Joel 3 v 17 - 21 - High Hopes

v17
Looking to the future, Joel sees that God's blessings will be enjoyed by his people. Foreigners (ungodly) won't be allowed to enter Jerusalem because it will be holy.

Revelation 21:27 Nothing unclean and no one who does shameful things or tells lies will ever go into it. Only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life will enter the city.

v18
Joel sees loads of prosperity, and peace throughout the whole of Israel


v19
The places that were enemies to Israel will be deserted because they killed innocent people like Egypt and Edom. In verse 2 it mentions how God will treat those who treated Israel like enemies 


v20-21
There will always be people living in Jerusalem and Judah. so this kind of shows religion won't ever end despite what people think, and people can enjoy God's presence forever. 


So, loving God and doing good doesn't lead to wealth and glory. Some people seem fine without God and still have wealth and glory. But God's judgement is clear, everything outside Jesus is worthless.

Joel 3 v 1 -16 - Messing with the master plan

v1-3

Okay so still talking about the end times and stuff, and God says he will make things better for Judah and gather all nations together. He says he will judge all nations especially how they treated Israel because they are his people. He makes serious judgment against those nations that divided the land, gambled, they were prostitutes, and sold girls for wine. 

v4-8

God kinda has a bit of an angry rant about 3 different nations who had mistreated Israel. He says to Tyre and Sidon and Philistia, why were they against God, were they punishing God, trying to hurt him? They sold people from Judah and sent them to the Greeks but God's like I will get them back, and he will do to them, what they did the Israelites. 

v9-11

Joel then calls everyone to war, a war against God. 

v12-13

Here, God calls the nations to judgement. 

v14-16

Now Joel talks of the actual judgement, that there will be thunder against Israel's enemies, but God will shelter the Israelites, and he will be a refuge. 

Joel 2 v 28 - 32 - Ready or not?

v28 - 29
After all of this, in the future, sons and daughters will prophesy, old men will dream, young men will see visions, God will pour his holy spirit on men and women slaves.


Okay, so it used to be that the holy spirit was given to certain individuals to accomplish, but Joel is saying that it will be given to everyone. And it still is today! All people of every gender, class, race, background, you name it, can be filled with the holy spirit. Another thing we can easily take for granted.


v30 - 31
God will show miracles of the earth, the sun will become dark, the moon red before the day that the Lord comes back. Okay so i wasn't sure what constituted as a miracle, in the bible the miricales it talks of is the darkness, and the mini earthquake with Jesus' death.   


v32
"anyone who calls on the name of the Lord, will be saved"
i loooooove this. so, orginally the people thought this meant like being saved from trials and hard situations that they've been through. yes to an extent, God does save us through loads of trials, because he's amazing, but specifically this is our ultimate salvation and eternal life. it makes it sound easy, and it kind of is, you just have to have a faith, and you're saved! 


Joel's prophesy of everyone having the holy spirit has been fufilled, shown by pentecost with everyone speaking in tongues (v appt, considering it's next week i think), the second half of the prophesy is Jesus coming back, and we're all one in Christ :)

Joel 2 v 19 - 27 - The story of God

"Imagine if your life story because an illustrated children's story that included everything you did, every thought, every action, everything you ever said, everything you ever text. How much would God feature in your story?"


v19 - 20
So the end of last time, God become concerned for the land and for the people. here, we find out what he does. he promises to send them grain and wine and oil, so that they will have plenty. he won't shame them among the nations. he will make the army occupying the north leave into the dead or the Mediterranean sea. 


v21 - 24
there's now fruit and and grass and nature-y stuff. Joel tells the people to be happy because God has done what is right. I found this interesting. Is he referring to the fact that they've now got food and everything back, and this is right? because it's only their opinion that it is right. or, is it referring to the fact they prayed and then they got what they wanted, so this is right. or is it just because of God's plans are coming into place, and this is right? hmmm.


v25 - 27
 and then God talks that although he sent the locusts, he will pay them back. WOAH. the people got sent locusts because they were going against God, and then even when the locusts were sent, the people shrugged it off as normal and then Joel had to be like REPENT! but even though they deserved this punishment, God's promising to pay them back. 
they will never be hungry, they will praise God who done miracles for them. god promises they will never shamed again. the people will know that he is God, there is no other God and they will never be shamed again. 


This just shows the power of prayer, doesn't it? :)

Joel 2 v 1 - 18 - No surprises

v1-2
Here, Joel is describing the day that the Lord is coming, and that it's going to be very close. Joel's already told us about the judgement day, but he's a bit more in detail here. he says it will be dark and gloomy, and a powerful army will spread across the mountains and there won't be anything like it before or ever again. He tells all the people to sound the alarm!


v3-11
So, before Joel was talking about the invasion of locusts, and now he's talking about a future invasion. There's a biblical debate to whether he's talking about worse locusts, or a physical battle, like an army from Assyria. He gives the warning on the disaster on Judah, and it's all been head up by God. 


v12-14
Joel tells the people that the Lord says to return to them with all their hearts, to fast and be sad. God is merciful, he is kind and slow to anger, and has lots of love. This must have been good news to the people who have already had to endure locusts, and possibly had to endure another one. Like for us, it's amazing news God's forgiven us, and it's so easy to be complacent about it, we've heard all our lives that God's forgiven us. But once thought through the implications of eternal life, and the crucifiction of Jesus, makes us realize how much God loves us!


v15 - 18
God calls for another assembly that basicallty everyone should prayer to God to try and spare them. Don't let other nations put them to shame, let everyone know who their God is


and as a mini cliffhanger . . 


v18: God feels sorry for them but. . .


WHAT WILL HE DO?! ;)

Joel 1 v 13 - 20 - Calling on God

v13 - 14
Joel says there sound be a holy fast, people should cry, wear rough cloth to show their sadness, tell people to stop work and to cry out to the Lord.


Okay so when things were going badly for the people, Joel tells the people to turn to God, to fast, to pray to do everything they could and cry out. In relation to us, what do you do when things go wrong for you? I tend to try and "fix" it, rather than crying out to God, and praying and trusting in him.


v15
Joel says the Lord's judging day is near and the punishment will come. It's basically referring to  any direct intervention of God, judging all those who are ungodly, and the godly is they are disobedient. But also, it's obvious Jesus as well, when he will come back and judge the world. For Christians, it's a day to look forward to, because we'll be saved through our faith in Jesus. for those who aren't christians, who do not believe in God, it'll be a terrible day. It's our responsibility to tell everyone about Jesus, so they can share in our joy of the day, and so they are saved too. 


v16 - 20
Joel then talks about the circumstance he is in, and calls on the Lord because of all the locusts. When they had struck, most people shrugged it off as "coincidence". Good thing God sent Joel, God was going, hello? what are you doing?! i want your attention, please pay attention to me, please repent. 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPd-SY6OhLY i'm not sure if you've seen this, but it's from the girl who thanked God for the Japenese Tsunami, and she's basically saying how God is making his presence known. she had to take the video down because of all the death threats. I know this is a very touchy subject, because the death toll of any natural disaster is just heartbreaking, and to thank God for the deaths seems insane, but God is responsible for the natural disasters, and he does do it to open people's eyes. I'd be very interested on your views on the subject!!

Joel 1 v 1 - 12 - Wake up call

v1
The Lord spoke to Joel is said in verse one, this shows Joel is a prophet, so he's God's chosen one :)


v2-4
Okay so Joel is describing the locust invasion that had swarmed over Judah. He tells the people  that this is a very rare thing, it won't happen again, and it should be passed down the generations. The locusts served as a punishment for their sins, and as a warning for the future to repent.


v5-7
Joel then tells the people to mourn basically over what's happened and cry over their land. He tells the drunk people to cry, as all their wine has gone (though, this may have been a good thing)


v8-12
He tells them to cry like a woman whose husband has died just before she was going to marry. I don't know about you, but if that was me, i'd be crying floods, so I think that's probably the picture he wanted. They should grieve over the loss of temple worship, they can't give daily offerings anymore because there's no grain or wine. The joy of everyone has gone, and the blessings of God had disappeared.


Application
The people were stuck in greedy excess of everything they had, they hadn't noticed the calamity on their doorstep. It's like "you don't know what you've got til it's gone". It was time to wake up and realize. 

Joel - Dozing through disaster

So squidged between Hosea and Amos, I'm going to be looking at Joel, which is an OT book, it's not very long but significant :) 


Background info


Joel is mentioned during Acts, and obviously in the book of Joel, but he isn't identified with any other Joel's in the bible. Joel actually means "the Lord is good". Joel writes about the army of locusts that invaded Judah between 9th - 5th BC. Joel sees this as an invasion from the Lord. He sees it as a sort of foreshadowing of judgement, that if the Israelite's do not repent, there will be a greater Judgement. 


The outline of this book of the bible is;


A. Foretaste of the day of the Lord
1. An invasion of locusts
2. A call of repentance


B. Salvation in the Day of the Lord
1. The Lord's restoration of Judah
2. The Lord's renewal of his people
3. The Lord's judgement on the nations


Anyone else excited?! :)