Prophets of Doom: Joel
Part 2 of the “Prophets of Doom” message series
28 “It will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions. 29 “Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. 30 “I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, blood, fire and columns of smoke. 31 “The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 32 “And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered; For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls. – Joel 2:28-32 (NASB 1995)
The BIG Idea:
The words of the prophet Joel can be understood as both hope for retribution and the promise of God’s ultimate plan being accomplished. Is the joy of the Gospel through the power of the Holy Spirit overflowing in your life? God’s message doesn’t change. God’s message is always about repentance and turning back to God through Jesus. This is what God wanted of the Judeans and this is what God wants of us. God’s forgiveness, transformation, and blessings are available to those who turn to Jesus. Transformation is a reset for those who worship the one true God!
Joel = “Yahweh is God” or “Whose God is the Lord”
Joel’s prophetic message is in two parts. There is a need for repentance and there is a hope of restoration.
Before anyone falls away from God outwardly, inwardly they fall away from God.
It is easy to forsake our hopes and dreams. Indifference leads to spiritual sleep.
It is difficult to have dreams when we are struggling, and our spirit is dry.
ILLUSTRATION: The Locusts
God is calling on God’s people to dream dreams and to have visions, because God wants to pour God’s Holy Spirit into our hearts, spirits, and minds.
“The glory of God is man fully alive.” – Ireneaus (130-200 CE)
Joel reveals the ultimate glory of God’s promise fulfilled though Christ in God’s Church.
Could it be possible that God works through the tragedy, the hardship, and the difficulty we may face in this fallen world as a means of discipling us today?
4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; 5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, Nor faint when you are reproved by Him; 6 For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? – Hebrews 12:4-7 (NASB)
God calls us to repentance.
12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “Return to Me with all your heart, And with fasting, weeping and mourning; 13 And rend your heart and not your garments.” Now return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness and relenting of evil. 14 Who knows whether He will not turn and relent and leave a blessing behind Him, Even a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God? 15 Blow a trumpet in Zion, Consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly, 16 Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and the nursing infants. Let the bridegroom come out of his room and the bride out of her bridal chamber. 17 Let the priests, the Lord’s ministers, weep between the porch and the altar, And let them say, “Spare Your people, O Lord, and do not make Your inheritance a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they among the peoples say, ‘Where is their God?’” – Joel 2:12-17 (NASB)
God’s judgement follows the disobedience of people, but God has made gracious provision that we might not have to experience the judgement and the wrath if we repent and turn to God because God is gracious, merciful, and abounding in love.
God’s intention is to forgive us and receive us and restore us into right relationship with God.
8 In fact, it says, “The message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart.” And that message is the very message about faith that we preach: 9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. 11 As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” 12 Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. 13 For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” – Romans 10:8-13 (NLT)
We like to justify our sinful behavior by comparing ourselves to everyone else because “no one is perfect.” Other people are NOT the standard. God doesn’t measure us by the actions of others.
God is NOT grading on the curve. God evaluates each person on their choice of embracing the life of Christ over their sinful nature.
The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. – II Peter 3:9 (NASB)
Repentance leads us to restoration (the vision of blessing).
The great promise of Joel is that one day God will restore God’s presence fully among the people of God!
ILLUSTRATION: Joel portrays a “pouring out” of the Holy Spirit that is lavish, exuberant, almost wasteful.
God wants to bless ALL those who choose to follow Jesus!
20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. – Ephesians 3:20-21 (NASB)
Questions for Reflection
According to Joel, who was included in God’s promise to pour out the Holy Spirit of God?
When you think about the importance of God’s Holy Spirit being poured out into the world, what does that say to you about the importance of living the Good News each day?
Have you ever considered that when you heard the Good News of Jesus, God was pouring God’s Holy Spirit into you?
In what ways has God lavishly poured out the Holy Spirit into your life?
When was the last time that you stopped to dream and envision a future led by God’s Holy Spirit?
Do you think God would settle for anything less than greatness in the people of God?
How can we demonstrate God’s lavish love and goodness to someone in our lives?
The BIG Idea:
The words of the prophet Joel can be understood as both hope for retribution and the promise of God’s ultimate plan being accomplished. Is the joy of the Gospel through the power of the Holy Spirit overflowing in your life? God’s message doesn’t change. God’s message is always about repentance and turning back to God through Jesus. This is what God wanted of the Judeans and this is what God wants of us. God’s forgiveness, transformation, and blessings are available to those who turn to Jesus. Transformation is a reset for those who worship the one true God!
Joel = “Yahweh is God” or “Whose God is the Lord”
Joel’s prophetic message is in two parts. There is a need for repentance and there is a hope of restoration.
Before anyone falls away from God outwardly, inwardly they fall away from God.
It is easy to forsake our hopes and dreams. Indifference leads to spiritual sleep.
It is difficult to have dreams when we are struggling, and our spirit is dry.
ILLUSTRATION: The Locusts
- The locust came and destroyed most of the vegetation.
- The female locust lay millions of eggs in the soil and when the larvae appear it continues the devastation of the manifestation.
- The larvae then develop, and wings appear. They eat everything.
- The destruction continues as they become adults and the cycle can last up to seven years.
God is calling on God’s people to dream dreams and to have visions, because God wants to pour God’s Holy Spirit into our hearts, spirits, and minds.
“The glory of God is man fully alive.” – Ireneaus (130-200 CE)
Joel reveals the ultimate glory of God’s promise fulfilled though Christ in God’s Church.
Could it be possible that God works through the tragedy, the hardship, and the difficulty we may face in this fallen world as a means of discipling us today?
4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; 5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, Nor faint when you are reproved by Him; 6 For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? – Hebrews 12:4-7 (NASB)
God calls us to repentance.
12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “Return to Me with all your heart, And with fasting, weeping and mourning; 13 And rend your heart and not your garments.” Now return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness and relenting of evil. 14 Who knows whether He will not turn and relent and leave a blessing behind Him, Even a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God? 15 Blow a trumpet in Zion, Consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly, 16 Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and the nursing infants. Let the bridegroom come out of his room and the bride out of her bridal chamber. 17 Let the priests, the Lord’s ministers, weep between the porch and the altar, And let them say, “Spare Your people, O Lord, and do not make Your inheritance a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they among the peoples say, ‘Where is their God?’” – Joel 2:12-17 (NASB)
God’s judgement follows the disobedience of people, but God has made gracious provision that we might not have to experience the judgement and the wrath if we repent and turn to God because God is gracious, merciful, and abounding in love.
God’s intention is to forgive us and receive us and restore us into right relationship with God.
8 In fact, it says, “The message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart.” And that message is the very message about faith that we preach: 9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. 11 As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” 12 Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. 13 For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” – Romans 10:8-13 (NLT)
We like to justify our sinful behavior by comparing ourselves to everyone else because “no one is perfect.” Other people are NOT the standard. God doesn’t measure us by the actions of others.
God is NOT grading on the curve. God evaluates each person on their choice of embracing the life of Christ over their sinful nature.
The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. – II Peter 3:9 (NASB)
Repentance leads us to restoration (the vision of blessing).
The great promise of Joel is that one day God will restore God’s presence fully among the people of God!
ILLUSTRATION: Joel portrays a “pouring out” of the Holy Spirit that is lavish, exuberant, almost wasteful.
God wants to bless ALL those who choose to follow Jesus!
20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. – Ephesians 3:20-21 (NASB)
Questions for Reflection
According to Joel, who was included in God’s promise to pour out the Holy Spirit of God?
When you think about the importance of God’s Holy Spirit being poured out into the world, what does that say to you about the importance of living the Good News each day?
Have you ever considered that when you heard the Good News of Jesus, God was pouring God’s Holy Spirit into you?
In what ways has God lavishly poured out the Holy Spirit into your life?
When was the last time that you stopped to dream and envision a future led by God’s Holy Spirit?
Do you think God would settle for anything less than greatness in the people of God?
How can we demonstrate God’s lavish love and goodness to someone in our lives?