The Message and the Messenger


Joel Chapter 1

๐Ÿ“Œ MESSAGE COUNTS NOT THE MESSENGER (v 1)
The book of Joel has one of the shortest introduction of its author. It simply states – Joel son of Pethuel. What is important is not the man but the message he has received from God. Today we have come across many speakers who loves to give a long self-introduction @ his experience/ period in the ministry; position in the church/ secular jobs; visiting abroad etc before coming to the word of God.

๐Ÿ“Œ MESSENGER, “BE SPECIFIC WITH THE MESSAGE” (v 2,4,7,10-12).
A nation wide devastation and a severe drought have occurred in the land of Judah. This destruction, caused by the army of locusts, has come from God because of the people’s sin(“Has anything like this ever happened..?” v 2b)

๐Ÿ“Œ MESSENGER, PROCLAIM THE MESSAGE WITH AUTHORITY.
The importance/ urgency of God’s message is underscored by the imperatives (v 2-3) —
๐Ÿ“ Hear this, you elders..
๐Ÿ‘‚ Listen, all who live in the land..
โ“ Ask question – “Has anything like this ever happened in your days..
๐Ÿ—ฃ๏ธ Tell it to your children and let them tell it to their children..

๐ŸŽฏ Thus, Joel calls everyone to REPENT:
1๏ธโƒฃ ELDERS: HEAR AND TELL OTHERS (v 2-3)
Elders who lived in the land are the one who are called first to hear God’s message. They are to tell their children, and the trend is to be continued (future generations).
๐Ÿ“ ” FAITH comes from hearing the message..” Rom 10:17

2๏ธโƒฃ DRUNKARDS: WAKE UP AND WEEP (v 5).
Joel is targeting the complacent lifestyle of the wealthy as well as the insensitivity, laziness and disobedience of the whole nation.
๐Ÿ“Œ According to Jewish custom and tradition, wine was the source of joy and gladness (Psalm 104:15). So lack of new wine would rob people of their joy.
๐Ÿ“Œ But the people of the New Covenant “.. have peace with God through Jesus Christ..” Rom 5:1

3๏ธโƒฃ FARMERS: WAIL AND GRIEVE (v 11)
The land of Judah was in pathetic condition – their fields ruinedโ€ฆ ground dried up..new wine dried up.. oil crops failed..and all the fruit trees are dried up. So Joel summoned them to mourn.

4๏ธโƒฃ PRIESTS: MOURN AND WAIL (v 9,13).
Because of this devastation the worship in the temple has been disrupted. With this devastation, the people can no longer make grain offerings or the drinks offerings (Lev 2)
๐ŸŒˆ The Lord said, “The more the priests increased, the more they sinned against me; They exchanged their glory for something disgraceful ” Hosea 4:7.

โœ… So the priests, as nation’s representatives, are to put on sackcloth (v 13). They are to call a holy fast as well as a sacred assembly in which the people will gather at the temple and cry out to the Lord (v 14).
๐Ÿ“Œ LOCUST PLAGUES, DROUGHT and CROP FAILURES were among the curses that would follow if the people disobeyed God’s command (Lev 26:18-20; Deut 28: 38-42).
๐Ÿ“Œ So Joel summoned the nation (PRIESTS, ELDERS and the PEOPLE) to REPENTANCE (v 14)

๐Ÿ’• Beloved Church, Joel’s call is a wake up call to all of us to prioritise CORPORATE PRAYERS, crying out to the Lord not just for deliverance in the time of crisis but also for FORGIVENESS ๐Ÿ›

Glory to God ๐Ÿ™
โœ๐Ÿฝ Mark Boje, ArP ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ

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Joel 2:26 – And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed. And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.

The prophet Joel, son of Pethuel, is one of the 12 minor prophets.
He penned most of his 73-verse book in the form of a poem.

Joel means “Yahweh is God.”
Here we see that God is a God of redemption and restoration.
He can redeem and make use of any situation.

Look at this wonderful promise of God: ‘I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten.’

This verse reminds of how God has provided for us in our lives.

Our God is our provider and protector and He surely satisfies all our needs and protects us from all calamities.
As we keep growing from one spiritual stage to a higher level, the level of our protection and provisions also increase.

We may have had years of devastationโ€ฆ But He can redeem it!
โ€ฆ.. *He can repay us for the years that the locusts have eaten.

Can you think of a situation that devastated our life?
What emotions do we feel in our heart?

Heartache and pain???
Probably we are hurting so badly that all we really want to do is cry.

And thatโ€™s okay! Even the Lord Jesus Christ wept when faced with the tragedy and sorrow of death (see John 11:35).

Soโ€ฆ How can our heart truly get heal?
๐Ÿ“ Get alone with God,
๐Ÿ“ Tell Him honestly how badly we are hurting.
๐Ÿ“ Cry if we want to. Cry out to Him, โ€œGod, help me!โ€
๐Ÿ“ We will find that as we pour out our heart to the Lord, weโ€™ll begin to feel the burdens of our soul roll away.

Always trust and believe that God can turn a situation around and make something good come out of that which is bad.

Jooley Mathew Z
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