Joel 2:4

Joel 2:4 says, The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.  The coming locusts and caterpillars were going to look like an invading army.  When God's judgment comes, there can be little doubt that it is His work.  Insects do not just suddenly grow this large.  Matthew Henry points out that extraordinary judgments of God are very rare, since He chooses to show mercy whenever possible.  Still, when people refuse to accept God's mercy, they can be certain of His judgment.  The next few verses continue to speak of the power of the devastating swarm. Verse five adds, Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.  Verse six continues, Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness.  Verse seven states, They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks:  Verse eight adds, Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded.  Verse nine continues, They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.  Verse ten concludes, The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:  What Joel was telling the people of Judah was that the devastation was to be complete, and they would be powerless to stop it.  God doesn't need armies to destroy those who rebel against Him, nor will any army be strong enough to protect us against His wrath. When Judah sought peace and security in the things of this world instead of in God, God used the simple things of this world to remind them that He has control of everything in the world.  We might ask if that is the case why God doesn't just destroy all evil and cause everyone to follow Him.  The answer once again is free will.  God wants people to follow Him through a willing faith.  He promises us that He will be with us through all trials and tribulations, but also allows us to choose to ignore following His leadership.  When devastation comes, it is not because of God's desire to punish people, but because of their refusal to accept His forgiveness through faith.

Joel 2:1

Joel 2:1 says, Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;  Joel was giving them a very clear warning from God. They were called on by God to sound the alarm very loudly.  We today as God's people need to sound the alarm.  The day of the Lord is coming, and for those who are not His through faith in Christ, it will be a day to tremble.  For the people of Judah, their judgment was nigh at hand.  For the world today, whether it be tomorrow or ten thousand years from now, God's judgment is nigh at hand.  We look to the second coming of Christ and think that it is near, and it may well be, though we cannot declare it so.  What we can declare is that every day that passes we personally are closer to going to be with God.  Even if we live to be over a hundred, in the prospective of eternity, then our end here on this earth is nigh at hand.  Verse two adds, A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.  When the day of destruction came, there would be nothing but gloom and darkness.  God's people had forgotten that He alone could bring the light of hope into their world.  Even if everything appeared to be going well for them, it was but an illusion that would soon be replaced by the darkness of despair. There was a strong army of locusts and caterpillars like none ever seen before coming to destroy them.  Though we may personally and as a nation may feel that things are going well, if we are outside God's will, then darkness and destruction await us.  God will not be mocked, and if we attribute success to our own abilities as followers of Christ, then we are mocking God.  Verse three continues, A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.  The country before them may have looked like the garden of Eden, but after the coming destruction, it would be a desolate wilderness.  The defeat and destruction were going to be total.  Those things that we think of as beautiful and prosperous, if they are obtained outside the will of God will ultimately be reduced to nothing.

Joel 1:14

Joel 1:14 says, Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD,  Here, the people of God were being told the remedy for their rebellion.  They needed to return to God, individually and as a nation.  We today need to follow that advice.  If we want our nation, whatever nation that might be, to be great, then we must call on God and then listen to Him when He answers.  One thing is certain, God will answer us when we sincerely call on Him if we are His people.  The real question then becomes whether or not we will listen to God.  Verse fifteen adds, Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.  This was a stern warning and not a questionable statement. When God declares something to be true, we can be certain that it is true.  As followers of Christ, we know that God has declared that one day judgment is going to come to the lost world and Christ is going to be either a redeemer or a judge to everyone.  Those who have not accepted Christ and those things not done for God will be destroyed.  The destruction of the lost will be everlasting separation from God.  Verse sixteen adds, Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?  The people already had evidence of the result of not following God.  There was no meat on their tables.  Those idols they worshipped were unable to provide for them.  Also, there was no joy in God's house.  As followers of Christ, if we are out of fellowship with Him, nothing is going to satisfy us and we are going to get no joy from being in His house.  Empty worship never satisfies.  Verse seventeen states, The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered. Without God's provision for them, everything was failing.  Their crops failed so the barns weren't needed.  Verse eighteen adds, How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.  The bottom line was, due to their failure to obey God, complete destruction awaited them.  This is still true today.  We will never find lasting salvation outside of God's will.  No matter how successful we may be in the eyes of the world, anything we have obtained through disobedience to God will be destroyed.  Verse nineteen continues, O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field. Though God's people may have turned away from Him, even in their desolation there was hope if they returned to Him.  Verse twenty concludes, The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.  All of nature seemed to be failing.  When we look around at so many things that seem to be destructive today, we need to make sure that our faith is in God alone.

Joel 1:8

Joel 1:8 says, Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.  I believe that Joel was calling the people of Judah to lament, or to mourn, because they had lost the husband of their youth, or their relationship with God.  The analogy of God, or in the New Testament of Christ, as the Groom and His people as the bride should be familiar to God's people.  Judah had turned away from their covenant relationship with God, and that should have caused them to mourn for that lost relationship.  If we are outside the complete will of God, we should mourn for that lost relationship. Verse nine adds, The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD’s ministers, mourn.  Since the people of Judah had rebelled against God, their sacrifices to Him were cut off.  This should have led the priests, God's ministers, to mo urn.  We must realize that just because we offer a sacrifice to God, that does not obligate Him to accept it.  If we are offering a sacrifice while not following God's will in our life, we are sacrificing in vain.  As followers of Christ, we acknowledge the priesthood of all believers, so if we see false worship going on around us, we should be in mourning.  Following God's will means putting Him first in all aspects of our lives, and not just in the words we speak.  Our words and actions must be consistent.  Verse ten continues, The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.  This is a continuation of the warning of the destruction of the land of God's people.  God had given them the land, but since they had turned against Him, they were going to lose it.  We can be sure of the same thing.  Verse eleven states, Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.  Having failed to live up to their commitment with God, their crops had failed, and they were told they should be ashamed.   When we are outside of the will of God, then anything we have looked to for success will ultimately fail, and for this we should be ashamed.  Through Christ, God has already given us victory in all situations if we rely on His strength.  Verse twelve adds, The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.  When the people were not following God, there was no true joy.  Today, our joy can only come through a right relationship with God.  Verse thirteen continues, Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.  It was time for God's people, even the priests, to genuinely repent.  When offerings were withheld from the altar of God, only genuine repentance could restore the m.  When we withhold things promised to God, we must likewise truly repent with broken hearts for our lack of faith.  Only then can we be fully restored to God.

Joel 1:1

Joel 1:1 says, The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.  This is where all true prophecy has to begin.  This is also where our proclamation of the gospel has to begin.  The word of the Lord must come to us.  As followers of Christ today, we must also acknowledge that God's word to us is going to be consistent with His written word, the Bible.  If anyone proclaims some new revelation that goes against the Bible, we need to stay away from them.  God's revelation of Himself to the world was completed in the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.  Even though we are given some signs to look for before Christ returns, that should not be our emphasis.  Christ as Savior and Lord is our message today and always.  Verse two adds, Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?  Joel was referring to the destruction of their crops.  He was asking if the old men could remember a time when things were so bad.  Today, we hear about how bad things have gotten in the world, and the older people especially tend to say that things have continually gotten worse, especially from a moral aspect.  When the people of the world refuse to acknowledge God, the world will indeed continue to get worse.  Verse three continues, Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.  I believe that the people of Judah, who were still a part of God's chosen people, were being instructed to teach the coming generations about the destruction that comes when God's people are out of God's will.  We, all these generations later, still need to understand this. Verse four states, That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.  Joel was telling the people of Judah that their crops were going to be totally destroyed.  Though they had not acknowledged it, God had protected them from this destruction and had provided for them.  The same is true today.  God protects His people from destruction and provides for their needs when they follow His will. Anything that we sow outside of His will ultimately will be totally destroyed.  Verse five adds, Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.  Israel was called on to awake from their drunken state. They were going to be cut off from their new wine and would howl in need of it.  When we are out of God's will today, we need to awake from our stupor and quit looking to anything else to bring us peace and happiness.  Verse six continues, For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.  Not only were their crops to be destroyed, but they were to lose their freedom to another nation.  Without God, Judah was helpless.  Today, without God, we are helpless.  If we allow the things of this world to become more important than the will of God, we are likewise helpless.  We must always seek God's guidance first, or we can be overcome by the evil in the world.  Verse seven concludes, He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.  Destruction of earthly things that God's people relied on outside of following His will would be complete.  Even though we as followers of Christ have everlasting security, if we are attempting to rely on anything in this world other than God for security, whatever that is will ultimately be utterly destroyed.

Hosea Review Continued

Today, I am going to continue to review some of the things the Bible has taught us, not only in Hosea but in all the books.  It may seem that I am always putting Christians in a negative light, but nothing could be farther from the truth.  Today we as Christians need to be stronger than ever in our faith if we are going to be effective in reaching the world for Christ.  Just as God's people did throughout history, we cannot afford to look to the world for security.  This was something that Israel, God's chosen people, forgot over and over.  When they found themselves successful in the eyes of the world they tended to forget God and look to the world for security.  We today can be just as guilty.  Our success or failure does not rest in riches and the power of any government, but in our relationship with God.  From the nation of Israel's first desire for an earthly king, they began to continually fall out of their covenant relationship with God.  When we look to earthly rulers for security, and feel that God and His standards are unimportant, we begin to fall out of God's will for us.  Whether at any time in the history of Israel or in the world today, we must put God first in all things.  We also see that sacrifices made outside the will of God are more than useless, even if they are supposedly made to God.  They are an insult to God instead.  Again, we cannot just add God's name to what we are doing and expect Him to accept it if we haven't asked for His guidance to start with.  We need to remember that anything we give to God is His to start with.  Finally, we must acknowledge that God wants restoration with His people, and not punishment of them.  God stands ready to forgive everyone, but He leaves it up to each individual to accept that forgiveness.  God is not vindictive but merciful, and He awaits to forgive those who call on Him for forgiveness.

Hosea Review

Today, I will review what I believe the book of Hosea is telling us today.  The first thing is that following the will of God is not easy.  Hosea was a prophet of God, but he was instructed to take a wife who was not the person Hosea would have likely chosen on his own.  We like Hosea must put God's will first even if we do not fully understand why He is asking us to do a particular thing.  When we do know what God is directing us to do, we like Hosea must do it without question.  Hosea was also telling the people of Israel something they did not want to hear.  They thought they had everything planned out, and they did not need God's protection.  They were going to rely on the powers of the world to protect them and worship the gods that everyone else worshipped.  We as followers of Christ today must never feel that we are so successful that we really don't need to look to God for direction daily.  If we become indifferent to God at any time, we are likely to find ourselves worshipping some other god.  False gods do not have to be statues but can be anything that comes between God and us, such as self-pride or material success.  Hosea reminded Israel that they were not God's people by physical birth or earthly merit, but that they were His people because He chose to enter into a covenant relationship with them.  God could have chosen the most powerful nation to reveal Himself to the world through, but He chose Israel, a basically insignificant group of people.  God does not call us today because we are strong, but He calls us because without Him, no matter how strong we may feel that we are, we are weak and insignificant without Him. We enter into a covenant relationship with God through accepting Christ, and only then can we call ourselves God's people.  We may wonder how Israel, those who called themselves God's people, could have fallen so far out of His will, but it occurred a little at a time, not all at once. Whenever we let anything come between God and us, no matter how small that thing might be, unless we repent and turn again to God, we will be subject to falling more under the power of sin.  For the people of Israel, that meant that they were God's people in name only but were spiritually no more His than the rest of the world.  When we come to God through faith in Christ, we will always be His, but we can become ineffective servants when we allow the things of the world to come between God and us.