Expecting the Day
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Introduction
Introduction
Because you never know when the day before is the day before… prepare for tomorrow. Bobby Akart. The future being unknown we plan and prepare because to fail to plan is to plan to fail. We spend time money and effort to plan for things we postulate could most likely happen. How differently would we prepare for a cataclysmic event that we knew without a doubt would happen?
Its one thing to expect the unexpected and quite another thing to plan for what is sure to happen. There isnt anything more sure to happen then something that God has announced, declared or prophesied through his prophets. In continuing with our over arching theme of “Being Prepared” we are closing this book with knowing what to expect because when you know what to expect you can plan and prepare accordingly. Listen and heed the message to know what to expect.
The worst thing would be to be caught unprepared - especially after being given the message of what to expect!
12 A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.
28 After this I will pour out my Spirit on all humanity; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will have dreams, and your young men will see visions. 29 I will even pour out my Spirit on the male and female slaves in those days. 30 I will display wonders in the heavens and on the earth: blood, fire, and columns of smoke.
31 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. 32 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, for there will be an escape for those on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, as the Lord promised, among the survivors the Lord calls.
1 Yes, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, 2 I will gather all the nations and take them to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. I will enter into judgment with them there because of my people, my inheritance Israel. The nations have scattered the Israelites in foreign countries and divided up my land.
3 They cast lots for my people; they bartered a boy for a prostitute and sold a girl for wine to drink. 4 And also: Tyre, Sidon, and all the territories of Philistia—what are you to me? Are you paying me back or trying to get even with me? I will quickly bring retribution on your heads.
5 For you took my silver and gold and carried my finest treasures to your temples. 6 You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks to remove them far from their own territory. 7 Look, I am about to rouse them up from the place where you sold them; I will bring retribution on your heads.
8 I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a distant nation, for the Lord has spoken. 9 Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for holy war; rouse the warriors; let all the men of war advance and attack! 10 Beat your plows into swords and your pruning knives into spears. Let even the weakling say, “I am a warrior.”
11 Come quickly, all you surrounding nations; gather yourselves. Bring down your warriors there, Lord. 12 Let the nations be roused and come to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit down to judge all the surrounding nations.
13 Swing the sickle because the harvest is ripe. Come and trample the grapes because the winepress is full; the wine vats overflow because the wickedness of the nations is extreme. 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 moon will grow dark, and the stars will cease their shining. 16 The Lord will roar from Zion and make his voice heard from Jerusalem; heaven and earth will shake. But the Lord will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the Israelites.
17 Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who dwells in Zion, my holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy, and foreigners will never overrun it again. 18 In that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk. All the streams of Judah will flow with water, and a spring will issue from the Lord’s house, watering the Valley of Acacias.
19 Egypt will become desolate, and Edom a desert wasteland, because of the violence done to the people of Judah in whose land they shed innocent blood. 20 But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. 21 I will pardon their bloodguilt, which I have not pardoned, for the Lord dwells in Zion.
Before that Day
Before that Day
28 After this I will pour out my Spirit on all humanity; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will have dreams, and your young men will see visions. 29 I will even pour out my Spirit on the male and female slaves in those days. 30 I will display wonders in the heavens and on the earth: blood, fire, and columns of smoke.
31 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. 32 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, for there will be an escape for those on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, as the Lord promised, among the survivors the Lord calls.
In the Hebrew scriptures these five verses would form chapter 3 and chapter 3 would be chapter 4. These five verses however warranted their own chapter and own look at them according to the Jewish scholars.
Joel starts off with the prepositional phrase after this, which leads to a natural question “after what?”. Joel is referring to the events described in Joel 2:18-27 when the Lord heals the nation after the invasion of the Assyrians. So after this the Lord will pour out His Spirit on ALL humanity. It does not mean immediately afterward for it will be a few centuries passing before the Spirit will be poured out. The important thing is they should expect the pouring out of God’s Spirit upon all humanity.
Peter quotes this passage in Acts 2:17 and interprets this phrase after this to be “in the last days”
17 And it will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all people; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.
The “last days” began with Christ’s ministry here on earth and the last days will conclude with the Day of the Lord.
2 In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him.
I will pour out MY Spirit on all humanity then your sons and daughters will prophesy, old men will have dreams and your young men will see visions. I will EVEN pour out MY Spirit upon male and female slaves. The Day of the Lord will be preceded by an outpouring of His Spirit on all people. This outpouring will be upon all people and this is true regardless of age, gender, or social class. Expect that God’s Spirit will be upon all flesh - not just selected men at selected times for selected duties!
The Old Testament has many records of the work of the Holy Spirit but He was not poured out on all flesh under the Old Covenant. It was selective and limited.
38 and he said to them, “Can we find anyone like this, a man who has God’s spirit in him?”
18 The Lord replied to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man who has the Spirit in him, and lay your hands on him.
34 The Spirit of the Lord enveloped Gideon, and he blew the ram’s horn and the Abiezrites rallied behind him.
9 When Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed his heart, and all the signs came about that day. 10 When Saul and his servant arrived at Gibeah, a group of prophets met him. Then the Spirit of God came powerfully on him, and he prophesied along with them.
14 Now the Spirit of the Lord had left Saul, and an evil spirit sent from the Lord began to torment him,
Joel is looking forward to the glorious New Covenant when the Spirit would be poured out on all flesh. In this New Covenant every believer can receive the full measure of the Spirit and be used in a special and wonderful way.
Sometimes the common churchgoer simply wants a building to worship in, a nice service that isn’t too offensive, and a good sermon—after that he thinks, leave me alone. That isn’t New Covenant Christianity, which sees the work of the ministry as belonging to the people, not the “clergy.”
Some people have taken this idea and run too far with it saying, “Therefore we don’t need ministers or clergy. We believe in the priesthood of all believers, so there is no room for offices of any kind in the church.”
The clear teaching of Scripture says that the work of the ministry belongs to all the people of God, but the precise work of equipping the saints belongs to God-appointed offices and ministries outlined in Ephesians 4:7–16. It is for the precise reason of the ministry belonging to every individual believer that God has appointed offices and ministries to equip every saint to fulfill their role and place in the body of Christ.
It is important to note that though Joel was quoted by Peter on the Day of Pentecost that this prophecy Joel was fulfilled it was not completely consummated. The Day of Pentecost has ushered in the last days up to the edge but now riding along the edge.
The prophecy of verse 30-31 about the wonders of the heavens blood fire and smoke, sun turning to darkness and the moon to blood have no record of occuring or being yet fulfilled at Pentecost or anytime since Pentecost.
The signs will also precede the great and dreadful day of the Lord - but while they signal doom for the enemies of God His people should interpret them as precursors of deliverance.
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, for there will be an escape as the Lord promised.
Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved - no matter what nation they come from. This is a broad call.
“ ‘Ah!’ you say, ‘I wish my name was written down in the Bible.’ Would it comfort you at all? If it were written in the Scripture, ‘Charles Haddon Spurgeon shall be saved,’ I am afraid I should not get much comfort out of the promise, for I should go home, and fetch out the London Directory, and see if there was not another person of that name, or very like it. How much worse would it be for the Smiths and the Browns! No, my brethren, do not ask to see your name in the inspired volume; but be content with what you do see, namely, your character! When the Scripture says, ‘Whosoever,’ you cannot shut yourself out of that.” (Spurgeon)
Everyone who CALLS on the name of the Lord shall be saved - this is a call to pray as a sinner for salvation.
“You cannot perish praying; no one has ever done so. If you could perish praying, you would be a new wonder in the universe. A praying soul in hell is an utter impossibility. A man calling on God and rejected of God!—the supposition is not to be endured. ‘Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ God himself must lie, he must quit his nature, forfeit his claim to mercy, destroy his character of love, if he were to let a poor sinner call upon his name, and yet refuse to hear him.” (Spurgeon)
Everyone who calls on the NAME of the Lord shall be saved - this is call to come to the true God.
Coming to a false god, a god of your own imagination will do you no good. The god of your opinion does not exist and cannot save you. You must come to the God of the Bible. “The pity of it is that the most of people in these days worship a god of their own invention. They do not make an image of clay, or of gold, but they construct a deity in their minds according to their own thoughts. They proudly judge as to what God ought to be, and they will not receive God as he really is. What is this but a god-making as gross as that which is performed by the heathen? What can be more wicked than to attempt to imagine a better god than the one true and living God? As the deity of your fancy has no existence, I would not recommend you to trust in him.” (Spurgeon)
Will be saved as the Lord promised
If you trust in the Lord God Almighty, he will save you as surely as he is God.” (Spurgeon)
During That Day
During That Day
1 Yes, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, 2 I will gather all the nations and take them to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. I will enter into judgment with them there because of my people, my inheritance Israel. The nations have scattered the Israelites in foreign countries and divided up my land.
3 They cast lots for my people; they bartered a boy for a prostitute and sold a girl for wine to drink. 4 And also: Tyre, Sidon, and all the territories of Philistia—what are you to me? Are you paying me back or trying to get even with me? I will quickly bring retribution on your heads.
5 For you took my silver and gold and carried my finest treasures to your temples. 6 You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks to remove them far from their own territory. 7 Look, I am about to rouse them up from the place where you sold them; I will bring retribution on your heads.
8 I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a distant nation, for the Lord has spoken. 9 Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for holy war; rouse the warriors; let all the men of war advance and attack!
10 Beat your plows into swords and your pruning knives into spears. Let even the weakling say, “I am a warrior.” 11 Come quickly, all you surrounding nations; gather yourselves. Bring down your warriors there, Lord. 12 Let the nations be roused and come to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit down to judge all the surrounding nations.
13 Swing the sickle because the harvest is ripe. Come and trample the grapes because the winepress is full; the wine vats overflow because the wickedness of the nations is extreme. 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 moon will grow dark, and the stars will cease their shining. 16 The Lord will roar from Zion and make his voice heard from Jerusalem; heaven and earth will shake. But the Lord will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the Israelites.
In those days and at that time I will gather the nations and take them to the Valley of Jehoshaphat and I will enter into judgment with them there. Nations in those days and at that time prepare for judgment. This is the broad period of the Last Days, initiated by the ascension of Jesus and the pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost. When considering the last days dont think in terms of final years or months but rather an era. The last days is an era that began with the birth of the church. Since the birth of the church time has not been rushing to a distant edge but rather since the birth of the church has been on the edge for the last 2000 years. Joel here describes the final gathering of the nations in rebellion to God at the battle of Armageddon.
There is no valley in Israel known as the valley of Jehoshaphat mentioned only here in Joel, but Jehoshaphat means the Lord judges or decides and it describes God’s place of judgment. Some scholars speculate that perhaps this is a yet unformed valley that will come into existence at the splitting of the Mount of Olives. The importance however is not location but the meaning of the place. This is a judgment of the nations to show that the ungodly nations will not escape the hand of God.
God refers to the Israelites as MY people and MY inheritance Israel and the silver and gold as His also. The Jews have disobeyed the covenant and have not sought to please the Lord but He has not abandoned them. He preserves them and will one day come and defeat their enemies. Gods complaint against the nations is how they have mistreated His people. God takes it personally and will avenge the mistreatment of His people.
This judgment is the separation of the sheep from the goats and is determined by how Jesus’s brethren were treated in His name. This separation determines who goes into the Millennial earth and who goes straight to judgment.
Nations prepare for war to rebel against God’s judgment. This draws them to the valley of Jehoshaphat the harvest of judgment is ripe swing the sickle and trample the grapes.
14 Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and one like the Son of Man was seated on the cloud, with a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 Another angel came out of the temple, crying out in a loud voice to the one who was seated on the cloud, “Use your sickle and reap, for the time to reap has come, since the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 16 So the one seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.
17 Then another angel who also had a sharp sickle came out of the temple in heaven. 18 Yet another angel, who had authority over fire, came from the altar, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Use your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the vineyard of the earth, because its grapes have ripened.”
19 So the angel swung his sickle at the earth and gathered the grapes from the vineyard of the earth, and he threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. 20 Then the press was trampled outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press up to the horses’ bridles for about 180 miles.
Nations prepare for defeat in the valley of decision. The Day of the Lord is near the Valley of decision or determination - this is the position after judgment is reached. Joel looking out at the battlefield of Armageddon - those who fight against the Lord and His Messiah are in the wrong place of the Valley of Decision.
Now countless evangelistic calls have started with that idea. Showing people that they stand in the valley of decision and must decide. Joel’s context has the opposite idea in mind. Men do stand in the Valley of Decision but it is God who does the deciding not man. For it is the Valley of judgment and determination. We must be prepared and decide for Jesus right now so we do not stand in that Valley of Decision.
The sun and moon will grow dark and the stars cease their shining. The Lord will roar from Zion and make His voice heard from Jerusalem heaven and earth will shake - but the Lord will be a refuge and stronghold for the Israelites.
After That Day
After That Day
17 Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who dwells in Zion, my holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy, and foreigners will never overrun it again. 18 In that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk. All the streams of Judah will flow with water, and a spring will issue from the Lord’s house, watering the Valley of Acacias.
19 Egypt will become desolate, and Edom a desert wasteland, because of the violence done to the people of Judah in whose land they shed innocent blood. 20 But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. 21 I will pardon their bloodguilt, which I have not pardoned, for the Lord dwells in Zion.
After that day it will be a holy city they will know that He is the Lord their God. The land is restored never to be overrun again. The mountains will drip with sweet wine and the hills flow with milk. and water will flow.
After that day - in that day that new day - when Jesus reigns as the Messiah for the Millennium the land will be a paradise blessings will overflow abundantly. Plentiful and prosperous will erase the memories of the desolate land and the plagues and droughts of before.
After God’s final victory there is lasting abundance and His enemies are a desolation.
They will be a redeemed and restored people cleansed for He will pardon their bloodguilt. God will show mercy to His people, and grant them forgiveness. This prophecy of Joel, which began with the desperate plague of locusts, ends with a promise of restoration and redemption.
The King is there and dwells in Zion - pointing out the continued indwelling of Christ among His people.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Preparedness is like breathing if you dont you perish - Anonymous
“But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.” (Joel 3:20, HCSB)
“I will pardon their bloodguilt, which I have not pardoned, for the Lord dwells in Zion.” (Joel 3:21, HCSB)
That means that now is the time we should be prepared to both receive and share the Gospel.
On his first day of teaching his class of 250 college freshmen, R. C. Sproul carefully explained the assignment of three term papers—due on the last day of September, October, and November. Sproul clearly stated there would be no extensions (except for medical reasons). At the end of September, some 225 students dutifully turned in their papers, while 25 remorseful students quaked in fear. “We’re so sorry,” they said. “We didn’t make the proper adjustments from high school to college, but we promise to do better next time.” He bowed to their pleas for mercy and gave them an extension, but warned them not to be late next month.
The end of October rolled around, and about 200 students turned in their papers, while 50 students showed up empty-handed. “Oh, please,” they begged, “it was homecoming weekend, and we ran out of time.” Sproul relented once more but warned them, “This is it. No excuses next time. You will get an F.”
The end of November came, and only 100 students turned in their papers. The rest told Sproul, “We’ll get it in soon.”
“Sorry,” Sproul replied. “It’s too late now. You get an F.”
The students howled in protest, “That’s not fair!”
“OK,” Sproul replied, “you want justice, do you? Here’s what’s just: you’ll get an F for all three papers that were late. That was the rule, right?”
“The students had quickly taken my mercy for granted,” Sproul later reflected. “They assumed it. When justice suddenly fell, they were unprepared for it. It came as a shock, and they were outraged.”6
So everyone here have two different opportunities today. You can choose judgment. You can choose to live your own life your own way, without any need for a Savior and Master. However, God is the Judge. He has made the rules. He has given the test. At the end of time, there will be an eternal final test. Will you say to the Teacher in Heaven, “I forgot to be prepared. I didn’t do what you expected.”? Will you end up with an “F”?
The opportunity for salvation is today - no one is promised a tomorrow. That salvation is open to everyone, no matter your background or circumstance. Are you willing to take the advantage today of making the decision to follow Jesus today.
Communion
Communion
Remembering the Promise
Remembering the Promise
23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.