Tag Archives: Joel

Itty Bitty Bible Study – Joel 3

My thoughts for the Itty Bitty Bible Study group on Facebook. (join if you’d like to get these in fb!)

Wikipedia on Joel

Matthew Henry on Joel 3

The great and horrible day of the Lord!
Joel 3

3:1 “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. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land, 3 and have cast lots for my people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it.

Joel 1 & 2 were so depressing…and convicting…because of MY sins, MY land is suffering. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

And, Joel’s prophecy tells us how to humble ourselves!
In IBBS Joel 1, I compared these passages.
Today – the heart cry of the Christians in America is that God heal our land – and God has already told us how to move things to that end.

Eschatology.
Wikipedia is not my theology storehouse, but it gives a good overview of the endtimes points of view.

For me, the book of Revelation is just as important to my faith as the book of Genesis.
God has a plan from the beginning.

Joel3:4 “What are you to me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back, I will return your payment on your own head swiftly and speedily. 5 For you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my rich treasures into your temples. 6 You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their own border. 7 Behold, I will stir them up from the place to which you have sold them, and I will return your payment on your own head. 8 I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far away, for the Lord has spoken.”

God is not the wishy washy God of the tickling ears.
God will rise up…when it’s least expected.

Joel 3:9 Proclaim this among the nations:
Consecrate for war;
stir up the mighty men.
Let all the men of war 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 warrior.”
11 Hasten and come,
all you surrounding nations,
and gather yourselves there.
Bring down your warriors, O Lord.
12 Let the nations stir themselves up
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.
Go in, tread,
for the winepress is full.
The vats overflow,
for their evil is great.

Several times, God talks about the fullness of sin:
Genesis 6 Noah and the flood
Genesis 11 – the Tower of Babel
Micah
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Daniel
Revelation – The great and horrible day of the Lord

When the Lord returns – he will bring with him, his saints…1 Thessalonians 4:13 -5:11
Again – Wikipedia presents the various doctrines on Christ’s second coming.
CBN presents why Christians believe the return of Christ is near.

We have a job to do – we need to be prepared…AND we need to be trained!

For me – this next echoes that the harvest is white…prior to the Lord’s return.

John 4:35-36
35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.

THE DAY OF DECISION!!!!

Joel 3:14 Multitudes, multitudes,
in the valley of decision!
For the day of the Lord is near
in the valley of decision.

Choose ye this day whom ye shall serve! Joshua 24:15

Even in the midst of destruction for sin – GOD holds his hand out!

Romans 5:6-8
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Here – when Joel’s prophecy is describing the destruction – God still gives a valley of decision!

Joel 3:15 The sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
16 The Lord roars from Zion,
and utters his voice from Jerusalem,
and the heavens and the earth quake.

This is just a taste of what is to be found in John’s Revelation – chapters 5 – 19, among some other passages about the end times.

Joel 3:16 But the Lord is a refuge to his people,
a stronghold to the people of Israel.
The Glorious Future of Judah
17 “So you shall know that I am the Lord your God,
who dwells in Zion, my holy mountain.
And Jerusalem shall be holy,
and strangers shall never again pass through it.
18 “And in that day
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and the hills shall flow with milk,
and all the streambeds of Judah
shall flow with water;
and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord
and water the Valley of Shittim.

Once God condemns and removes all sin – He will pour out his blessing upon those that are called according to HIS name, and have humbled themselves and turned from their wicket ways. GOD WILL HEAR THEM, AND HEAL THE LAND!

Joel3:19 “Egypt shall become a desolation
and Edom a desolate wilderness,
for the violence done to the people of Judah,
because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
20 But Judah shall be inhabited forever,
and Jerusalem to all generations.
21 I will avenge their blood,
blood I have not avenged,
for the Lord dwells in Zion.”

I looked at Galatians 6 in IBBS.

Galatians 6:7-10
7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

We can be sure that our sin will find us out! Numbers 32:23

But, praise God –

1 John 1:7-10
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

1 John 2:1-2
My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

Genesis to Revelation is an unfolding story of how God created us, we sinned, He made a way, we receive, we sin, he forgives, and we become part of his army, and spend eternity with him.
Joel, to me, is a small microcosm of that story.
ISSB Joel 1
ISSB Joel 2

Thank you for joining me.

Thanks for joining me in this journey,
In His hands and under His wings,
~Christi
Ps 63:7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

“The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear.
If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation.
If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself.” – from My Utmost for His highest

I want to thank

for the ability to search the Bible online.

Some artwork is from me – ChristArtist. It is copyrighted – by me. Please do not share it without my permission.
The same goes for my written work.
Some artwork is from ChristArt – not me! I have purchased a membership, and the art is copyrighted by them.

I’d love to hear what you think – please leave a comment!
Or choose to LIKE me on facebook, or other social media!
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Itty Bitty Bible Study – Joel 2

Joel 2

My thoughts for the Itty Bitty Bible Study group on Facebook. (join if you’d like to get these in fb!)

Wikipedia on Joel

Matthew Henry on Joel 2

Joel 2

1 Blow a trumpet in Zion;
sound an alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near,
2 a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness!
Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains
a great and powerful people;
their like has never been before,
nor will be again after them
through the years of all generations.
3 Fire devours before them,
and behind them a flame burns.
The land is like the garden of Eden before them,
but behind them a desolate wilderness,
and nothing escapes them.
4 Their appearance is like the appearance of horses,
and like war horses they run.
5 As with the rumbling of chariots,
they leap on the tops of the mountains,
like the crackling of a flame of fire
devouring the stubble,
like a powerful army
drawn up for battle.
6 Before them peoples are in anguish;
all faces grow pale.
7 Like warriors they charge;
like soldiers they scale the wall.
They march each on his way;
they do not swerve from their paths.
8 They do not jostle one another;
each marches in his path;
they burst through the weapons
and are not halted.
9 They leap upon the city,
they run upon the walls,
they climb up into the houses,
they enter through the windows like a thief.
10 The earth quakes before them;
the heavens tremble.
The sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
11 The Lord utters his voice
before his army,
for his camp is exceedingly great;
he who executes his word is powerful.
For the day of the Lord is great and very awesome;
who can endure it?

Oh My goodness…this sounds so much like the news in the USA for the last two weeks!
I almost don’t want to go look at the sky!
Judgement!
Deuteronomy 28 gives us clear instructions that our sins can bring judgement(consequences) upon our land – our country!

Return to the Lord title by ESV

2 Chronicles 7:14

If my people
which are called by my name,
shall humble themselves
and pray
and seek my face,
and turn from their wicked ways;
then will i hear from heaven,
and will forgive their sin,
and will heal their land.

Joel 2
12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13 and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
and he relents over disaster.
14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,
and leave a blessing behind him,
a grain offering and a drink offering
for the Lord your God?
15 Blow the trumpet in Zion;
consecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
16 gather the people.
Consecrate the congregation;
assemble the elders;
gather the children,
even nursing infants.
Let the bridegroom leave his room,
and the bride her chamber.
17 Between the vestibule and the altar
let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep
and say, “Spare your people, O Lord,
and make not your heritage a reproach,
a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’”

God wants us to turn back to him…he allows us to reap what we have sown, but he still wants us to turn to him so that he can bless us. Just like a parent, with a child that needs to be discplined.

The Lord Had Pity title by ESV

18 Then the Lord became jealous for his land
and had pity on his people.
19 The Lord answered and said to his people,
“Behold, I am sending to you
grain, wine, and oil,
and you will be satisfied;
and I will no more make you
a reproach among the nations.
20 “I will remove the northerner far from you,
and drive him into a parched and desolate land,
his vanguard[b] into the eastern sea,
and his rear guard[c] into the western sea;
the stench and foul smell of him will rise,
for he has done great things.
21 “Fear not, O land;
be glad and rejoice,
for the Lord has done great things!
22 Fear not, you beasts of the field,
for the pastures of the wilderness are green;
the tree bears its fruit;
the fig tree and vine give their full yield.
23 “Be glad, O children of Zion,
and rejoice in the Lord your God,
for he has given the early rain for your vindication;
he has poured down for you abundant rain,
the early and the latter rain, as before.
24 “The threshing floors shall be full of grain;
the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
25 I will restore[d] to you the years
that the swarming locust has eaten,
the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter,
my great army, which I sent among you.
26 “You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
and praise the name of the Lord your God,
who has dealt wondrously with you.
And my people shall never again be put to shame.
27 You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel,
and that I am the Lord your God and there is none else.
And my people shall never again be put to shame.
The Lord Will Pour Out His Spirit
28 [e] “And it shall come to pass afterward,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
29 Even on the male and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 32 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.

In this time of our country’s distress – we as followers of Christ need to call upon God…but first, rather than pointing the finger outside – we are held to a higher standard.
Have we done what we’ve been tasked to do?
have we prayed for our country?
have we prayed for our leaders?
have we separated ourselves from the evils of the world, being in the world but not of it, so that our lights shine in the darkness?
have we been salt to this rotting world?

These are my challenges from Joel 2!

Thanks for joining me.

~~~~~

Thanks for joining me in this journey,
In His hands and under His wings,
~Christi
Ps 63:7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

“The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear.
If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation.
If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself.” – from My Utmost for His highest

I want to thank

for the ability to search the Bible online.

Some artwork is from me – ChristArtist. It is copyrighted – by me. Please do not share it without my permission.
The same goes for my written work.
Some artwork is from ChristArt – not me! I have purchased a membership, and the art is copyrighted by them.

I’d love to hear what you think – please leave a comment!
Or choose to LIKE me on facebook, or other social media!
I’d love to stay in touch with you – we are working on email subscriptions…sign up! 
Soon, we will have a gallery for the art I have created by the hand of God.

There are many organizations that support children and families. Here is one that we are blessed to be a part of. Please consider sponsoring a child – the life you change could be your own.

Itty Bitty Bible Study – Joel 1

Joel 1

My thoughts for the Itty Bitty Bible Study group on Facebook. (join if you’d like to get these in fb!)

Wikipedia – the Book of Joel
Matthew Henry Commentary on Joel 1

Joel
1:1The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:
2 Hear this, you elders;
give ear, all inhabitants of the land!
Has such a thing happened in your days,
or in the days of your fathers?
3 Tell your children of it,
and let your children tell their children,
and their children to another generation.
4 What the cutting locust left,
the swarming locust has eaten.
What the swarming locust left,
the hopping locust has eaten,
and what the hopping locust left,
the destroying locust has eaten.
5 Awake, you drunkards, and weep,
and wail, all you drinkers of wine,
because of the sweet wine,
for it is cut off from your mouth.
6 For a nation has come up against my land,
powerful and beyond number;
its teeth are lions’ teeth,
and it has the fangs of a lioness.
7 It has laid waste my vine
and splintered my fig tree;
it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;
their branches are made white.

The judgement of the Lord – serious, intense, destructive!
Or is this just the destruction of choosing sin?
Not necessarily CAUSED by God, but allowed – as a cause and effect?
Deuteronomy 28 contrasts and compares those that are walking in obedience, and those that are not. This sounds very similar to the warning to those that are not.
Trials come – temptations come – but we are given a choice. Always a choice.
Out of His great Love, God has warned us what would happen if we don’t follow.
I’m not talking about walking according to the Law – I wrote a lot about that in IBBS Galatians 3:10-20 and IBBS Galatians 3:21-29.
Many of the things that God warned His people about were to protect them.
This looks like a really bad, bad set of consequences.
And, then, The Word of the Lord comes to JOEL to tell the people to REPENT!
AWAKE ye drunkards.
WEEP AND WAIL
These words mean exactly what we’d think they mean…

8 Lament like a virgin wearing sackcloth
for the bridegroom of her youth.
9 The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off
from the house of the Lord.
The priests mourn,
the ministers of the Lord.
10 The fields are destroyed,
the ground mourns,
because the grain is destroyed,
the wine dries up,
the oil languishes.

LAMENT
MOURN
These two mean exactly what we’d think they mean…

11 Be ashamed, O tillers of the soil;
wail, O vinedressers,
for the wheat and the barley,
because the harvest of the field has perished.
12 The vine dries up;
the fig tree languishes.
Pomegranate, palm, and apple,
all the trees of the field are dried up,
and gladness dries up
from the children of man.

BE ASHAMED –
This one also reads – be dried up, confounded, withered, wither away.
The grief is so unbearable, that the life within just dries up.

Here, we are given insight into how we should repent, when we realize we have messed up!

13 Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests;
wail, O ministers of the altar.
Go in, pass the night in sackcloth,
O ministers of my God!
Because grain offering and drink offering
are withheld from the house of your God.
14 Consecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly.
Gather the elders
and all the inhabitants of the land
to the house of the Lord your God,
and cry out to the Lord.
15 Alas for the day!
For the day of the Lord is near,
and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.
16 Is not the food cut off
before our eyes,
joy and gladness
from the house of our God?
17 The seed shrivels under the clods;
the storehouses are desolate;
the granaries are torn down
because the grain has dried up.
18 How the beasts groan!
The herds of cattle are perplexed
because there is no pasture for them;
even the flocks of sheep suffer.

I know that right here I am tempted to talk about how we have a advocate with he Father who is Jesus Christ the son.
1 John 1 & 2 are very very comforting…and yet, sometimes, they may be too comforting, and I don’t actually grieve the condition of my heart, I don’t actually grieve my sinful actions. Maybe, in this current age of grace, i miss the danger and destructive nature of sin. Lord, please, give me eyes to see and ears to hear!

19 To you, O Lord, I call.
For fire has devoured
the pastures of the wilderness,
and flame has burned
all the trees of the field.
20 Even the beasts of the field pant for you
because the water brooks are dried up,
and fire has devoured
the pastures of the wilderness.

My sin – my sin choices – do not only affect me.
Adam and Eve’s sinful choice affected the WHOLE WORLD – all of creation.
I need to see sin for what sin is – and I’m not talking about mistakes.
I’m talking about the sin that John is talking about in 1 John.
The continual sinning in the same way over and over.
I also think this is about sinning, with a high hand – not the sinning that occurs when one is trying to grow, or break bad habits.

Romans talks a lot about sin, and turning from it.
Repentance: Miriam Webster:

intransitive verb
1
: to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one’s life
2
a : to feel regret or contrition
b : to change one’s mind
transitive verb
1
: to cause to feel regret or contrition
2
: to feel sorrow, regret, or contrition for

Do I truly feel regret and sorrow for the things that I know the Lord wants me to work on?
I have physical issues because of things that I know God has asked me not to do – and I do them anyway.
He has shown me nutrition I need, and foods that cause me problems.
It’s not the Jewish dietary laws – it’s His granting me understanding about how my body, in this fallen world, reacts and responds to things.

That is so sad.
I only have to obey what he has shown me, and I can reap the benefits of that blessing.

Thank you Lord that I have an advocate in Jesus Christ!

Thanks for joining me in this journey,
In His hands and under His wings,
~Christi
Ps 63:7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

“The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear.
If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation.
If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself.” – from My Utmost for His highest

I want to thank

for the ability to search the Bible online.

Some artwork is from me – ChristArtist. It is copyrighted – by me. Please do not share it without my permission.
The same goes for my written work.
Some artwork is from ChristArt – not me! I have purchased a membership, and the art is copyrighted by them.

I’d love to hear what you think – please leave a comment!
Or choose to LIKE me on facebook, or other social media!
I’d love to stay in touch with you – we are working on email subscriptions…sign up! 
Soon, we will have a gallery for the art I have created by the hand of God.

There are many organizations that support children and families. Here is one that we are blessed to be a part of. Please consider sponsoring a child – the life you change could be your own.