lord your God,

who has dealt wondrously with you.

And my people rshall never again be put to shame.

27  sYou shall know that I am tin the midst of Israel,

and that uI am the Lord your God vand there is none else.

And my people rshall never again be put to shame.

The Lord Will Pour Out His Spirit

28  5 w“And it shall come to pass afterward,

that xI will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;

yyour sons and zyour daughters shall prophesy,

your old men shall dream dreams,

and your young men shall see visions.

29  aEven on the male and female servants

in those days I will pour out my Spirit.

30 “And I will show bwonders in the heavens and bon the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 cThe sun shall be turned to darkness, dand the moon to blood, ebefore the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 32 And it shall come to pass that feveryone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. gFor in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, asJoel 2: 25

Joel's ministry in the middle of the 8th century BC so we're talking roughly 750 BC this is about a

hundred and fifty years before the Babylonian invasion of the southern kingdom of Judah

the book of joel pre the Babylonian invasion by about a

hundred and fifty years so this is not in chronological order

Joel ministered during this time of history that Israel is a divided ten of theJewish tribes living in the north - Israel you have two tribes living in the South Judah ---Joel's ministry was directed to them the southern kingdom of Judah

the book of Joel is to warn

people about a coming day of judgment and to encourage people about a gracious

God who responds to repentance that's basically what this book is about now as

is typical of Old Testament prophets there is a contemporary as well as a

prophetic element to what they wrote in other words their ministry this is this

is pretty much for all the Old Testament prophets their ministry was directed both to their own generation but then

there's also an element to the prophets that was prophetic thus they're called

prophets that pointed to a time in the future and in Joel's case some of the

things he says applies to the times and the people of his day and some of the things he says applies to our day and

even beyond some of the things that he prophesized here in these three short chapters have to do with the future even

beyond our day and so what the book of Joel is about is what would occur in his

own day and what will occur in our day and beyond our day concerning the judgment of God and so he starts out

here by addressing his own generation by talking about something that occurred in

their past and it appears that it was in their immediate past and in their recent past that God had expressed his judgment

against the people for their idolatry and for their rebellion against God in the form of a very devastating invasion

of locusts when we read here back in Chapter 1 if you go back to chapter 1 when we read the reference here to these

locusts and by the way Joel kind of writes here and the different stages of the development of a locust he's talking

literally this is not figurative language there was apparently in Joel's

day or you know shortly just before a devastating invasion of locusts and Joel

writes about it to let the people know is actually an expression of God's judgement against you so back in chapter

1 verse 2 he he asks the question has anything like this happened

Joel 1: 1-4 the word of the Lord that came to Joel --

well here this you elders and give ear all you inhabitants of the land -- retell and remember this in verse 4 what the

chewing locust laughed the swarming locust has eaten what the swarming

locust left the crawling locust has eaten and what the crawling locusts left

the consuming locust has eaten

past tense it has happened has anything like this happened in your days or even in the days of your fathers he's

like can you think of another time when something so devastating like this has happened this kind of freak invasion of

locusts because because it was so unusual then it's not a common occurrence joel was trying to get them

to realize you realize that this is God trying to get your attention here and and then he adds the whole thing about

the different developmental levels of in Ilocos he goes in verse 4 he goes what the chewing locust left the swarming

locust has eaten and what the swarming locust left and again this is past tense the crawling locust has eaten and what

the crawling locusts left the consuming locust has eaten you know I I don't know

that any one stage of the locust is good there I don't want to I don't want the swarming well I don't want the crawling I don't want the consuming but here they

are and they've invaded the land now the people of Joel's day would have understood that because this is not a

common occurrence this is God trying to get our attention you know what will

come later because unfortunately they don't get the little wake-up calls this

is a little wake-up call compared to what's coming the Assyrian army is going to come to the north the Babylonian

Empire is going to come in the form of an army to the south this is mild in

comparison to that you know this is often the way that God deals with us he gives us these little nudges every once

in a while before the hammer has to come down if we don't respond to the little

nudges then guess what it hurts more and so what he's doing at this point is

you're some locusts I want to get your attention here's what's happening do you see the devastation do you know it's for my hand now here's why they would also

Chapter 1 different people who get impacted by this invasion of locusts in

different ways I find some of this a little amusing for example in chapter 1 verse 5 he talks about how even the

drunks are all upset why because the locusts have des

destroyed the farmers are grieving as a result also their livelihood is is in the tank because of the locusts and in

chapter 1 verse 18 he says even the cattle moan and the Sheep suffer because

there's no pasture to graze

video of locust invasion

get this so he speaks about God's judgment in the form of these locusts

it's what happened it's past tense now he switches to future tense in chapter 2

if you look with me in your Bibles in chapter 2 verse 1 he says blow the

trumpet in Zion and sound an alarm in my holy mountain let all the inhabitants of

the land tremble for the day of the Lord is coming for it is at hand notice the

tense has changed now it's it is coming the day of the Lord underline that phrase in your Bible Joel uses it five

times do you know in the entire Old Testament that phrase the day of the Lord is only used 17 times five of those

17 times are contained in this little book of Joel just three chapters the day

of the Lord speaks about it's a phrase that is commonly used it reference to the coming of the Lord it's not a

necessarily a specific day although it can be but it also can measure time in

terms of a particular season a particular event and in general when

Joel here talks about the day of the Lord is coming he's speaking about future tents the the the judgment of God

that will be expressed in a parallel way only in a much more severe way than an

invasion of locusts an invasion of locusts devastating it's terrible but in comparison to what's coming because God

will bring his judgment upon the earth you can't even make a comparison the day

of the Lord is coming and that whole reference refers to tribulation the Tribulation Period refers to the return

of Christ the first to a new heaven new earth it refers in general to the coming of the Lord and the judgment that will

accompany him because of a rebellious people who have forsaken him and disobeyed him so Joel not only looks in

his own day and says hey that was God's judgment you guys are

rebelling against him you guys are sinning against him he also looks to a future day and says well the day of the

Lord is coming and here we are now

chapter 2 and look at verse 12

chapter 2:12 says now therefore says the Lord turned to me with all your heart

with fasting with weeping and with mourning so rend your heart and not your

garments return to the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful slow to

anger and of great kindness and he relents from doing harm who knows if he will turn and relent and

leave a blessing behind him a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God and then finally still in

Chapter 2: POur out my spirit:

chapter 2 look at verse 28 and we'll look at verse 28 through the end of this chapter and it shall come to pass

afterward that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh your sons and your

daughters shall prophesy your old men shall dream dreams your young men shall see visions by the way Peter quotes this

in the book of Acts chapter 2 in regards to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit of

Pentecost and subsequent to that day the availability of the baptism of the Holy

Spirit even for us today so Joel writes about this Peter quotes in Acts chapter 2 about how your sons and daughters

shall prophesy your old men shall dream dreams your young men shall see visions verse 29 and also on my men's servants

and my maid servants I will pour out my spirit in those days future and I will show wonders in the heavens and in the

earth blood and fire and pillars of smoke the Sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before

the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord and it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the

Lord shall be saved

this verse 12

now therefore says the Lord turned to me with all your heart with fasting and

with weeping and with mourning so rend your heart and not your garments okay let me just pause in that day as a

sign of mourning they would tear their clothes and God is saying don't bother ripping your clothes just tear open your

heart and get humble and get right with me just you know beat be remorseful over

your sin be broken over your sin you don't need to go around tearing your clothes you said rend your heart not your garments return to the Lord your God for

he is gracious and merciful slow to

anger and of great kindness some of your Bibles say abounding in love and he

relents from doing harm who knows he might turn and relent and leave a

blessing behind him a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God and so God inserts himself in the story

and I just want to close out chapter 2 by looking again at verse 32 if you look in