Title: Panorama from Joel
Contents
Joel Panorama
Theme: Return to Me with all your heart (2:12).
At the time of the prophet Joel, he encountered an unprecedented locust plague. People only saw the problem that fell on their feet, but the book of Joel is a prophetic warning that a greater calamity is approaching beyond the calamity they are facing.
① Therefore, the key word in the book of Joel is “the day of the Lord.” Understanding this is the key to interpreting the book of Joel. It appears five times (1:15, 2:1, 11, 31, 3:14) in the book of Joel, which is only three chapters in its entirety. What, then, is “the day of Jehovah”? Although the book of Joel is a short prophetic book, it is not simplistic in interpretation. Because, like an onion, “the day of the Lord” is layered on top.
㉠ The “day of the Lord” that fell on the foot of the foot was a plague of locusts, “the locusts ate what the padjong left, and the locusts ate what the locusts left, and the locusts ate what the locusts left” (1:4). However, a prophet is not a short-sighted person who only sees the immediate locust plague.
㉡ “Beyond, let the nations do not have dominion over them, and they shall not be reproached among the nations” (2:17, 19), who is looking forward to the invasion of the enemy. will be This is “the day of Jehovah” in the near future. Therefore, we urge repentance, saying, “Rend your hearts, not your clothes, and return to the Lord your God” (2:13).
② However, the ultimate “day of the Lord” that the book of Joel is aiming for is “the sun will be darkened and the moon will turn into blood before the great and dreadful day of the Lord comes” (2:31), an eschatological “The Day of the Lord.” This is the day of the Last Judgment, when the Lord said, “This day shall come upon all who dwell on the whole earth” (Luke 21:35).
㉠ Foreseeing this, it is warning of the final judgment, saying, “Many people, in the valley of judgment, the day of the Lord is near” (3:14). In this way, in the book of Joel, three scenes are superimposed: the near scene (近景), the middle view (中景), and the distant view (遠景).
triple application
③ The prophet who sees this warns, “Oh, that day, the day of the Lord is at hand, as destruction comes from the Almighty” (1:15). Thus, “Set a day of fasting, declare a solemn assembly, and gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry to the Lord” (1:14).
㉠ 2:1 says, “Blow the trumpet in Zion, and blow the whistle from my holy mountain, so that all the inhabitants of the land shall tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming, and now is at hand.” It was not only in Joel's day that this “day of the Lord” came threefold.
㉡ “The tower of Siloam fell,” and the day 18 people died is also the day of the Lord. He says, “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:4), and there will be a greater day of the Lord. Therefore, the central warning proclaimed in the book of Joel transcending time and space is, “Even now, return to Me with fasting and weeping and mourning and with all your heart. Rend your hearts and not your clothes, and return to the LORD your God” (2:12-13).
Structure of Joel
④ The overall structure of the book of Joel, like other prophets, intersects “desperation and hope, problem and solution”.
㉠ First, 1:1-2:17 is a warning about judgment. “Oh, that day, the day of the LORD is near, it comes as destruction from the Almighty” (1:15).
㉮ Then, in verses 18-32, “Then the LORD will be zealous for his land, and have mercy on his people (2:18), and after that I will pour out my Spirit on all people” (2:18). 28) and the rain of mercy and grace is poured out.
㉡ But again, up to the first half of verses 3:1-16, it is a warning of judgment, saying, “Strike your plowshares into swords, and your sickles into spears” (3:10).
㉯ But the book of Joel does not end with judgment and despair, “But I, the Lord, will be a refuge for my people and a stronghold for the children of Israel, and now I will repay, because I, the Lord, dwell in Zion” (3:16a, 21). I am ending with the hope that you will comfort me and restore me.
㉢ It is the fact that “the day of the Lord” comes in two ways. It is “salvation and destruction” (滅亡). The “day of the Lord,” the flood judgment, which came in Noah’s day, was a day of destruction for unbelievers, but a “day of salvation” for Noah’s eight family members. The final “day of the Lord” will also come as a judgment for unbelievers, but for those who believe, it will be a day of redemption in the body.
more grace
⑤ Therefore, to the extent that the warning of judgment is fearful in the book of Joel, blessings, salvation, and grace are abundantly promised. “Do not be afraid, O earth, be rejoicing and be glad; the Lord has done great things” (2:21).
㉠ These “great things” are primarily the words, “He will send rain for you, and give you the early rain as appropriate, and the early rain and the latter rain will be as before” (2:23).
⑥ By the way, what is the meaning of the phrase “Jehovah has done great things” in the context of the history of redemption? In the Bible, there are two major “great works” that God has done: “Do not fear, O earth, be rejoicing and rejoice” (2:21).
㉠ The first “great thing” he did was to send his son to this earth as a ransom sacrifice. Therefore, the text says, “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord (those who believe) will be saved (2:32), and a fountain will flow from the temple of the Lord” (3:18). Therefore, Mary, who was pregnant with Christ, said in her hymn, “The Mighty One has done great things for me” (Luke 1:49).
㉡ The second “great deed” he performed was the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:11), “After that I will pour out my Spirit on all people” (2:28). After the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, Peter lifted up his voice and said, “I will make these things known to you, and give ear to me, which was spoken by the prophet Joel” (Acts 2:14-15), quoting 2:28. Thus, it proved that this prophecy was fulfilled. they said “We all hear in our tongues speaking the great things of God” (Acts 2:11). This is Jehovah's great work.
㉢ The words “I will pour out my Spirit on all people” should not be regarded as ordinary. Because, “My Spirit shall not dwell with men forever, for they became flesh” (Genesis 6:3), indicating that the broken relationship with God will be restored. Even in the Old Testament times, there was a work of the Holy Spirit. But to a special person, it was limited to special cases.
㉣ However, it says that the day will come when it will be poured out on “manmin” (萬民), that is, “children, old people, and young people.” Even more amazingly, he says, “It will be poured out on male and female servants” (2:28-29), that is, even on the most humble of slaves.
⑦ When this day comes, all walls will be broken down, and there will be no discrimination, saying, “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (2:32), calling on the name of the Lord or rejecting it, that is, believe or believe. I say that there is only discrimination of whether or not there is.
㉠ And the redemptive work that Christ will bear and the “descent of the Holy Spirit” are the two great things that are inseparable. The Lord said, “I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away (death); unless I go away, the Counselor (the Holy Spirit) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” ( John 16:7) He said. Because the Holy Spirit is the one who comes to deliver the redemption that the Lord has accomplished. There is nothing bigger than these two incidents in business and business.
Two great things God has done
⑧ To summarize the book of Joel,
㉠ The scene described in Chapter 1 is clearly a historical description of a locust plague.
㉡ However, it is difficult to distinguish whether the scene described in Chapter 2 (1-11) continues to deal with the plague of locusts or the invasion of foreign enemies. This is because the two pictures of the locust swarm attacking and the army invading like locusts from the north overlap. This is called the complexity of revelation.
㉢ However, the catastrophe in the Bible, whether it be a flood, a fire, a locust, or an enemy, is ultimately a warning of the final judgment. So, the structure of the book of Joel is that the locust plague in Chapter 1, the invasion of foreign enemies in Chapter 2, and the final judgment in Chapter 3 are developing.
⑨ Therefore, the scenes described in Chapter 3 are scenes of the end times. “There are many people, for the valley of judgment is crowded, for the day of the Lord is near” (3:14), “and I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, with books opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their deeds, according to what was written in the books” (Revelation 20:12).
㉠ We must keep in mind that “the day of the Lord” is not just “one day” that is approaching. Just as days come together to become months and years, so we need to realize that every day is “the day of the Lord.” This is because the dots come together to form a line. It was also “the day of the Lord” when a plague of locusts swept across the country.
㉡ The day the Babylonian army burned Jerusalem was definitely the day of the Lord. However, the day the tsunami struck was Jehovah’s day, the day the International Trade Center of the United States collapsed is Jehovah’s day, the day the Seongsu Bridge collapsed is Jehovah’s day, and the day you got into a car accident is also called “the day of Jehovah. It is saying that there must be.
㉢ There are those who deny the coming “one great and dreadful day of the Lord” (2:11). Others say they believe in Jehovah's day in the future, but live each day forgetting that it is Jehovah's day.
Jehovah's Day
⑩ The prophet Joel said, “After that I will pour out my Spirit on all people” (2:28) and “after that”, Peter is reinterpreting the words “in the last days” (Acts 2:16). you will see This means that the “day of the Lord” foretold by Joel has already come. That's right. “The last days” (末世) means the revelatory last days, that is, the last revelation has come. This is because the advent of Jesus Christ is the final revelation that comprehensively fulfilled the revelation of the Old Testament.
㉠ Therefore, the last days that the Bible speaks of means the entire period from the first coming of Christ to the second coming. It is we who say, “The suffering times of the last days, when people love themselves, they love money… We are living in “times of suffering” when we love pleasure more than love God” (2 Timothy 3:1-4).
The central part of the book of Joel is, “Return to Me now with all your heart, fasting and weeping and mourning, says the LORD, saith the Lord; and tear your heart and not your garments, and return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful. Slow to anger and great in love, he turns from his heart and brings no evil” (2:12-13).
㉢ Therefore, the book of Joel is shouting to the modern church, “If you return to God with your hearts broken even now, you will be saved, but if you refuse in the end, you will be judged.” We are now living in a “period of grace”.