Jesus, Our Refuge & Strength (Joel)

Formal Elements / Descriptive Data

Text: Joel

CIT: God is longsuffering to us-ward, especially in His revelation of the coming Day of the LORD in its fulfillment

Proposition: Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!

Statement of Purpose:

(1) MO – Evangelistic

(2) SO – I want my hearers to realize that judgment is coming because of their sin and repent toward God while placing their faith in Jesus for salvation.

Title (Topic/Name): Jesus Our Refuge and Strength

Informal Elements / Rhetorical Data

Introduction:

· Read Joel 2:13-14 and seek to develop the theme of Joel, how his desire was to see Israel come to repentance by using a contemporary plague of locusts to remind Judah in particular that the Day of Judgment was coming for their sin.

Joel 2:13–14 KJV 1900

13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, And turn unto the Lord your God: For he is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness, And repenteth him of the evil. 14 Who knoweth if he will return and repent, And leave a blessing behind him; Even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the Lord your God?

· Joel – “Jehovah Is God”

· Connect how God will, as it is appointed unto men, bring human history to its full and just consummation

God is longsuffering to us-ward, especially in His revelation of the coming Day of the LORD in its fulfillment

Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!

Realize that judgment is coming because of their sin and repent toward God while placing their faith in Jesus for salvation.

Body – Development – Outline:

I. The Day of the LORD: Joel Reminds Judah that Judgment Is Coming (Joel 1-3)

EXP:

A. In Judah –

1. The Present Plague (Joel 1:1-20)

2. The Worst Is Yet to Come! (Joel 2:12-27)

B. A Clarion Call to Repentance: Restoration Is Possible (Joel 2:12-27)

C. Of Nations & Israel: Spiritual Signposts (Joel 2:28-29)

D. The Day of the LORD –

1. God’s Judgment on the Nations (Joel 2:30-3:16a)

2. Jehovah’s Blessings on Israel (Joel 3:16b-21)

APP:

Pain and Pills (Joel 2:12–13)

Joel 2:12–13 KJV 1900

12 Therefore also now, saith the Lord, Turn ye even to me with all your heart, And with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: 13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, And turn unto the Lord your God: For he is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness, And repenteth him of the evil.

You and I live in a world that is obsessed with the elimination of pain. Just take a stroll down the medicine aisle next time you are in the grocery store. You will see what I mean. When we have a headache, we take two aspirin, take a nap, and wake up feeling better. We forget the pain. Face it, we do not like pain. But is that entirely healthy? Could it be that in some matter of my life, there is room for pain? Can it be at times I should feel some pain? The question pleads for affirmation. Along with solutions to our physical pains, I am afraid we have mistakenly found a cure for our spiritual pain. Sadly, this is a deadly cure! To avoid the pain of sin, we have taken a deadly pill which diminishes the impact and consequence of sin in our lives. We have closed our eyes to the destruction of sin and swallowed a pill of deception. We do not feel the burdensome ache of sin. For Israel, it was not enough for a prophet to forecast impending doom as a consequence of sin to get them to repent. More often than not, Israel had to face the consequence of sin to come to repentance; they had to feel pain. In Joel 2:12, 13, we see Israel’s pain manifested: “Return to Me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your heart and not your garments.” To rend something means to rip or tear in grief, anger, rage, etc. We must ask ourselves when we last felt the need to tear our hearts because of sin. Feel the injury of sin and avoid the problem of pain! Let us rend our hearts today and feel the pain. We must return to God. [AMG Bible Illustrations, Bible Illustrations Series (Chattanooga: AMG Publishers, 2000).]

TS:

Hell is coming, death is moving, but I’m glad to report on-

II. The Deliverance of Jehovah: Jesus Is the Hope for His People (Joel 3:16)

Joel 3:16 KJV 1900

16 The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, And utter his voice from Jerusalem; And the heavens and the earth shall shake: But the Lord will be the hope of his people, And the strength of the children of Israel.

EXP:

See Zech. 14:1-3; Matt. 25:31-46; Rev. 19:11-15; Zeph. 2:1-3; Ps. 65:11-13; Amos 9:13-14

Zechariah 14:1–3 KJV 1900

1 Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, And thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. 2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; And the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; And half of the city shall go forth into captivity, And the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 3 Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, As when he fought in the day of battle.

Matthew 25:31–46 KJV 1900

31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? 38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. 41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: 43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. 44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. 46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

Revelation 19:11–15 KJV 1900

11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. 12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. 13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

Zephaniah 2:1–3 KJV 1900

1 Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; 2 Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, Before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, Before the day of the Lord’s anger come upon you. 3 Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, Which have wrought his judgment; Seek righteousness, seek meekness: It may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.

Psalm 65:11–13 KJV 1900

11 Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; And thy paths drop fatness. 12 They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness: And the little hills rejoice on every side. 13 The pastures are clothed with flocks; The valleys also are covered over with corn; They shout for joy, they also sing.

Amos 9:13–14 KJV 1900

13 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, That the plowman shall overtake the reaper, And the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; And the mountains shall drop sweet wine, And all the hills shall melt. 14 And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, And they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; And they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; They shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.

Describe the Coming Armageddon, see Rev. 19:19:

Revelation 19:19 KJV 1900

19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.

Joel described this awful day.

Joel 3:9–16 KJV 1900

9 Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, Let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: 10 Beat your plowshares into swords, And your pruninghooks into spears: Let the weak say, I am strong. 11 Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, And gather yourselves together round about: Thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. 12 Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: For there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. 13 Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: Come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; For their wickedness is great. 14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. 15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, And the stars shall withdraw their shining. 16 The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, And utter his voice from Jerusalem; And the heavens and the earth shall shake: But the Lord will be the hope of his people, And the strength of the children of Israel.

What a clear description Joel gives of this terrible scene. Army upon army gathered together from every nation under Heaven; equipped with their modern weapons and relying on the latest tactics of warfare. Yet, they don't stand a chance against the Lord Jesus Christ Who simply speaks and they will be defeated. [Glen Spencer, Expository Pulpit Series - Revelation: Unveiling Christ and His Prophetic Program (WORDsearch, 2005), 304–305.]

ILL:

Quote – “The earth may shake, the pillars of the world may tremble under us, the countenance of the heaven may be appalled, the sun may lose his light, the moon her beauty, the stars their glory; but concerning the man that trusts in God … what is there in the world that shall change his heart, overthrow his faith, alter his affection towards God, or the affection of God to him?” ~ Richard Hooker

APP:

How can a Righteous God Acquit the Guilty?

Other biblical voices help clarify how a God of real justice and real compassion could acquit the guilty: God’s righteous servant (Isa. 53), also called his high priest (Zech. 3) and good shepherd (chs. 11–13), would become a curse for us (Gal. 3:13),

Galatians 3:13 KJV 1900

13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

allowing God to extend mercy to the guilty while maintaining his justice. As Paul stated in 2 Corinthians 5:19–21:

2 Corinthians 5:19–21 KJV 1900

19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. 21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

“In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them.… For our sake [God] made [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” [Stephen G. Dempster, “The Twelve,” in What the Old Testament Authors Really Cared about: A Survey of Jesus’ Bible, ed. Jason S. DeRouchie (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic, 2013), 308.]

Conclusion:

Though Judgment Looms, God’s Mercy Can Be Yours through Repentance and Faith

What can be said finally of the abiding significance of the message of Joel? His, like that of most of the OT prophets, was a message of mercy and judgment. Such a catastrophe as a plague of locusts was a warning of God’s judgment of all men and nations, within history and ultimately at the great Day of the Lord at the consummation of history, when all will be gathered before him. The message of Joel, with its challenge to repentance arising from the events of his time, can be set alongside the words of Jesus himself when he was asked about those who had suffered in the catastrophic events of his time. When asked whether they were worse sinners than others, he answered in the negative, but with the warning, “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” (Lk 13:5).

Luke 13:5 KJV 1900

5 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

The word of God through Joel called people to turn back to him to find his mercy; then to the assurance of mercy was added the hope of the greater things that God in his goodness would do. He would pour out his Spirit freely on all. These words of promise (Joel 2:28) were made more significant than any others in the book of Joel by their quotation in the NT in Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:16–21). They stand true for the Christian church ever since that beginning of their fulfilment, and with them stands Joel’s great assurance that God makes his home in the midst of his people and that those who turn to him will never be ashamed. [Walter A. Elwell and Philip Wesley Comfort, Tyndale Bible Dictionary, Tyndale Reference Library (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2001), 717–718.]