Joel 1 - Wake Up!

 

Read Joel 1

We don’t get much information on the prophet Joel.  He is mentioned in his own prophecy.  He likely lived about 9 centuries before Christ was born.  He likely lived in Jerusalem, or at least in Judea.

Peter referred to him in his first big sermon after the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

Joel means one to whom Yahweh is God. Some say it means Jehovah is God.

His Father was Pethuel. Pethuel means God’s—in this case Elohim’s—unfocussed expansion.   There’s a rabbit trail to follow on a slow day.

It appears that much of what was described by Joel was happening as he wrote, but much was prophecy for what we will call the Day of the Lord.  It was yet to come.

Joel’s message first addressed the elders—those older and wiser.  He asked, have you ever seen anything like this in all of your lives?

This should be getting everyone’s attention.  The Babylonians would not be too far behind this devastation and Judah would be ruined.  This is what followed in the short term.

The Day of the Lord would come at some time not yet established.  This is the long-term prophecy.

As is often the case, we are left to discern which is which, but apparently, the locusts had arrived in Joel’s time.

About a dozen or so years ago, I remember the grasshoppers sweeping through the area.  In a single day, they had consumed all of my garden and half of my apple tree.  It seemed strange to see half of my apple tree consumed—fruit, leaves, buds,  everything—and then half left untouched.

It was as if someone had drawn a line down the middle of the tree and the grasshoppers stopped at the line.  They finished off the other half the next day.

Nobody got squash or apples from my house that year. It was memorable but nowhere near the devastation of Joel’s time.

Devastation has come, so now what?  Wake up!  This is not business as usual.  Something is happening.   Wake up!

And do what?

Put on sackcloth and mourn like never before.  Repent.  Get right with God.  This is not just a bad year for agriculture.  The judgment of the Lord is upon you.  Wake up!

You can’t even go and make a simple offering.  The acts of worship that you know have ceased.

You want to drink away your sorrows?  Good luck with that.  There is no more wine.

You need a lamp for the room at night?  Good luck with that.  It’s a bad batch of oil this year.

Everything is withering all around you, including your joy.

Wake up!

It’s good to live in 21^st century America instead of the 9^th century before the birth of Christ.  At least if the grasshoppers eat my garden, I have canned goods galore and even some stuff to microwave.

Imagine nation-wide or worldwide agricultural failure.  You think the insanity of buying out all of the toilet paper was bad, wait until it’s everything.

I laughed pretty hard when I saw the video of someone filling a plastic tub with gasoline after the flow of the oil pipeline had been hacked.  Then I saw a video of someone putting gasoline into a plastic Walmart bag.  It was ok. She double bagged it.

One of these days, you are going to have to explain 2020 to your grandkids.  Good luck with that. Looks like we have some explaining to do for this year too.

If there is one thing that we should take away from this chapter in Joel, it is this:  Wake Up!

Wake up!  This is not a time of life goes on as usual.  The fragile nature of many of our human systems is exposed.  We are vulnerable when we place our hope in the world and its ways and its systems.

From the oldest to the youngest, we should have eyes to see.  What should we see?  The end of the age is upon us.  Evil is everywhere and so often accepted as the norm.

The love of so many has grown cold.

Evil is presented as good and good as evil.

We claim to be Christians, but have we lived as those who truly follow Jesus and his way?

Jesus noted to his disciples, that in the end times people will be living just as they did in the days of Noah.  They were eating and drinking and getting married and enjoying life.

They were living in their own understanding and living for their selfish desires.

I don’t want you to panic.  God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.

Joel charged those who heard his prophecy to put on sackcloth. Mourn like you have lost everything.  We don’t need a wardrobe change.  We need to do the things that we have known to do for some time.

I charge you to live fully as followers of Christ Jesus.

I call us all to be known by our love.

I call us all to keep the faith.

I call us to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth.

I call us to put the words of our Master into practice so that our house is built upon solid rock.

I call us to prepare for the storm ahead by living every day in loving obedience to our Lord.

These are not my ideas, but the Lord’s.  My role is to send the same message as Joel.

Wake up!  Take notice of the storm around you but fix your eyes on Jesus.

Now is the time to trust in the Lord and not your own understanding.

Now is the time to wake up and live as he has called us to live.

Amen.