Joel 2:18-27 Rick Hogaboam Sermon “Jealous God = Glad People”

Here is a pdf file: Joel 2.18t27 jealous god equals glad people

Text pasted below.

Joel 2:18-27 “Jealous God = Glad People”

Joel 2:18 Then the Lord became jealous for his land and had pity on his people.
Joel 2:19 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.
Joel 2:20 “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.
Joel 2:21 “Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things!
Joel 2:22 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.
Joel 2:23 “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.
Joel 2:24 “The threshing floors shall be full of grain; the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
Joel 2:25 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.
Joel 2:26 “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.
Joel 2:27 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.

Joel 2:18 Then the Lord became jealous for his land and had pity on his people.

-          “Then”: response to the people’s lament and repentance

-          “…the Lord became jealous for his land”: Our God is a jealous God, works zealously to uphold His name. I want to spend more time on this one verse because it is the foundation and cause for all else that proceeds in the following verses, and also the foundational truth for all that God does in all of history.

• God acts to uphold His name, His fame, His glory:
  • just a couple passages besides even the ten commandments where God declares that He is a jealous God:

Joel 2:12-17 “Tear Up Your Hearts”

Joel 2.12t17 tear your hearts up

Joel 2:12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
Joel 2:13 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.
Joel 2:14 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?
Joel 2:15 Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly;
Joel 2:16 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.
Joel 2:17 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?’ ”

Joel 2:12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
Joel 2:13 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.

-          We left off looking at Joel 2:1-11 and seeing that Joel 2.11 reveals Yahweh Himself to be the General of the invading army. As we pick up here in Joel 2:12-17, we see that the conquering general does not invade to destroy, but rather to call His people to repentance.

-          There is a lesson here not to be lost. God must invade our lives to get our attention. C.S. Lewis once said, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world”

-          “even now” – there is still time, it is not too late. It is never too late for us to turn to God in repentance so long as we have breath. The thief on the cross repented. Jesus gives us a parable of a master who hires servants throughout the day and pays them all the same when it is over. It is not too late for you this morning if you have never repented.

• God is here to invade and destroy his enemies, but He is graciously granting time for people to repent.

-          “return to me” – the idea of “return” signifies that they are away from the Lord. They need to come back to Him.

-          “with all your heart…fasting…weeping…mourning” – God doesn’t want a mere show of contrition, but the real deal. The fasting, weeping, and mourning all proceed from their whole heart, or ought to. Just in case these folks think they can offer up the outward, devoid of inward repentance, God asks of them the following:

-          “rend your hearts and not your garments”- first time Scripture calls for a “tearing” of the heart. God had earlier commanded His people to circumcision (Dt. 10:16), whereby the failed miserably and incurred the curses of the covenant. As part of God’s work of restoration, God promises to do the heart circumcision in Dt. 30:6. The implication is that we can’t.

• Jeremiah says that God will write His law in our hearts (Jer. 31), implication is that apart from an inward work of grace, we can’t live in a pleasing manner.
• Acts 11:18 says that God “granted” repentance.
• There is this divine mystery whereby God commands of us that which we are unable to keep. Why then does He command it of us? Does it presume our ability? NO. Rather, God is showing us our inability…it is only against that backdrop can we rightly appreciate what Jesus does FOR US. Yes Jesus did something FOR US, ON OUR BEHALF.

Book Review of George Montague’s “Holy Spirit: Growth of a Biblical Tradition”

Montague, G.T. (1994). Holy Spirit: Growth of a Biblical Tradition. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson.

 Commenting on Joel, Montague suggests the following:

This passage from Joel, written probably in the fourth century B.C., stands on the divide between classical prophecy and apocalyptic or “end-time” prophecy. Although the immediate occasion for the prophecy seems to have been a plague of locusts, Joel sees the event as a symbol of the coming “day of the Lord” (Montague 1994:85).

Challenges abound in any attempt to date and precisely conclude what Joel was speaking of with regard to the locusts and other items in his book. The safest route, and perhaps the one most faithful to Joel, is to ascertain the symbolism of the things which he speaks. There is danger in trying to read apocalyptic literature as woodenly chronological and literal. Such books are more like picture books, whose symbol needs to be grasped. The same trappings accompany many who wish to pull out every minute detail of Jesus’ parables, whereas they end up with a meaning that defies the common sense main point that the whole story is pointing to.

Commenting specifically on Joel 2:28-32, Montague says the following:

Then follows our text, but it is only loosely attached to the historical situation which precedes: “Then afterward…in those days” (vs. 1). With verse 3 we are clearly in a final cosmic cataclysm, “the day of the Lord: (vs. 4)…The spirit that is poured out is, amazingly, the spirit of prophecy—and in this Joel goes beyond the general statement of Ezekiel, for whom the outpouring of the spirit was to be given so that the people could live faithful to the covenant (cf. Ez 36:27) (Montague 1994:86).

Montague sees two things in Joel 2:28-32. One, that it is detached from its previous context and marks a transition to a more apocalyptic theme; a transition from the here and now to the glorious future. Secondly, Montague notes an expansion on the nature of Spirit outpouring from previously related statements regarding the giving of the Spirit. Whereas it had been spoken that the Spirit would bring an internal work within the heart for the purpose of obedience to Yahweh, Joel speaks of a “charismatic” effect in the giving of the Spirit, having less to do with what Christian theologians would call “regeneration” or “sanctification”, and more to do with actual functioning in a “prophetic” nature. All such notions of the Spirit in the OT corpus ought not be seen as contradictory, but rather as complementary: God’s people need an internal working of the Spirit to transform their hearts and an external working of the Spirit which enables them to be a “witness” to God’s present kingdom.

Rick Hogaboam Sermon: Joel 2:1-11 “Who Can Endure It?”

I will be uploading an attached pdf file of my sermon outlines from now on. Most outlines are about 6 pages long and will include most the material used in my preaching. I also hope to upload the “pbb” file for Libronix users. Enjoy.

joel-21t11-who-can-endure-it

Review of Charles Holman’s “Till Jesus Comes: Origins of Christian Apocalyptic Expectation”

Holman, Charles L.: Till Jesus Comes : Origins of Christian Apocalyptic Expectation. Peabody, Mass. : Hendrickson Publishers, 1996

For more information on Dr. Charles Holman, visit: http://www.regent.edu/acad/schdiv/holman/charles.shtml

Holman comments on Joel 2-3 as follows:

Following material blessing, a deluge of the Spirit “on all flesh” is foreseen, answering to the downpour in verse 23 which replenished the earth and brought prosperity. This apparently introduces the truly eschatological era in which the day of Yahweh finally is to arrive. The fortunes of Judah are to be restored, the nations of earth judged, with Yahweh dwelling in Zion (2:28-3:21). Significant for our subject of expectation is the fact that at first the day of Yahweh is “near”, with signs in the cosmos (2:1-2, 10-11). Then, after Judah’s repentence, the day is seen both as no longer at hand (though anticipated), 2:26-32; 3:2, 18, but also as “near”, 3:14. There seems to be an ambivalence in imminent expectation after the great day is postponed following Judah’s repentance. Otherwise the hope remains the same as in other prophetic writings, though with distinctive profusion of the Spirit on “all flesh,” seen initially fulfilled in Acts on the day of Pentecost (Holman 1996:35).

That Pentecost fulfills Joel 2:28-32 is fairly clear, but what do we make of the antecedent in Joel of the agricultural blessing preceding the promise of the Spirit? Some would suggest that it isn’t an antecedent, but is actually fulfilled by means of the outpouring of the Spirit in verses 28-32 (Van Gemeren suggests such). Perhaps one shouldn’t look for dogmatic parallels to everything in Joel…or else one would wonder what the locusts symbolize within an eschatological framework. It does seem clear that Joel 3 explains events which will proceed following the outpouring of the Spirit in 2:28-32. It is also clear that Judah’s repentance postponed the impending “day of Yahweh”, which has been placed subsequent to a time of blessing. The fortunes change for Israel as they find eschatological salvation in the “name of the LORD” and it is now certain that Israel’s enemies will be judged in the future “day of Yahweh”, which is yet future.

The time of blessing has come through Christ and in His anointing His people on Pentecost. The “day of Yahweh” is indeed imminent, but it seems clear that some objectives need to be fulfilled before that day arrives, namely the mission of the church to all nations. Rather than sitting around and waiting for the day to come, we are instead to seek the expansion of God’s blessing in this era marked by eschatological salvation for all who call upon His name.

Homan comments on Luke’s eschatological paradigm:

We wish to attempt an explanation of why events before the end in the synoptic apocalypse are de-eschatologized by Luke, while encouragement is nevertheless given to anticipate the Parousia. In the way he presents the Jesus tradition we have observed Luke’s particular interest in warning against eschatological deception, including the nearness of the final time, his warning against a “this-worldly” lifestyle, and his warning of persecution and suffering. Also, in the way he presents the Jesus tradition, he urges watchfulness and prayerfulness (Homan 1996:130).

Eschatological piety is definitely distinct by reason of an imminent return. I think that this is the enduring message of Joel; that one should live their life ever mindful that the “day of Yahweh” is near. The people are called to wholehearted worship…and so also are we called to whole-hearted worship in the modern era.

Luke’s frequent detailing of Jewish rejection of the gospel in Luke-Acts, along with success of the Gentile mission, provides a divine reason for Jerusalem’s destruction. But at the same time it would raise eschatological problems in light of familiar apocalyptic tradition of the end as associated with the Jerusalem crisis (Holman 1996:130-131).

The end times are confirmed by the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The problems this creates is the postponement of the parousia some 2000 years beyond that event when it seemed intricately connected with it. Various forms of preterism seek greater fulfillment of apocalyptic fulfillment in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, while certain dispensationalists solve the problem by speaking of a future destruction of a temple in Jerusalem. I think the problem is solved by viewing the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD as being an escalating sign of a “last days” paradigm that began with Jesus and escalated with Pentecost. There are ongoing calamities within redemptive history that should point to the impending “day of Yahweh”. Scripture attests to many signs of the “last days”, all of which have accompanied history up to the modern era. They should serve as perpetual reminders of God’s judgment upon sin and encourage all people to call upon the name of the Lord.

Review of Greg Carey “Ultimate Things: An Introduction to Jewish and Christian Apocalyptic Literature”

Carey, G. (2005). Ultimate Things: An Introduction to Jewish and Christian Apocalyptic Literature. St. Louis, MO: Chalice.

Commenting on Joel 2:28-32, Carey (2005:61) says:

…it proclaimed an eschatological age marked by prophetic and visionary activity…Peter recites part of the passage to interpret the manifestations of the Spirit at Pentecost (2:16-21). Likewise, Paul, who testifies to prophetic activity within the churches, interprets such dramatic signs of the Spirit among his congregations as demonstrations of their authentic religious experience (e.g., 1 Cor. 2:4-5; 4:20’ Gal. 3:2; 1 Thess. 1:5).

It is no small thing that Peter and Paul both share a common conviction that the presence of the eschatological charismatic Spirit was validation for the NT people of God. The presence of the Spirit was not only an objective reality, but was also a demonstrable reality, on in which both Peter and Paul refer to. The Qumran community was looking for a Messianic age that would be accompanied by the Holy Spirit as validation for their status as God’s people. Their expectations may have not been too far off from the testimony we have in Peter and Paul regarding the Holy Spirit’s presence in the Church.

Carey (2005:62) sees three major sections in the book of Joel:

By emphasizing what we might call Joel’s point of view with respect to the question of Zion’s salvation, we have identified three major movements: (1) an examination of the present calamity, with hope for future deliverance (1:1-2:17); (2) assurance that God’s salvation will emerge from pity for the people (2:18-27); and (3) eschatological confidence in Jerusalem’s final salvation (2:28-3:21).

I would concur with Carey and only add that the calamity may have been past, present, or even future. The salvation that was provided could have been a historical fact that Joel is reminiscing upon, a present reality, or yet future. The third and final section (2:28-3:21) is easier to pin down as the full testimony of Scripture would view this as eschatological in nature, however some still disagree as to what extent its fulfillment began on Pentecost or is yet future.

Another possibility is to view all three sections as a metaphorical “wisdom literature” of sorts. As such, the message speaks broadly to calamity, need for repentance, God’s promised blessing, and ultimate final deliverance. There is broad consensus among most commentators that the dating of Joel is uncertain. Even though, most all are agreed that the disadvantage is minimal and that the message of Joel has enduring applicable value to the people of God throughout the ages.

Carey (2005:63) makes mention of how Israel came to view their history within an eschatological framework, thus living in perpetual imminence of God’s coming deliverance and realizing their need for wholehearted repentance:

Joel interprets the present crisis as the eschatological tribulation. In that moment the prophet cries out for repentance, which (he is certain) will bring about Zion’s eschatological blessings….From the outset, Joel interprets the locust swarms as an eschatological crisis, a sing that “the day of the LORD” is at hand….[N]o layer of Joel is free from eschatological reflection…As apocalyptic discourse develops, we will observe a tendency to interpret a current challenge as marking the culmination of history….[A]pocalyptic discourse can adapt texts and even recollections of history to address continuing concerns in the life of a people.

We move ever closer to the climax and consummation of all thing. The Messianic age has commenced in Christ’s coming, the Spirit has been given, and the Gospel is to be preached to the ends of the earth.

Quotables by Elizabeth Achtemeier

These are all taken from The New International Biblical Commentary: Minor Prophets I -

“…Joel shows us that the true God is a God of power, the ruler of all nature and history, who has the might to offer effective love. God can do away with rebellion and his enemies on earth, and he will establish his good kingdom. No human sin or opposition will stand in the way of God’s completion of his purposes” (p. 119).

“…many in our age do not believe in sin or in a God who judges anyone. God, for many modern Americans, is rather an aggreable deity largely devoted to helping us out of difficulties, easily assuaging any guilt we may have, and making us feel as comfortable and secure as possible. As for sin, we would rather attribute evil or ’socially unacceptable’ actions to poor environment, to faulty parenting, to inadequate schooling, and to the common human propensity for occasionally making mistakes….But we hesitate to call anything sin, because sin involves a reciprocal relationship with God, and we blithely believe that God approves of us” (pp. 130-131).