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The Book of Joel As You_ve Never Seen Before · truthunedited

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What if I told you that an ancient prophet witnessed
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  Speaker 1: an apocalypse so terrifying that he commanded it to be
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  Speaker 1: passed down through every generation forever. What if I told
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  Speaker 1: you that an ancient prophet witnessed an apocalypse so terrifying
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  Speaker 1: that he commanded it to be passed down through every
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  Speaker 1: generation forever. Joel saw something that made drunk men weep,
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  Speaker 1: priests wail through the night, and the very ground itself morn.
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  Speaker 1: But here's what's chilling. Scholars can't even agree on when
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  Speaker 1: this happened. No dates, no kings mentioned, just pure raw prophecy,
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  Speaker 1: suspended in time. This isn't your typical Bible story. Joel
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  Speaker 1: describes an army so devastating that it turns Paradise into
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  Speaker 1: a waste land in hours, an invasion where soldiers scale
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  Speaker 1: walls like spiders, march without breaking formation, and nothing, absolutely
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  Speaker 1: nothing stops their advance. The sky goes, black, mountains tremble,
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  Speaker 1: and God himself roars from Jerusalem. But then, just when
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  Speaker 1: all hope seems lost, Joel reveals something that will echo
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  Speaker 1: through millennia, A promise so radical it will change Christianity forever.
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  Speaker 1: A outpouring that breaks every social barrier, a fountain flowing
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  Speaker 1: from God's temple that transforms desolation into abundance. To night,
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  Speaker 1: you'll discover why this mysterious book holds keys to understanding
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  Speaker 1: both ancient catastrophe and future hope. Prepare to see Joel
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  Speaker 1: as you've never seen before. The word of the Lord
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  Speaker 1: came to Joel, son of Pethuel. That's how it all began, simple, direct, unexpected.
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  Speaker 1: Joel wasn't asking for this message. He wasn't prepared for
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  Speaker 1: what God was about to show him. But when the
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  Speaker 1: Lord speaks, a prophet listens, and what Joel heard would
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  Speaker 1: shake an entire nation to its core. In the opening
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  Speaker 1: verse of chapter one, Joel receives his commission, and immediately
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  Speaker 1: in verse two he understod sans the weight of what
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  Speaker 1: he must do. He calls out to the elders, to
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  Speaker 1: every single person living in the land. Hear this, you, elders,
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  Speaker 1: give ear all inhabitants of the land. Has such a
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  Speaker 1: thing happened in your days or in the days of
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  Speaker 1: your father's. It's a haunting question. Joel isn't talking about
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  Speaker 1: something ordinary. He's pointing to an event so catastrophic, so unprecedented,
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  Speaker 1: that nobody alive has seen anything like it. Not the
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  Speaker 1: elders with their decades of experience and weathered wisdom, not
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  Speaker 1: their fathers who lived through wars and famines, not even
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  Speaker 1: their grandfathers in the stories passed down through generations around
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  Speaker 1: evening fires. This is something new, something terrible, something that
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  Speaker 1: will redefine what disaster means for this generation and every
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  Speaker 1: generation that follows. Then comes verse three, and Joel makes
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  Speaker 1: a demand that echoes through time. Tell your children of it,
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  Speaker 1: and let your children tell their children and their children
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  Speaker 1: to another generation. This wasn't meant to be forgotten. Whatever
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  Speaker 1: was coming, whatever Joel was about to describe, it had
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  Speaker 1: to be remembered. Parents would tell their children, Those children
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  Speaker 1: would grow up and tell their own children, and on
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  Speaker 1: and on through the generations. This story would live. Why
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  Speaker 1: Because some events are too important to let fade into history.
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  Speaker 1: Some moments define a people so completely that forgetting them
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  Speaker 1: would mean losing a crucial part of their identity. Joel
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  Speaker 1: knew this wasn't just a bad harvest or a difficult season.
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  Speaker 1: This was something that would mark them forever, a scar
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  Speaker 1: on the collective memory of an entire nation. The command
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  Speaker 1: is specific, Tell it forward. Don't let it die with you.
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  Speaker 1: Make sure the next generation knows. Make sure they understand
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  Speaker 1: what happened here, because if they forget that, be unprepared
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  Speaker 1: when something similar comes again. Memory becomes survival, story becomes warning.
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  Speaker 1: Then Joel describes what's coming, and the image is terrifying
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  Speaker 1: in its simplicity. Verse four hits like a hammer. What
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  Speaker 1: the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten, what
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  Speaker 1: the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten, And
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  Speaker 1: what the hopping locusts left The destroying locust has eaten.
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  Speaker 1: Four types of locusts, four waves of destruction, each one
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  Speaker 1: finishing what the last one started. Imagine standing in a
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  Speaker 1: field watching the first swarm descend from the horizon like
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  Speaker 1: a dark cloud. They cover everything, The sky darkens with
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  Speaker 1: their bodies, The air fills with the sound of millions
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  Speaker 1: of wings beating in terrible synchronization. They eat and eat
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  Speaker 1: until there's almost nothing left. You think, maybe, just maybe
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  Speaker 1: something will survive. Then the second wave arrives. They find
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  Speaker 1: what the first missed, the small shoots that escaped, Notice
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  Speaker 1: the hidden patches that survived the initial assault. Then the
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  Speaker 1: third wave comes, more thorough than the previous two. Then
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  Speaker 1: the fourth wave descends and they finished the job with
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  Speaker 1: ruthless efficiency. It's complete, its systematic, its total devastation. Joel
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  Speaker 1: isn't using metaphors here, He's describing an actual locust plague,
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  Speaker 1: something the ancient world feared more than almost anything else.
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  Speaker 1: Locusts could appear suddenly in numbers so vast they blocked
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  Speaker 1: out the sun. They could strip an entire region of
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  Speaker 1: every green thing in a matter of hours. Crops, trees, grass,
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  Speaker 1: everything edible disappeared into their mouths. A single swarm could
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  Speaker 1: contain billions of insects, each one eating its body weight
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  Speaker 1: in vegetation every single day. But the way Joel describes
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  Speaker 1: it suggests something more than just a natural disaster. Four
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  Speaker 1: specific types coming in succession, each with their own name
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  Speaker 1: and their own role in the destruction. The cutting locust,
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  Speaker 1: the swarming locust, the hopping locust, the destroying locust. It
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  Speaker 1: reads like a military campaign, each battalion assigned its target,
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  Speaker 1: each unit executing its orders with precision. The cutting locusts
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  Speaker 1: come first, slicing through the crops like knives. Then the
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  Speaker 1: swarming locusts arrive in massive formations, covering everything that remains.
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  Speaker 1: The hopping locusts follow, bouncing from plant to plant, finishing
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  Speaker 1: what the swarm has missed. Finally, the destroying locusts sweep through,
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  Speaker 1: eliminating any last trace of green. The land doesn't stand
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  Speaker 1: a chance. What survives the first assault falls to the second.
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  Speaker 1: What escapes the second dies under the third. By the
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  Speaker 1: time the fourth wave finishes its work, there's nothing left,
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  Speaker 1: just bare earth and stripped branches and the sound of
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  Speaker 1: million of wings moving on to the next target. Ju'll
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  Speaker 1: turns his attention to a specific group of people in
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  Speaker 1: verse five. Awake you drunkards, and weep and wail, all
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  Speaker 1: you drinkers of wine because of the sweet wine, for
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  Speaker 1: it is cut off from your mouth. This is personal now.
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  Speaker 1: Joel calls out those who lived for pleasure, who spent
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  Speaker 1: their days drinking and their nights in celebration. He tells
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  Speaker 1: them to wake up from their drunken stupor and face reality.
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  Speaker 1: The party is over, the wine is gone, and it's
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  Speaker 1: not coming back. Why focus on drunkards, Because when disaster strikes,
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  Speaker 1: those who lived in denial feel it most sharply. These
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  Speaker 1: were people who numbed themselves to the world around them,
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  Speaker 1: who chose intoxication over awareness. They ignored the warnings. They
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  Speaker 1: laughed off concerns about the future. They believed tomorrow would
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  Speaker 1: always be like to day, full of wine and celebration.
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  Speaker 1: Now they have no choice but to be sober, and
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  Speaker 1: what they see when the fog clears is devastating. The
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  Speaker 1: sweet wine has been cut off from their mouths, not postponed,
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  Speaker 1: not delayed, not running low, cut off completely. The grapes
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  Speaker 1: are gone, the vines are destroyed. There will be no
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  Speaker 1: harvest this year, no wine next season, no vintage to
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  Speaker 1: look forward to. The thing they loved most, the thing
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  Speaker 1: they built their entire lives around, has been taken away
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  Speaker 1: in an instant. Joel commands them to weep and wail.
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  Speaker 1: These aren't gentle tears of disappointment. This is the kind
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  Speaker 1: of grief that comes from losing everything. The Hebrew words
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  Speaker 1: suggest loud lamentation, public displays of anguish, the kind of
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  Speaker 1: mourning that can't be hidden or contained. The drunkards who
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  Speaker 1: probably mocked the warnings and laughed at concerns about locusts,
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  Speaker 1: now have to confront the consequences of their choices in
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  Speaker 1: the harshest possible way. Their source of escape has vanished,
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  Speaker 1: and their left face a reality they're completely unprepared to handle.
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  Speaker 1: No more wine to dull the pain, no more celebrations
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  Speaker 1: to distract from responsibility, Just empty cups and the bitter
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  Speaker 1: taste of regret. In verse six, Joel reveals something that
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  Speaker 1: makes the situation even more terrifying. For a nation has
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  Speaker 1: come up against my land, powerful and beyond number. Its
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  Speaker 1: teeth are lion's teeth, and it has the fangs of
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  Speaker 1: a lioness. Wait a nation. Joel was just talking about
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  Speaker 1: locust Now he's talking about an invasion. This is where
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  Speaker 1: the Book of Joel becomes truly mysterious and layered. Are
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  Speaker 1: these actual insects or a foreign army? The answer seems
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  Speaker 1: to be both. Joel sees the locusts and describes them
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  Speaker 1: as an invading force, a military power that has attacked
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  Speaker 1: God's land with strategic precision. The description is chilling. This
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  Speaker 1: nation is powerful, beyond measure, and impossible to count. You
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  Speaker 1: can't gootiate with them, you can't reason with them. You
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  Speaker 1: can't bribe them or appeal to their mercy. They have
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  Speaker 1: no king to bargain with, no general to convince their coming,
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  Speaker 1: and nothing will stop them and their teeth. Joel compares
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  Speaker 1: them to lions. Lions with the ultimate predator in the
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  Speaker 1: ancient world, the top of the food chain, feared by
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  Speaker 1: everyone who ventured into the wilderness. A lion's teeth could
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  Speaker 1: crush bone with ease, a lioness's fangs could tear through
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  Speaker 1: the toughest hide. That's what this invading force possesses. The
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  Speaker 1: ability to consume anything in its path, to devour whatever
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  Speaker 1: they encounter without effort or hesitation. The phrase against my
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  Speaker 1: land is significant. God calls it his land. This isn't
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  Speaker 1: just an attack on Juda or Jerusalem or some political territory.
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  Speaker 1: It's an assault on divine property. These invaders, whether you
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  Speaker 1: see them as insects or armies or both, have entered
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  Speaker 1: territory that belongs to the Lord himself. They're not just
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  Speaker 1: destroying crops and trees. They're challenging God's authority over his
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  Speaker 1: own inheritance. Joel wants everyone to understand the scale of
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  Speaker 1: what's happening. This isn't a minor problem that can be
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  Speaker 1: fixed with human effort or clever planning. This is an
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  Speaker 1: existential threat. A force that operates with the predatory efficiency
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  Speaker 1: of nature's most dangerous animals. When lions hunt, they don't
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  Speaker 1: stop until they've fed. When this nation invades, they don't
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  Speaker 1: stop until everything is consumed. Verse seven gets specific about
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  Speaker 1: what the invaders have done. It has laid waste my
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  Speaker 1: vine and splintered my fig tree. It has stripped off
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  Speaker 1: their bark and thrown it down. Their branches are made white.
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  Speaker 1: The vine and the fig tree. These weren't just any
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  Speaker 1: plants in ancient Israel. They represented everything good about life
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  Speaker 1: in the Promised Land. Prosperity, peace, security, God's blessing made visible.
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  Speaker 1: When scripture talks about sitting under your own vine and
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  Speaker 1: fig tree, it's describing the ultimate picture of safety and abundance,
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  Speaker 1: every man resting in the shade of his own trees,
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  Speaker 1: eating his own fruit, at peace with his neighbors. These
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  Speaker 1: trees took years to mature. A vine might need five
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  Speaker 1: years before it produced good grapes. A fig tree could
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  Speaker 1: take even longer to reach full productivity. They were investments.
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  Speaker 1: They were family legacy. A single vine could produce for generations,
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  Speaker 1: passed down from grandfather to father to son. Each harvest
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  Speaker 1: was a reminder of continuity of roots that ran deep.
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  Speaker 1: Now they're destroyed, not just damaged or set back a
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  Speaker 1: season laid waste. The invaders didn't simply eat the fruit
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  Speaker 1: or strip the leaves. They went further. They stripped the
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  Speaker 1: bark from the trunks. They splintered the wood itself. They
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  Speaker 1: threw down the branches with contempt. The trees stand white
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  Speaker 1: and naked, exposed and dead. Stripping bark from a tree
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  Speaker 1: is a death sentence. The bark protects the living tissue
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  Speaker 1: underneath the cambium layer that transports nutrients from roots to branches.
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  Speaker 1: Without it, the tree can't feed itself, It can't heal
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  Speaker 1: from wounds, It can't survive even if water returns. What
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  Speaker 1: Joel describes isn't a temporary setback that a good season
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  Speaker 1: could fix, its permanent destruction. These trees won't recover. New
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  Speaker 1: ones will have to be planted, and it will take years,
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  Speaker 1: perhaps decades, before they produce again. The image of white
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  Speaker 1: branches is haunting. Normally, wood darkens as it dies and weathers,
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  Speaker 1: but freshly stripped wood exposed to the sun for the
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  Speaker 1: first time, turns pale white. It's like looking at bones,
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  Speaker 1: the skeleton of what used to be living and green
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  Speaker 1: and fruitful now bleached and lifeless. Every family seeing their
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  Speaker 1: fig tree like this would understand their looking at years
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  Speaker 1: of hardship ahead, years of buying fruit from others, years
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  Speaker 1: of explaining to their children what used to grow in
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  Speaker 1: their own yard. Joel makes it personal by saying my
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  Speaker 1: vine and my fig tree. He's speaking from God's perspective.
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  Speaker 1: These aren't just any trees. Their God's trees, planted in
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  Speaker 1: God's land, meant to feed God's people. Their destruction is
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  Speaker 1: an offense against Heaven itself. In verse eight, Joel shifts
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  Speaker 1: the tone with a striking image lament, like a virgin
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  Speaker 1: wearing sackcloth for the bridegroom of her youth. This is
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  Speaker 1: one of the most emotionally powerful comparisons in the entire book.
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  Speaker 1: Picture a young woman engaged to be married, full of
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  Speaker 1: hope and dreams about her future. She's planned her life
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  Speaker 1: around this man. She's imagined their home, their children, growing
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  Speaker 1: old together. Then suddenly, without warning, her fiancee dies, maybe
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  Speaker 1: in an accident, maybe in battle, maybe from illness. It
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  Speaker 1: doesn't matter how. What matters is that he's gone, and
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  Speaker 1: with him all her dreams. She dresses in sackcloth, the rough,
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  Speaker 1: uncomfortable fabric worn during morning and grieves for the life
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  Speaker 1: she'll never have. She's not mourning what was, but what
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  Speaker 1: should have been. That's the level of sorrow Joel is describing.
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  Speaker 1: That's the depth of loss he's pointing to. Then, Verse
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  Speaker 1: nine delivers the reason for such profound grief. The grain
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  Speaker 1: offering and the drink offering are cut off from the
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  Speaker 1: house of the Lord. The priests mourn the ministers of
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  Speaker 1: the Lord. The temple service has stopped, not by choice,
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  Speaker 1: not because of sin or negligence or priestly laziness, but
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  Speaker 1: because there's literally nothing to The grain offering required fine
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  Speaker 1: flour and oil. The drink offering required wine. All of
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  Speaker 1: these came from harvests. Wheat for flour, olives for oil,
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  Speaker 1: grapes for wine. With the fields destroyed by locusts, there
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  Speaker 1: are no harvests. With no harvests, there are no raw materials.
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  Speaker 1: With no raw materials, there are no offerings. With no offerings,
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  Speaker 1: the priests can't perform their sacred duties. The priests are
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  Speaker 1: mourning because their entire purpose has been taken away. They
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  Speaker 1: were called by God to serve in the temple to
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  Speaker 1: facilitate the connection between heaven and earth. Through sacrifice and offering.
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  Speaker 1: They trained for this, they dedicated their lives to this.
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  Speaker 1: Their family lines were chosen for this specific role. Now
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  Speaker 1: they stand in front of empty altars, with nothing in
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  Speaker 1: their hands, nothing to burn, nothing to pour out, nothing
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  Speaker 1: to present to God on behalf of the people. They
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  Speaker 1: want to serve, they want to offer, they want to
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  Speaker 1: fulfill their calling, but the locusts have made it impossible.
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  Speaker 1: Through no fault of their own, through no failure of
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  Speaker 1: devotion or dedication, They're prevented from doing what God commanded
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  Speaker 1: them to do. This isn't just about ritual or religious ceremony.
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  Speaker 1: The offerings represented the people's gratitude, their repentance, their worship,
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  Speaker 1: their connection to the divine. They were the physical expression
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  Speaker 1: of a spiritual relationship. When the offerings stop, it's like
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  Speaker 1: the conversation between Heaven and Earth goes silent. The priests
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  Speaker 1: feel this absence deeply. They're supposed to be the mediators,
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  Speaker 1: the bridge between God and his people, and now they're helpless,
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  Speaker 1: unable to function, reduced to mourning what they cannot fix.
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  Speaker 1: Joel expands the picture of devastation in verses ten and eleven.
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  Speaker 1: The fields are destroyed, the ground mourns for them. The
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  Speaker 1: grain is destroyed, the wine dries up, the oil fails.
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  Speaker 1: Be ashamed O tillers of the soil whale O vine
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  Speaker 1: dresses for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest
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  Speaker 1: of the field has perished. The fields are destroyed, not
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  Speaker 1: struggling to produce, not yielding less than usual, destroyed completely.
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  Speaker 1: The ground itself mourns. Joel personifies the earth as if
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  Speaker 1: the soil has feelings, as if the land is in
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  Speaker 1: grief over what's happened to it. The ground that should
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  Speaker 1: be producing life is instead lamenting death. The grain is destroyed,
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  Speaker 1: the wine has dried up, the oil has failed. These
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  Speaker 1: three things, grain, wine and oil were the foundation of
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  Speaker 1: life in ancient Israel. They weren't luxuries, they were necessities.
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  Speaker 1: Grain made bread the staple food that kept everyone alive.
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  Speaker 1: Wine provided calories, trade value, and was essential for celebrations
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  Speaker 1: and religious ceremonies. Oil was used for cooking, lighting, lamps, anointing,
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  Speaker 1: and as a base for medicines. Without these three, society
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  Speaker 1: couldn't function normally. The farmers are ashamed. Think about what
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  Speaker 1: that means. These men worked hard, They prepared the soil properly.
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  Speaker 1: They planted at the right time. According to generations of
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  Speaker 1: agricultural wisdom. They did everything correctly, everything their fathers taught them,
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  Speaker 1: everything experience said would lead to a good harvest. But
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  Speaker 1: through no fault of their own, their staring at total
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  Speaker 1: crop failure. Their expertise means nothing. Their effort counts for nothing.
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  Speaker 1: The shame isn't about moral failing. It's the crushing embarrassment
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  Speaker 1: of being unable to provide, of watching your family go
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  Speaker 1: hungry despite your best efforts. The vine dressers wail. These
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  Speaker 1: are the specialists who spent their entire lives learning how
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  Speaker 1: to cultivate grapes and care for vine It wasn't simple work.
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  Speaker 1: Vines required constant attention, careful pruning, protection from pests and disease.
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  Speaker 1: A good vine dresser could make the difference between an
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  Speaker 1: average vintage and an exceptional one. Their knowledge was valuable, respected,
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  Speaker 1: passed down as carefully as any inheritance. Now that knowledge
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  Speaker 1: is useless, the vines are dead. Their skill can't bring
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  Speaker 1: them back. The wheat and the barley have both failed.
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  Speaker 1: Wheat was the preferred grain used for the finest bread.
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  Speaker 1: Barley was hardier, cheaper, but still essential for feeding. Both
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  Speaker 1: people and animals. When both crops fail simultaneously, you know
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  Speaker 1: the disaster is complete. There's no back up, there's no alternative.
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  Speaker 1: The harvest of the field has perished. Verse twelve continues
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  Speaker 1: the catalog of destruction. The vine dries up, the fig
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  Speaker 1: tree languishes, pomegranate, palm, and apple. All the trees of
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  Speaker 1: the field are dried up, and gladness dries up from
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  Speaker 1: the children of man. Every type of fruit tree is listed.
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  Speaker 1: Vines which should be green and laden with clusters of grapes,
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  Speaker 1: figs which should be swelling with sweet fruit, Pomegranates with
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  Speaker 1: their jewel like seeds, Palms providing dates and shade. Apples
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  Speaker 1: crisp and refreshing. Every single tree in the field has
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  Speaker 1: dried up. The locust plague didn't discriminate, It didn't skip
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  Speaker 1: certain species or spare particular orchards. Everything green became brown,
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  Speaker 1: Everything living became dead, Everything fruitful became barren. And then
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  Speaker 1: comes the most devastating observation in the entire passage. Gladness
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  Speaker 1: itself has dried up from the children of man. Joy
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  Speaker 1: is gone. Happiness has evaporated, like water in the desert sun.
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  Speaker 1: When everything you depend on disappears. When your food is
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  Speaker 1: gone and your future is uncertain and your children are hungry,
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  Speaker 1: Gladness becomes impossible. It's not just that people feel sad,
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  Speaker 1: it's that the capacity for joy has been removed from
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: their lives entirely. The people aren't just hungry, they're hopeless.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: They're not just facing hardship. They're facing a future without light,
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: without celebration, without any reason to smile. Gladness has dried up,
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: just like the vines and the trees and the grain.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: It's been consumed by the locusts, along with everything else.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: Joel moves from description to prescription in verse thirteen, put
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: on sackcloth and lamento, priests, wail, Oh, ministers of the altar,
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: go in pass the night in sackcloth, oh ministers of
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: my God, because grain offering and drink offering are withheld
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: from the house of your God. He calls the priests
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: to action. Put on sackcloth, dress in the uncomfortable fabric
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: of mourning lament. Express your grief audibly and visibly, wail.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: Don't hold back the depth of your sorrow, and don't
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: just feel bad during the day and go home at
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: night to your comfortable beds, stay in the temple, pass
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: the night in sackcloth, Sleep in your mourning clothes, if
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: you sleep at all, Let your grief be constant and
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: visible and unrelenting. The priests are supposed to lead the
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: people in worship. Now they must lead them in mourning.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: They must model the appropriate response to this crisis, showing
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: everyone else how serious the situation has become. The reason
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: is stated clearly. The offerings are withheld from God's house,
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: not forgotten, not neglected, not deliberately held back, withheld by
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: circumstances beyond any one's control. God deserves these offerings, He
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: commanded them, He established the system, and the priests are
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: grieving that they can't provide what He requires, even though
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: they desperately want to. Verse fourteen escalates the response dramatically.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: Consecrate a fast call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: and all the inhabitants of the land to the House
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: of the Lord, your God, and cry out to the Lord.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: This isn't individual prayer time anymore. Joel calls for a
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: national sacred gathering. Consecrate a fast set apart a specific
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: time when no one eats, make it official, make it holy,
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: not just people choosing to skip a meal, but an
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: organized community wide commitment to hunger as a form of prayer.
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: Call a solemn assembly. Bring everyone together in the most
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: serious way possible. This isn't a festival, This isn't a celebration.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: This is a gathering marked by gravity and weight and
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: the recognition that something must change or everyone will perish.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: Gather the elders first, the leaders, the people with wisdom
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: and authority, the ones who make decisions but don't stop there.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: Gather all the inhabitants of the land. Everyone needs to
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: be there, young and old, rich and poor, influential and insignificant.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: This crisis affects everyone, so everyone must participate in seeking
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: God's intervention. Where should they gather? At the House of
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: the Lord, the temple, the place where heaven and Earth meet,
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: where God has chosen to put his name, where his
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: presence dwells. If you're going to cry out to God,
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: do it at his house. Come to where he is.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: And what should they do when they gather? Cry out
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: to the Lord? Not polite prayers, not quiet, dignified requests.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: Cry out, raise your voices, shout if necessary, let God
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: hear the desperation in your hearts, the fear in your voices,
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: the urgency of your need. Verse fifteen adds weight and
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: urgency to the call alas for the day, for the
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: day of the Lord is near, and as destruction from
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: the Almighty it comes. Introduces a phrase that will become
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: central to his entire message, the Day of the Lord.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: This isn't just about locusts anymore. This is about divine judgment,
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: about God himself acting in history with power and purpose.
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: The day of the Lord is near and its coming,
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: like destruction from the Almighty, The locust plague is a sign,
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: a warning, a preview of something even greater and more terrifying.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: The word Almighty in Hebrew is Shadai, a name emphasizing
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: God's absolute power and sovereignty. Destruction is coming from the
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: one who has all power, who cannot be resisted, who
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: does whatever he pleases. If the locusts were devastating, what
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: will the full expression of God's judgment look like. Verses
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: sixteen through eighteen paint a comprehensive picture of agricultural and
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: economic collapse. Is not the food cut off before our eyes,
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: joy and gladness from the house of our God. The
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: seed shrivels under the clods. The storehouses are desolate. The
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: granaries are torn down because the grain is dried up.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: How the beasts groan. The herds of cattle are perplexed
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: because there is no pasture for them. Even the flocks
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: of sheep suffer. The food is gone before their eyes.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: They're watching it disappear in real time, helpless to stop
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: the process. Joy and gladness have left God's house. The
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: place that should be full of singing and celebration and
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: worship is now silent and empty, marked by grief instead
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: of praise. The seed which should be sprouting in the ground,
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: sending up green shoots promising future harvests, shrivels under the
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: clods of dirt. Even the potential for future food is dying.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: The storehouses, which should be full of grain from previous harvests,
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: stand desolate, empty, useless. The granaries are actually being torn down.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: Why buildings when there's nothing to store and no prospect
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: of having anything to store. Even the animals suffer under
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: this catastrophe. The cattle grown a low, mournful sound that
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: expresses their hunger and confusion. They're perplexed, a surprisingly human
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: emotion attributed to beasts. They don't understand why there's no pasture,
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: why the fields that used to provide food are now
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: bare and brown. The sheep suffer too, unable to find
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: grazing land, growing thin and weak. Nobody is exempt from
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: this disaster. Human and animal alike feel the weight of
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: the devastation. The locusts didn't just attack crops, They destroyed
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: the entire ecosystem, eliminating food sources for every living thing.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: Verse nineteen shows Joel himself entering into prayer to you,
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: O Lord, I call for fire has devoured the pastures
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: of the wilderness, and flame has burned all the trees
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: of the field. Joel doesn't just tell others to pray,
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: He demonstrates it. He calls directly to the Lord, modeling
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: the behavior he's been commanding, and he describes the destruction
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: in terms of fire. Whether this is literal fire following
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: the drought, or the burning sensation of extreme heat, or
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: a metaphor for the consuming nature of the locusts, the
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: effect is the same. Everything is consumed as if by flames.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: The pastures of the wilderness are devoured, even the wild
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: places the areas outside human cultivation have been destroyed. The
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: trees of the field are burned. Nothing green remains anywhere.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: Verse twenty concludes this devastating chapter. Even the beasts of
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: the field pant for you. Because the water brooks are
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: dried up and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: The wild animals are panting, thirsty, exhausted, desperate for relief.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: The water brooks have dried up completely. Even the wilderness,
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: which should have some water sources, offers nothing. The animals
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: are reaching out to God, instinctively, crying out in the
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: only way they know how. Their suffering is a prayer
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: in itself. If even the beasts are seeking the Lord,
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: if even the animals are panting after God in their distress,
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: how much more should his people cry out to him?
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: How much more should those made in His image turn
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: to Him in their crisis. The animals show humans what
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: the proper response should be, not resignation, not despair, but
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: desperate seeking after the only one who can help. Chapter
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: two opens with an urgent command in verse one, blow
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: a trumpet in Zion, sound an alarm on my holy mountain.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: day of the Lord is coming, it is near. A
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: trumpet blast pierces the air. This isn't a call to
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: worship or a signal for celebration. This is an alarm,
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: the kind of sound that makes your blood run cold,
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: that tells you danger is coming and you need to
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: act now. Joel commands someone to blow the show far
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: the Ram's horn trumpet used in ancient Israel for warnings
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: and emergencies. Where should this alarm sound? In Zion? On
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: God's Holy mountain? This is Jerusalem, the city of God,
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: the place where his temple stands. If danger is coming,
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: even to the Holy Mountain, then nowhere is safe. If
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: Zion needs to hear an alarm, then every corner of
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: the land is at risk. The result of this trumpet
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: blast should be trembling, not mild concern, not cautious attention. Trembling.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: Every inhabitant of the land should shake with fear when
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: they hear this sound, because what's coming is beyond anything
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: they can handle on their own. Why the alarm, Because
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: the day of the Lord is coming, and it's near,
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: not far off in some distant future, not something that
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: might happen eventually. It's near, Its approaching, it's almost here.
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: The time for casual response has passed. The moment for
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: urgency has arrived. Verse two describes this day with vivid imagery,
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: and thick darkness. Like blackness, there is spread upon the mountains,
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: a great and powerful people. There like has never been before,
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: nor will be again after them, through the years of
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: all generations. If this is a day of darkness and gloom,
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: the sun doesn't shine, light doesn't break through. Clouds cover
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: everything with thick darkness that you can almost feel pressing
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: down on you. It's spreading across the mountains, like blackness
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: itself has physical form, covering the high places, engulfing everything
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: in shadow. And in that darkness comes a great and
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: powerful people, an army, a force their like has never
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: been before, not in any war, the elders remember, not
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: in any ste glory their fathers told, and their like
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: will never be again after them, through all the years
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: of all generations. This is unique, This is unprecedented. This
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: is a once in history event that will never be repeated.
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: Verse three reveals what this army does as it moves,
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: Fire devours before them and behind them, a flame burns.
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: The land is like the garden of Eden before them,
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: but behind them a desolate wilderness, and nothing escapes them.
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: Picture the scene before this army arrives. Fire devours everything
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: in its path. It's like a wave of destruction moving
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: ahead of them, preparing the way behind them. Flames burn continuously.
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: They leave nothing but scorched earth and smoke. The contrast
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: is stark and painful. The land before them is like
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: the garden of Eden, beautiful, green, full of life and abundance.
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: Everything is growing and healthy and perfect, the way God
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: intended creation to be. Then the army passes through, and
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: behind them lies a desolate wilderness. Everything that was green
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: turns brown. Everything living becomes dead, Everything beautiful becomes ugly,
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: and nothing escapes them, not a single plant, not a
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: single tree, not a corner of land or a hidden valley.
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: Their destruction is total and complete. Whatever they touch dies,
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: whatever they pass through ends. Verse four describes what these
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: invaders look like. Their appearance is like the appearance of horses,
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: and like war horses they run. They look like horses, powerful, fast,
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: built for warfare. When you see them coming, you think
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: of cavalry of mounted warriors charging into battle. They have
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: that same sense of strength and speed and unstoppable momentum.
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: Like war horses. They run, covering ground with frightening speed,
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: moving as a single force toward their target. Verse five
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: adds to the terrifying picture, as with the rumbling of chariots.
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: They leap on the tops of the mountains, like the
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: crackling of a flame of fire devouring the stubble, like
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: a powerful army drawn up for battle. The sound they
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: make is like chariots rumbling across rough ground, a deep,
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: continuous noise that shakes the earth and fills the air
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: with menace. They leap on the tops of the mountains,
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: somehow able to scale heights that should be impossible, moving
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: over terrain that should slow them down. The sound also
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: resembles fire crackling through dry stubble, that sharp, rapid sound
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: of flames consuming dead grass, spreading quickly, impossible to control,
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: and like a powerful army drawn up for battle, their organized,
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: ready positioned for maximum impact. This isn't a disorganized mob.
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: This is a military force operating with precision and purpose.
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: Verse six reveals the effect this army has on people
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: before them. Peoples are in anguish, All faces grow pale.
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: When people see this army approaching, they don't just feel afraid.
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: They're in anguish, deep, gut wrenching terror that goes beyond
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: normal fear. All faces grow pale as the blood drains away.
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: The physical reaction to extreme fear shows on every face.
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: Courage disappears, confidence evaporates. What remains is pure dread. Verse
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: seven describes how this army moves like warriors. They charge
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: like soldiers. They scale the wall. They march, each on
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: his way. They do not swerve from their paths. Like warriors.
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: They charge with the aggression and fearlessness of trained soldiers
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: who know no hesitation. Like soldiers, they scale the wall,
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: climbing fortifications that should keep them out, Overcoming defenses that
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: should stop them. Every barrier proves useless, every wall becomes
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: just another obstacle to conquer. They march, each on his way.
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: Every individual knows exactly where to go and what to do.
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: They do not swerve from their paths. No distraction pulls
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: them off course, no obstacle makes them change direction. They
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: move forward in straight lines, each one locked onto their objective,
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: utterly focused on their mission. Verse eight continues describing their
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: perfect coordination. They do not jostle one another. Each marches
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: in his path. They burst through the weapons and are
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: not halted. They do not jostle one another, even though
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: there are countless thousands of them. They never bump into
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: each other or interfere with each other's movement. Each marches
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: in his path with absolute precision. It's like watching a
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: perfectly choreographed dance, except this dance brings destruction instead of beauty.
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: They burst through the weapons. Swords, spears, arrows. Whatever defenders
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: throw at them makes no difference. They're not halted. They
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: don't slow down, they don't retreat, they don't even pause.
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: The weapons that should stop any army pass through them,
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: or bounce off them, or simply fail to have any effect.
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: Verse nine shows how they penetrate every defense. They leap
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: upon the city. They run upon the walls, They climb
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: up into the houses. They enter through the windows like
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: a thief. They leap upon the city, attacking from every
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: angle simultaneously. They run upon the walls. The very fortifications
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: built to protect the inhabitants become highways for the invaders.
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: They climb up into the houses. Private homes offer no sanctuary.
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: They enter through the windows, like a thief, coming in
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: through openings that seem too small, arriving when you least
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: expect them, taking what isn't theirs. The comparison to a
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: thief is chilling. Thieves come at night, in silence, when
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: you're vulnerable. They don't announce themselves, they don't give warning.
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: You wake up and they're already in your house. That's
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: how this army operates, sudden invasive, violating every space that
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: should be safe. Verse ten reveals that creation itself responds
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: to this invasion. The earth quakes before them. The heavens tremble,
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: withdraw their shining. The earth quakes before them. The ground
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: shakes under the weight of their advance. Earthquakes announce their arrival,
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: as if the planet itself is recoiling from what's coming.
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: The heavens tremble, even the sky responds with fear, shaking
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: at the sight of this terrible army. The sun and
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: the moon are darkened. The two great lights that God
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: placed in the heavens to govern day and night both
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: go dark. The sun stops shining, the moon gives no light.
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: Whether this is literal astronomical darkness, or the result of
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: clouds and smoke so thick they block all light. The
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: effect is the same, total darkness in the middle of
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: what should be day. The stars withdraw their shining. Even
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: the distant lights in the night sky pull back, as
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: if hiding from what's happening on Earth. The entire created order, Earth, Heaven, sun, moon,
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: stars all respond to this invasion with signs of cosmic disturbance.
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: This isn't just an earthly event. This is something that
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: touches the fabric of creation itself. Verse eleven makes clear
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: who's behind this terrifying army. The Lord utters his voice
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: before his army, For his camp is exceedingly great. He
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: who executes his word is powerful. For the day of
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: the Lord is great and very awesome. Who can endure it?
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: The Lord utters his voice before his army. This isn't
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: an enemy attacking God's people despite it protection. This is
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: God himself leading an army in judgment. The voice of
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: the Lord goes before them like thunder, announcing their advance,
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: proclaiming their mission. His camp is exceedingly great. The numbers
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: are beyond counting, beyond imagination. Try to picture an army
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: so vast you can't see where it begins or ends,
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: so numerous that counting them would be impossible. That's God's camp,
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: and he commands every single member of it. He who
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: executes his word is powerful. The one carrying out God's
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: commands has the strength to do whatever is necessary. There's
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: no resistance strong enough to stop them, no defense adequate
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: to hold them back. When God speaks a word of judgment,
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: the power to execute that word is guaranteed. Then comes
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: the question that echoes through the ages, for the day
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: of the Lord is great and very awesome. Who can
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: endure it? Who can stand when God acts in judgment?
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: Who has the strength to survive when the Almighty turns
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: his face toward you in anger? Who can endure the
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: day when heaven and earth shake, when armies beyond number
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: advance with divine authority, when darkness covers the sun and
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: the ground trembles beneath your feet. The question hangs in
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: the air unanswered because the answer is obvious. No one
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: can endure it through their own strength. No one can
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: stand in their own power. No one can survive God's
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: judgment by their own merit. The question isn't really asking
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: for information. It's forcing every one who hears it to
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: face their complete helplessness before God. But then, in the
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: midst of all this terror and darkness and unstoppable judgment
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: Verse twelve offers hope. Yet even now declares the Lord,
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping,
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: and with mourning. Even now, after everything that's been described,
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: after the army and the darkness and the cosmic upheaval,
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: after the locusts and the devastation and the terror, Even now,
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: in this moment, when judgment seems certain and destruction inevitable,
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: God offers a way back. Return to me. He says,
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: not to religion, not to rituals, not to better behavior
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: or renewed effort. Return to me, to relationship, to the
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: person of God himself. Come back to the one you've
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: walked away from. How should they return with all your heart?
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: Not half heartedly, not with divided loyalties, not with one
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: foot in and one foot out. All your heart means
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: complete commitment, total devotion, holding nothing back, with fasting, deliberately
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: choosing hunger to show that you value God more than food,
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: that seeking Him matters more than satisfying your physical needs.
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: With weeping, tears that show genuine sorrow, real grief over
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: what you've done and who you've become. With mourning the
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: kind of deep sadness that comes from recognizing loss, from
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: seeing clearly what sin has cost you. Verse thirteen adds
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: a crucial clarification, and rend your hearts and not your garments.
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: and he relents over disaster. Rend your hearts and not
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: your garments. In ancient Israel, tearing your clothes was a
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: sign of grief and repentance. You'd grab your robe at
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: the collar and rip it down the front, exposing your chest,
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: showing everyone that you were in mourning. But God says
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: that's not what he wants. Don't tear your clothes, tear
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: your hearts. What does it mean to rend your heart?
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: It means breaking open your inner self before God. It
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: means letting him see the real you, the parts you
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: hide from others, the thoughts you're ashamed of, the desires
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: you know are wrong. It means genuine internal change, not
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: just external displays. External actions without internal reality mean nothing
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: to God. You can tear a thousand garments, and it
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: won't matter if your heart remains hard. You can wear
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: sackcloth every day and it won't change anything if your
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: heart stays unchanged. God sees past the performance to what's
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: actually happening inside. Return to the Lord, your God. Notice
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: the possessive. He's not just any God. He's your God,
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: the one who made you, who knows you, who has
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: a relationship with you. And here's why you should return.
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: For he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: abounding in steadfast love. Gracious he gives good things you
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: don't deserve. Merciful he doesn't give you the bad things
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: you do deserve. Slow to anger, he doesn't explode at
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: the first offense or punish immediately. He's patient, giving time
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: for change, Abounding in steadfast love. His love isn't a
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: trickle or a small stream. It's abundant, overflowing, never ending.
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: The Hebrew word is hessaid covenant love that remains loyal
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: even when the other person doesn't deserve it. And he
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: relents over disaster. When people genuinely turn back to him.
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: God changes his mind about the punishment he was planning
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: to send. He's not locked into judgment. He's not forced
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: to punish. He can and will show mercy when hearts
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: truly change. Verse fourteen adds a note of hope and possibility.
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: Who knows whether he will not turn and relent and
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: drink offering for the Lord your God. Who knows? Maybe
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: God will turn from his anger, Maybe he will relent
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: from the disaster. Maybe instead of leaving destruction, he'll leave
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: a blessing enough harvest to provide grain offerings and drink
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: offerings again. Maybe the priests will have something to offer.
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: Maybe the temple service will resume. Maybe life will return
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: to normal. The who knows isn't uncertainty about God's character.
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: It's humility about deserving his mercy. Nobody can demand that
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: God show mercy. Nobody can claim they deserve another chance.
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: But based on who God is, gracious, merciful, slow to anger,
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: abounding in love, there's hope, there's possibility, there's a reason
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: to return. Verse fifteen repeats the command from chapter one,
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: but now with new urgency and context. Blow the trumpet
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: in Zion, consecrate a fast call, a solemn assembly. Blow
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: the trumpet in Zion. The same alarm that warned of
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: judgment now becomes a call to repentance. The same instrument
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: that announced terror now summons people to hope. Consecrate a fast,
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: set apart, a sacred time of going without food to
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: seek God. Call a solemn assembly. Gather everyone together in
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: seriousness and gravity. Verse sixteen specifies exactly who should come.
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: Gather the people, consecrate the congregation. Assemble the elders, Gather
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: room and the bride her chamber. Gather the people, all
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: of them, not just the religious ones or the leaders.
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: Consecrate the congregation, set apart the entire community as why
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: for this purpose. Assemble the elders. Bring the wise ones,
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: the decision makers, those with authority and experience, but don't
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: stop there. Gather the children. Not just adults who understand theology,
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: but children who may not fully grasp what's happening. Even
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: nursing infants should be brought. Babies too young to walk
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: or talk, infants still dependent on their mothers for milk,
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: Bring them all. This is radical. Children were often excluded
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: from serious religious gatherings. Infants especially would be considered too
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: young to participate meaningfully. But God says, bring them anyway.
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: This crisis is so serious, this need so urgent, that
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: even babies need to be present. Every single person in
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: the community, from the oldest elder to the newest infant,
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: must be part of this assembly. Let the bridegroom leave
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: his room and the bride her chamber. This is perhaps
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: the most striking command. A bridegroom in his room with
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: his new bride was exempt from almost every obligation. In
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: ancient Israel, newly weds were given time to establish their
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: mass marriage without interference. But not now. Even the groom
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: on his wedding night must leave his bride and come
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: to the assembly. Even the bride must leave her chamber.
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: No exception is permitted. No one gets to stay home.
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: Verse seventeen describes where they should go and what they
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: should do. Between the vestibule and the altar. Let the
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: priests the ministers of the Lord weep and say, spare
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: your people, o Lord, and make not your heritage a
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: reproach a by word among the nations. Why should they say,
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: among the peoples, where is their God? Between the vestibule
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: and the altar? This is a specific location in the temple,
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: the space between the entrance hall and the Altar of Sacrifice.
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: It's a sacred space, a place where priests would stand
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: to perform their duties. Now it becomes a place of intercession.
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: Let the priests weep there, Let the ministers of the
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: Lord cry openly, showing their grief and desperation, and let
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: them pray a specific prayer. Spare your people, O Lord.
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: Notice what they call Israel your people, not our nation
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: or this community or the inhabitants of Judah, your people.
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: They belong to you, their yours, by creation, by covenant,
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: by choice. Spare what belongs to you, make not your
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: heritage a reproach. Israel is God's inheritance, his special possession.
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: Don't let them become a reproach, something people point to
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: with scorn and mockery. Don't let them become a byword
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: among the nations, a negative example, a cautionary tale, a
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: joke that other countries tell. Why should they say, among
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: the peoples, where is their God? This is the heart
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: of the prayer. If Israel is destroyed, if God's people
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: are completely wiped out, if judgment is total and final,
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: what will the surrounding nations say, they'll mock, they'll question,
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: They'll say, where is their God? If he was so powerful,
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: why couldn't he save them, If he loved them so much,
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: why did he let them be destroyed. The priests are
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: appealing to God's reputation, to his glory among the nations,
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: not because they think they deserve rescue, but because God's
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: name is at stake. If his people perish, his name
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: will be dishonored among those who don't know him. The
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: prayer is essentially, save us, not because we deserve it,
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: but because your name deserves to be honored. Save us,
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: so the nations will know you are real, You are powerful,
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: You are faithful to your people. Everything changes in verse
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: eighteen of chapter two. Then the Lord became jealous for
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: his land and had pity on his people. After all
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: the devastation, after all the terror, after all the darkness
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: and judgment, Something shifts in God's heart. He becomes jealous
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: for his land. Not jealous in the petty human sense,
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: but with a fierce, prey detective love. This is his land,
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: These are his people, and he will not let them
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: be destroyed or mocked. Forever he had pity on his people.
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: The Hebrew word suggests deep compassion, the kind of feeling
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: a parent has for a suffering child. God looks at
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: his people in their misery and feels moved to act
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: on their behalf. Their prayers reached him, their repentance mattered,
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: their tears were not ignored. Verse nineteen shows God's immediate response.
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: The Lord answered and said to his people, behold, I
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: am sending to you grain, wine, and oil, and you
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: will be satisfied with them, and I will no more
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: make you a reproach among the nations. God answers. He
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: doesn't leave them wondering, He doesn't make them wait in uncertainty.
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: He speaks directly to his people with a promise. Behold,
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: pay attention to what I am about to do. I
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: am sending to you grain, wine, and oil. Remember these
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: three They were destroyed by the locusts. They disappeared completely.
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: The fields were bare, the vines were dead, the olive
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: trees were stripped. But now God promises to send them back.
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: Not just a little enough that you will be satisfied,
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: enough to fill your stomachs and your storehouses, enough to
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: restore what was lost. And I will no more make
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: you a reproach among the nations. The mockery will stop,
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: the shame will end. Other nations won't point at Israel
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: and laugh any more. God's reputation and Israel's dignity will
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: both be restored. Verse twenty gets specific about one particular enemy.
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: I will remove the northerner far from you and drive
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: him into a parched and desolate land, his vanguard into
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: the Eastern Sea, and his rear guard into the Western Sea.
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: His stench and foul smell will rise, for he has
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: done great things. The Northerner, this mysterio invader, whether understood
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: as locusts or a foreign army, or both, will be
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: removed far away. God will drive him into a parched
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: and desolate land, splitting the army in two. The front
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: part goes into the Eastern Sea, the Dead Sea. The
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: rear part goes into the Western sea, the Mediterranean. The
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: entire force is scattered and destroyed. His stench and foul
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: smell will rise. The bodies of dead locusts or dead
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: soldiers will rot, creating a terrible odor that reminds everyone
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: of what happened. Why does God destroy them so completely?
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: Because he has done great things, great terrible things, great
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: destructive things. The damage was enormous, and the punishment matches
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: the crime. Verse twenty one shifts to a direct command
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: to the land itself. Fear not, o, Land, be glad
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things. The
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: land is personified, spoken to as if it has ears
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: to hear and a heart to feel. Fear not, don't
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: be afraid any more. The danger has passed. The threat
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: is removed. Be glad and rejoice. Emotions that seemed impossible
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: during the devastation now become commands. Choose joy, embrace gladness.
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: Why because the Lord has done great things. The same
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: phrase used for the destroyer's actions is now used for
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: God's restoration. The enemy did great things of destruction. God
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: does great things of salvation. One set of great things
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: cancels out the other and goes far beyond. Verse twenty
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: two continues speaking to creation. Fear not, you, beasts of
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: the field, For the pastures of the wilderness are green.
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: The tree bears its fruit, The fig, tree and vine
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: give their full yield. The animals are addressed directly, Fear not, you,
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: beasts of the field. You were suffering, groaning, panting, for water.
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: You couldn't find food. You didn't understand what was happening.
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: But now you can stop being afraid. The pastures of
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: the wilderness are green again. Grass is growing, food is available.
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: You won't starve any more. The tree bears its fruit.
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: The trees that were stripped and splintered are producing again.
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: The fig tree and vine give their full yield. Not
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: a partial recovery, not a struggling comeback, but full yield,
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: maximum production, abundant harvest. Everything is not just surviving, but thriving.
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: Verse twenty three turns to the people. Be glad, oh
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God,
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: for he has given the early rain for your vindication.
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: He has poured down for you abundant rain, the early
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: and the latter rain. As before. Be glad, oh, children
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: of Zion. This is addressed to the people of Jerusalem,
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: to those who below long to God's Holy city. Rejoice
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: in the Lord your God, not just in the restoration itself,
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: but in the one who restored. Not just in the rain,
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: but in the God who sends rain. Your joy should
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: be in him. Why rejoice, because he has given the
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: early rain for your vindication, the early rain was crucial
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: in ancient Israel. It came in autumn, softening the ground
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: so seeds could be planted. Without it, farming couldn't begin.
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: God sends it now as vindication, as proof that he
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: has turned back to his people, as evidence that their
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: repentance was accepted. He has poured down for you abundant rain,
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: not a drizzle, not scattered showers. Abundant rain, heavy soaking,
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: more than enough, the early and the latter rain as before,
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: the early rain in autumn, the latter rain in spring,
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: before harvest. Both seasons of rain restored to their proper
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: time and proper amounts, just like it was before the disaster.
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: Verse twenty four describes the result. The threshing floors shall
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: be full of grain. The vats shall overflow with wine
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: and oil. The threshing floors, the places where grain is
• 59:16
  Speaker 1: separated from chaff after harvest, will be full, not partially filled,
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: not adequately supplied, full, completely full of grain, with piles
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: so large there's barely room for the workers. The vats
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: shall overflow with wine and oil. Vats are the large
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: containers where crushed grapes are collected, where pressed olives yield
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: their oil they're designed to hold a lot, but the
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: harvest will be so abundant that even these large containers overflow.
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: There's more than they can contain. Excess becomes the new normal.
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: Verse twenty five makes an incredible promise. I will restore
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: the hot the destroyer, and the cutter. My great army
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: which I sent among you, I will restore to you
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: the years, not just the crops, not just this season's harvest,
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: the years plural, multiple years of loss and devastation. Every
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: year the locusts destroyed. God will somehow give back time
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 1: itself will be redeemed lost. Seasons will be recovered that
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: the swarming locust has eaten the hopper, the destroyer, and
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: the cutter. All four types of locusts mentioned back in
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: chapter one are listed again. Every wave of destruction is acknowledged,
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: every phase of devastation is remembered. God isn't ignoring what
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: happened or pretending it wasn't so bad. He sees the
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: full extent of the damage my great army which I
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: sent among you. God takes responsibility. These weren't random natural
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: disasters beyond his control. They were his army, sent by
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: him carrying out his judgment. But now the same God
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: who sent judgment promises restoration that goes beyond anything they lost.
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: How do you restore years? How do you give back time?
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: Through abundance so great it makes up for every lack,
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: Through harvests so large they equal multiple normal years. Through
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: blessing so intense it feels like you're living several good
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: years compressed into one. Verse twenty six continues, you shall
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you,
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: and my people shall never again be put to shame.
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied. Remember the
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: hunger during the locust plague gone, Remember the empty stomachs
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: and worried faces replaced with satisfaction. You'll eat until you're full,
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: and there will still be more. Plenty becomes the finding
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: characteristic of life after restoration and praise the name of
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you.
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 1: When you're full and satisfied and blessed, don't forget who
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 1: did this. Praise his name, acknowledge his work tell everyone
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: about the wonders he performed. The God who dealt wondrously
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: in judgment now deals wondrously in restoration, and my people
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: shall never again be put to shame. This promise appears
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: twice in this section, emphasizing its importance. The shame is over,
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 1: the reproach is finished, the humiliation ends. From now on,
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: God's people will stand with dignity because their God has
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: proven faithful. Verse twenty seven makes a profound declaration. You
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: shall know that I am in the midst of Israel,
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: and that I am the Lord your God, and there
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: is none else, and my people shall never again be
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: put to shame. You shall know this isn't just intellectual understanding.
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 1: This is experiential knowledge, the kind that comes from seeing
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: and touching and living through something. You shall know that
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: I am in the midst of Israel. God isn't distant,
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: he isn't watching from far away. He's in the midst,
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: right in the center, present among his people, living with them,
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 1: and that I am the Lord your God, the covenant name,
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: the personal name Yahweh. Not just a god but the Lord,
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 1: not just any lord, but your God. The relationship is
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: specific and personal and there is none else. He's unique.
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: No other God compares, no other power matters. He alone
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: is God. The promise of no more shame is repeated,
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 1: and my people shall never again be put to shame.
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: Repetition in Hebrew poetry emphasizes importance. This matters deeply to
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 1: God that his people would live without shame, that their
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 1: dignity would be secure, that their reputation would be protected.
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: Verse twenty eight of chapter two introduces something completely new.
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 1: your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams,
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 1: and your young men shall see visions. And it shall
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 1: come to pass afterward, after the restoration, after the rain returns,
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 1: after the harvests are abundant, after shame is removed. Then
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: something else happens, something even more remarkable than physical restoration.
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, not
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 1: just on priests, not just on prophets, not just on
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: kings or special religious people, on all flesh, everyone, regardless
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: of position or status or background. God's spirit, which had
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 1: previously been given selectively to specific individuals for specific tasks,
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 1: will now be poured out like water abundantly and universally.
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Both genders will
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: speak God's words. This breaks the normal pattern where prophets
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 1: were almost always men. Now daughters will prophesy alongside sons,
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: speaking divine truth with divine authority. Your old men shall
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 1: dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Age
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: won't matter. Old men, who in that culture were respected
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 1: for wisdom but often seen as past their prime for
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: spiritual experiences, will dream dreams receiving revelation from God during sleep.
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 1: Young men, full of energy but often dismissed as inexperienced,
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 1: will see visions receiving revelation while awake. Verse twenty nine
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 1: continues this revolutionary promise. Even on the male and female
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: servants in those days, I will pour out my spirit,
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 1: even on the male and female servants, even on slaves,
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: even on those at the bottom of the social ladder,
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: those with no status or power or influence. In those days,
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 1: I will pour out my spirit on them too. Social
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: class doesn't limit God's spirit. Economic status doesn't determine spiritual access.
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 1: Everyone from the highest to the lowest receives the same outpouring.
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: This is radical, This is unprecedented. This changes everything about
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: how people relate to God and how they relate to
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: each other. When the spirit is on everyone, old hierarchies
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 1: break down. When servants prophesy like masters, when daughters speak
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 1: like sons, When young and old both receive visions and dreams,
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: society transforms. Verse thirty shifts to future warning. And I
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth,
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 1: blood and fire and columns of smoke. God will show
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 1: wonders supernatural signs that grab attention and communicate divine messages
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: in the heavens, in the sky above, on the earth,
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 1: on the ground below. Both realms will display these signs.
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 1: Blood and fire and columns of smoke. Blood suggest violence
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: and death. Fire speaks of judgment and destruction. Columns of smoke,
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 1: rising high into the air create visible markers that everyone
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 1: can see from miles away. These aren't subtle hints. These
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 1: are dramatic, unmistakable signs that something significant is happening. Verse
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 1: thirty one describes cosmic changes. The sun shall be turned
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 1: to darkness and the moon to blood before the great
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 1: and awesome day of the Lord comes. The sun shall
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: be turned to darkness. The source of light and life
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: goes dark, creating terror and confusion. The moon to blood,
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 1: appearing red, perhaps from smoke or atmospheric conditions, looking like
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 1: it's covered in blood. These cosmic signs happen before the
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 1: great and awesome day of the Lord comes. Their warnings
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 1: advance notices that the final day of judgment is approaching.
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 1: Verse thirty two offers hope in the midst of these
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 1: terrifying signs. And it shall come to pass that every
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: one who calls on the name of the Lord shall
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, there
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 1: shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said,
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 1: And among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: Every One who calls on the name of the Lord
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 1: shall be saved, not every one who lives perfectly, not
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: every one who never makes mistakes. Every one who calls,
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 1: who cries out, who seeks, who asks for help. Calling
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: on God's name becomes the dividing line between salvation and destruction.
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 1: For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, there shall be
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 1: those who escape. Even during judgment, there will be survivors.
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 1: God always preserves a remnant, all always save some, always
• 1:09:01
  Speaker 1: ensures that His purposes continue. As the Lord has said,
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 1: this is according to divine promise, not human achievement. And
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 1: among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: There's a mystery here. People call on God's name and
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 1: God calls people to himself. Both divine calling and human
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 1: response play a role. The survivors are those God chooses
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 1: and those who choose God. Chapter three begins with a
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 1: time marker in verse one, for behold in those days
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 1: and at that time when I restore the fortunes of
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 1: Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 1: bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat, and I
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 1: will enter into judgment with them. There on behalf of
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 1: my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 1: them among the nations and have divided up my land
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 1: in those days. And at that time when restoration happens,
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 1: when the birit is poured out, God will gather all
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 1: the nations to the valley of Jehoshaphat, which means Yahweh judges.
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: I will enter into judgment with them there God himself
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 1: becomes the judge, acting on behalf of my people and
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 1: my heritage Israel. Why because they scattered God's people among
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 1: the nations and divided up his land. Verse three give
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 1: specific charges, And have cast lots for my people, and
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 1: have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: a girl for wine and have drunk it. They gambled
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 1: with human lives, traded children for pleasure and alcohol, treating
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: God's people like worthless objects. Verses four through six address
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 1: specific regions. What are you to me, o, tire and
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 1: Sidon and all the regions of Felistia. Are you paying
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 1: me back for something? If you are paying me back,
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: I will return your payment on your own heads, swiftly
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 1: and speedily. For you you have taken my silver and
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 1: my gold, and have carried my rich treasures into your temples.
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 1: You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to
• 1:11:08
  Speaker 1: the Greeks in order to remove them far from their
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 1: own border. God confronts the coastal nations who stole his treasures,
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 1: placed them in false temples, and sold his people as
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 1: slaves to distant lands. Verses seven and eight promise reversal. Behold,
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 1: I will stir them up from the place to which
• 1:11:27
  Speaker 1: you have sold them, and I will return your payment
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 1: on your own head. I will sell your sons and
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 1: your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah,
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 1: and they will sell them to the Sabians, to a
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: nation far away. For the Lord has spoken what they
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 1: did to others comes back to them completely. Verse nine
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 1: issues a challenge. Proclaim this among the nations. Consecrate for war.
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 1: Stir up the mighty men. Let all the men of
• 1:11:56
  Speaker 1: war draw near, Let them come up. God tells the
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 1: nations to prepare for battle, to gather their strongest warriors.
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 1: Verse ten gives ironic instructions. Beat your plowshares into swords,
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 1: and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the week say
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 1: I am a warrior. Turn farming tools into weapons. Even
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 1: the weak should claim to be fighters. God wants everyone
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 1: there to demonstrate how powerless human military MIGHTI is against
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: him Verses eleven and twelve. Continue hasten and come all
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 1: you surrounding nations and gather yourselves there. Bring down your warriors,
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 1: O Lord. Let the nations stir themselves up and come
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 1: up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, For there I will
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 1: sit to judge all the surrounding nations. God will be
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: seated as judge, while every nation stands before him. Verse
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 1: thirteen uses harvest imagery. Put in the sickle, for the
• 1:12:56
  Speaker 1: harvest is ripe. Go in tread, for the wine press
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 1: is full. The vats overflow, for their evil is great.
• 1:13:06
  Speaker 1: Judgment day has arrived. The harvest of human evil is
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 1: ready to be reaped, like grapes crushed in a wine press.
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 1: Verse fourteen paints the scene Multitudes multitudes in the Valley
• 1:13:18
  Speaker 1: of decision, for the day of the Lord is near.
• 1:13:21
  Speaker 1: In the Valley of Decision, countless people gather where God
• 1:13:25
  Speaker 1: will pronounce his verdict. Verse fifteen repeats the cosmic signs.
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 1: The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 1: withdraw their shining. Heaven responds as judgment falls. Verse sixteen
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 1: contrasts terror and safety. The Lord roars from Zion and
• 1:13:43
  Speaker 1: utters his voice from Jerusalem and the heavens and the
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 1: earth quake. But the Lord is a refuge to his people,
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 1: a stronghold to the people of Israel. God's voice terrifies enemies,
• 1:13:54
  Speaker 1: but protects his own. Verse seventeen secures Jerusalem. So you
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 1: shall know that I am the Lord, your God, who
• 1:14:02
  Speaker 1: dwells in Zion, my holy mountain, and Jerusalem shall be holy,
• 1:14:07
  Speaker 1: and strangers shall never again pass through it. The city
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 1: becomes permanently protected. Verse eighteen describes abundant blessing, and in
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 1: that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 1: hills shall flow with milk, and all the stream beds
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 1: of Judah shall flow with water, and a fountain shall
• 1:14:27
  Speaker 1: come forth from the House of the Lord and water
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 1: the valley of Shittim. Wine flows from mountains, milk from hills,
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 1: water from everywhere, and a fountain springs from God's temple.
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 1: Verse nineteen pronounces judgment. Egypt shall become a desolation and
• 1:14:44
  Speaker 1: Edom a desolate wilderness for the violence done to the
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 1: people of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in
• 1:14:51
  Speaker 1: their land. Nations that harmed God's people become wastelands. Verse
• 1:14:57
  Speaker 1: twenty contrasts Judah's future, but Judah shall be inhabited forever
• 1:15:03
  Speaker 1: and Jerusalem to all generations. While enemies fall, God's people
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 1: endure eternally. Verse twenty one concludes, I will avenge their blood,
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 1: blood I have not avenged. For the Lord dwells in Zion.
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 1: God will settle every account address every injustice. The book
• 1:15:23
  Speaker 1: ends with the ultimate reality, the Lord dwells in Zion.
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 1: Because God lives among his people, justice will be done,
• 1:15:32
  Speaker 1: safety is guaranteed, and Heaven touches earth. If this journey
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 1: through Joel opened your eyes to something new, if you
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 1: saw this ancient prophecy in a way you've never seen before,
• 1:15:45
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• 1:15:47
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• 1:15:52
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• 1:15:56
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• 1:16:00
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• 1:16:03
  Speaker 1: they are facing their own devastation or searching for hope
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 1: in dark times. Joel's words speak powerfully to every generation.
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 1: Share it with your Bible study group, your friends, your family.
• 1:16:16
  Speaker 1: Let's spread these ancient truths together. Thank you for watching.
• 1:16:20
  Speaker 1: Until next time, may you know that the Lord dwells
• 1:16:23
  Speaker 1: among his people.