Joel 1- The Warning

Context/Info

Of all the minor prophets Joel might be the most cryptic or mysterious. We do not know a lot of concrete info about Joel; we know he was the son of Pethuel, but that is about it for concrete facts. We can make some other assumptions and make some other conclusions based on some of the other info we are presented with. For example, because the Exile is treated as a past event, there is no mention of a King, and the tone Joel takes about the people of Edom seem to indicate that this book was written sometime between 585-835BC.

Here’s the theme for Joel- the Kingdom is in crisis- a locust plague has broken loose in the Kingdom and there is a famine. Joel takes the role of a prophet calling for the people to repent because the Day of the Lord is at hand. This phrase- The Day of the Lord; or yom Yahweh in Hebrew is the main focus and phrase of this book- it occurs 5 times in the 3 chapters. To give you an idea it is only present 13 times in all the other prophets combined. When we hear the phrase “the day of the Lord” most of us probably think about the return of Christ in Revelation- but that is probably not what Joel was thinking about. When Joel was thinking about the Day of the Lord he was talking about all the moments in the story of Israel- past present and future- when the presence of God came and brought judgement, deliverance, or blessing.

So the people of Israel find themselves again in peril because they have turned their back on the Lord; and Joel’s book offers a warning; a solution; and a promise and for the next 3 weeks we are going to look at these.

So, for today let’s look at the warning of Joel in 1:1-2:11. Because in the midst of his warning I want to highlight 2 things that he says that offer us some hope and some direction when we too are awaiting God’s presence to move and when it feels like we are in a time of calamity.

What Belongs to the Lord?

Joel 1:6–7 “For a nation has come up against my land, powerful and beyond number; its teeth are lions’ teeth, and it has the fangs of a lioness. It has laid waste my vine and splintered my fig tree; it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down; their branches are made white.”

The sin of Israel brought judgement, but make no mistake, the things being destroyed were still the Lords.

Psalm 24:1 “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein,”

We can be very possessive as humans, cant we? Acting like we are in charge and that things actually belong to us. The Scriptures are quite clear- the Earth and everything in it belong to the Lord.

The house you wanted that fell through- it is the Lord’s he has a plan for it and for you

The person you are praying for- they belong to the Lord, he has plans for them

You see, even though the vineyards and the figs were feeling the effects of Israel’s disobedience they did not stop being God’s. God was still very much in control and even when things were out of order it was not because God had left, but that God was allowing the peril in order to bring his people back. God does not orchestrate the evil, but God allows the evil to takes it course in hopes that it will call us back to him.

2 Corinthians 1:3–4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

The promise is that God will bring comfort in times of affliction.

Let’s face it, times are hard in the world today- you don’t have to look to hard to find pain and turmoil, but that is not a sign of God’s absence- it is a sign that there is a place for us to pray and discern what is hindering the presence of God from flourishing in that place.

The Judgement was about them, not God

We are going to get into this in more detail next week, but it will do us good to notice this week that God puts the emphasis on the people-

Joel 1:13–14 “Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar. Go in, pass the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God! Because grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God. Consecrate a fast; call 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.”

It can be so easy to try and put the monkey on God’s back when times are bad, can’t it? When things happen we are so quick to say “God, what are you doing?!?!?!” and sometimes I bet God could reply- I might ask you the same thing! The problem in Joel was not God, the problem was the people. And while Joel does not describe the sin or sins specifically, it is obvious that the people were far from the Lord.

Lamentations 3:40 “Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord!”

James 1:23–25 “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”

Friends, if the presence of God is absent in our lives or there is calamity in our world our first response should be self examination. And how do we examine ourselves? By placing our lives in the light of Jesus.

People often hold gems up to the sun (or another bright light) because light helps reveal qualities of the stone that aren’t visible in normal conditions. Here are the main reasons:

Clarity – Light shining through a gem makes it easier to see inclusions (internal flaws, cracks, or tiny mineral specks). These affect a gem’s value.

Color – Natural sunlight is considered the best, “truest” light source. It shows the gem’s actual color without the distortion that artificial lights (which may be too yellow, blue, or white) can cause.

Transparency – By holding it up to the sun, you can tell how much light passes through the stone, helping assess whether it is transparent, translucent, or opaque.

Cut and brilliance – Light helps reveal how well a gem has been cut, especially in faceted stones. The way light enters, reflects, and exits affects sparkle (or “fire”).

Identification – Certain gems show optical effects under sunlight, like star patterns in star sapphires, color shifts in alexandrite, or shimmering in opals.

So, sunlight acts like a natural inspection lamp—it makes the internal structure, color, and quality of the gemstone much easier to evaluate.

The Posture God wanted was repentance

What did God want? He wanted them to take their sin serious. Listen to a few of the phrases here:

Joel 1:8 “Lament like a virgin wearing sackcloth for the bridegroom of her youth.” Basically like a women who was about to marry her high school sweetheart and the night before the wedding he dies.

Joel 1:9 “The priests mourn, the ministers of the Lord.” The word morn here in Hebrew means to walk with the head down in anguish

Joel 1:11 “Be ashamed, O tillers of the soil; wail, O vinedressers,”

Joel 1:13 “Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar. Go in, pass the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God!” OT sackcloth was mostly made of goat hair and was brittle and not comfortable. It has been said that sackcloth was worn to make the outside as uncomforatble as the inside.

Friends, sin is serious- so serious that is cost Jesus his life- God was so serious about sin that he gave his only Son. How about you? How about me? How about us? Do we take sin that seriously? If I had a stack of sackcloth up here and said “If you are sorry for any sin you committed this week, come put one of these on” Would any come forward?

Thinking about our sin; talking about our sin; confessing our sin- those are all uncomfortable, but not as uncomfortable as death on a cross.

Because sin has consequences- ch 2.....