The sermon this morning was "Joel Part 2"
Parallels Joel Chapter 1 - locusts and call to mourning - invading army and call to repentance.
Joel 2:1-32 (NASB)
The Terrible Visitation
1 Blow a trumpet in Zion, And sound an
alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of
the land tremble, For the day of the LORD is coming; Surely it is near,
2 A day of darkness and gloom, A
day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn is
spread over the mountains, So there is a great
and mighty people; There has never been
anything like it, Nor will there be again
after it To the years of many generations.
3 A fire consumes
before them And behind them a flame burns. The land is like the garden of Eden before them But a desolate wilderness behind them, And nothing at all escapes them.
4 Their appearance is
like the appearance of horses; And like war horses, so they
run.
5
With a noise as of chariots They leap on the
tops of the mountains, Like the crackling of a flame
of fire consuming the stubble, Like a mighty people
arranged for battle.
6
Before them the people are in anguish; All
faces turn pale.
7
They run like mighty men, They climb the wall
like soldiers; And they each march in line,
Nor do they deviate from their paths.
8 They do not crowd
each other, They march everyone in his path; When they burst through the defenses, They do not break ranks.
9 They rush on the city, They
run on the wall; They climb into the houses,
They enter through the windows like a thief.
10 Before them
the earth quakes, The heavens tremble, The sun and the moon grow dark And the
stars lose their brightness.
11 The LORD utters His voice before His army;
Surely His camp is very great, For strong is he who carries out His word. The day of the LORD
is indeed great and very awesome, And who can endure
it?
12
"Yet even now," declares the LORD, "Return to Me
with all your heart, And with fasting, weeping and
mourning;
13
And rend your heart and not your garments." Now return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness And relenting of evil.
14 Who knows whether He will not turn and
relent And leave a blessing behind Him, Even a grain offering and a drink offering For the LORD your
God?
15
Blow a trumpet in Zion, Consecrate a fast,
proclaim a solemn assembly,
16 Gather the people, sanctify the congregation,
Assemble the elders, Gather the
children and the nursing infants. Let the bridegroom
come out of his room And the bride out of her
bridal chamber.
17 Let the priests, the LORD'S ministers, Weep between the porch and the altar, And let them say, "Spare Your people, O LORD, And do
not make Your inheritance a reproach, A byword among
the nations. Why should they among the peoples say,
'Where is their God?'"
Deliverance Promised
18 Then the LORD will be zealous for His land
And will have pity on His people.
19 The LORD will answer and say to His people,
"Behold, I am going to send you grain, new wine and oil,
And you will be satisfied in full with them;
And I will never again make you a reproach among the
nations.
20
"But I will remove the northern army far from you, And I will drive it into a parched and desolate land, And its vanguard into the eastern sea, And its rear guard into the western sea. And its stench will arise and its foul smell will come up,
For it has done great things."
21 Do not fear, O land,
rejoice and be glad, For the LORD has done great things.
22 Do not fear, beasts
of the field, For the pastures of the wilderness have turned
green, For the tree has borne its fruit, The fig tree and the vine have yielded in full.
23 So rejoice, O sons
of Zion, And be glad in the LORD your God; For He has given you the early rain for your vindication.
And He has poured down for you the rain, The early and latter rain as before.
24 The threshing floors
will be full of grain, And the vats will overflow with the
new wine and oil.
25
"Then I will make up to you for the years That
the swarming locust has eaten, The creeping locust,
the stripping locust and the gnawing locust, My great
army which I sent among you.
26 "You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied
And praise the name of the LORD your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you; Then
My people will never be put to shame.
27 "Thus you will know that I am in the midst of
Israel, And that I am the LORD your God, And there is no other; And My people
will never be put to shame.
The Promise Of The Spirit
28
"It will come about after this That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your
young men will see visions.
29 "Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
The Day Of The LORD
30 "I will display wonders in
the sky and on the earth, Blood, fire and columns of
smoke.
31
"The sun will be turned into darkness And the
moon into blood Before the great and awesome day of
the LORD comes.
32 "And it will come
about that whoever calls on the name of the LORD Will be
delivered; For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
There will be those who escape, As the LORD has
said, Even among the survivors whom the LORD calls.
Joel 3:1-21 (NASB)
The Nations Will Be Judged
1 "For behold, in those days and at that time, When I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
2 I will gather all the
nations And bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat.
Then I will enter into judgment with them there
On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel,
Whom they have scattered among the nations;
And they have divided up My land.
3 "They have also cast
lots for My people, Traded a boy for a harlot And sold a girl for wine that they may drink.
4 "Moreover, what are you to Me, O Tyre, Sidon and all the
regions of Philistia? Are you rendering Me a recompense? But if you do
recompense Me, swiftly and speedily I will return your recompense on your head.
5 "Since
you have taken My silver and My gold, brought My precious treasures to your
temples,
6 and sold the sons of Judah
and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their territory,
7 behold, I am going to arouse them
from the place where you have sold them, and return your recompense on your
head.
8 "Also I will sell your sons and your daughters into the
hand of the sons of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a distant
nation," for the LORD has spoken.
9 Proclaim this
among the nations: Prepare a war; rouse the mighty men!
Let all the soldiers draw near, let them come
up!
10
Beat your plowshares into swords And your
pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak say, "I am a
mighty man."
11
Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, And gather yourselves there. Bring
down, O LORD, Your mighty
ones.
12
Let the nations be aroused And come up to the
valley of Jehoshaphat, For there I will sit to judge
All the surrounding nations.
13 Put in the sickle,
for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is
full; The vats overflow, for their wickedness is
great.
14
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of
decision.
15
The sun and moon grow dark And the stars lose
their brightness.
16
The LORD roars from
Zion And utters His voice from Jerusalem, And the heavens and the earth tremble. But the LORD is a
refuge for His people And a stronghold to the sons of
Israel.
17
Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, Dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain. So
Jerusalem will be holy, And strangers will pass
through it no more.
Judah Will Be Blessed
18 And in that day The mountains will
drip with sweet wine, And the hills will flow with
milk, And all the brooks of Judah will flow with
water; And a spring will go out from the house of the
LORD To
water the valley of Shittim.
19 Egypt will become a waste, And Edom will become a desolate wilderness, Because of the violence done to the sons of Judah, In whose land they have shed innocent blood.
20 But Judah will be
inhabited forever And Jerusalem for all generations.
21 And I will
avenge their blood which I have not avenged, For the LORD dwells in Zion.
Verse For Today
1 Corinthians 2:14
"The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned"
