Repent: The Day of the Lord is Near
Joel: Desolation to Salvation • Sermon • Submitted
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Intro
1 Blow a trumpet in Zion;
sound an alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near,
2 a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness!
Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains
a great and powerful people;
their like has never been before,
nor will be again after them
through the years of all generations.
3 Fire devours before them,
and behind them a flame burns.
The land is like the garden of Eden before them,
but behind them a desolate wilderness,
and nothing escapes them.
4 Their appearance is like the appearance of horses,
and like war horses they run.
5 As with the rumbling of chariots,
they leap on the tops of the mountains,
like the crackling of a flame of fire
devouring the stubble,
like a powerful army
drawn up for battle.
6 Before them peoples are in anguish;
all faces grow pale.
7 Like warriors they charge;
like soldiers they scale the wall.
They march each on his way;
they do not swerve from their paths.
8 They do not jostle one another;
each marches in his path;
they burst through the weapons
and are not halted.
9 They leap upon the city,
they run upon the walls,
they climb up into the houses,
they enter through the windows like a thief.
10 The earth quakes before them;
the heavens tremble.
The sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
11 The Lord utters his voice
before his army,
for his camp is exceedingly great;
he who executes his word is powerful.
For the day of the Lord is great and very awesome;
who can endure it?
12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13 and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
and he relents over disaster.
14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,
and leave a blessing behind him,
a grain offering and a drink offering
for the Lord your God?
15 Blow the trumpet in Zion;
consecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
16 gather the people.
Consecrate the congregation;
assemble the elders;
gather the children,
even nursing infants.
Let the bridegroom leave his room,
and the bride her chamber.
17 Between the vestibule and the altar
let 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.
Why should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’ ”
Pray.
God’s judgment is inescapable.
God’s judgment is inescapable.
Explain verses 1-11
In these verses, Joel is building off of his prophecy and detailing of the locust plague. He continues from that plague and uses imagery to detail a coming army that will bring destruction much like the locust did. All of this is used to point out the coming judgment of God.
1 Blow a trumpet in Zion;
sound an alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near,
Joel calls for the trumpet to sound. In other words, Joel calls for the shofar to sound. Call comes not from the wall but from Zion pointing out religious significance.
Shofar was a ram’s horn trumpet that would be sound to either alarm the people of a coming attack or to gather the people for worship. Here, it is used to alarm the people of this coming attack.
The horn was to alert the inhabitants of the coming attack; however, this attack is the day of the Lord or the time of God’s judgment. The people should fear God’s wrath more than the army.
Notice how Joel describes this time.
2 a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness!
Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains
a great and powerful people;
their like has never been before,
nor will be again after them
through the years of all generations.
Day of darkness
gloom
This is a day of God’s judgment. Call to the students memory how Israel was indifferent toward God during this time. Lack of concern about sin and the law. This lack of concern has brought about God’s righteous judgment upon Israel and it will come like a vast army upon them. The army will be more powerful and vast than anything they have seen before.
3 Fire devours before them,
and behind them a flame burns.
The land is like the garden of Eden before them,
but behind them a desolate wilderness,
and nothing escapes them.
The army will be much like the locust. Every thing that is before the army will be devoured. Leaving behind only desolation. Nothing will be left.
Joel then compares this coming army’s destruction to the Garden of Eden.
Garden of Eden = bountiful, fertile, life
Coming Army = destroys everything, desolation, nothing left
This is all pointing to the Day of the Lord, God’s judgment upon the sin of Israel.
4 Their appearance is like the appearance of horses,
and like war horses they run.
5 As with the rumbling of chariots,
they leap on the tops of the mountains,
like the crackling of a flame of fire
devouring the stubble,
like a powerful army
drawn up for battle.
This coming army will be fierce and ready for battle. Israel would not stand a chance.
Compare Israel’s army (infantry) to this coming army (calvary).
6 Before them peoples are in anguish;
all faces grow pale.
7 Like warriors they charge;
like soldiers they scale the wall.
They march each on his way;
they do not swerve from their paths.
8 They do not jostle one another;
each marches in his path;
they burst through the weapons
and are not halted.
9 They leap upon the city,
they run upon the walls,
they climb up into the houses,
they enter through the windows like a thief.
The people of Israel will see the coming army and be in anguish as defeat is certain. Their faces will be pale as they knew the seige was perfect. This coming army will be inescapable.
Warriors - vicious
Soldier - trained for war
Notice how they come. They come with precision. They stay within their lane. Nothing will stop them.
Speak of how they have no respect for property or people. They burst into the house. No one will escape this army.
10 The earth quakes before them;
the heavens tremble.
The sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
11 The Lord utters his voice
before his army,
for his camp is exceedingly great;
he who executes his word is powerful.
For the day of the Lord is great and very awesome;
who can endure it?
Now, Joel turns back to the Day of the Lord imagery. The earth will quake the heavens tremble, the moon and sun are darkened, the stars no longer shine.
This is an undoing of creation. The world that the people of Israel knows is coming to an end. This points to a return to chaos. The created order is being dismantled; however, this is not caused by the army. Instead this is brought about by God.
Everything that Israel thought was good and going to continue did not. Everything that was considered normal was collapsing. Israel’s world was falling.
As this is happening, notice who brings it about. God brings this about. The army or locust belong to the Lord. Joel is pointing to the Day of the Lord. God’s judgment is coming about. This is His army. This judgment is brought about because of the indifference/lack of concern for God. Joel is calling out this coming judgment against them because of their sin. They were unconcerned and were not following God. Therefore, God must enact His divine judgment because He is a just God.
No one will be able to endure. Likewise, no one will be able to escape this judgment.
As Joel announces this, this is how God gives the Israelites a chance to repent. As Joel calls out the coming Day of the Lord, God uses Him in order that Israel is aware. He is seeking for them to repent and turn back to Him.
We are much in the same state as Israel. Oftentimes, we are unconcerned and indifferent toward God. Likewise, before Christ, we were dead in our sin. That is why Christ came to make us alive in Him. At Jesus’s first coming, Jesus came humbly.
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Jesus came to die for us on the cross. He bore our sin on the cross. Went to a grave, then, rose from the grave after three days.
Jesus came and declared that is the only way to have salvation from sin.
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,
We will not escape God’s judgment if we never escape the judgment of God if we do not repent and believe.
36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
Faith in Christ is the only way in which to escape God’s wrath. Jesus bore God’s wrath for you, and it is through Him that we escape the wrath of God.
That was at the first coming. Likewise, He gave us the call to repent and believe in order to be saved. Likewise, Jesus gave us the announcement of God’s coming judgment on the world at Jesus’s Second Coming.
29 “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 heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
The elect or those saved by Christ will be gathered up and escape this coming judgment; however, those who have rejected will face God’s righteous judgment. So, we have a warning just as the Israelites did.
It is like when you parent tells you to do something. They give you the warning that if you don’t it will be bad.
Christ’s return is sure.
Christ’s return is sure.
Cover and explain verses 12-17
12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13 and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
and he relents over disaster.
14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,
and leave a blessing behind him,
a grain offering and a drink offering
for the Lord your God?
15 Blow the trumpet in Zion;
consecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
16 gather the people.
Consecrate the congregation;
assemble the elders;
gather the children,
even nursing infants.
Let the bridegroom leave his room,
and the bride her chamber.
17 Between the vestibule and the altar
let 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.
Why should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’ ”
As the people of Israel, we are called to repent and believe in the Gospel. Jesus came to give life.
32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
Jesus came to call sinners to repentance. We are all sinners. You and me and Christ is calling us to salvation.
44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
As we hear the Gospel, God will draw us to Himself as we are convicted of our sin and draw to seek Christ who alone has the power to save us and make us alive and not dead.
If you are not a Christian tonight, the call is to repent and trust in Christ.
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Likewise, for both believer in this room and non-believer
16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
1 Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. 2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. 5 For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. 6 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
Are you ready?
Pray.