Minor Prophets⁄Major Doctrines 02: Joel: Early End-Time Prophet

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Joel

During early childhood, a boy had a fiery temper which often caused him to say or do unkind things. One day, after an argument had sent one of his playmates home in tears, his father told him that for each thoughtless, mean thing the boy did, the father would drive a nail into their gatepost. Each time the young man did a kindness or a good deed, one nail would be withdrawn.
Months passed. Each time the young man entered the gate, he was reminded of the reasons for those ever-increasing nails, until finally, getting them out became a challenge.
At last the wished-for day arrived—only one more nail! As the father withdrew it, the youngster danced around proudly exclaiming, “See, Daddy, the nails are all gone.”
His Father gazed intently at the post as he thoughtfully replied, “Yes, the nails are gone—but the scars remain.”

Major Doctrines in Joel

#7: God’s Movement In History Must Be Remembered ~ Joel 1:1-3

• In verses 1-3, look at the focus of the word of the Lord that came to Joel. What is the first thing he tells the people to do? (remember what has happened to them as a people)
• Background: If Joel were written just after the NORTHERN Exile, Joel 1:6-8 would be a logical description of historical events – Israel was invaded, and its best and brightest (and majority of its money) were stripped and taken away into captivity by the Assyrians (740~720 BC)
• the Ten Tribes of the North become known as the “Lost Tribes of Israel” because unlike Judah’s specific return (as told in Ezra-Nehemiah), the Northern Tribes never received any official release to go back home.
• PROMPT: Trust God’s perspective; the LORD always has the bigger picture in mind.

#8: Leaders Repent As Examples ~ Joel 1:13-14

• Who leads in repentance, according to verse 13? (religious leaders)
• In verse 14, what is that group supposed to do? (call the people to repentance)
• Look closely at verse 19: who joins that call? (the prophet Joel, who issues the call to repent himself!)
• PROMPT: God expects His leaders to admit their need of Him first

#9: A Day of the Lord – All Will Be Judged By God ~ Joel 3:15-16

• Read Joel 1:4-6, and refer to Joel 2:3-10. What do they have in common? (similar to locust attack-a reminder that judgment is coming. What will that look like to Israel?)
• Look at Joel 2:2 the Day of the Lord is “a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was of old nor ever will be in ages to come.”
• 3:15 The sun and moon will be darkened, and the stars no longer shine. The LORD will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the sky will tremble. But the LORD will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel…”
• How is the Day of the LORD described? (gloom & doom, like a bad storm)
• In Joel 3:2: “I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will enter into judgment against them concerning my inheritance, my people Israel, for they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land.”
• who is the intended audience of the message? (the nations)
  And how will they respond? Why? (with trembling – because they are about to be judged by God)
• Reminder: God recycles. “Abomination of Desolation” from Daniel referred to someone who was going to defile God’s temple. Antiochus IV Epiphanes did this in 167 by sacrificing a pig on LORD’s altar; Jesus warned in Matthew 24 that the Romans would do worse in 70AD when they tore down the temple.
• PROMPT: God is weighing and sorting the nations NOW; He will complete His judgment later…

#10: Restoration Follows Repentance ~ 2:18-29

• Skim 2:18-24. What is the general tone of these verses? (rejoice – God is restoring)
• Look at verse 2:28-29. What is the promise given? (God will pour out His Spirit on all people)
• Has this been fulfilled? Why or why not? (not fully – because not all people have the Spirit yet. That’s AFTER the Day of the Lord.)
• Look at 3:17, 21. After all is said and done, what will happen and why? (God will make us holy, because He will be with us)
• PROMPT: God WILL make us completely His – His righteousness rains on us now who accept Jesus;

How can this warning of difficulty refresh our souls today? Consider these thoughts from 1 Corinthians 13, often referred to as the “love chapter”: verses 11 & 12 read:

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

Let’s put away our childish clutching to broken toys, and cling to Jesus!

Apocalypse Talks: The Mean Time

Apocalypse Talks: The Mean Time

Matthew 24:45-51

How do we value ONE YEAR? Ask a student who failed a grade. How do we value ONE MONTH? Ask a Mother whose baby arrived prematurely. How do we value ONE WEEK? Editor’s of weekly newspapers know. How do we value ONE HOUR? Ask someone who lies terminally ill waiting for a loved one who is late. How do we value ONE MINUTE? Ask someone who missed a plane, a train, a very important engagement that would never be rescheduled. How do we value ONE SECOND? Ask and Olympic Medalist, someone who just missed having an accident, or someone saying good by to a loved one they will never see again.

How are we using the Mean Time?

* We’re Choosing To Serve ~ Matthew 24:45-47

• 45 WHO is to be faithful and wise? Is this just about ministers? Or does this include everyone?
• 46 frankly, as Congregationalists, we might read into this a bit: we are, each of us, directly servants of our Master: Christ is the head of the church (Eph. 1:22; 5:27; Col. 1:18; 2:10); we ALL serve, so this applies to all of us – Jesus wants us to be faithful and wise
• 47 less a reward and more a responsibility; the Master will give us more to be faithful and wise with – our reward isn’t what we get charge of, but our increased responsibility is also more intimate relationship. Our reward is Christ Himself!

* Or Losing Our Nerve ~ Matthew 24:48-51

• 48 “wicked”=WORTHLESS; is a servant who doesn’t serve a servant? Instead of caring, he’s clock-watching
• 49 watch out for those wielding authority as a weapon instead of the tool to take care of the Master’s estate;
• 50 here’s the concern: in the back of the mind, the servant KNOWS the Master will return “someday”
• 51 (cf Jer. 34:18) those who break covenant are subject to being broken themselves!

We, as God’s servants, enter into a covenant with Him. We give our very LIVES to God… and this is a serious commitment! The Lord expects us to honor our covenant with Him; that we are grafted into His Life so that we would bear fruit. How shall we use our Mean Time?

Apocalypse Talks: The Bigger Picture

Apocalypse Talks: The Bigger Picture

Matthew 24:36-44

Sometimes we receive warnings about a coming disaster, take appropriate steps, and in large part prevent the situation. Y2K was talked about for years, with serious preparations occurring 2 years before. As a result, when Y2K finally happened, only minor inconveniences and website errors were reported.

In other instances, we don’t respond as well. There were 36 warnings about 9/11, as early as 1994, with 22 in 2001 alone. With all those warnings (including one that said “tomorrow is zero hour” received on 9/10), we still missed preventing a tragedy that resulted in 2,996 deaths.

What’s Wrong With End-Time Warning?

* Some Refuse To See It ~ Matthew 24:36-39

• 36 Refer: vs 29-35; these are references to Isaiah 13&24; and Joel 2: the Day of the Lord is a subject that Israel knows about; Jesus warns His listeners that the Fall of Jerusalem is the end of their world as they know it. AFTER that (not “immediately”, but later) will the final gathering and judgment at the end of the Day of the Lord occur. Since ONLY the Father knows when that is, don’t obsess about the timing of it
• 37 it took Noah 55-75 years to build the Ark; his neighbors MUST have noticed! (lots of warning time)
• 38/39 but they don’t pay attention; they hear but do not listen, they see but do not understand (cf. Isa 6) (NOT ALL WILL RESPOND)

* Some Selected To Receive It ~ Matthew 24:40-44

• 40 When the Trumpet is sounded, only SOME will respond to the call
• 41 God knows whom He will elect and collect
• 42 WE do NOT know when the Call will be sounded: WATCH!
• 43/44 implication: The Day will END with the Trumpet (1 Cor. 15:51-52; 1 Thes. 4:15-17) (NOT ALL WILL BE SAVED)

Bigger Picture: not *just* about the Fall of Jerusalem; about the end of the Day of the Lord (Joel 2). Good news for us who already know we’re going to be with the Lord – not necessarily bad news for others, because THERE’S STILL TIME TO TRUST… until there ISN’T. Only God knows how much sand is left in the Divine Hourglass…

Apocalypse Talks: Mitigating Disaster

Apocalypse Talks: Mitigating Disaster

Matthew 24:15-22

Thomas Edison’s manufacturing facilities in West Orange, N.J., were heavily damaged by fire one night in December, 1914. Edison lost over $2 million worth of equipment and the record of much of his work. The next morning, walking about the charred embers of his hopes and dreams, the 67-year-old inventor said: “There is great value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Thank God we can start anew.”

When Jesus told His disciples about the coming Apocalypse, He didn’t shy away from the difficult details. His words held a warning which still can help us today…

When Disaster Approaches

Get OUT of its Way ~ Matthew 24:15-20

• 15 cf Dan.9.27-Antiocus Epiphanes; “abomination that causes desolation” is pagan authority where Godly worship should be (Destruction Of Temple)
• 16 the only way the Temple will be completely destroyed is by invading army. RUN!
• 17 RUN RIGHT THEN: Don’t dawdle
• 18 RUN AWAY: Don’t turn back (cf. Lot’s wife Gen 19)
• 19/20 RUN FAST: simply because they’re slow; they can’t evacuate quickly

Keep Pressure in Perspective ~ Matthew 24:21-22

• 21 “great distress” not dispensationalist “TRIBULATION”; same word 45 times in NT, means “pressured”; Destruction of the Temple certainly placed an unequaled pressure on the whole of Judaism!
• 22 historian Josephus reported 1,100,000 dead, and 100,000 survivors sold into slavery. If that kind of devastation had continued, everyone under the Roman attack would have died; “sake of the elect”

Jesus TOLD the Disciples they’d need to leave Jerusalem here, and told them again in Matthew 28:19-20 and AGAIN in Acts 1:8.

His words of warning helped the early church escape the coming disaster AND reminded them that their mission was larger than their home: they went out to serve the world. Are we?

alas, the video did not record this week. Audio is working, however! Click the top link.

Apocalypse Talks: The Fall Is Approaching

Apocalypse Talks: The Fall Is Approaching

Matthew 24:9-14

Here is a truism: making good choices comes from experience; experience comes from making bad choices! Will we ever NOT make bad choices?

Failure Is A Fact Of Life

Warning from the Law-Bearer ~ Deuteronomy 31:23-29

• 23 encouragement to leader: be strong and have courage
• 24/26 command to religious: keep the Word
• 27 awareness against a rebellious heart
• 28/29 warning to people: NOT a self-fulfilling prophecy: a promise that if you sow evil, God will have you reap it

Learning from the Living Word ~ Matthew 24:9-14

• 9 this started with Saul, and kept going for 300 years until Constantine [carrying this call will not be easy]
• 10/11 shown to be true in Scripture (2Tim 2 w/ Phygellus and Hermogenes) and history (Tacitus under Nero: “at first, several were seized, who confessed, and then, by their discovery, a great multitude of others were convicted and executed.”) [fake faith fades under fire]
• 12/13 not ONLY a prophecy of early Christians, but of CONDITIONS: when this starts to happen, and Christians just let it be, their love for God gets weaker, which detracts from their ability to stand firm in their faith! [apathy in face of evil saps spiritual energy]
• 14 history shows this happened: the early Christians were scattered all over the world (ex. Thomas made it to India in 52AD); the end OF JERUSALEM did come, in 70AD

If the fall of Jerusalem caused Jesus to give these warnings to early Christians – do they still speak for our own context? Right now, we hear the challenge to “make America great again”… but what KIND of greatness? Are we allowing evil to expand while our zeal for righteousness contracts? Failure Is A Fact Of Life: Be conquered by it, or Compensate for it?

Apocalypse Talks: Temporary Temples

Apocalypse Talks: Temporary Temples

Matthew 24:1-8

Abandoned dwellings on internet are intriguing: why? what’s the draw of an old barn, or an abandoned structure? Seeing an unused church makes me wonder what life was like when it WAS in use. But think of the life we now live from the other side of time: what will our beloved places be like when they’re abandoned?

Beware The Worship of the Temporary

* Figure Out The Focus ~ Matthew 24:1-3

(what are you watching)

• 1 challenge: follow Jesus when eyes are on the world
• 2 Jesus reminds us: we live in a temporary situation; don’t take it for “granite” (it’s not that sturdy!)
• 3 disciples want to know when, because they want to SEE it (“sign), not avoid it. Are WE asking the right questions of God?

* Don’t Focus on False Forecasts ~ Matthew 24:4-8

(what’s the meaning)

• 4 challenge: recognize that people DO try to deceive us
• 5 devil ain’t got no shame!
• 6 see to it: decide in advance how you’ll respond to bad news
• 7/8 Birth pangs were in fact a common Jewish metaphor to refer to an indeterminate period of distress leading up to the end of this age (e.g., 1 Enoch 62:4; 2 Esdr 4:42; Tg. Ps 18:14).

In other words, Jesus reminds us to be aware that difficulties are GOING to come… but aren’t necessarily the end of the world (literally!)