Major Profit in the Minor Prophets: Joel 1:8-20

Recap: Intro & Joel 1:1-7

Joel 1:8–20 (NASB)

8 Wail like a virgin girded with sackcloth For the bridegroom of her youth. 9 The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off From the house of the Lord. The priests mourn, The ministers of the Lord. 10 The field is ruined, The land mourns; For the grain is ruined, The new wine dries up, Fresh oil fails. 11 Be ashamed, O farmers, Wail, O vinedressers, For the wheat and the barley; Because the harvest of the field is destroyed. 12 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. 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. 14 Consecrate a fast, Proclaim a solemn assembly; Gather the elders And all the inhabitants of the land To the house of the Lord your God, And cry out to the Lord. 15 Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is near, And it will come as destruction from the Almighty. 16 Has not food been cut off before our eyes, Gladness and joy from the house of our God? 17 The seeds shrivel under their clods; The storehouses are desolate, The barns are torn down, For the grain is dried up. 18 How the beasts groan! The herds of cattle wander aimlessly Because there is no pasture for them; Even the flocks of sheep suffer. 19 To You, O Lord, I cry; For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness And the flame has burned up all the trees of the field. 20 Even the beasts of the field pant for You; For the water brooks are dried up And fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

(v. 8-13 )

8 Wail like a virgin girded with sackcloth For the bridegroom of her youth. 9 The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off From the house of the Lord. The priests mourn, The ministers of the Lord. 10 The field is ruined, The land mourns; For the grain is ruined, The new wine dries up, Fresh oil fails. 11 Be ashamed, O farmers, Wail, O vinedressers, For the wheat and the barley; Because the harvest of the field is destroyed. 12 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. 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.

There are 4 groups of or types of people Joel is preaching to specifically. We saw three of them last week.

The Elders and Citizens: (The leaders and the followers)

Joel 1:2 (NASB)

2 Hear this, O elders, And listen, all inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this happened in your days Or in your fathers’ days?

2. The Drunkards: (Likely a double meanings)

Joel 1:5 (NASB)

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

3. The Priests: (The shepherds)

9 The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off From the house of the Lord. The priests mourn, The ministers of the Lord.

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…

Why do you suppose these specific groups of people are identified and then called out?

The elders were supposed to be leading the people and teaching them about the things of God.

The citizens are Jews and they are supposed to be following and applying the laws and ordinances of God.

The drunkards are people that are so distracted that they don’t even realize what is going on around them. They could be doing something about it but they are consumed by less important things.

The priests should be preaching the truth. They should be calling the people to repentance, but they aren’t. God has to send a prophet to call the priests to repentance.

God prescribes for them what they are to do. It needed to start with brokenness.

8 Wail like a virgin girded with sackcloth For the bridegroom of her youth.

9 …the priests mourn…

10 …the land mourns; For the grain is ruined, The new wine dries up, Fresh oil fails. 11 Be ashamed, O farmers, Wail, O vinedressers, For the wheat and the barley; Because the harvest of the field is destroyed. 12 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.

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.

Isaiah 13:6 (ESV)

6 Wail, for the day of the Lord is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come!

Notice the marriage illustration, like with Hosea.

We are the bride, Jesus is the bridegroom.

Ephesians 5:31–32 (NASB)

31 For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. 32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.

John 3:28–30 (NASB)

28 “You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent ahead of Him.’ 29 “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. 30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.

Notice what God prefers more than sacrifice:

Psalm 51:16–17 (NASB)

16 For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

1 Samuel 15:22 (NASB)

22 Samuel said, “Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.

(v. 14-15)

14 Consecrate a fast, Proclaim a solemn assembly; Gather the elders And all the inhabitants of the land To the house of the Lord your God, And cry out to the Lord. 15 Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is near, And it will come as destruction from the Almighty.

This speaking of the imminent judgement that was coming upon them from God, sent in the form of the Babylonians.

15 Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is near, And it will come as destruction from the Almighty.

It also was point to the final judgement that will one day come when Christ returns.

So what are they to do as the day approaches?

Fast…

14 Consecrate a fast…

Mark 2:18–20 (NASB)

18 John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they came and said to Him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” 19 And Jesus said to them, “While the bridegroom is with them, the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 “But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

Zechariah 7:4–5 (ESV)

4 Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me: 5 “Say to all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted?

Focus…

…Proclaim a solemn assembly; Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the Lord your God, And cry out to the Lord.

2 Chronicles 7:13–14 (NASB)

13 “If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, 14 and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Hebrews 10:24–25 (ESV)

24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

(v. 16-20)

16 Has not food been cut off before our eyes, Gladness and joy from the house of our God? 17 The seeds shrivel under their clods; The storehouses are desolate, The barns are torn down, For the grain is dried up. 18 How the beasts groan! The herds of cattle wander aimlessly Because there is no pasture for them; Even the flocks of sheep suffer. 19 To You, O Lord, I cry; For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness And the flame has burned up all the trees of the field. 20 Even the beasts of the field pant for You; For the water brooks are dried up And fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

This is a description of the devastation from the “immediate” Day of the Lord. That’s the judgment in Joel’s day in the form of locusts.

4 What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; And what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten; And what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten.

Supernatural natural disasters are taking place and they part of God’s judgement and wrath. This also points to the immediate, imminent and ultimate days of the Lord. It was really happening then, it would happen similarly when the Babylonias came, and it would happen again at Christ’s return.

Immediate:

Jeremiah 12:4 (ESV)

4 How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field wither? For the evil of those who dwell in it the beasts and the birds are swept away, because they said, “He will not see our latter end.”

Jeremiah 14:5–6 (ESV)

5 Even the doe in the field forsakes her newborn fawn because there is no grass. 6 The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights; they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail because there is no vegetation.

Imminent:

Jeremiah 19:7–9 (ESV)

7 And in this place I will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, and will cause their people to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth. 8 And I will make this city a horror, a thing to be hissed at. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its wounds. 9 And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his neighbor in the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them.’

Ultimate:

Matthew 24:6–8 (NASB)

6 “You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. 7 “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. 8 “But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.

Revelation 6-9

1 Corinthians 10:6 (NASB)

6 Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved.

Revelation 22:20 (NASB)

20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.