NOTHING'S GOING ON IN THE PLACE OF WORSHIP

Joel 

1:13-14 And also you priests,

    put on your robes and join the outcry.

You who lead people in worship,

    lead them in lament.

Spend the night dressed in gunnysacks,

    you servants of my God.

Nothing’s going on in the place of worship,

    no offerings, no prayers—nothing.

Declare a holy fast, call a special meeting,

    get the leaders together,

Round up everyone in the country.

    Get them into God’s Sanctuary for serious prayer to God.

15-18 What a day! Doomsday!

    God’s Judgment Day has come.

The Strong God has arrived.

    This is serious business!

Food is just a memory at our tables,

    as are joy and singing from God’s Sanctuary.

The seeds in the field are dead,

    barns deserted,

Grain silos abandoned.

    Who needs them? The crops have failed!

The farm animals groan—oh, how they groan!

    The cattle mill around.

There’s nothing for them to eat.

    Not even the sheep find anything.

19-20 God! I pray, I cry out to you!

    The fields are burning up,

The country is a dust bowl,

    forest and prairie fires rage unchecked.

Wild animals, dying of thirst,

    look to you for a drink.

Springs and streams are dried up.

    The whole country is burning up.

The Message (MSG)

The Book of Joel

Author: Joel

Audience: The people of Judah

Date: Probably between the late seventh and early fifth centuries b.c.

Setting: Joel saw the massive locust plague and severe drought devastating Judah as a harbinger of even greater judgment.

The book of Joel’s importance to the canon of Scripture stems from its being the first to develop an oft-mentioned biblical idea: the day of the Lord. While Obadiah mentioned the terrifying event first (Obadiah 15), Joel’s book gives some of the most striking and specific details in all of Scripture about the day of the Lord—days cloaked in darkness, armies that conquer like consuming fire, and the moon turning to blood. Rooted in such vibrant and physical imagery, this time of ultimate judgment, still future for us today (2 Thessalonians 2:2; 2 Peter 3:10), makes clear the seriousness of God’s judgment on sin.

Visions of the future, such as the kind we find in Joel or even in the pages of the more well-known book of Revelation, can often seem remote from our day-to-day existence. However, their vivid pictures of destruction should serve to awaken us from our spiritual stupor. Do you ever struggle with feeling complacent? A strong dose of apocalyptic imagery like we find in Joel might just do the trick of opening your eyes to the necessity of faithfully following after God every moment of your life.

Judgment:

Joel’s description of the coming day of judgment upon Judah foreshadowed a greater future day of reckoning. The soon-to-come accounting would be against God’s own people, while the later, greater judgment would target their enemies. Joel described the judgment against God’s own people as “the great and dreadful day of the Lord ” (2:31), “a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness” (2:2). The greater future judgment referred to a day when the nations would be held accountable for their mistreatment of God’s people (3:2–16, 19), who themselves would be protected and blessed (3:16–18, 20–21).

Repentance and Salvation:

Joel called upon everyone to repent: old and young (1:2–3; 2:16), drunkards (1:5), farmers (1:11) and priests (1:13; 2:17). External demonstrations of regret and sorrow are insufficient; God requires sincere repentance (2:12–13). In response to heartfelt remorse and trust in his grace, love and compassion (2:13), God forgives and restores (2:18–32). Most notable in this book is his promise of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all people—young and old, men and women (2:28–29)—and the promise of salvation for “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord ” (2:32).

1:14 fast … assembly. See 2:15. Fasting, required on the Day of Atonement (see NIV text note on Lev 16:29) and also practiced in times of calamity (see Jdg 20:26; 2 Sa 12:16; Est 4:3, 16; Jer 14:12; Jnh 3:4–5; Zec 7:3), was a sign of penitence and humility. The Bible speaks against outward signs that do not reflect a corresponding inward belief or attitude (see Mt 6:1–8, 16–18; 23:1–36).

1:15 day of the Lord. See note on Am 5:18. This phrase occurs five times in Joel and is the dominant theme (here; 2:1, 11, 31; 3:14). Six other prophets also use it: Isaiah (13:6, 9), Ezekiel (13:5; 30:3), Amos (5:18, 20), Obadiah (15), Zephaniah (1:7, 14) and Malachi (4:5); and an equivalent expression occurs in Zec 14:1. Sometimes abbreviated as “that day,” the term often refers to the decisive intervention of God in history, such as through the invasion of locusts in Joel or at the battle of Carchemish, 605 b.c. (see Jer 46:2, 10). It can also refer to Christ’s coming to consummate history (see Mal 4:5; 1 Co 5:5; 2 Co 1:14; 1 Th 5:2 and note; 2 Pe 3:10). When the term is not used for divine judgments in the midst of history, it refers to the final day of the Lord, which generally has two aspects: (1) God’s triumph over and punishment of his enemies and (2) his granting of rest (security) and blessing to his people.

Father, It is written in Your Word that Jesus came to seek and save the lost. You wish all people to be saved and to know Your divine truth. I stand on Your Word, and shall praise You and thank You for salvation. Your kindness leads us to repent (to change our mind and inner man to accept Your will). You are the One Who delivers us and draws each person to Yourself out of the control and the dominion of darkness and transfers us into the Kingdom of the Son of Your love. I acknowledge Jesus as the Lamb of God, Who takes away our sins, and the Holy Spirit, Who convicts and convinces us of sin, righteousness and judgment. I submit to the Spirit, Who also helps me when I do not always know how to pray worthily, but Your Spirit within me is actually praying for me in those agonizing longings which cannot find words.  In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.