We add the short books of Joel to Nahum to start and finish off this week. The Assyrians would come against Israel. But the Assyrians would be dealt with. We also see how the Lord uses the historical setting of Israel to prophesy about the future restoration and blessing for His people.
Joel 1:
1 The word of the LORD that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:
An Invasion of Locusts
2 Hear this, you elders; give ear, all inhabitants of the land! Has such a thing happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers?
3 Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation.
4 What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten, and what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten.
5 Awake, you drunkards, and weep, and wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it is cut off from your mouth.
6 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.
7 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.
8 Lament like a virgin wearing 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 fields are destroyed, the ground mourns, because the grain is destroyed, the wine dries up, the oil languishes.
11 Be ashamed, O tillers of the soil; wail, O vinedressers, for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.
12 The vine dries up; the fig tree languishes. Pomegranate, palm, and apple, all the trees of the field are dried up, and gladness dries up from the children of man.
A Call to Repentance
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! Because grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God.
14 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.
15 Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.
16 Is not the food cut off before our eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God?
17 The seed shrivels under the clods; the storehouses are desolate; the granaries are torn down because the grain has dried up.
18 How the beasts groan! The herds of cattle are perplexed because there is no pasture for them; even the flocks of sheep suffer.
19 To you, O LORD, I call. For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and flame has burned all the trees of the field.
20 Even the beasts of the field pant for you because the water brooks are dried up, and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
Joel 2: The Day of the LORD
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?
Return to the LORD
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?'"
The LORD Had Pity
18 Then the LORD became jealous for his land and had pity on his people.
19 The LORD answered and said to his people, "Behold, I am sending to you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations.
20 "I will remove the northerner far from you, and drive him into a parched and desolate land, his vanguard into the eastern sea, and his rear guard into the western sea; the stench and foul smell of him will rise, for he has done great things.
21 "Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the LORD has done great things!
22 Fear not, you beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green; the tree bears its fruit; the fig tree and vine give their full yield.
23 "Be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God, for he has given the early rain for your vindication; he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the latter rain, as before.
24 "The threshing floors shall be full of grain; the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
25 I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you.
26 "You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame.
27 You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God and there is none else. And my people shall never again be put to shame.
The LORD Will Pour Out His Spirit
28 "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.
29 Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
30 "And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.
31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.
32 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls.
Things to think about…
1. Joel is most likely writing in the 8th Century BC between 780BC and 740BC. The land of Israel certainly knew what it was to be overcome with locusts and have crops destroyed, Joel 1:4. In fact we see a number of them described in this verse. A nation, vs 6, is described as coming up over the land just like the plagues of locusts, a phenomenon that they knew well. This nation would be the superpower, Assyria. They were described at one point to the ancient Greeks as being able to turn the day into night after their archers shot arrows together, such was the volume of arrows, that they would block out the sun. They could easily be described as locusts swarming the ground. Samaria and the northern tribes were overtaken by the Assyrians in 722BC. It was now Judah’s turn. The reason given is that the priests were not ministering as they should and needed to repent, Joel 1:7 & 13. What ailments does Australia go through because God’s ministers (both Pastors and Christians generally) don’t faithfully minister the Lord’s message?
2. We see in Joel 1:13-20 that the land is languishing under famine and a lack of rain. The beasts of the field are groaning, there is no pasture, there is no grain, there is no water. Australia is a nation known both for droughts and flooding rains. How much of this is simply cyclical weather patterns and how much could be described as the blessing or judgement of God? We can know the difference by seeing how much Christ and His word is being honoured or otherwise in the land.
3. Joel 2:1-11 speaks of this incredible army that consumes everything in its path. The Assyrians were known for their ‘scorched earth’ policy. They left nothing behind them. As Joel says, the land may have been like the Garden of Eden beforehand, but it was left like a desolate wilderness after they had been, Joel 2:3. This analogy also describes what the Lord’s army is also like. Our God is described as a consuming fire. May our sin be the only thing that is consumed.
4. Have a look at Joel 2:12-17. God has no pleasure in destroying anyone. His desire is that His people repent that they would be restored. Do you think people say of Christians today what was said of the people of Judah, “Where is their God”, vs 17 ? Rather than having fellow Aussie’s say “where is their God”, let’s pray they see Him through our words and witness.
5. In Joel 2:18-27 we see the destroyer being destroyed. We know that in the early part of 8th Century between 714 and 701BC that Hezekiah, the king of Judah, saw 185, 000 dead Assyrians in the morning after a night of humbling himself before the Lord. These verses literally came true for Judah. Do they come true for you? Honour Christ in your life and you will see it happen.
6. We know that Joel 2:28, 29 was fulfilled at Pentecost, when the Lord poured out His Spirit upon the church and Peter directly quotes Joel 2:28-32 in Acts 2:17-21. He continues to pour out His Spirit and will do so until He returns. Verses 30 and 31 have not occurred yet, but will in His return top the earth. Praise God that until they do, verse 32 continues to be true “Those who call on the name of the Lord will be saved”. Hallelujah. May we see many in our nation call upon the Lord to be saved.
Vision Point for cell groups
CBC’s Vision :- To be a growing biblical church community, significantly influencing our city and beyond, through intentional outreach, fulfilling our mission.
Title was “Discerning how and when to act” – Reading Proverbs 15
1. This chapter has contrasts the good first is listed then the bad. We all have said and done negative things but Solomon is speaking about character. How would others describe you? How would you describe yourself?
2. Do you have multiple “you” personalities? Do you change depending on the situation? Discuss the 4 “you’s” that Jay spoke about on Sunday – 1. You in public 2. You with family 3. You with close friends and 4 You alone.
3. Prov 15:11 says “Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the LORD; how much more the hearts of the children of man!”. The true you – I.E when you are alone (with the Lord as your only audience), discuss this verse and what Paul said to the Corinthians ““So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” 2Cor 5:9, 10. Solomon again in the book of Ecclesiastes said “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.” Eccl 12:13, 14. The secret thing is you by yourself with only God watching. Discuss these verses.
4. Pray for each other.
Prayer Points
1. Recent challenges and changes to work situations, or health for a few in our church
2. Sally Gauntlett and dear Richard. Sally has Covid.
3. Peace to rest over Ukraine.
4. Folk sick with Flu A and Covid – relief and healing.
5. Pray for other building projects – café roof, the repair of the house roof.
6. Growth, conversions, joy in the Word and Spirit to remain and increase.
Praise Points
1. Returning back to full health.
2. Worship on Sunday – thankyou and technical team.
3. All those who faithfully serve in ministries, Worship, Sound/Technical/Kids Church/ Cell Groups/Admin - Bulletins/Finances/Property/Welcoming/Spiritual Leadership/Cafe
4. Joy, peace and grace we see at CBC. Thankyou Lord
Announcements
1. Remember to check your duty rosters.
2. Church bank details bsb:- 704 913 and Acc number:- 4000 4388 1
3. Tune in again this week on our youtube page. Subscribe to the CBC channel Chuwar Baptist YouTube channel.
Catechism question for July...
Q.6. What will become of the wicked on the day of judgment? A. They shall be cast into hell.
