The Book Of Joel. Day 12, The Nations Judged, Part Two

We continue on with our segment of Chapter 3 which is titled "The Nations Judged". We have already learned throughout our study of the Old Testament that the use of the term "the nations" is always a term that refers to Gentile people, not to the people of Israel. In yesterday's text we found the Lord promising to avenge His people Israel against all the nations that ever had or ever would mistreat them. The judging of the nations that is mentioned in the book of Joel primarily looks toward the final day of judgment but this prophecy began being fulfilled every time the Lord judged nations in the past that persecuted the Jewish people.

We talked about how the Assyrian Empire, which conquered the northern kingdom of Israel, was itself conquered by the Neo-Babylonian Empire. The Neo-Babylonian Empire, which conquered the southern kingdom of Judah, was conquered by the Medo-Persian Empire. Another example is the ancient Roman Empire, under whose iron control we found the Jewish people in the New Testament, for that empire also fell. An even more modern example we could use is the defeat of Nazi Germany. Germany is still a nation in our day but the Nazi regime of that era, which so horrifically persecuted the Jewish people, was crushed. 

There are some tribes and nations mentioned in the Bible that no longer appear to exist in the modern world. This doesn't necessarily mean the people were entirely wiped out. Some were simply dispersed throughout the world by conquerors and were absorbed into other cultures. However, there are some specific tribes and nations in the Bible that the Lord said would be heard of no more and in those cases we don't know whether anyone survived and whether any of their descendants exist anywhere. 

In Joel 3 we will find the Lord naming some particular nations that are going to come under judgment. Some will remain unnamed, especially the nations of the end times when the final battle on earth takes place. Today's text begins with the Lord saying this: "Now what have you against Me, Tyre and Sidon and all you regions of Philistia? Are you repaying Me for something I have done? If you are paying Me back, I will swiftly and speedily return on your own heads what you have done." (Joel 3:4) Remember yesterday when we talked about the Israelites being the apple of the Lord's eye? Whoever persecutes them is persecuting the Lord; therefore He says to the nations mentioned in verse 3, "Why are you attacking Me?" Attacking His people is the same as attacking Him. Hating His people is the same as hating Him. 

In yesterday's text we talked about the way the Assyrians conquered and deported the people of the northern kingdom of Israel and about the way the Neo-Babylonians conquered and deported the people of the southern kingdom of Judah. In Joel's day none of this has yet taken place but the people of Tyre and Sidon and Philistia have been making themselves the enemies of the Lord's people Israel ever since He brought the Israelites into the promised land. You'll recall that the Philistines attacked Israel time and time again during the era of King David and his predecessor, King Saul. David and Saul won a number of victories against the Philistines. The Philistines were eventually conquered and basically destroyed by the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Tyre and Sidon were often more of a spiritual enemy of Israel than a military enemy. You'll recall that Jezebel, the wife of an Israelite king, was from that region and that Baal worship became the state-sponsored religion of Israel during her time as queen and for some time afterwards. Tyre was conquered and mostly destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon but later, during the era of the Greek Empire, Alexander the Great laid siege to what remained of Tyre and completed the destruction of it. Sidon was first conquered during the Persian Empire and later by by Alexander the Great after he conquered the Persian Empire. 

This continues the theme we've been studying, which is the rising and falling of the great nations of history. Assyria conquered the ancient Babylonian Empire along with several other nations, including the northern kingdom of Israel, but the Neo-Babylonian Empire arose and conquered Assyria and also Judah. The Neo-Babylonian Empire was conquered by the Medo-Persian Empire which was later conquered by the Greek Empire which was later conquered by the Roman Empire. We will be taking a very in-depth look at all these ancient empires when we reach the book of Daniel.

But for now we find the Lord predicting the doom of Philistia, Tyre, and Sidon. We find him bringing charges against these nations for their crimes against His people Israel. Not all of these crimes had been committed in Joel's day. The Philistines had plagued Israel time and time again prior to Joel's day, to be sure, but some of the sins listed here are sins that have not yet occurred. The Lord, who knows all things, can speak of future events as if they have already taken place, so He speaks of crimes that haven't yet been committed and He talks about empires that have not yet arisen. But He is letting His people know that He intends to avenge all the wrongs that ever have been or ever will be done to them. They will end up in many foreign countries due to the crimes of these other nations and He is talking about all of these deportations as if they have already occurred when He says things like this: "For you took My silver and My gold and carried off My finest treasures to your temples. You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, that you might send them far from their homeland." (Joel 3:5-6)

The kingdoms of Israel and Judah are still standing in Joel's day. The temple is still intact and its treasures have not been carried off. But the Lord knows Israel and Judah will fall and that the valuable articles of the temple will be carried off to foreign lands. He knows that the people will be carried off to foreign lands. He speaks of these things as if they have already happened. He's going to allow Israel and Judah to be conquered because of how far the people will fall into idolatry. But He won't allow the cruelty of those conquering nations to go unpunished. He won't allow the God-rejecting lifestyle of those conquering nations to go unpunished. A number of these nations had a reputation all over the world for their heinous crimes against humanity. Just the name of some of these kingdoms invoked terror upon everyone who heard them mentioned. Their day is coming. He allowed His people to undergo discipline for a set amount of time to correct their idolatry but it's a different story for these other nations. Those empires will be cast down, never to rise again, whereas Israel is a sovereign nation in the world today. 

The Book Of Joel. Day 11, The Nations Judged, Part One

The first half of Chapter 3 is titled "The Nations Judged" in the NIV Bible. We are continuing on with the theme that was established at the end of Chapter 2, which is the theme of "the day of the Lord" or "the day of judgment" or "the great tribulation". The people of Joel's day had undergone some tribulation as a result of not having been fully faithful to the Lord; however, they repented when they heard the message of the Lord and He removed the plague of locusts and restored the crops. But now Joel is looking forward in time to another era of tribulation: the end times.

Usually in the Bible when we see the phrase "in those days" or "at that time" used for a future event, it indicates the era known as the end times. As we've stated before, we've technically been in the last days ever since Christ ascended to heaven, for the clock has been counting down ever since. But the last last days involve a time of tribulation on the earth and the final day of judgment. Chapter 3 begins with the phrases that indicate it's the last last days that are in view here.

The Lord says, "In those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will put them on trial for what they did to My inheritance, My people Israel, because they scattered My people among the nations and divided up My land. They cast lots for My people and traded boys for prostitutes; they sold girls for wine to drink." (Joel 3:-1-3) 

We know that whenever we see the term "the nations" in the Bible it's a reference to Gentiles. The Lord is referring to the Israelites as "My people" because they have been called by His name ever since Abraham answered the Lord's calling to leave Ur of the Chaldees to go toward the land the Lord would give to his descendants. But the Gentiles, by and large, did not call themselves by the name of the Lord in ancient times. Some Gentiles did convert to the God of Israel after the Lord established Israel as a nation in the promised land. Even more Gentiles forsook idolatry and gave their hearts to Christ after they heard the gospel message in the New Testament era. Gentiles are still coming to Christ in our own era. I'm of Gentile heritage and I'm sure my ancestors must have wasted a lot of time and effort bowing down to idols and calling upon gods who did not exist, so I'm thankful that the Lord invites Gentiles to know Him too. But our passage from the book of Joel involves Gentiles who did not want to know Him and who even went so far as to persecute His people Israel.

In the book of Zechariah, which we will be studying later on, the Lord promises to avenge His people Israel against the nations that have persecuted them. He tells Zechariah that whoever touches His people Israel is touching the apple of His eye. (Zechariah 2:8) The apple (the pupil) of the eye is something we all instinctively protect. When we see something coming toward our eye we automatically shut our eye or immediately cover it with our hand. The Lord won't ignore the persecution of the Israelites any more than a person can ignore a poke in the eye. If something hits us in the eye, we know it right away, and because our eye is so important to us, we take steps to heal any injury that may have occurred to our eye.

A few years ago I got hit pretty hard in my left eye. I was about to take my dog for a walk on a very rainy morning and as I pulled the raincoat on over my head the bead at the bottom of the string on the left side of the hood got stuck somewhere between my back and the back of the coat. I pulled on the string and it suddenly popped up out of the back of the coat and flew up and hit me right in the middle (in the apple) of my left eye with the bead. It happened so quickly and so unexpectedly that I didn't have time to prevent it. It popped up really hard, so hard that the pain almost made me throw up. I ended up having to get an emergency appointment with my eye doctor that day. It turned out not to be a serious injury, just some bruising to the tissue and a minor scratch to the cornea, and I was prescribed some drops to use for a couple of weeks. My eye and my head throbbed for several days, so much that it was hard to get it off my mind no matter what I was doing. When the Lord says He regards Israel as the apple of His eye, I know He means that anyone who hurts Israel is hurting Him too. He feels their pain. He can't ignore it. He won't ignore it. Just as I couldn't ignore the pain in my eye and had to seek a remedy, He won't ignore the pain that's been caused to His people Israel and He is going to respond with the remedy of vengeance.

During the next few days we will delve further into the subject of nations being judged in the last days. But we will close today by taking note that this prophecy has already begun to come true in smaller ways than the way it will come true at the end of days. For example, when we did our study of the kings we saw the northern kingdom of Israel being conquered by the Assyrian Empire. The Assyrians deported all but the poorest of the land and resettled them in other areas and sold some of them into slavery. But, in time, the Lord caused the Assyrian Empire to be conquered by the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Also in our study of the kings we saw the southern kingdom of Judah being conquered by the Neo-Babylonian Empire. The Babylonians, like the Assyrians, deported all but the poorest of the land and took all the treasures of Judah and the palace and the temple with them. But, as we move on through the Old Testament, we will find the Lord causing the Neo-Babylonian Empire to be conquered by the Medo-Persian Empire. Cyrus the Great of Persia will set the captive people of Judah free to return home and rebuild Jerusalem and rebuild their lives. So we already see the Lord at work in the Old Testament---causing the fall of nations that oppressed His people Israel.

Empires rise and fall on the pages of the Bible and they have continued to rise and fall ever since. Nations that have oppressed the Jewish people have been dealt with and will continue to be dealt with on up to the day of the final judgment at the end of the great tribulation.

The Book Of Joel. Day 10, The Day Of The Lord, Part Two

Yesterday we began looking at the final segment of Chapter 2 and in it we found a two-fold prophecy regarding the Messianic age. We talked about how the first portion of this prophecy began to be fulfilled in Acts 2 when, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came to indwell believers. On that day the followers of Christ at Jerusalem began proclaiming the gospel message of the risen Jesus---in languages they did not know---so that the pilgrims who had traveled to Jerusalem for the holiday could hear the gospel their own tongues. This was very astonishing to everyone and it was the proof that the gospel message was true. 

At least three thousand people who heard the gospel were saved on that day, and we talked about how it may only have been the male heads of households who were counted in that three thousand, so there could have been many more times that number saved. The basis for this theory is that in the New Testament we found Jesus on two separate occasions multiplying a small amount of food into enough food to feed thousands of men (who were numbered) "besides women and children". 

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit which was prophesied in Joel 2 began to be fulfilled on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 and is still being fulfilled in the life of every believer and will continue to be fulfilled in the life of everyone who comes to the Lord for salvation. This will happen until the time known as "the day of the Lord" or "the great tribulation" has taken place and the Lord sets up His eternal kingdom on earth. But before His kingdom comes, the remainder of Joel's prophecy must be fulfilled.

The Lord says, "I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord." (Joel 2:30-31) 

The Apostle Peter, on the day when so many souls were saved at Pentecost, quoted the entirety of Joel's prophecy from Chapter 2. Peter talked about the pouring out of the Lord's Spirit on mankind, which Joel foretold, and he also talked about the dreadful "day of the Lord"---the day of judgment---that was coming. Many of the people who heard Peter's sermon wanted to be saved from their sins and to escape the day of judgment, so they asked, "What shall we do?" Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38) They were to accept the gospel message and place their trust in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins, then the Holy Spirit would come to indwell each of them just as Joel said He would. The Holy Spirit would then help them to understand the Scriptures and to know the Lord's will for their lives and to build a personal relationship with the Lord. 

Joel's prophecy contains a beautiful promise: that every person in the Messianic age would have a personal relationship with the Lord in a way that no one who lived before the birth, death, and resurrection of Christ had ever experienced. The Holy Spirit did indeed speak to and guide the believers of the Old Testament but after Christ's ascension to heaven the Holy Spirit's ministry changed to a far more personal ministry: He came to indwell each believer 100% of the time rather than in the way we found Him relating to Old Testament believers. In the Old Testament we are frequently told that the Holy Spirit "came upon" a person or "filled a person" but this was a more transient filling and not a perpetual one.

In addition to containing a beautiful promise, Joel's prophecy contains a warning about the judgment to come. The people of his day had been undergoing a time of tribulation but it was not "the great tribulation". Nevertheless, their predicament was a result of sin, just as the final judgment day of the Lord will be a result of sin. The people of Joel's time could somewhat imagine the terror of those final days because they had just finished going through a terrible time of their own. They responded correctly to the Lord's discipline and repented. But those who refuse to ever repent and turn to the Lord for salvation cannot look forward to the future with the hope of good times to come. All they will have on the day of the Lord is "a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God". (Hebrews 10:27) 

As long as every person still has breath in their body they can cry out to their Creator in repentance. That is what Joel's message in our current study should lead anyone to do who has not already accepted the Lord as their Savior. That is what the Apostle Peter's message in the book of Acts should compel anyone to do who is not already saved. That is what the Apostle Paul's message in the book of Hebrews should cause anyone to do who has not made Christ the Lord of their life. The remainder of Joel's words in Chapter 2 are words that point us toward the Lord for help---for a way to escape judgment day. "And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls." (Joel 2:32)

The offer of salvation is made to all people. Joel says "everyone", and although he makes references to Mount Zion and Jerusalem which usually indicates the Jewish people, we also know that both Jews and Gentiles were saved on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 and that the Lord had predicted way back in Genesis, before He ever gave Abraham a son, that all nations would come to faith through the descendant (Christ) who would come from Abraham's people. So the Lord always intended to extend His offer of salvation to every person on the face of the earth. The Lord Jesus Christ, in Revelation 22:17, makes His offer of salvation to "whosoever will" come to Him. I am one of those "whosoevers"! You are one of those "whosoevers"! We can all have the forgiveness and the blessings of the children of God and we can all be saved from the day of judgment. 

The Book Of Joel. Day 9, The Day Of The Lord, Part One

The remainder of Chapter 2 deals with a prophecy that was not fulfilled within Joel's lifetime or within the lifetime of his listeners. Today we are going to look at the first half of this prophecy which began to be fulfilled in the book of Acts and which is still being fulfilled and will continue to be fulfilled until the time known as "the day of the Lord" or "the great tribulation" has passed.

We previously spoke about how many prophecies of the Old Testament and the New Testament are two-fold prophecies. These two-fold prophecies contain something that will happen in the very new future and something that will happen in the far off future. Often these prophecies are run together in one sentence or in one paragraph or in one chapter. Earlier in Chapter 2 the Lord promised to remove the plague of locusts and to restore the prosperity of the nation of Judah because the people repented of the sins that had brought the calamity about. This restoration happened during the lifetime of Joel and his listeners. But the rest of the chapter deals with a prophecy of the Messianic age---something that would not happen until the advent of Christ.

The Lord says: "And afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on My servants, both men and women, I will pour out My Spirit in those days." (Joel 2:28-29) 

Usually when we see the term "in those days" in the Bible it is a reference to the last days. We often think of the last days just as the great tribulation era but technically we have been in the last days ever since Christ ascended to heaven. In our current era nothing in the Scriptures remains to be fulfilled before the last last days can begin to take place. The Lord Jesus Christ could call His church out of the world at any moment. The events that set the stage for the great tribulation could begin at any moment. As soon as Christ ascended to heaven, the countdown began, and we don't know how much time is left on the clock.

The pouring out of the Holy Spirit "on all people" began on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. The Holy Spirit was at work in the lives of men and women since the Lord first created the human race, but He did not continually indwell believers in the way that He does in the church age. The Lord Jesus promised His disciples that after His ascension to heaven He would send the Comforter (the Holy Spirit) to continually be with and guide those who believe on Him. (John 16:7-15) It was to our advantage that Jesus would go to be with the Father and that the Holy Spirit would come to indwell us, for in the flesh He could only be in one place at one time but the Holy Spirit is able to be with each of us all the time. 

On the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit fell upon the believers in Christ and enabled them to speak the gospel message in the various languages of all the pilgrims who had come to Jerusalem for the holiday, the Apostle Peter said this was the fulfillment of the prophecy spoken by Joel. (Acts 2:16-18) Peter quotes word for word the text we are studying today from the book of Joel. The Holy Spirit began indwelling believers on Pentecost in Acts 2 and He continues performing this same ministry in our day. In Acts 2 the Holy Spirit enabled believers to speak in languages they did not know as proof to those foreigners visiting Jerusalem (who had converted to the God of Israel) that the message about Christ was true. At least three thousand people in Jerusalem accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior on that day. The book of Acts states that "about three thousand" were saved but since in those times it was common to count only the male heads of households when numbering people, this number may not include women or teenagers or children who were old enough to understand the gospel. The number of people saved on that first Pentecost after the resurrection and ascension of Christ may have been far greater than three thousand.

On that day the prophecy from the book of Joel began to come true. It is still coming true because the Holy Spirit is still coming to indwell everyone who accepts Christ. The Holy Spirit will still continue coming to indwell everyone who accepts Christ from now on. He is still leading people to believe the gospel message and He is still comforting and instructing everyone who believes the gospel message.

Furthermore, other aspects of the prophecy from Joel 2 will continue taking place up to "the day of the Lord"---the great tribulation---and until the day when the Lord establishes His eternal kingdom on earth. We will study these other aspects as we take a look at the remainder of Chapter 2 in our next study session.

 

The Book Of Joel. Day 8, The Lord's Answer, Part Two

The Lord is promising to turn the people's circumstances around. They have responded appropriately to His chastening. In yesterday's study we found Him telling them the crops would be restored. He was reassuring both people and animals that they would not be going hungry. He is going to supply them with everything they need. 

As we closed yesterday's study we found the people rejoicing at the Lord's word, even before they saw these wonderful blessings coming to pass. We pick up in the middle of that passage today with the people saying to each other: "Be glad, people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for He has given you the autumn rains because He is faithful." (Joel 2:23a) The people have not always been faithful but the Lord always is. Even their hardships display the faithfulness of God because He didn't send the locusts in order to destroy the people but to turn the hearts of the people back to Him. As King David said to the Lord after he had been through a time of hardship, "I know, Lord, that Your laws are righteous, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me." (Psalm 119:75) 

The Lord, who is a good and responsible Father, must take corrective action when His children go astray. If He does not, He is not demonstrating love toward His children at all! For example, a loving parent doesn't allow his young child to toddle off into traffic; he grabs the child out of harm's way. A loving parent doesn't allow his teenager to take off with the wrong crowd or ignore curfews or bring drugs and alcohol into the house; he imposes discipline upon the teenager in the form of grounding or the removal of certain privileges. The Lord doesn't let us get away with sin because He knows that sin is destructive. Sin hurts us and it hurts those around us. He cannot, if He loves us, fail to take corrective action when He sees us engaging in sin.

The Lord has removed the plague of locusts from the land and now He intends to send refreshing rains at their proper times to cause the food sources to produce again. "He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before. The threshing floors will be filled with rain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil." (Joel 2:23b-24) He's going beyond just sending them enough. He's going to cause their cups to run over, as David said in Psalm 23. This year's crops are going to produce enough for this year and for next year and perhaps for several years to come.

Now we arrive at a verse that is near and dear to my heart. "I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten---the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm---My great army that I sent among you." (Joel 2:25) The Lord sent the plague of locusts because the people weren't living in faithfulness to Him. This plague must have affected the food supply for more than one year since He refers to "the years" the locusts have eaten. I allowed some locusts (metaphorically speaking) to eat some years of my life in the past by living in sin. Some locusts also ate some years of my life as the result of someone else's sin that affected me in major ways. 

In regard to a desperate situation that someone's sin else brought into my life, during that time I happened to turn the TV on one morning and a pastor of a megachurch was on. I'd heard of him but had never listened to him. Since that time his reputation has been less than stellar and many mainstream Protestant churches do not recommend listening to him. But he preached on Joel 2:25 that morning and, whether or not he was preaching the word of God in the right spirit, I can attest to the fact that the word of God ministered to me. That verse was exactly the verse I needed to hear and it was exactly the verse the Lord intended for me to hear. The Lord says of His word: "It will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." (Isaiah 55:11b) I don't remember anything else that TV preacher said except for the verse we are studying today but the Lord absolutely accomplished His purpose with it. I clung to that verse for quite some time before my circumstances turned around and I can testify to you today that the Lord did turn them around---He accomplished something in my situation that no human efforts had been able to accomplish---and He truly has repaid me for the years the locusts had eaten. He restored my life in many abundant ways and made it better than it had been before I ever went through that time of trouble.

He goes on to say to the people of Judah, "You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will My people be shamed. Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and that there is no other; never again will My people be shamed." (Joel 2:26-27) Speaking again of the troubled time I went through some years back, there were people who thought my hope was in vain. I was repeatedly told, and by one person in particular, that I was "beating a dead horse" by thinking the situation would turn around. But my hope was in the Lord who had made promises to me and I am not ashamed of that hope because His promises came true! The only person who had any reason to feel ashamed was anyone who said or thought that His promises to me weren't going to come true. To quote David again, after he had been delivered from one of his many seasons of hardship in life he said, "Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame." (Psalm 34:5) The only ones who should feel ashamed are those who have spoken against the Lord. The only ones who should be ashamed are those who have wrongly proclaimed that He is unable or unwilling to do great things for those who put their trust in Him.

The Book Of Joel. Day 7, The Lord's Answer, Part One

In Monday's study we found Joel calling upon all the people of the nation of Judah to cry out to the Lord, to fast and repent, so that He might relent and relieve them of the calamity that is upon them. In today's study we learn how the Lord reacts to their sincere repentance.

"Then the Lord was jealous for His land and took pity on His people." (Joel 2:18) Some translations render the word "jealous" as "zealous" meaning "to be dedicated to, to be passionate about, to be possessive of". It may be that the word "zealous" was the author's intention, for it would certainly be correct to say that the Lord has been dedicated to the people of Judah and that He is passionate about their welfare and that He feels a special connection to them. But it would also be correct to say that He feels jealous for them. There's a difference between feeling jealous for someone and feeling jealous of someone. If we feel jealous of someone we are envying what they have and perhaps wishing we had it for ourselves. But when we feel jealous for someone we are ardently desiring the very best for them; we want to see good things happening for them. We might use the analogy of a parent who wants the best education and best career opportunities for his child. That parent is jealous for (deeply desirous to see) blessings poured out on his child.

"The Lord replied to them: 'I am sending you grain, new wine and olive oil, enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the nations. I will drive the northern horde far from you, pushing it into a parched and barren land; its eastern ranks will drown in the Dead Sea and its western ranks in the Mediterranean Sea. And its stench will go up; its smell will rise.'" (Joel 2:19-20a) 

Is the Lord speaking of the plague of locusts or of a human army from the north? A case could be made for either theory. Swarms of locusts are referred to in the Bible as marching in ranks and, as we have seen earlier in our study of the book of Joel, the calamity with the crops appears more likely to have been the result of a plague of locusts than an invading enemy army. But the Assyrian Empire lies north of the kingdom of Judah and these verses could be a reference to the threat of that enemy nation, for Assyria will conquer the northern kingdom of Israel but will not conquer the southern kingdom of Judah in spite of attempts to do so. We learned in our study of the kings how the Lord miraculously spared the kingdom of Judah from falling to the Assyrian Empire and the reason He spared Judah is because the people were, by and large, being faithful to Him at that time, just as we find them turning from their sins and recommitting their hearts to Him in Joel's time. 

They begin praising the Lord as soon as He tells them He is going to turn their situation around. "Surely He has done great things! Do not be afraid, land of Judah; be glad and rejoice. Surely the Lord has done great things! Do not be afraid, you wild animals, for the pastures in the wilderness are becoming green. The trees are bearing their fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their riches." (Joel 2:20b-22)

I don't believe the meadows instantly turned green or that fruit immediately appeared on the trees and on the vines. The Lord is able to make these things happen in the blink of an eye but I believe these things happened in a natural and orderly way. The Lord most often operates within the rules of nature that He has created. So I think that the Lord sent the locust hordes away and then the grasses, plants, and trees began their recovery. It may have taken months for the entire process to come to fruition but it's important to note that the people began shouting the praises of God as soon as He gave His answer. When the Lord makes us a promise, it's as good as done. The promise may come true within five minutes, five years, or five decades. But we can go ahead and praise Him in full assurance that in the right time and in the right way He will bring it to pass. 

Maybe the Lord has made you a promise and a lot of time has passed since you received His word on this matter. That doesn't mean the Lord's word has failed! The Lord has never broken a promise. The Lord never will break a promise. There are times when a promise comes true pretty much immediately and I've had that happen before. I've had Him answer prayers while I was still praying them. Other times I've had to wait a medium amount of time for all the circumstances to come together to bring about the promise. In those cases it took days or weeks or months. And then there were the longer waits. I can think of one situation in particular that took between three and four years to resolve. There were times I almost despaired of seeing the promise come true because in my human weakness I found it difficult to endure day after day in those circumstances but the Lord kept sending me the encouragement I needed in order to wait it out. Just before the promise came true, I probably wouldn't have given my situation more than a 10% chance of resolving, but I was holding onto that 10% chance because my hope was in the Lord. If I hadn't believed He could do what He said He could do, I would have given my situation a 0% chance of working out and I would have cut my losses and given up. I'm not saying that my faith was good in this example; I should have believed 100% that He was going to come through. But as the saying goes, "Little is much when God is in it," and He had mercy on the 10% of faith I did have (because He remembers that we are only dust!) and He solved the problem in a great and mighty way. He solved the problem in such a way that no human being could ever take credit for it. All the glory goes to Him alone forever!

The Book Of Joel. Day 6, Return To The Lord

As we closed yesterday's study we found the Lord saying to the people of Judah, "Even now, return to Me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning." When we began the book of Joel we talked about how mourning (sorrow) must accompany repentance. I don't think we are truly repentant if we do not feel sorry for sinning against God. Times are not good right now in Judah in the book of Joel but it's not too late for the people to return to the Lord. He calls them to truly repent---to repent from the heart---and the outward signs of repentance of the heart are fasting and weeping and mourning.

It was a common expression of grief in Joel's day for a person to rend his or her garments in an attitude of distress. But an outward display of grief over sins is not enough, for the Lord sees to the very heart of every man and woman. If the repentance isn't sincere on the inside, He is not impressed by anything anyone does on the outside, so He says, "Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and He relents from sending calamity." (Joel 2:13)

Where have we heard these same words spoken before? It was in our recently completed study of the book of Jonah. When the Gentile heathens of the Assyrian capital city of Nineveh repented of their sins at the preaching of Jonah, the Lord relented from destroying the city. Jonah was unhappy that the Lord had granted forgiveness to a foreign, idolatrous nation that had already posed (and would continue to pose) a threat to his nation. When the Lord asked Jonah why he was angry with Him, Jonah replied that the reason he originally fled the Lord's calling to go to Nineveh was because he knew the Lord would withhold His wrath from the Ninevites if they became sorry for their sins. "I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity." (Jonah 4:2b)

Jonah should have rejoiced over the mercy of the Lord. He should have glorified the name of the God who was willing to extend mercy not only to His people Israel but to people of other nations. But since the Lord was willing to have mercy on people who had formerly been wicked idolaters, He is certainly willing to have mercy on the people of Judah who call themselves by His name. So we find the Lord saying the same words about Himself that Jonah said about Him and this must have given the people hope. They must have known that if He withheld disaster from Nineveh, He would also remove the current disaster that is plaguing the nation of Judah. If they sincerely repent, Joel says, "Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing---grain offerings and drink offerings for the Lord your God." (Joel 2:14) This is the same thing the king of Assyria said when he learned that the Lord was going to destroy Nineveh within forty days if the people did not repent: "Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from His fierce anger so that we will not perish." (Jonah 3:9)

To demonstrate his sorrow over his sins, the king of Assyria clothed himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. He proclaimed an assembly and a fast. He urged everyone to call upon the Lord and repent of their wicked and violent ways. They did these things from the heart and as a result we were told, "When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, He relented and did not bring on them the destruction He had threatened." (Jonah 3:10) In the remainder of our text below, Joel makes the same call to the people of Judah as the king of Assyria made to the people of Nineveh.

"Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber. Let the priests, who minister before the Lord, weep between the portico and the altar. Let them say, 'Spare Your people, Lord. Do not make Your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'" (Joel 2:15-16) 

The reputations of the nations of Israel and Judah are still great, though the fortunes of both nations are on the decline in Joel's day. The reputation of God is great throughout that region of the world because even heathen people who do not worship the Lord have heard that He brought the descendants of Abraham out of slavery in Egypt with many signs and wonders. They knew He had led them through the wilderness, while miraculously providing for them, and that He had plucked up the peoples of the land of Canaan and had planted the descendants of Abraham in their place and had made them into a great nation. If the Lord destroys Judah, what will the heathen idolaters say? They won't understand the ways in which many of the people of Judah have offended and rejected God. They won't understand that the destruction is the Lord's judgment upon Judah for turning against Him. They will simply conclude that although God was powerful enough to defeat the peoples of ancient Canaan, He is not powerful enough to protect Judah from the Assyrian Empire or from some other rising world power or even from a plague of locusts. This will cause the heathens to blaspheme the name of God, which is why we find Joel saying something like, "Lord, if not for the sake of the people of Judah, then for the sake of Your own holy name do not destroy us! Do not give occasion to any idolaters to disrespect You! Don't allow them to have any reason to claim that You are not still God or that anything is impossible for You!"

In our next study session the thing Joel and the people are hoping for comes to pass: the Lord hears their sincere cry of repentance and has compassion on them.

The Book Of Joel. Day 5, An Army, Part Two

We are studying the second part of the first segment of Chapter 2 in which Joel is speaking of an army that strikes fear in the heart of everyone. There are some elements of this army that appear to indicate a plague of locusts and there are some references that may indicate that a literal army (like that of the Assyrian Empire) was threatening the nation. There may also be a prophetic element to Joel's references to an army because when we arrive at the end of the chapter we will find him speaking of a future "day of the Lord", which is the day also known as "the great tribulation" or "the apocalypse". 

Prophecies in the Bible are often two-fold and will contain something that's going to happen in the very near future and something that's going to happen in the far off future, for the test of a prophet was that he had to be able to accurately predict something that would happen in the lifetime of his listeners. Only then were they to trust something he said about the more distant future. (Deuteronomy 18:21-22)

In Joel's day the Assyrian Empire was a great threat not only to Israel and Judah but to other nations as well. One of Assyria's kings had already defeated the army of Babylon and had made the ancient Babylonian Empire subject to Assyria. The Neo-Babylonian Empire will later rise and throw off the shackles of Assyria but for now the plan of several successive Assyrian kings is to conquer and dominate that entire region of the world. This is why some scholars think these words of Joel's are about the enemy army: "At the sight of them, nations are in anguish; every face turns pale." (Joel 2:6) On the other hand, Joel speaks of this threat not so much as if it is an army but that it is like an army. "They charge like warriors; they scale walls like soldiers." (Joel 2:7a)

Earlier in our study of the book of Joel we looked at a verse from the book of Proverbs that said: "Locusts have no king, yet they advance together in ranks." (Proverbs 30:27) This passage of Proverbs deals with the creatures of the natural world doing exactly what God designed them to do. When the Lord created locusts He programmed them to do the things He intended them to do on the earth. They don't need a human king riding out ahead of them in the way a human king rides out ahead of his forces into battle; they obey the King of kings who created them according to His will. What Joel says in Chapter 2 lines up well with there being a plague of locusts in the land. "They all march in line, not swerving from their course. They do not jostle each other; each  marches straight ahead. They plunge through defenses without breaking ranks. They rush upon the city; they run along the wall. They climb into the houses; like thieves they enter through the windows." (Joel 2:7b-9)

"Before them the earth shakes, the heavens tremble, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine." (Joel 2:10) People who have witnessed massive locust invasions say it's like an enormous black cloud that darkens the sky.

Whether the calamity of Joel's day was a plague of locusts or whether it was repeated invasions and threats by the Assyrian army, the calamity is something the Lord has allowed for the purpose of turning the people's hearts away from the things that have taken His place in their hearts. Joel makes that very clear to us when he states that this thing is happening under the Lord's direction. "The Lord thunders at the head of His army; His forces are beyond number, and mighty is the army that obeys His command. The day of the Lord is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it?" (Joel 2:11) 

Who can endure the wrath of the Lord if they have lived in unrepentant rebellion toward Him and if they are insisting on continuing to live in their sins in spite of everything He's done? No one can stand before the Lord and make a successful case against the charges against them, for no one has lived a perfect and sinless life. But the one who has committed himself or herself to the Lord, and who has made Him the Lord of their life, and who depends on Him to forgive them when they fail and to impute His righteousness to them, does not have to face His wrath. So the Lord reasons with the people. Even though hardship has come into their lives, the purpose of the hardship is to help them get back on track. It's being used as corrective discipline, not for their destruction. They can turn this this around by turning to Him! "'Even now,' declares the Lord, 'return to Me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.'" (Joel 2:12)

All is not lost. He has not cast the people aside. He has not said, "I've had enough! You've messed up too many times. I'm done with you." Instead He says, "Return to Me. I will take you back."

The Book Of Joel. Day 4, An Army, Part One

Chapter 1 ended with Joel ordering an assembly of the people to be called. Chapter 2 opens with the assembly being called by the sound of a trumpet, which is the method that was used during the wilderness years earlier in the Old Testament. The Lord commanded Moses to have two silver trumpets fashioned and those were to be blown "for calling the community together" (Numbers 10:2) so that the entire assembly could gather at the tent of meeting. The trumpets were also used to let the people know when to break camp and move on. Another use of the trumpets was to make a joyful noise on the special holy days. And the fourth use of the trumpets was to summon the men to go to war against an invader in the land. 

An assembly is needed here in the book of Joel so the people can be advised to fast and pray and call upon the Lord for relief from the locust invasion. (We previously discussed whether these are literal insects or whether the term "locusts" is used poetically to describe the destruction of an enemy army.) But the blowing of the trumpets in Chapter 2 seems like a call to arms in addition to being a call to assemble. The army mentioned in the first portion of this chapter may be a continuing reference to the plague of locusts or it could be that an invasion by an army of human soldiers is taking place or is about to take place. Scholars are divided on their opinion on this.

The Lord addresses the people through the prophet Joel, saying: "Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on My holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming. It is close at hand---a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was in ancient times nor ever will be in ages to come." (Joel 2:1-2) 

A vast cloud of locusts would produce this large and looming shadow over the land. But some scholars believe Joel is warning of an invading and conquering army that will cause "a day of darkness and gloom". These scholars feel that had the people not repented at Joel's message, a conquering army would indeed have come in and caused the nation to fall. Not too long after this, the Assyrian army will cause the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel. If the people of Judah had not repented, and if the hidden prince Joash had not been revealed as having been saved from the slaughter ordered by his grandmother Athaliah, and if a coup had not been staged against Athaliah and the young prince installed on the throne as king of Judah, and if Joash had not had a godly longlasting reign of forty years, perhaps the fall of Judah would have occurred right after the fall of Israel. But Judah was granted a reprieve. Judah still had some godly kings to come and the people of Judah experienced several spiritual revivals. This is why the southern kingdom survived just over one hundred and thirty years longer than the northern kingdom.

In verse 1 above we see the phrase "the day of the Lord" being used. This same phrase was used in Chapter 1 and we will see it used several times in the Scriptures to denote the day of judgment in the end times. But in the first segment of Chapter 2 it is being used to describe the current day of judgment which the people are experiencing in Joel's day. Later in Chapter 2 we will find him speaking of the final day of judgment far in the future.

In speaking of the invading army (either a plague of locusts or a human army), Joel says, "Before them fire devours, behind them a flame blazes. Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, behind them a desert waste---nothing escapes them. They have the appearance of horses; they gallop along like cavalry. With a noise like that of chariots they leap over the mountaintops, like a crackling fire consuming stubble, like a mighty army drawn up for battle." (Joel 2:3-5) Nothing about this description is inconsistent with a plague of locusts. He says this army gallops "like" cavalry, makes a noise "like" that of chariots, and consumes the land "like" a crackling fire. This would seem to indicate that whatever he is speaking of is actually not a human army that rides on horses and in chariots. But whatever the case, the current circumstances are disastrous. The current circumstances call for fasting and repentance, as we learned in Chapter 1, and this means the people have somehow gone astray spiritually and have brought this discipline upon themselves. 

As we continue on through Chapter 1 we will find the Lord saying that even now it is not too late to repent. The circumstances are not good at the moment, but they could become a whole lot worse. It would have been best if the people had repented before things got to this point but they can put a halt to their heavenly Father's corrective action if they will turn from their sins and get back on track. 

Sometimes we don't listen to warnings. We may or may not have realized we'd gotten off the path, but when the Holy Spirit begins dealing with our consciences and we recognize we're living in sin, we may not immediately obey His command to repent and turn from our sin. The Lord might then have to send corrective circumstances into our lives to get us to ask ourselves, "Why is this happening? Have I brought hardship onto myself? Is this the discipline of the Lord?" The people of Judah can still ask themselves these questions and can still repent. Their nation has not been destroyed. The situation can be turned around. The discipline has not come for the purpose of destroying them. The Lord doesn't want to destroy them; He wants them to forsake sin and idolatry. In our next study session the Lord will assure them that forgiveness is theirs if they will turn back to Him. 

The Book Of Joel. Day 3, Assembly

A plague of locusts has come and caused a disaster in Judah. In Wednesday's study the prophet Joel called upon the people to mourn the calamity and the sin that caused it. In today's study he orders an assembly of the people in which they are to cry out to the Lord for mercy and help.

We concluded yesterday's session with these words: "Put on sackcloth, you priests, and mourn; wail, you who minister before the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you who minister before my God; for the grain offerings and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God." (Joel 1:13) The locusts have destroyed the crops in the field and the fruit on the vines and the fruit on the trees. This has caused a cessation of grain and drink offerings at the house of God. The disaster has affected every facet of life in the nation and has affected every person in every occupation. 

The nation of Judah hasn't gone into spiritual decline as quickly as the northern kingdom of Israel but in Joel's day there had been much idolatry taking place in the very recent past. Joel's ministry likely began after King Jehoshaphat's reign ended. King Jehoshaphat had arranged a marriage between his son Jehoram and a daughter of the Baal-worshiping King Ahab and Queen Jezebel of Israel. Jehoram and his wife, Athaliah, forsook the Lord in favor of Baal. Jehoram reigned for eight years and was succeeded by his son, Ahaziah, who only reigned for one year before he was killed, but he was an idolater too. Upon his death his mother Athaliah ordered all the males of the royal household put to death and she took the throne of Judah for herself, not knowing that her youngest grandson, Joash, had been hidden away and had escaped the slaughter. Most scholars believe that Joel began his work as a prophet somewhere around the time the evil Athaliah was promoting Baal worship in Judah; Joel almost certainly was a prophet to Judah during the reign of her grandson Joash. So the prophet is speaking to the people during a time when the past three rulers---Athaliah, Ahaziah, and Jehoram---had rejected the Lord and when these wicked rulers had been encouraging or even insisting that the people of Judah worship Baal along with them. The people need to cast aside all forms of idolatry and turn back to the living God. 

To demonstrate their sorrow over their sin, the people are to fast and pray to the Lord. "Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord." (Joel 1:14) The Lord is the One they have offended. The Lord is the One who can restore the prosperity of the land. The Lord is the only One who can make them clean of their sin and restore their relationship with Him.

"Alas for that day! For the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty." (Joel 1:15) The phrase "the day of the Lord" is typically used in the Scriptures to denote the judgment that will fall upon the earth in the end times. The people of Judah are not living in the end times in Joel's day but the current disaster of his day is quite severe and it's a foretaste of the wrath that will come in the era known as "the great tribulation". The locusts have done a great deal of damage already but more judgment will fall if the people don't immediately turn their hearts back toward the Lord and begin repenting of their waywardness. Joel compares the current distress to the tribulation of the last days because the locust invasion is a demonstration of the Lord's displeasure with sin (as will be the disasters of the great tribulation) and a demonstration of the Lord's judgment upon sin (as will be the disasters of the great tribulation). Joel clearly makes a connection here, as he did in our first two days of the study of this book, between the plague of locusts and the people's unfaithfulness to God. 

Things are bad but they are not so bad that they cannot get worse! The time to repent is now. "Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes---joy and gladness from the house of our God? The seeds are shriveled beneath the clods. The storehouses are in ruins, the granaries have been broken down, for the grain has dried up. How the cattle moan! The herds mill about because they have no pasture; even the flocks of sheep are suffering." (Joel 1:16-18) The prophet's words indicate that there may be a drought in addition to the plague of locusts because he speaks of the earth as if it has not rained upon it. The seeds have shriveled up, unable to sprout, beneath dry clods of dirt. Both man and beast are suffering the effects of these terrible circumstances.

What must they do---what should anyone do---in times of adversity? Cry out to the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth! Cry out to the Lord for forgiveness, for help in living in ways that please Him, and for healing of the land. "To You, Lord, I call, for fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness and flames have burned up all the trees of the field. Even the wild animals pant for You; the streams of water have dried up and fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness." (Joel 1:19-20) Again we find references that indicate a drought. The pasture grasses have dried up in the heat. The leaves have withered on the vines of fruit trees and shrubs. There is no water to relieve the scorching heat. The streams have dried up. It sounds as if wild animals and fish are perishing, making food even more scarce because people can't hunt and fish successfully.

It is possible, as we discussed earlier in the book of Joel, that the reference to "locusts" could be a reference to invasions by the Assyrians. Some scholars hold to that theory, although the majority of scholars believe a literal plague of locusts occurred. But the mention of meadows and fields and vineyards being destroyed would still be in line with an enemy invasion, for a common tactic of enemy invaders was to set fire to fields of grain and to vegetable gardens and to allow their war horses to trample crops underfoot. It's possible that the locusts aren't literal locusts, but even if the destruction is caused by an enemy army we know this is something the Lord allowed to happen. The calamity is from the Lord; that much has been made clear to us by Joel. And an enemy army couldn't cause a drought, so that is from the Lord who is withholding rain from the skies until repentance takes place. 

The Lord does not enjoy sending hardship. He would far rather be pouring out upon Judah the blessings listed in Deuteronomy 28 rather than the curses listed in Deuteronomy 28. But He's allowing hardship for their own good to get them back onto the right path. And whenever the Lord allows hardship, He usually begins with the least severe forms of hardship. If repentance takes place then, there is no need to send more severe troubles. But if repentance does not take place, more unpleasant circumstances are likely to follow. Joel is telling the people they can save themselves much worse trouble than they are already experiencing if they will go ahead and make things right with God. If they persist in stubborn disobedience, not only will the current circumstances not clear up, but worse circumstances will follow. 

The Book Of Joel. Day 2, Mourning

Hard times have fallen upon the nation of Judah. In yesterday's study we discussed two theories regarding the locusts mentioned in Chapter 1 of the book of Joel. One theory is that the locusts are literal and that they have come in as a plague to devour the crops as discipline for the people's waywardness. The other theory is that the use of the word "locusts" is symbolic for the repeated invasions of the destructive Assyrians---invasions allowed by the Lord as discipline for the people's waywardness. I think both theories have merit although I tend to side with those who feel this is an actual invasion of destructive insects.

In today's text Joel calls upon the people to mourn this calamity. If the calamity weren't related to the way they've been living their lives, waking up from their complacency and humbling themselves in the sight of God by mourning wouldn't be an effective strategy against the devouring jaws of the locusts. The prophet is clearly linking the people's current predicament with the current state of their hearts.

"What the locust swarm has left the great locusts have eaten; what the great locusts have left the young locusts have eaten; what the young locusts have left, other locusts have eaten." (Joel 1:4) There are several stages of a locust's life and that may be what's in view here when Joel mentions several stages of the destruction of the crops.

This disaster must be taken to heart. While it's true that bad things such as natural disasters take place in this fallen world, it's also true that the Lord has a purpose for anything He allows to happen on the earth. Joel first calls upon those who are just drifting their way through life who are living in excess and who are numbing their guilty consciences with alcohol. "Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine; wail because of the new wine, for it has been snatched from your lips." (Joel 1:5) The substance with which they are medicating themselves is soon to be in short supply, for the vineyards have been affected too.

The use of the word "nation" in this next passage has led to the theory held by some scholars that the locusts are not literal locusts. However, because literal locusts swoop in like an enemy army and descend upon all the vegetation in sight, the use of the word "nation" might be used to compare the locusts' destruction to that of an army that swoops in and destroys crops and villages and cities. "A nation has invaded my land, a mighty army without number; it has the teeth of a lion, the fangs of a lioness. It has laid waste my vines and ruined my fig trees. It has stripped off their bark and has thrown it away, leaving their branches white." (Joel 1:6-7) In the book of Proverbs we find swarms of locusts spoken of as if they are an enemy army: "Locusts have no king, yet they advance together in ranks." (Proverbs 30:27) So we see that speaking of them as if they are an enemy nation or a great army is not without precedent.

Joel urges the people to mourn over this calamity. The word translated as "mourn" in this next verse is the same word as "lament", which means "to wail". The people are to lift up their voices together in a wail of grief. "Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth grieving for the betrothed of her youth." (Joel 1:8) The prophet says, "Lift up your voices in grief as a young woman would wail aloud if the young man she loves and is engaged to loses his life before the happy day of their wedding arrives. Cry out in grief like a woman who has lost the love of her life---who has lost the future she envisioned with him." 

He calls upon the people to mourn for what could have been. They could have been living in peace and prosperity if they had not gone spiritually astray. Back in Deuteronomy 28, before the Lord brought the people of Israel into the land, He promised them blessings of every type if they would remain faithful to Him. He promised to bless them "in everything you put your hand to" if they would not turn to idolatry. All the blessings of Deuteronomy 28:1-14 could have been theirs if they had honored their covenant with Him. But the Lord also provided a list of calamities that would come upon the nation if they did not remain faithful to Him. One of the things on the list was the destruction of the crops by locusts. The Lord warned them that their hard work of planting would be for nothing if they turned their backs on Him.

Sorrow must accompany repentance. If we don't feel mournful about sinning against God and if we don't feel sad for sinning against our fellow man, we must question whether we are even in a repentant spirit at all, for the Bible says, "Godly sorrow brings repentance." (2 Corinthians 7:10a) Sorrow and repentance go hand in hand. 

Because of the severity of the plague, it has affected everything in the nation, including putting a stop to some of the normal rituals of the temple. "Grain offerings and drink offerings are cut off from the house of the Lord. The priests are in mourning, those who minister before the Lord. The fields are ruined, the ground is dried up; the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, the olive oil fails. Despair, you farmers, wail, you vine growers; grieve for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field is destroyed. The vine is dried up and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, the palm and the apple tree---all the trees of the field---are dried up. Surely the people's joy is withered away." (Joel 1:9-12)

The sacrifices and offerings cannot be made at the temple, and we might wonder why the Lord would allow the situation to come down to that, but later in the Bible we will learn that He takes no pleasure in sacrifices and offerings when the hearts of the people bringing these things aren't right with Him. We will find the Lord, through various prophets, referring to the offerings as "meaningless" and we will find Him saying that He wishes they would just close the doors to the temple and stop lighting useless fires on the altars and stop giving Him lip service while their hearts are far from Him. So the fact that the crops have failed to the point of no drink offerings or grain offerings being made at the temple is of little consequence to Him. What is of consequence to Him is that the people need to repent. This is what Joel is urging them to do. The prophet is calling upon the people to look around them and consider why disaster has taken place. What led to a curse of Deuteronomy 28 falling upon them instead of the blessings of that segment of Scripture? They must humbly and prayerfully examine their hearts, acknowledge the sin that the Holy Spirit reveals to them, be sorry for that sin and repent of it, and with the Lord's help turn away from that sin and get back on the godly path. 

The Book Of Joel. Day 1, Locusts

As we move through the Old Testament we are studying the books of the prophets in chronological order rather than the order in which they appear in the Bible. The chronological lists of the prophets differ slightly, according to which references we consult, and some of their ministries occurred concurrently or overlapped a bit. The majority of sources that I consulted listed Jonah as the oldest book of the prophets so we began with him and now, since many lists place the book of Joel right after Jonah chronologically, we will move on to the book of Joel next. 

Jonah was a prophet from the northern kingdom of Israel who was called by the Lord to go and speak to the Gentiles at the Assyrian capital city of Nineveh. Joel is a prophet from the southern kingdom of Judah who is called by the Lord to speak to his own people of Judah. Neither the northern kingdom nor the southern kingdom has fallen to an enemy nation yet. The Assyrian Empire is the major world power at the time and has become the primary threat to Judah, to Israel, and to a number of other nations in that part of the world. We already know from our study of the kings that Assyria is the nation that conquered Israel and, throughout much of our study of the kings, it appeared as if Assyria would be the nation to conquer Judah as well. This is not how things turned out, for Assyria was defeated by the Neo-Babylonian Empire, and in turn the Neo-Babylonian Empire conquered the nation of Judah. 

It's important to note that some scholars believe the locusts that will be spoken of by the prophet Joel is a reference to the repeated invasions of the Assyrians and is not a reference to literal locusts. Others, however, interpret the word "locusts" literally and believe that the Lord sent locusts into the land as a method of discipline in order to correct the waywardness of the people's hearts. After all, the Lord did warn the people before bringing them into the promised land that if they did not remain faithful to Him, "You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it...Swarms of locusts will take over all your trees and the crops of your land." (Deuteronomy 28:38,42) I feel that a good argument can be made for either theory. The book of Joel itself is difficult to pin down to a precise date and the other books of the Bible which were written around the same time do not mention a literal plague of locusts, so I will leave it up to each of us to decide for ourselves whether we feel the locusts mentioned here are insects or are whether they represent the Assyrian army.

"The word of the Lord that came to Joel son of Pethuel. Hear this, you elders; listen, all who live in the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your ancestors?" (Joel 1:1-2) Joel is identified as the son of Pethuel but no other mention is made of Pethuel in the Old Testament. No doubt the people of the time would have known who the man was but this information has been lost to the ages. The book of Joel also does not tell us the name of the king (or kings) who ruled Judah during the days of his ministry. The majority opinion on this is that Joel spoke to the nation somewhere around 835 BC, perhaps beginning during the days of the evil Queen Athaliah who took the throne upon the death of her son, King Ahaziah, and who tried to wipe out all the males of the royal family so she could reign unopposed. Many scholars assert that an actual plague of locusts occurred during the end of her reign due to her idolatrous ways and due to the wicked influence she had on the nation. She was a daughter of the Baal-worshiping King Ahab and Queen Jezebel of Israel and she had married the son and heir of King Jehoshaphat of Judah. Some scholars think that the plague of locusts came during the time she held onto the throne and that the plague ended around the time that it was revealed that her young grandson, Joash, had escaped the slaughter of the princes and had been hidden at the temple for six years. 

But whenever it was that Joel prophesied to Judah, and whether the mention of locusts is literal or represents the Assyrian invasions, it's clear that hard times have come upon the nation. These times are so trying that Joel appeals to the elders of Judah by saying, "Have you ever seen anything this bad before? Did your fathers ever go through hard times such as these?" This is a wise question because whenever adversity comes we should examine our hearts and pray to the Lord to see whether we are living in a wrong way that has brought tribulation into our lives. 

It's been a somewhat popular opinion throughout the ages, though erroneous if you ask me, that we should never question the Lord. I agree that there is a wrong way to question the Lord (a way that casts doubt upon whether He is in the right to have sent adversity, for He is always right in everything He does) but I do not believe there is anything wrong with asking the Lord why our circumstances have become unpleasant. In fact, I think the wisest thing we can do in a time of adversity is to ask the Lord whether we are living in a way that's displeasing to Him and whether that's the cause of our current hardship. It's possible to be sinning against the Lord and not be consciously aware of it, which is why David prayed to the Lord, "But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep Your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression." (Psalm 19:12-13) David asked the Lord for the strength to resist sinning purposely; he refers to such sins as "willful sins" and as a "great transgression". But he also prayed for forgiveness of sins he was not aware of committing. He refers to these as "hidden faults", not because they are hidden from God but because imperfect human beings are incapable of constantly being aware of every wrong attitude or every unwise thought. So whenever adversity comes, I feel the best thing we should do and the first thing we should do is ask the Lord if there's a sin in our lives that needs to be dealt with. The sooner we examine our hearts and humble ourselves before the Lord, the sooner our circumstances may turn around.

Joel asks the elders to question why such hard times have fallen upon the nation and he orders them to impress it upon their children that nothing like this has happened since the founding of the nation. "Tell it to your children, and let your children tell their children, and their children to the next generation." (Joel 1:3) It's better to learn from the mistakes of others than to make those same mistakes ourselves, isn't it? Things have gone wrong spiritually in the nation and now other things are going wrong. If these elders can impress this information upon the hearts and minds of their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren then perhaps these succeeding generations won't make the same spiritual mistakes. If spiritual mistakes are avoided, then some hardships can be avoided as well. Of course, as long as we live in this fallen world there are going to be hardships that occur that are not of our own making, but there's no doubt that we all make mistakes and that we have all caused trouble for ourselves at one time or another. 

As we move on through Chapter 1 we will find Joel urging the people to break out of their complacency. They need to "clean house" individually, in their own hearts, and they need to "clean house" as a nation. They need to remember who they are---a people who call themselves by the name of the Lord---and consider how far they have drifted from the right paths. 

The Book Of Jonah. Day 9, Spared From Destruction

Jonah preached to the people of Nineveh as commanded by God but only after running from Him and after being disciplined by Him. It does not appear, based on what we've studied so far and based on what we will study today, that Jonah preached the Lord's message in a spirit of concern for the lost souls of Nineveh. It looks as if he only preached the message because he was compelled to do so. When widescale repentance took place, he became angry with the Lord. He was so angry that in yesterday's text he petulantly stated, "It is better for me to die than to live."

As we begin today's text we find the Lord countering Jonah's angry words in a calm and reasonable manner. "But the Lord said, 'Is it right for you to be angry?'" (Jonah 4:4) The Lord invites the prophet to think things through. Why is he angry and does he have any right to feel this way? The Lord doesn't condemn Jonah's feelings, although they are wrong, but instead asks him to examine his heart to determine where these feelings are coming from.

We already know that Jonah harbors a great deal of prejudice against the heathen citizens of the nation of Assyria. He thinks they deserve whatever punishment the Lord wants to dole out. Not only that, but we've already learned that he wanted the Lord's wrath to fall upon them. While he traveled throughout the enormous city of Nineveh warning them that they would be destroyed for their sins in forty days, he wasn't hoping they would take the words to heart and be sorry for their sins. He was merely pronouncing the word of doom upon them. He was simply discharging the duty conferred upon him by the Lord---a duty he found distasteful. 

We previously talked about the theory that he considered it a waste of time to speak to heathen idolaters, not necessarily because he thought they wouldn't repent but because he thought them unworthy of the Lord's attention and of no use for the kingdom of God. He cannot imagine why the Lord would want to save the Gentiles, although he must have been aware that the Lord told Abraham long ago that all the nations of the world would be blessed through his offspring. (Genesis 12:3) When the Lord spoke of "the nations" or "the peoples" He meant the Gentiles, not Israel. The Lord did indeed call the people of Israel to be a chosen nation to Him in ancient times but He also always intended to reach His hand of mercy out to the Gentiles. Instead of being angry with the Lord about this, Jonah should have praised Him for His goodness to all people. Jonah should have been thankful for being commissioned to take part in the Lord's outreach to the Gentiles.

But when the Lord asks Jonah to examine his heart to determine why he doesn't want to see the same mercy extended to the Gentiles that He extended to the descendants of Abraham, Jonah continues to cling to his prejudices and his resentment. When the forty days are up, he hopes there is still a slim chance that the repentance of the Ninevites is not genuine. He waits at a place outside the city to see whether the Lord might destroy it after all. "Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant." (2 Jonah 4:5-6) 

A number of scholars believe that the original text indicates the past tense here in regard to when Jonah constructed the shelter. They believe that he had already made it before the forty days were up and that perhaps this shelter is where he lodged each evening during the period of time in which he preached at Nineveh. He very likely received invitations to lodge in Nineveh---indeed, the repentant king of Assyria may very well have urged him to stay at his palace during his sojourn in the city---but Jonah did not want to step foot into a Gentile home. Although his attitude was a common one among the people of his nation of his day, it fails to take into consideration the conversion of the Ninevites. They had been saved by faith just as Jonah was, just as Jonah's ancestors were, and just as Abraham himself was. Their homes may still have contained some idolatrous objects at this time and their kitchens may not have been kosher but their hearts were made right in the eyes of God. What Jonah ought to have done was what the apostles of the New Testament did: he should have taught the people what they needed to do after their conversion. He should have worked among them for however long the Lord directed him to do so, instructing them in the ways of godly living. They have believed on the name of the Lord but they know very little about Him. Jonah has a great opportunity to teach them about the Lord but instead he's still hoping against hope to see fire and brimstone falling on them.

The Lord causes a plant with broad leaves to grow up over Jonah's shelter because He intends to use the plant as an object lesson. Instead of raining down fire and brimstone on the people Nineveh at dawn, He causes the plant to die. "But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, 'It would be better for me to die than to live.' But God said to Jonah, 'Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?' 'It is,' he said. 'And I'm so angry I wish I were dead.'" (Jonah 4:6-9) 

Jonah feels sorrier for himself than for the men, women, and children of Nineveh. He's too warm in the heat and he's getting a sunburn and those things concern him far more than if all the citizens of the city were burned up by the wrath of God. He feels more sadness about the death of a plant than about the prospect of thousands of lives and thousands of souls being lost. The Lord is trying to show him the wrongness of his thinking but Jonah is refusing to look at the situation from the Lord's perspective. The prophet persists in stubbornly clinging to his prejudice against these people and so the book ends with the Lord using Jonah's pity for the plant as a symbol of His pity for the people of Nineveh, but we do not find Jonah coming around to the Lord's way of thinking. Our text concludes below with the Lord asking Jonah a question about human and animal welfare, yet we never learn of Jonah's answer. It has been concluded by many scholars that Jonah's attitude never changed and that as a result the Lord was never able to use him to do any more great things. The fact that the Bible never tells us of anything else Jonah ever did may be the proof that this is the case.

"But the Lord said, 'You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left---and also many animals?'" (Jonah 4:10-11) Jonah didn't put a seed into the ground to make the plant grow. He didn't water or fertilize the seed or prune the plant. Yet he was sad when it perished. By contrast, he had made an investment in the people of Nineveh. He sowed the seeds there that caused thousands of people to repent of their sins. He spent day after day proclaiming the message of the Lord and the seeds of faith sprouted up in the people. His duty to those people was to remain to water and fertilize and prune these sprouts: in other words, teaching them right from wrong and helping them to form a relationship with the Lord and aiding them in growing their relationship with the Lord. Instead he is sad that the Lord did not destroy them! Jonah did not allow himself to develop a heart for these people while he worked among them. He did not allow himself to feel any compassion for them. He does not want the Lord to extend any mercy toward them. That is why the book of Jonah ends on a sad note---for Jonah. It ends with the Lord asking a question that Jonah apparently does not answer. 

The Lord loved the people of Nineveh in spite of their sins, just as He loved us while we were still living in sin. The Lord was righteous to offer the opportunity to the Ninevites to be saved, for He invites everyone to come to Him for salvation. We must accept the invitation, of course, in order to be saved but Jonah seems to have wanted to prevent the Ninevites from ever receiving the invitation in the first place. I wish he had come off as a likable person on the pages of the Bible! I really want him to be a sympathetic character and he just isn't, although I hope that at some point during the remainder of his life he repented of his attitude toward the Ninevites just as he repented of refusing to go where the Lord wanted to send him. We can't know for sure one way or the other because this matter is left up in the air with Jonah's stubborn refusal to love the Ninevites standing out in stark contrast to the Lord's merciful compassion on them. 

The Book Of Jonah. Day 8, Jonah's Complaint Against God

In our last study session the king of Assyria and the people of Nineveh repented, fasted, and prayed when they heard the list of their transgressions and when they heard the Lord's warning that He would destroy the city in forty days. Chapter 3 ended like this: "When God saw what they did and and how they turned from their evil ways, He relented and did not bring on them the destruction He had threatened."

Jonah's mission has been a success! Thousands of souls have been saved from perdition! Now he will bow on his knees and give thanks to the Lord for His mercy, right? Sadly, no. When the Lord spares the people of Nineveh from destruction, Jonah is displeased. "But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry." (Jonah 4:1) 

Jonah's sense of justice is offended. He feels that the wicked idolaters of Nineveh deserve destruction and he wants to see fire and brimstone rained down upon them. We know he wants the Lord's wrath to fall upon them because he gives vent to these feelings. "He prayed to the Lord, 'Isn't this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.'" (Jonah 4:2-3)

Now we are getting down to the primary reason why Jonah disobeyed the Lord when He commanded him to go to Nineveh. While it's true that Jonah harbored prejudice against these heathen sinners, and while it's true that he feared the ruthless and violent reputation of the Assyrians, the main reason he did not want to go to Nineveh is because he was afraid they would be spared from destruction. He knew that if they repented, the Lord would withhold His hand of judgment from them. 

What hypocrisy! Jonah, who rejoiced in the Lord's mercy and compassion when the Lord forgave him for his rebellion and rescued him from the belly of the fish, wants the Lord to deny this same mercy and compassion to the people of Nineveh. We know that Jonah was formerly called to be a prophet to his own people of Israel, for a fulfilled prophecy he made about King Jeroboam II of Israel was mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25, but we have no idea how successful (or unsuccessful) his ministry was within the borders of Israel. Jeroboam II was a good king militarily for Israel but he "did evil in the eyes of the Lord" spiritually, so it's clear that Jonah was not able to persuade him to get his heart right with the Lord. I think it's quite possible and even likely that more people were listening to Jeroboam II than to Jonah. I would not be at all surprised---and in fact I think this is the case---that the only major revival that ever broke out during Jonah's ministry was in the Gentile city of Nineveh.

The children of God must never treat salvation as if it is some sort of exclusive club into which only the "worthy" are invited. No one is worthy on his or her own merit! The children of God must never forget that at one time we were all transgressors and that it's only by His mercy and compassion that anyone is ever saved. He doesn't extend forgiveness and salvation to us because we deserve it but because He is "abounding in love" toward mankind, as Jonah affirmed in his prayer. The Lord doesn't make the offer of salvation to us because of our good deeds and righteousness, for no one is righteous. "Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins." (Ecclesiastes 7:20) 

Jonah is not perfect and neither is anyone of his nation. How, then, can he look down on the Gentiles of Nineveh? Jonah was saved not by works but by faith, which is the only way anyone is ever saved, and this salvation is a gift of God---not something earned by man. (Ephesians 2:8-9) Jonah didn't earn his salvation, yet he accepted it gladly. But he wants to prevent the people of Nineveh from being invited into this same salvation, likely because they are Gentiles and not people of Israel, but he has forgotten that the people of Israel must come to salvation by faith as well. Their forefather, Abraham, was saved by faith and not by the works of the law (Genesis 15:6); he lived a long time before the law was given and even if he'd had the law he wasn't capable of perfectly keeping it. The only way anyone is saved---whether Jew or Gentile---is through faith. Jonah is trying to deny the people of Nineveh the same salvation in which he trusts. In our next study session, which will complete the short book of Jonah, we will find the Lord trying to reason with Jonah in an effort to guide him out of his wrong way of thinking.

The Book Of Jonah. Day 7, Repentance In Nineveh, Part Two

In Thursday's study we learned that the ancient capital city of Assyria was so large that it took Jonah three days to travel through it while preaching the Lord's message. The Lord's message was that if the people of Nineveh did not repent, that great city (which historians and archaeologists believe was the most impressive city in the world at that time) would be destroyed in forty days.

Jonah preaches with a passion and conviction he's never preached with before, now that he's been rescued from the belly of the fish. The people of Nineveh can see it on his face that he believes every word he says. They can tell that he's had a real experience with a real God---something none of them has ever experienced. In yesterday's study as soon as people began hearing the message they began repenting. The Bible says that they "believed God" and they began fasting and wearing sackcloth as the outward signs of humility and sorrow over their sins. 

Today the message reaches the ears of the king. "When Jonah's warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust." (Jonah 3:6) 

In my opinion this is one of the most astonishing conversions in the Holy Bible! We do not know which of the kings of Assyria this man was but we know that the Assyrians were idolaters. We know that this king was the leader of the wealthiest and most powerful nation on earth at that time. We know that up until now he must have credited his false gods with his success and that he must have trusted in the might of his army and in the prosperity of his country. I think we can also safely assume that, despite his outward success, he was empty on the inside. He was not satisfied with the things the world could offer him. The words of the Lord Jesus Christ would have resonated with him when He said, "What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?" (Mark 8:36) The king of Assyria appears to have everything anyone could ever want or need but he's destitute at heart. Finally he hears a message that rings so true to him that he knows this is the answer he's been seeking all his life: there is a God---the one and only God who created everything that exists---and this God cares about him and wants to give him an abundant and satisfying life on earth and an eternity of peace and joy in the presence of God forever.

All of the people of Nineveh were sinful because they lived in whatever manner their hearts desired and because they served gods who did not exist. But the king, due to his immense wealth, may have indulged himself in more ways than the average person. On top of being responsible for his own sins, as the leader of the nation he's had a sinful influence on his subjects. When he confronts these facts he falls under so much conviction that in sorrow for his wrongdoings the most powerful king in the world sits down in the dust! He cannot think of any way to lower himself more than this. He cannot think of any way to better demonstrate his desire to humble himself under the mighty hand of a holy God and to express his sorrow for having offended this holy God. 

The king has had a wicked influence on the people in the past but he immediately begins turning this around by being a good influence on them. He proclaims a fast and encourages everyone to confess their sins, repent of their sins, and submit themselves to God. "This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh: 'By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from His fierce anger so that we will not perish.'" (Jonah 3:6-9)

Why does the king command even the animals to fast and to be clothed with sackcloth? The animals didn't sin against God; only the people sinned against God. I can't say for certain but we know that when sin first came into the world, everything in the world was affected by the pollution of sin, even the animals. If the city of Nineveh is destroyed then the animals will become what we would refer to in modern times as "collateral damage". If the Lord rains down fire and brimstone on Nineveh as He did on Sodom and Gomorrah, which may be what He intended to do, no living thing will escape---not the people, not the animals, not the insects, not the crops or the flowers or the grass. The animals haven't sinned against God and they don't need to repent but since they would share the same fate as the people if the Lord destroyed the city, they also take part in the display of repentance that is occurring all over the city. If the people of Nineveh repent and are spared from destruction, the animals also will be spared from destruction. The people are asking the Lord to take pity on them and also on all the animals. At the end of the book of Jonah we will find the Lord saying something that shows us He expects people to care about the welfare of animals. 

In a moment we will look at some words of the Apostle Paul that will provide us with a very accurate description of how the natural world was affected by the sin of mankind. We harmed everything when we fell from grace, which is why natural disasters occur and why things like injuries, illnesses, and deaths exist. But the creation, like mankind, awaits a world that has been set free from the effects of sin. The creation, like mankind, looks forward in hope to the day when our Lord makes all things new, when the children of God will live forever in a body like Jesus' immortal body in a world where no sin will ever again be committed, where no disasters will ever occur, where no person or animal will ever get sick or hurt, and where no animal or person will ever die. "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the One who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God." (Romans 8:18-21) Just as the creation shared in the fall of man (as the "collateral damage" of man's sin), the creation will share in man's liberation from bondage to death and decay.

The repentance of the people of Nineveh is genuine and the Lord hears their prayers and has mercy on them. "When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, He relented and did not bring on them the destruction He had threatened." (Jonah 3:10) 

The Book Of Jonah. Day 6, Repentance In Nineveh, Part One

In Chapter 1 the Lord commanded the prophet Jonah to go to the Assyrian capital city of Nineveh to preach against the sins of the heathens there. He refused, instead boarding a ship going in the opposite direction. The Lord sent a violent storm upon the sea until Jonah admitted to the Gentile sailors that he had disobeyed God and that their only hope was to cast him into the sea. They eventually did so, albeit very reluctantly, and called upon the God of Israel to forgive them. The Lord immediately calmed the sea and the men on the ship worshiped Him, sacrificed to Him, and made vows to Him. Meanwhile, Jonah was swallowed by a large fish. From the inside of this fish (or perhaps from the realm of the dead as we discussed earlier in our study of the book) he cried out to the Lord for mercy and repented of rebelling against him. When Jonah repented, the Lord commanded the fish to expel him onto the dry land, alive and well.

Now Jonah is in a frame of mind the Lord can work with! He issues the same commission to the prophet again and this time Jonah obeys. "Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 'Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.'" (Jonah 3:1) We previously talked about Jonah's reasons for not wanting to go to Nineveh. One of those reasons was likely prejudice in his heart toward Gentiles, for he was a prophet of Israel---a nation founded upon the word of God---and probably considered it beneath him to go outside of Israel to preach to pagan idolaters. However, having just completed our study of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah, we know that by this point in history the people of Israel were quite idolatrous themselves. The preaching of Jonah and of Elijah and of Elisha and a number of other prophets did not prevent the majority of the populace from falling away from the Lord. This falling away from the Lord is what eventually caused the fall of the kingdom. Jonah's preaching, which may have had little to no effect on his fellow citizens, is going to be extremely effective on the citizens of Nineveh. 

I do not think he expected to be effective at Nineveh. I think he thought it would be a waste of time. Perhaps he said to himself, "If my own people are not listening to my message, why would these pagans listen to me? If the nation founded by the Lord does not repent at my preaching, who would these godless heathens repent?" But just as the Gentiles of the Apostle Paul's day were more interested in the gospel message than were his own fellow citizens, the Gentiles of Jonah's day in the city of Nineveh are going to listen to him and take his words to heart. 

Jonah could not have known how the Ninevites would react but his duty was to go where the Lord sent him. It's true that the Lord sends His word to people He knows will listen and to people He knows will not listen; He is holy and righteous and offers salvation to everyone. No one who has heard His word can stand at His judgment seat someday and claim they were never given an opportunity to repent. I think that Jonah has experienced his preaching being rejected a number of times in his own nation and that he expects to have it rejected by the people of Nineveh. But that's no excuse for refusing to do the work the Lord has called him to do. To his surprise, what is probably the greatest revival of his entire ministry breaks out in Nineveh. 

"Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. Jonah began by going a day's journey into the city, proclaiming, 'Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.' The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth." (Jonah 3:3-5) Nineveh is believed to have been the largest city on earth at that time. Archaeological excavations have shown it to have been somewhere between fifty and sixty miles around the outer edge of the city limits. It was so large that the Bible states that it took three whole days for Jonah to make his way through and to preach within the hearing of every citizen inside the city limits. 

During the days of Jonah's ministry, the Assyrian Empire was the most powerful empire of the ancient world. The once-magnificent Egyptian Empire was on the decline. The original Babylonian Empire had been conquered by the Assyrians; the Neo-Babylonian Empire had not yet arisen to throw off the shackles of Assyria. The northern kingdom of Israel was on the decline politically and militarily because of its spiritual decline. Yet in spite of its power and prominence, the Lord states that Nineveh will be destroyed within forty days if the people do not repent, and it's important to note that in the original Hebrew the word translated into English as "overthrown" is the same Hebrew word that was used for the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. No nation on earth at the time was capable of destroying Nineveh but the Lord doesn't have to use any other nation to bring this city down. He can rain fire and brimstone down from the skies to destroy it just as He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

The people who hear the warning of the Lord through Jonah clearly understand the type of fate that will soon befall them if they don't repent. They know it's a fate that will come directly from the God they have rejected. Jonah's three days in the belly of the whale causes him to preach for three days as he has never preached before---with a conviction and a passion he's never felt before---and the people can see the truth on his face and hear the truth in his words. The God who didn't hold back from placing this rebellious man in the belly of a fish won't hold back from burning this sinful city and everyone and everything in it to the ground. 

In tomorrow's passage we will study the second half of Chapter 3 dealing with the repentance of these people. Even the king of Assyria, who is the most powerful and wealthy king on earth in those days, bows his knees to the King of kings and Lord of lords.