in this video we're gonna look at Joel chapter 1 verses 13 through 20 and this
passage is going to help us answer some questions for example are there times
that bad things that happen in my life are actually God's punishment for
something I've done and if so why does God do that and what should I do in
response welcome to equipt I'm your host Mario
Escobedo this channel is all about helping you deepen your understanding of
God's Word so you can know God better and understand his incredible plan for
your life more clearly on this channel I do Bible studies as well as teachings on
how to study the Bible effectively so if you're new here consider subscribing so
that you're always up to date on the teachings as they become available
now I'm issuing an apology ahead of time I'm coming out of a time where I had
some pretty severe allergies which affected my throat and my voice so I
might sound a little bit hoarse I hope it's not too terribly annoying for you
we'll just we'll just go through the teaching with that and I apologize ahead
of time now this this teaching is part of a teaching series on the book of the
Prophet Joel I'm gonna put a link in the description to the playlist so that you
can access all the teachings that I've done so far on the book of the Prophet
Joel and we'll continue doing them until we finish the book of the Prophet Joel
and I'm doing this passage by passage and so today we're gonna look at Joel
chapter 1 verses 13 through 20 this entire passage and then answer some
questions from that passage now since we're looking at the entire passage in
this one video that means that I'm not going to go into incredible detail in
every single one of these words and verses rather I'm gonna look at this as
a whole and just tease out some implications and some applications that
we can we can apply to ourselves as we look at this passage and so I've got
this passage right now divided into three major blocks three sections verses
13 and 14 verse 15 and then verses 16 through 20 that's how I've divided it
now you may look at this passage and decide to divide it differently that's
fine this is simply the way I've decided to divide the passage for ease of study
it just makes it a lot easier for me to study a passage when I've broken it down
into some logical thought units it just helps me it facilitates my study a lot
more so let's zoom in this first part right here verses 13 and
14 and let me make some general observations here you'll notice that I
already have a section highlighted in blue any time I highlight something in
blue have been if you've been following my teachings you'll know that for me the
blue highlight means that that phrase that I've highlighted in blue is the
main idea that I've selected for this particular paragraph or this particular
section so when I look at this I see this one phrase right here cry out to
the Lord and for me that is what gives a good summary of this entire paragraph
right here does it explain it all of course not it's it's a it's a main idea
it's what I identify as the main idea for that one paragraph so I look at that
and I say okay generally speaking this paragraph can be summarized with that
phrase cry out to the Lord now when you look at this paragraph you may identify
something different that's fine I would still guess that we'll come up with
something very similar because and in my opinion at least it's it's pretty
evident what this paragraph is talking about now as we go through the paragraph
we see some things here for example the Prophet Joel first begins by addressing
the priests and he tells them to put on sackcloth immediately when we see the
Prophet Joel telling the priests to put on sackcloth obviously he's talking
about grief right typically when a person in Israel not just a priest but a
person in Israel would put on sackcloth it's indicating a time of mourning a
time of grief maybe a loved one has passed away and so the way you express
your grief and you demonstrate that you're in mourning is that you you put
on sackcloth a very uncomfortable a cheap piece of burlap or something that
would be put over you to indicate them the depth of your mourning and your
sadness and so for sure the Prophet tells the priest here that they should
mourn they should wail I mean just cry their eyes out those of you who minister
before the altar and again this is a call to the priests and all those who
were involved in ministering and taking care of the temple and the altar and he
issues another call to them right here to come spend the night in sackcloth
another call to morning and then he identifies again you who
minister before my god now the call to spend the night
now there were there were times when there were sacrificial sacrificial or
religious activities taking place throughout the night that that was that
wasn't uncommon that was pretty common but what's different here is that he's
calling the priests to come and spend the night but to do it in sackcloth as a
sign of mourning that's what he's calling the priests to do not to carry
out their regular priestly functions or celebrations or religious rituals or
whatever he's calling them specifically to come to spend the night at the house
of the Lord in mourning in grief in sorrow and in sadness now what is why is
he making this call well that goes back to verses 2 through 12 right because in
verses 2 through 12 we have a description of the locust invasion that
had come to the nation of Israel to the people of God what we have now starting
in verse 13 is no longer description but we have a prescription here's what
happened now here's what you should do right so there's there's a shift here
now in verse 16 we're gonna go back to more description but for now verses 13
and 14 we have prescription here's what happened verses 2 through 12 now here's
what I'm telling you that you should do as priests you need to mourn and he
tells them mourn for the grain offerings mourn for the drink offerings because
they're withheld from the house of your God and what we saw when we analyzed
Joel chapter 1 verse 8 is that the grain offerings and the drink offerings were
vital to the daily sacrificial ritual that was necessary to maintain right
relationship between God and His people well those grain offerings and those
drink offerings have been completely devastated by the locust invasion so the
implication is that the full sacrificial ritual could not be carried out this is
a reason for mourning by the priests they cannot carry out to the fullest
their priestly responsibilities which included offering
grain offerings and drink offerings to the Lord this
a reason for mourning they cannot carry out their religious responsibilities
which means that for the people they cannot help the people maintain right
relationship with the Lord during this period of time there's a further call to
declare a holy fast to call a sacred assembly now we don't know exactly all
the specifics all the details of what all was involved in a sacred assembly
it's something that would happen frequently we see it on the Book of
Leviticus for example but this is very interesting because what this assumes or
implies right here with the sacred assembly is that we're talking about a
fast that is a corporate fast or a corporate gathering it's not just that
people individually or the priests individually are doing what they're
supposed to be doing in mourning and in grieving no this is everybody coming
together as a sacred assembly to do what the Prophet is telling them to do now
and I think that idea carries on further because the Prophet then says summon the
elders and not just the elders but all who live in the land call them all to
the house of the Lord your God and here's what you're gonna do you're gonna
cry out to the Lord so this is a call beginning with the priests of course but
then going to the elders and then extending it to everybody who lives in
the land this is the responsibility of everybody in the land to come and to cry
out to the Lord now even though the word is not used here really you're supposed
to cry out to the Lord for what I'm gonna I'm gonna infer for repentance cry
out to the Lord for repentance from sin now here's what's interesting in his
entire book nowhere does the prophet joel specify which is the sin that the
people of Israel has committed that he's telling them now that they need to cry
out to the Lord in repentance for he never says what exactly is the sin not
what makes that interesting is that other prophets for example Hosea Hosea
is very clear in calling out the people of Israel's sin as being idolatry the
Prophet Amos right after Joel he's very clear and calling out the sin of social
injustice from the rich against the poor that's what they shall repent of
Joel never specifies which is the sin that the people of Israel should repent
of now I don't know if he's assuming or he just knows that the people should
know what the sin is or why exactly he left out the specific sin but Joel
doesn't indicate which of the sin that he's telling them to repent of
nonetheless in these verses verses 13 and 14 for me at least this is a
definite call to grieve to mourning but not just to be sad but to come and to
cry out to the Lord specifically in repentance for sin so
then we move on to verse 15 now I have verse 15 highlighted in red or pink I
don't know how it appears on your screen but the reason I highlight that in in
that color is because that for me serves as the main idea for this entire passage
if somebody were to ask me what is this passage about I would point to verse 15
right there now I'm gonna read verse 15 and then I'm
gonna go on to verse 16 I'll come back to verse 15 in just a little bit alas
for that day for the day of the Lord is near it will come like destruction from
the Almighty now I'll say right here in parentheses that I've selected this
verse as the main idea for this passage but I also feel as if this verse is
actually the main idea for the entire book of the path of the Prophet Joel now
I don't know if I can do that meaning select one verse and say this is what
the whole book is about but for me the theme of the day of the Lord and the
nearness of the day of the Lord is a very strong contender for the theme of
the book of the Prophet Joel and that's what verse 15 talks about again I'm
gonna come back to that in just a little bit but for now I'm gonna look at verses
16 through 20 and you'll notice that I've selected this phrase right here to
you Lord I call as the main idea for this paragraph right here now we saw
that in verses 13 and 14 the Prophet Joel has prescription right here's what
you need to do repent cry out and mourning put out put on sackcloth
but in verses 16 through 20 we go back to more description now description
it could be one of two things the Prophet Joel could still be describing
the results or the negative consequences of the locust invasion but he could also
be describing what it is if we go back to the end of verse this verse right
here cry out to the Lord it may actually be that in verse 16 the prophet joel is
telling the people what it is they should cry out to the Lord meaning that
verses 16 through 20 some scholars have proposed are the words that the Prophet
is telling the people that they should be praying to the Lord as they crowd to
the Lord that's a very to me a very attractive possibility of how to
interpret verses 16 through 20 and not that I think that works I think that
works at verses 16 through 20 are the the the words of the prayers that should
that the people should be elevating to God as they're crying out to God still
there's still a lot of description here the people are describing to God what it
is that the locust invasion has caused in their land so here's what the people
start saying hasn't the food been cut off from before our eyes joy and
gladness from the house of our God and that that goes back again to the to the
extent of the devastation the locust plague had caused in the land of the
people of God but also the fact that it mentions joy and gladness being cut off
from the house where God that goes back to the fact that if the food has been
cut off it's not just food for sustenance we need not just food for
eating but food that would be used in again the religious the sacrificial
rituals that were carried out in the house of the Lord if that food that was
used in these rituals at the house of God were cut off then obviously the
people's joy and gladness has also been cut off because again they don't have
that method to maintain right relationship with God more description
again in perhaps in the form of a prayer the seeds are shriveled beneath the
clods this is a very difficult verse to translate in Hebrew because I think it's
four of the words here this is the only place they appear in the entire Hebrew
Bible so it's kind of difficult to understand exactly what they mean you'll
see different scholars have different opinions this is the the
I mean this is one way of reading it the seeds are shriveled beneath the clods
the idea being I suppose that there are lumps of dirt dried dirt and seeds that
have been placed underneath them they're shriveling up because there's no
moisture in the dirt they just become these clods of dirt and mud that don't
allow the seeds to penetrate take root and begin to grow that that's an option
again it's difficult to translate this verse the storehouses are in ruins the
granary have been broken down for the grain has dried up now again this is a
description of what's happened as a result of the locust plague the locust
plague did away with everything all the other product all the grain all the
stuff that would have been in storehouses and in greeneries well we
don't have any of that anymore the locust plague did away with everything
of that and so as a result the storehouses and the granary
well they've fallen into disrepair how do you spell disrepair something like
that right they have fallen into disrepair they're in ruins they've been
broken down why well if we don't have anything to put in them we don't have
any grain we don't have any wheat we don't have any harvest to put inside the
storehouses and the granary there's really no need to maintain them
you know it's like when the store goes out of business a building is abandoned
a house is abandoned it's not being used no one is maintaining it or taking care
of it well then windows get broken doors to fall off the hinges the weather
begins to beat it down just the natural elements and so slowly by with time it
begins to deteriorate and break down that's what's happening to the
storehouses and the granary because they're not in use there's no need for
them there's nothing to put in them so there's no need to maintain them and
keep them properly maintained so slowly over time as a result of the locusts
play devastating all the crops they're not in use anymore
they're breaking down so you're beginning to see a breakdown in the
economy you're beginning to see a breakdown in just in the the structures
around the the country all as a result of this locust plague and then it also
goes on to affect nature how the cattle moan their herds mill about because they
have no pasture even the flocks of the sheep are suffering so this locust
invasion has affected not just the people but nature itself that the cattle
and all the things which of course if the cattle or
moaning of they're hungry if they're if they don't have any sustenance that's
gonna affect the people to again sacrificial systems just regular eating
habits I mean this is affecting just about everything and so here we have
that that called to you Lord I call this could be the prophet calling or the
Prophet saying hey you go tell God that you're calling out to him if he's giving
this prescription of what they should say for fire has devoured the pastors in
the wilderness and flames have burned up all the trees of the field now there's
there's some there's some discrepancy here as to what that may mean is it that
an actual fire had come and and devastated more of the land or is the
Prophet Joel using the imagery of fire to describe the locust invasion it could
be one or the other some scholars have proposed that on top of the locust
plague after the locusts playing a drought hit the land there was dryness
all over the place and so as a result these spontaneous and natural fires
would sprout up in the wilderness and whatever the locust plague didn't do
away with this fire definitely did do away with that's a possibility so two
options but we can't be sure on either one of them either the Prophet Joel is
describing the locust invasion like a fire that came and just devastated
everything or he could be saying on top of the locust plague there was this
drought that then resulted in fires across the land who knows one of the
other even the wild animals Pat for you the streams of water have dried up and
fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness and and the fact that it says
right here the streams of water have dried up that's what has led some
scholars to propose that he's not that joel is not talking symbolically about
the locust plague but that he's talking about a drought that came to the land
and just made the situation worse okay so as we pull back and we look at this
passage I said at the top of the of the teaching that it's going to help us
answer some questions specifically does God punish when things when things are
going wrong can it be God's punishment and my answer to that is absolutely yes
and that this passage right here is a very clear indicator because there's a
call to repentance that the Prophet Joel is trying to
get the people to wake up it's almost as if he's shaking them wanting them to
wake up and to recognize the locust invasion is God's punishment against us
for our sin this is why we have to repent we have to repent and recognize
that this locust invasion and if there was a drought in a fire whatever is
happening we need to wake up and recognize that this is God's punishment
against us for a sin that we have committed and our response is to repent
to cry out to the Lord and to repent of whatever sin we have committed so to
answer the question are there times when life's calamities are actually God's
punishment I think from this passage we would say yes at least the Prophet Joel
would say yes he's trying to get the people to understand this isn't a
coincidence this isn't just some yearly locust invasion that happens and that we
get used to no wake up your eyes wake up your open your eyes wake up and
understand that's what taking place here is God's
punishment on our land and on us for sin or sins that we have committed and our
response to that has to be crying out to the Lord in repentance for what we have
done in the sin that we have committed so that answer is the first question I
started with are there times when God wouldn't just life tragedies are
actually God's punishment yes it's very possible that they are why the other
question I asked why does that happen why does God allow that to happen and
I'm gonna tell you the short answer it's actually God's grace you might not see
it that way but it's actually God's grace and this
is what I'm gonna go back to verse 15 okay very important don't Joel says alas
for that day for the day of the Lord is near it will come like destruction from
the Almighty this is interesting that Joel would say the day of the Lord is
near and that it will come because why is this weird well because the locust
invasion had already taken place for something to have already taken place
why would the Prophet say that it's near or that it will come if it already took
place well this this is how I interpret this
as the purpose behind God punishing his people when they do something wrong
here's what I see the Prophet saying the day of the Lord is near destruction is
going to come if we don't repent from the sin and the punishment that we are
currently experiencing in this locust invasion it's God's Way of grabbing our
attention telling us to wake up and that if we don't repent something far worse
and something far more devastating than this locust invasion is going to come to
our land so this part right here I'll last for that day for the day of the
Lord is near it will come joel is saying if we don't heed this call to repentance
something far worse is going to happen if we don't repent so this is where I
say that God's punishment is actually an expression of His grace because he's
allowing that punishment to happen or he's sending that punishment as a
wake-up call so that you or I or in this case the people of Israel would repent
and then avoid something far more devastating that he would have to send
if we decided not to repent so we answered the question our bad
things sometimes in our life God's punishment yes definitely they can be
according to this passage why does God do it it's an expression of
grace to get us to wake up and realize that we're sinning repent so that we
don't have to get into something far more devastating than what we're
currently experiencing as God's punishment what is our response well Joe
says it very clearly we need to cry out to the Lord right in repentance putting
on sackcloth is an expression of sincere grief of sincere repentance that has to
be there there has to be a recognition and going to God and saying all these
things and saying God I'm calling out to you I'm not going to look anywhere else
for help or for relief from this situation it's something that I
recognize has come from you I'm acknowledging why this is happening it's
a result of my sin and so my response is to cry out to you as for repentance
sincere repentance because I I'm I'm I'm listening to your message and I
understand that you're doing this because it's a sign of your grace you're
trying to help me avoid something far worse happening if I continue down this
road of sin and non repentance so very important to understand that that yes
God does sometimes allow and even send punishment when we do things that are
wrong but it's an activist grace so that we will have the opportunity to repent
and not have to endure further punishment or more negative or more
devastating consequences as a result of our not repenting this is an incredible
passage it is an incredible passage and and it's only gonna get better as we go
on to chapter 2 it's just it's it's gonna blow your mind the way you see God
acting in Chapter two and beyond it's gonna blow your mind if you haven't
looked at the book of the Prophet Joel before I'm tellin you're in for a treat
there's gonna be some twists and turns things that you don't expect they're
gonna be in the Prophet Joel beginning in chapter 2 and forward so keep tuning
in check out the playlist if you haven't seen all the other videos that are
available so far on the teaching of the book of the Prophet Joel check them out
and stay tuned because we've got more teachings coming on the book of the
Prophet Joel and again if you haven't done so yet consider subscribing so that
you don't miss out on any one of these teachings I'd love to hear from you if
you have questions or comments related to this teaching observations things
that I missed I would love to learn from you because I know we can teach each
other and we can learn from each other so hey hit me up in the comments send me
an email I'm on Facebook places like that but I'd love to hear from you and
I'll see you next time god bless
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