Because in chapter 1 for the first about 12 verses, you have kind of the laying out of all of the destruction that has come, really as the locusts had infested the land. and joel talks about that and and and tells them uh... how they are to respond and how they are to mourn that's what really comes the call to repentance happens in verse thirteen through twenty and so that's that's kind of how it was laid out in chapter one as we can't come to chapter two there is this uh... almost mirror image that happens in the first uh... really seventeen verses are on the cover tonight which is it's a it's a very similar statement of what's going on it's another event altogether i believe now if you can get into the book of joel and you study it there's some differing opinions where some scholars will say okay hey in chapter one is talking about an invasion of locusts and that's what it's about in chapter two it's a in mirroring that there's also this warning of this encroaching army that's coming And that's going to come and bring about further judgment of the Lord. And I think the language of chapter 2 reflects that, because in chapter 1, everything's past tense, right? That the locusts have done this, that this has taken place. And when you get to chapter 2, it's really talking about kind of the present slash future that's going to happen. I think it's right to look at this and say, chapter 1 is talking about the destruction of the locusts, chapter 2 is turning to the warning of what's to come, this invading army that's coming. But however you believe, whatever you believe is represented here in the book of Joel, in these major movements, if you will, of the text, There's really one phrase that stands atop everything in this book, and it is simply the phrase, the day of the Lord. That phrase comes up several times, but it really is kind of the key that unlocks the door of the book of Joel. And I said this last time, but it's worth saying again as we begin to look at this, When we talk about the day of the Lord, and we use that phrase kind of in our modern preaching and teaching or whatever it may be, we are usually pointing at kind of that ultimate day of the Lord, that final judgment that's coming. And that's how the phrase is used often. But here, both in chapter one and in chapter two, when the day of the Lord, when that phrase is used, it is pictured as simply a reflection of the judgment of God, some sort of major event in the life of the nation that makes a huge impact on them, because it is a judgment that's taking place. We'll find that out. here today in this chapter, just as the locusts were a judgment taking place, here this invasion, this army that's invading is also a judgment. We're going to get some really clear language on that. But we have to understand this, the day of the Lord While I think it is something that makes our eyes kind of look towards the distant future from our perspective, and we understand that judgment is coming ultimately at the Day of the Lord, this should remind us of that. In the immediate context of what the passage is talking about, when they talk about the Day of the Lord, it is just a moment of God's judgment falling, a moment of God's chastisement falling in a way that really changes things for His people. And so I'm gonna read I think the first five verses of chapter two and then we'll cover all of it as we roll through it, we'll read it. But there the text says this, blow the trumpet in Zion and sound an alarm in my holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble for the day of the Lord is coming, for it is at hand. a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A people come, great and strong, the like of whom has never been seen, nor will there ever be any such after them, even for many successive generations. A fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns. The land is like the Garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness. Surely nothing shall escape them. Their appearance is like the appearance of horses, and like swift steeds, so they run. With a noise like chariots, over mountaintops they leap, like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble, like a strong people set in battle array." And so, the prophet speaking here the word of the Lord, comes and he begins by telling the people of God to blow the trumpet in Zion. really to sound the alarm, he says, and they're in the second part of verse one. Sound the alarm. That word means a large shout in the community, like sometimes if you watch a movie that's depicting kind of the medieval times or the ancient world, it's what you might call a town crier. He goes out shouting the alarm, shouting the news. That's the picture here. Sound the alarm. This is the cry that would go out if an enemy was attacking, if an enemy had entered the land, and there was something that the people needed to do. And that's what He's telling them. God is telling His people, this is happening. Not only does He say, sound an alarm, He says, you should tremble. This is a terrible thing. Let all the inhabitants of the Lord tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming. It is at hand, he goes on to say. The day of the Lord is coming, it is at hand. They didn't anticipate that this was coming, it didn't seem. They didn't really have much of a warning. They're sending up the alarm now because there's an invasion happening. And the picture that God gives them, the imagery that's used to describe the coming of this army is so cataclysmic. I think it should move our eyes to look towards ultimate judgment. Ron, I talked about last time that when we talk about prophetic books, sometimes there's the now fulfillment in their immediate context, but there's also the not yet, which is in the now, there was going to be, it seems, an invasion. of people, that they were going to be conquered as they had been many times before in a devastating way. But we also are reminded by this text that there's going to come a day when Jesus is going to come to judge the quick and the dead. He's going to finish off the armies of the wicked and win victory on that day of the Lord. But here, it is in fact that this time is coming as a chastisement of God's people. Joel here does tell us in verse 1 at least where he is. We've had a lot of trouble maybe placing him in chapter 1. He says he's in Zion, which would be Jerusalem, or at least parts of Jerusalem is what that word Zion reflects. And he talks about the holy hill, which is the temple area in Jerusalem. So at least we know the setting, the location, even though we don't know the exact time when this book was written. But this attack, it seems, were imminent. Some will point to some prophecies that Isaiah makes about an encroaching army, probably of these Assyrian attacks from the Assyrians, and how the city was going to be defiled and how all that was going to take place. But again, because we can't place really solidly within the timeline the book of Joel, it's hard to say, well, was he talking about that Assyrian attack that was going to come? Whatever the case may be, the citizens were They were anticipating a great slaughter, it seems. God's telling them they should be trembling because His judgment had arrived. He describes it as a day of darkness. And he says, the people that are coming, they're great and strong. And just like he talked about the locusts, remember he talked to the elders and he said to the elders, has anything like this happened in your days? Have you ever seen this kind of destruction? Did even your fathers see this? No, they hadn't. And the same kind of language is used here. He says, the people come great and strong, the like of whom has never been seen. nor will there ever be any such after them, even for many successive generations." Again, I think the prophet here, through the leadership of the Spirit of God, obviously is using the same kind of language to reflect the cataclysmic impact They have the locusts that have come, and they've laid waste to their agricultural society. And now this army's going to come, and they're going to have just as wide, if not a worse impact. There's going to be a cataclysmic situation that's going to take place, so much so that it's going to be talked about for generations. Notice how This language of judgment is used as the armies described. He speaks about a fire in verse three. A fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns. And here's what he says. He says, in front of them, it could be like the Garden of Eden. Everything's green and lush and perfect, but once this army comes through, everything is desolate. It's just completely laid waste. That's the power of these people that's the power of this army in fact it's the power of god when he brings his judgment he speaks of them it's what it's interesting to note he talks about this army and he but he says about them it is it's like the appearance of horses most of the time when we can think about ancient battle we think about horses being a big part of the situation. But as best as we know, through the history of Israel, there were a few times when we get some mention of horses, particularly in the midst of the wealth of King Solomon and some other times. But the vast majority of the time, we don't get a representation of Israel's soldier, of God's people being particularly in Judah, being on horseback. And I think that's because it was kind of hilly terrain, particularly around Jerusalem. Horses wouldn't perhaps have been that much of an advantage. I don't know. But it's interesting that this army that's coming, Even though a great army that might have had horses and chariots and that kind of thing, it doesn't say that they're on horses. It doesn't say that they're pulling chariots. It says that they move like horses. They have a noise like chariots. They're coming quickly and they're coming with force. A chariot was a picture of just overwhelming force. that noise that they would come leaping over the mountaintops. It's speaking of the swiftness and the power of this judgment-bringing force. These war horses, the sounds of war horses and chariots. Maybe it was simply that they did have horses and chariots. That's possible. He says, there are people, like a strong people set in battle array. This is, the language of this section, and I'm gonna move on here pretty quickly because it is pretty repetitive. But you would think that the call would be, get your swords, get your shields, stand a post, it's time to fight. You would think that might be the call that's gonna go out to the people of God. Stand up, it's time to fight. But that's not what happens. He says, before them the people writhe in pain, all faces are drained of color. Continues to describe the approaching soldiers. They run like mighty men. They climb the wall like men of war. Everyone marches in formation and they do not break ranks. They do not push one another. Everyone marches in his own column, though they lunge between the weapons. They are not cut down. They run to and fro in the city. They run on the wall. They climb into the houses. They enter at the windows like a thief. I mean, that's just... God just says the faces of the people before them, your color's going to be gone. That's how terrible this is going to be. He's telling them that you're going to tremble. We talked about that back in verse 1. I think what we can draw from this imagery that we get here, at least in our context, as we think about how does this make us think about the ultimate day of the Lord, the time when the Lord comes in the fullness of His judgment, He comes in the fullness of His return, when all of that takes place, I think what this reminds us is that when the judgment of the Lord shows up, the fight's over. There's nothing left to do. For the enemies, for those who have rebelled against God, in this case it was those who were supposed to be God's people, but for those who have rebelled against God, all their color's gonna go from their face, they're going to tremble. There's nothing that they can do. When Christ returns, the time has passed. Judgment has arrived. This should invigorate us, I think, as we see this. If this is just talking about an event that happened in history, but it's part of, at least in a small way, the kind of judgment that falls when God turns his attention towards chastising, correcting, and judging. If that's just a hint at what's to come, They should invigorate us to take the message of Christ, the message of peace, the message of the gospel to a world that really needs it. To those who are around us who we know and we love and we see them drifting towards destruction. We look at this and we say, man, that's just a drop in the bucket to what's going to come ultimately when Jesus comes to judge the quick and the dead. When that actually happens. And so I think it should, as we look at this, it should just fill our hearts with just a desire to take the truth to people, because we know that this kind of judgment is possible, this and much more than this. He continues to describe the situation as this army arrives, as the earth quaking before them, the heavens trembling. But notice what verse 11 says. If we ever doubted what was going on in this situation, Make sure that we recognize who is, in a real sense, kind of at the head of this invasion. This is the Lord gives voice before His army, for His camp is very great. For strong is the one who executes His word. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible. Who can endure it? This army that God's people would have looked at as enemies, This disciplined force, right? They don't break ranks. This strong and mighty force, this powerful force that's coming to rain down destruction upon them. Who is empowering them? The text is pretty clear. It's the Lord. Those who are Underneath the command of God in this place, an army that's judging, an army that's an extension of His judgment, they are filled with power to carry out the will that He has for His people, which in this case was chastisement and correction. But I love that question at the end of verse 11, who can endure it? The answer to that question is no one. When God's judgment comes, we cannot endure it on our own. When God's judgment comes, the only way we as believers in Christ will endure the ultimate judgment of God is through the protection of the shed blood of Christ. That's the only way we endure. That's the only way we can even enter into the presence of God is underneath the protection of the righteousness of Christ that He has given to us as He's taken on our sin. When God comes in His judgment, we talked about this last week, He may allow wicked men to be the blunt instrument that He uses. But ultimately, they will be just as accountable. But when God comes, there's nowhere to hide. And again, this moves me. I hope it moves you to think about those who are going to endure far worse than this. But notice what happens. He's never told him to take up arms. He's never told him to stand and fight. He's never told him to do anything like that. But as he gets to verse 12, he's going to tell them something. Something that they should do. Now therefore, says the Lord, turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. Verse 13 here I think is It's probably my favorite verse in the book of Joel. It says this, so rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and he relents from doing harm. Verse 14 says, who knows if he will turn and relent and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God. You remember that we talked about last time that things had gotten so bad, the locust had consumed so much that they didn't even have the grain, they didn't even have the things they needed to make proper offerings in the temple. And now, God is commanding them with the specter of this invading force. The command to them is not to prepare for war, it's to repent and return to God. Not to sharpen your swords, but to rend your heart, to allow your heart to be broken in two, rend it in two. Folks, I think as we think about the way that we have to live in our modern day context and where we are and how we see things and what we think is right and true, I think sometimes we forget that there is a day to stand and fight. We know that. And we should. We should stand and fight for what's right and true. But I think we forget that it's not always about just sharpening our sword. It's not always about getting out there and fighting the good fight in the culture wars. Sometimes the answer to the problem is a return to God. First of all, by God's people. I know we say that our nation, our country, our community, whoever, they need to return to God. We need to return to these principles and those principles. Sure we do, but how can we expect them to do it if the people of God won't even do it? An old friend of mine said one time, he's a lot older than me, he said, I've heard for 30 years about people saying, we need to get prayer back in schools. He said, we can't even get people who attend church to read their Bibles every day and pray with their family around the dinner table or sitting on the couch at night. He said, we can't even get prayer back in Christians most of the time, let alone back in the schools. It begins with repentance more than it just is, hey, let's go out and fight the good fight, because we won't be prepared. We won't be equipped. He says, turn to me with all your heart. He said, everything you got needs to return to me. We need to turn back to him. What's the area in your life, my life, that I've said, no God, I'm gonna take care of that, and I'll do with it what I please. Everything else is yours, but this is mine. God says, no, everything. Judgment's coming. Even for the children of God, even for the people of God, we have to endure the hardship of this world, and some of it be directed at us because of the way we've chosen to live at times. God will chastise us in that way. The answer is that we continually turn in repentance towards God. Fasting, weeping, mourning. And I love what verse 13 says because it says just to make sure we don't think we can get away with just putting on a show of repentance and saying, oh God, forgive me. We don't, you know. We don't need, it's like I always think about those celebrity apologies when some celebrity does something that people don't like and some publicist writes an apology and they stand, I'm sorry if I have ever offended or hurt anyone, you know what I'm talking about. You've seen a hundred of them or a thousand of them maybe. It's not about putting on a show. God says, rend your heart, not your garments, because they would tear their garments when they were repenting, when they were mourning. That's what they would do. That was how they showed people that they were doing that. They would tear their garments. They would sit down in ashes. God says, I don't need that kind of show. I need the sincerity of your heart, really the tearing of your heart, or we might say the breaking of your heart. Friends, if we want to see the true realities of the judgment of God pulled back from our nation, if we want to see the true reality of revival taking hold amongst the people of God and spreading to those around us, The principle that screams from the word of God time and time and time again is simply this, brokenness of God's people always, always precedes revival, every time. Every time. You can study down through the years, every time you've ever seen a major move of God happen, whether it's in the Bible or whether it's in church history, the brokenness of the people of God has always, it's been the thing that has preceded an outbreak of a movement of God in wherever that was taking place. I don't care if you're talking about the great awakenings, the Welsh revivals, I don't care. Whatever great movement of God you want to talk about, it always begins with God's people getting right. That's the call here. Judgment's coming. Wickedness is abounding. Correction is coming for you. Repent. If we're not willing to pay the price of brokenness, allow our hearts to be rent into, then seems to me that God is not going to honor our requests for those things. I love what verse 14 says, with all of this looming on the horizon, he says, who knows if he will turn and relent and leave a blessing behind him. God has said, hey, all of this is headed your direction, all of this is headed your way, but now he's saying, the prophet's saying, repent, turn to God, fast, mourn, weep, do all of these things because you know what? God might relent. We don't know. It's all in God's hands. God has a plan, but who knows if He will turn and relent and leave a blessing behind Him. And it just leaves that little hint about the restoration of right worship, right, that a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God. He returns in verse 15 to talking about as he first told him in verse 1 to blow the trumpet to send out the warning, the news that the conquering army was headed their direction. He says, now blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly, gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and nursing babes, let the bridegroom go out from his chamber and the bride from her dressing room. Let the priests who minister to the Lord weep between the porch and the altar. Let them say, spare your people, O Lord, and do not give your heritage to reproach, that the nation should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, where is their God? This list is amazing. We talked about last time how he was telling certain ones to weep. He told the drunkards to weep because they wouldn't have enough grapes for their wine even to get drunk. He told the elders to weep. They told all of these different groups. And now he's telling all of them to assemble for this sacred assembly or solemn assembly. But one of the things that really shows us the gravity of what God's asking is He tells the bridegroom and the bride to come. So normally in the Jewish religion, the bridegroom and the bride, they would be excused from feasts, they would be excused from assemblies because they had a period of time for their marriage to be consummated. They would come together in their wedding celebration, they would be separated into a chamber, the wedding chamber as it was, and they would be left alone. In fact, I mean, most of you may remember that a man who had just got married, he didn't even have to go to war when they went out to battle in the springtime. They wanted to give them time to get their marriage started and to perhaps begin to produce offspring, all of those kinds of things. But this is so important. The need for repentance is so important. You get the children, you get the babies, you get the brides and the bridegrooms, you get everybody. Everyone needs to come repenting. And what's the ultimate motivation of this repentance? Is it that God might relent? Yes, in some level that's true, but also, It's aimed at the glory of God. Why should they say among the peoples, where is their God? Why should we not humble ourselves and turn to God and allow Him to turn back from this judgment so that no one can say in their mouths that they said that their God was the Lord and He was powerful and He has allowed this to happen to them? The realization here, the implication is that This was their fault and they needed to get right so that would not even be able to look or appear to anyone that somehow God had abandoned his people and he was somehow weak or impotent. This has to be our motivation. Hey look, it's okay sometimes. I know we're gonna think about ourself and that's not always a bad thing. I'd love to see God do this because I think it'll be better for me and my family and my community, sure. We can pray for that. I would love to see God do this because I think that that's the best way. I think that's the way that I could honor him if he'd allow me to go this way, all right. But it is the ultimate aim of our desires, our prayers, our actions, that God's name would be high and lifted up, the name of Christ would be high and lifted up, and we would never allow it to be pulled down. Now we know that happens, we know there are those out there who oppose the things of God, they're gonna say what they're going to say, but in so much as it rests with us, our desire should be that no one, no action of ours should ever allow anyone to think poorly of our God. That's a motivation for our lives, that we should seek the ultimate glory of God. The root of their repentance was that they would be in right relationship with God and that God's name would be glorified more than it had been because they had been in disobedience so much that judgment was coming. If we just bring it down, if we wanna, and this is, it's not fully transferable, but if we look at it this way and say, he's talking to his people, he's saying everybody within the nation Bride, bridegroom, whoever, elders, children, babies, they all need to come. I think the same thing I was talking about a moment ago is true. We can, as the people of God, I think no longer say, hey, you know, the pastors, the deacons, the Sunday school teachers, they'll take care of that. Oh no, they need to do their part, yeah. or the older folks in the church that have been doing this a long time, they've got that well in hand, they're praying, they're serving. No, or sometimes the older folks say, well, I've done my time. Well, the younger folks, they need to be about that. The folks coming up, sure, they need to be about that too. But guess what? There's no retirement in the household of God, right? In the economy of God, we're all servants until we die. There's no one within the scope of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ that doesn't have a role to play. And if it's time to repent, we repent together. If it's time to serve, we serve together. If it's time to proclaim the truth, we proclaim the truth together. If it's time to rebuke evil, we rebuke evil together. I think it would be easy to say and see, look, there's much judgment, there's much darkness. It looks like dark days are settling in on us. It's probably kind of self-centered because we could say around the world that's happened in a lot of ways, but it does seem to be encroaching on us here more than it ever has. And so I think the answer to the judgment of God falling on an individual, falling on a family, falling on a nation, the call to repentance rend your hearts not your garments don't put on a show for anyone lay yourself broken before the Lord allow him to show you the way forward allow him to show you the way towards restoration love him honor him serve him if he relents praise God if he doesn't and you got to walk through it then praise God in it and just ultimately realize what we'll talk about next time is there is a Refreshing, there is restoration, there is hope and glory on the horizon if we'll trust in God, repenting of our sins, and believing that He is our Lord, He is our Master, and He is the One who has it all in His hands. Restoration is coming for God's people. Trust Him in it, repent when necessary, and point others to the reality of restoration possible in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Lord, I thank You for the day. I ask You that You would use this message this message of difficulty and judgment, Lord, that it might be used to motivate us in our own hearts toward repentance, that it might be used to build in us a fire to proclaim, Lord, your love and your mercy and even, yes, your judgment to a world that doesn't understand it. The judgments on the horizon and repentance and faith is the only answer. Lord, work in our hearts that we might be used by you to be a part of working in the hearts of others. Lord, help us, empower us, strengthen us, we pray in Christ's name. Amen. And amen. Thank y'all.