Joel 2:17-18
There are many suggested dates for when the book of Joel was written
. Some have suggested that it was written as early as the time
of Queen Athaliah while others would argue that Joel was written
much closer to the time of the captivity and perhaps in the time
of the prophet Isaiah But whenever it was written the occasion
for the book seems to have been an awful natural disaster in the
land when a locust plague had swept and had led to awful devastation
and the prophet takes this as a picture of the coming judgement
of the Day of the Lord.
But like all prophesies in the word of God the prophecy of Joel
has a multiple application. It had an application to the day in
which Joel lived, the locusts being a picture of an invading army.
It also has an application to a day to come but there is an application
to ourselves in this day as well because there are principles
in God's word that are applicable to every age. And that is certainly
so of this prophecy here. This was a day when the people had turned
away from the Lord and because of that turning there was a national
disaster that was visited upon the people. And not only was there
disaster but there was a succession of disasters Joel 1:4 says
That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten;
and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten;
and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten.
The prophet is speaking of successive ravagers in the land each
one devouring what the former had left. It is an all devouring
destruction which had come upon the land until there was little
of good that was left. All they had relied upon before and perhaps
had taken for granted had been taken away from them. Indeed whatever
plague this is was so severe that chapter 1 verse 9 tells us that
the meat offering and the drink offering were cut off. They were
is severe straits.
But what did the Lord want his people to do in the midst of all
this disaster in the land and the successive ravages that had
taken place? Well that is very plain when you read the prophecy.
There are repeated calls for repentance and prayer. Look at Joel
1:13 where the Lord says , Gird yourselves, and lament, ye
priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night
in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and
the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.
It is an awful thing when the priests and those who were to be
close to the Lord had to be called upon to pray in these awful
conditions. Then if you look in chapter 2:13 it says rend your
heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God:
for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and
of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. In those
days it was possible to buy garments that were specially made
for rending and what they did was to go out and buy these garments
and they went through an elaborate ceremony of rending them in
a mere outward show. The Lord told them it would be far better
that they rend their hearts and not their garments. Now obviously
when these people went to the trouble of rending their garments
they knew there was something to rend their garments over. Here
was obviously a recognition that there was something wrong and
more than that there was a recognition that because of what was
wrong they needed to turn to the Lord. The trouble was that they
went through a mere outward show in doing it. They did not turn
to the Lord with their heart. And isn't it so easy to do that?.
I know that within our hearts we too know that there is a great
deal that is wrong. We also know that we need to turn to the Lord
and yet we can so easily do it in a superficial way. We can go
through the thing in an outward way. The Lord says in this text
Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the
porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD,
and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should
rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where
is their God? There is a great need for us to
heed the exhortation of the Lord. There are a number of things
in this text that I want you to see.
I The Place they were to go
Notice first of all the place they were to go. It says Let
the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch
and the altar This is actually a command . The Lord is instructing
the priests and the ministers of the Lord to weep between the
porch and the altar. The place described here was right in the
inner court of the temple where only priests went. This inner
court of the temple was enclosed with a low wall with three rows
of hewn stones and a row of Cedar beams and had gaps in the wall
on each side. In the middle of this inner court stood the brasen
altar. It's position in the court was important . If you had drawn
diagonal lines from the opposite corners of the three courts of
the temple they would have crossed at the centre of the inner
court where the brasen altar was placed. Now the Lord tells them
to weep in that place between the porch and the altar. The fact
that the Lord told them here to weep in this certain place must
mean that there is something in particular about that place that
the Lord wants us to see
(a) The Place of worship It was a place that had been set aside
for them to do their duties in the worship of the Lord. It was
obviously the place where they prayed In other words it was a
special place .The Lord told them to weep there. Weep in the place
where you seek me. Weep in the place where you draw near to me!
And that is where we draw nigh to God. We have come here this
week to be in a special place with God The wonderful thing for
us to realise is that while the priests here had to weep between
the porch and the altar and could not go into the holy of holies
except in the case of the High priest once a year we have full
access. We have the right to enter right into the presence of
God by the precious blood of Christ. We have more rights than
they had and we need to make use of those rights to worship the
Lord.
But more that that they were to specifically to weep before the
altar. They were standing before the altar which was the place
where the blood was shed. In order to go into the actual temple
It was impossible for any priest not to pass the altar. The altar
was there right in the centre of that court. That altar of course
speaks to us of the shed blood of Calvary. And there can be no
plea to God that is satisfactory and no weeping that is acceptable
and no repentance that is pleasing to God that is not upon the
grounds of the precious shed blood and the sacrifice of Calvary.
We enter into the presence of God by that new and living way that
has been opened up for us through the veil that is to say His
flesh.
(b) The Place of Warfare But not only was the place between the
porch and the altar a place of worship but it was a place of warfare.
The Lord Jesus in Luke 11:51 mentions the blood of Zacharias,
which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say
unto you, It shall be required of this generation. To get
the story of this we have to turn back to 2 Chronicles 24: 20
and 21 " And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the
son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and
said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments
of the LORD, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken
the LORD, he hath also forsaken you. And they conspired against
him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king
in the court of the house of the LORD. Why did they stone
Zecharias? Because he stood for the truth and told the wicked
people that they would not prosper and because of that the wicked
people had obviously come into the inner court where they were
forbidden and there they had stoned him. In the place where he
worshipped God and prayed, the enemy had come with stones. It
reminds us that in the place where we come to worship and pray
we are not immune from the attacks of the enemy. In fact in that
place the attacks will be more vicious . We wrestle against the
flesh and the devil. there is a fleshly energy and there is a
satanic enemy. In Daniel 10 we have an indication of the spiritual
warfare in prayer. Daniel was assured that immediately he had
asked God had answered but the angel that spoke to him told him
that he had been resisted by the prince of the kingdom of Persia
for twenty-one days. The devil had tried to prevent an answer
to prayer. We are given little information in God's word about
these spiritual warfare's but we know they are real and when we
come to the Lord in prayer it is certainly a place of warfare.
(c) The Place of Weeping But not only was this place between the
porch and the altar a place of worship and a place of warfare
but it was a place of Weeping. The Lord told the priests to go
and weep there. The only remedy for the awful situation in the
land was for the priests to weep before the Lord. Weeping is not
something you can call up at will. We can come with the right
words and we can say them in the right way but weeping is only
something that comes from a heart that has really been broken.
You cannot counterfeit tears. Of course the Lord delights in a
broken heart. David said The sacrifices of God are
a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt
not despise. It is something that comes from the heart
and what the Lord was calling upon these priests to do was to
come with all their hearts and with true contrition. Do our hearts
weep today? Are our eyes filled with tears. We have to confess
how little we weep and yet that is the requirement of the Lord
in the situation in which we find ourselves.
II The Prayer they were to offer
But not only do we see the place he was to go but notice the prayer
he was to offer. Not only did the lord tell them about the place
they were to go but He tells them the very words they were to
pray. He says let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give
not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over
them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is
their God? Now this is particularly interesting
because this is a prayer that is given by the Lord himself. It
was the prayer that the Lord wanted them to pray in their particular
circumstances. Every true prayer is a prayer that has been born
in and has been prompted by heaven but this is particularly so
and for that reason we should notice the kind of pleas the Lord
wants us to make. Notice some of the arguments they bring
(a) The Mercy of the Lord The very first thing the Lord wants
them to plead is the mercy of the Lord. This is a prayer of supplication.
He tells them to pray Spare Lord Spare Lord Calvin
gives the meaning of the word "Spare" as "be propitious".
It is a word that comes from a root which means to have pity or
have compassion. Indeed the root word is one that is specially
related to the eyes. It means to "look upon us pitifully
or mercifully" So this is a plea for the mercy of the Lord.
Now when we plead for mercy it is a recognition that we in ourselves
have nothing to bring. There is no way that we can get out of
these difficulties ourselves and of course that is a truth that
is underlined everywhere in the Word of God. The priests and the
ministers had to acknowledge that there was no work they could
do. In pleading for mercy they were really acknowledging their
own helplessness. And of course it is only when we acknowledge
our own helplessness that we will really cry. Being human if we
think there is anything we can do we will try to do it but the
best plea is the plea for the mercy of the Lord. But the argument
of mercy is a good argument to plead because the Lord is merciful.
Joel says as much Himself in verse 13 of this chapter. Notice
what he says and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious
and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth
him of the evil. The Lord is a merciful God. He delights to
show his mercy. But the plea for mercy is also encouraging because
if we had to earn God's favour or work for God's favour we would
never have it because there is none of us who would ever deserve
the least of God's mercies but because it just depends on mercy
we can come with confidence We need to plead the mercy of the
Lord.
(b) The Maintenance of the covenant The second thing that God
wants them to plead is the maintenance of the covenant. O LORD,
and give not thine heritage to reproach, The word heritage
is a word that means inheritance or possession. They were God's
possession. So The priests and the ministers were told to plead
the covenant. We read in the Bible of many great prayers where
this is the plea that was made to the Lord. In Numbers 14 we read
about the way the children of Israel murmured against Moses and
Aaron after the ten spies had brought back the evil report about
the land of Canaan.. We read of the anger of the Lord against
the people and the Lord said " I will smite them with
the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater
nation and mightier than they." But the intention of
the Lord was that Moses should plead the covenant. Moses did that.
We read it in Numbers 14 :13-16 " And Moses said unto
the LORD, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for thou broughtest
up this people in thy might from among them;) And they will tell
it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou
LORD art among this people, that thou LORD art seen face to face,
and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before
them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire
by night. Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then
the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying,
Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land
which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the
wilderness. He said that the heathen would say that the Lord
was not able to keep His people, and that the people he had promised
a land of milk and honey to were not brought there. Lord these
are thy covenant people. That was the pleading of the man of God.
Now the Lord says to the ministers and priests. Make that plea.
Lord think of thine inheritance, Think of thy possession. And
the Lord was telling them to make that plea. He was giving that
argument for them to bring to Himself.
But not only were they to plead the mercy of the Lord and the
maintenance of the covenant but they were to plead:-
( c) The mockery of the heathen. They were to say give not
thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over
them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is
their God . Really this was a plea for the
glory of God. The reason was that the heritage of God's people
could not be exposed to the reproaches of the heathen without
God's glory also being subject to reproach among the nations.
The plea was that if the Lord was to give the people what they
deserved then the Lord's name would also be derided. The heathen
would say that the fall of God's people would also be a fall of
the Lord. And so these priests and ministers when they were praying
for their own salvation were to set before them the glory of God.
And why should the heathen of this day say that there is no God.
Should it not grieve us to the very depths of our souls when we
look at those all around us who live as if there was no God and
mock and sneer at those who love Him. The Psalmist cried from
the depths of his heart in Psalm 42: 3 My tears have been my
meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where
is thy God? He went on in verse 10 of the same
Psalm As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies
reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is
thy God? Is it a cause of tears to you? Is it like a sword in
your bones to hear the name of the Lord mocked and derided.
But these are the pleas that the Lord has set out . These are
the arguments that we are to present to the Lord. What better
arguments than to bring the Lord's own arguments to Himself.
III The Promise they were given
But not only does this passage speak of the Place they were
directed and the Prayer that was dictated but of the promise they
were given The Lord answers prayer. Look at verses 18 "
Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people.
. Notice the wonderful promises that are given in the passage.
If they would call then the Lord would answer. The Lord promises
in Jeremiah 33:3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and
shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
Notice some things about the promise to those who cry unto
the Lord.
(a) The Type of the Provision It was to be a the required grace.
They were given what they needed. There were a number of things
that the book of Joel says about the condition in the land. The
first is that the land had been devoured. It speaks of a nation
that had come upon the land which had laid the vine waste. It
speaks of the locust and the cankerworm and the caterpillar. The
land was in desolation but the Lord said he would send them what
they needed. Verse 19 says Yea, the LORD will answer and say
unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil,
and ye shall be satisfied therewith: He would send them corn
and wine and oil. Then the people were complaining about the fact
that they were being ruled by ungodly men who mocked at the Lord
and the Lord said I will remove far off from you the northern
army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with
his face toward the east sea, The Lord met them just at the
point of their need. The Lord provided the thing they wanted most
and the thing that they needed
But not only was it the required grace and but it was a restoring
grace. Verse 25 says " And I will restore to you the years
that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar,
and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. What
are the locust years? The locust years are the dead years and
the unfruitful years. The locust years are the years of great
disappointment. Perhaps it was a year that promised so much and
ended with little Those locust years are gone as far as time is
concerned but the Lord can give us the fruit of them. the Lord
can give the wasted blessings. Through repentance all that had
been lost by sin could be restored. The Lord gives back that which
has been wasted. That is the great grace of God.
But not only is it restoring grace but it is refreshing grace.
" Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD
your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and
he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain,
and the latter rain in the first month. The latter rain always
fell in the first month and since no-one would need to be told
that the latter rain would fall in the first month some have said
that the Lord would send the latter rain "at the first"
or when it is needed. But the rain was going to produce the abundance.
It was the refreshing shower from heaven that was going to take
away the barreness. Certainly we need the refreshing grace of
the showers of God's blessings at this time. We need the rain
to come and turn the barrenness into beauty.
We think of type of the blessing. It is just the blessing we need
The Timing but then we should think of the timing of the blessing
We notice the word at the start of verse 18 Then will the LORD
be jealous for his land, The word "Then" directs
our attention to what went before. What does the "then"
indicate? It indicates what the Lord had directed the priests
and the ministers and the people to do It would only be fulfilled
when the priests, and the ministers of the LORD, would
weep between the porch and the altar The provision was promised
when they wept. And when they called on the name of the Lord.
2 Chronicles 7:14 says.
" If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble
themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked
ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin,
and will heal their land .Let us turn and weep. Let us come
with all of our hearts to the Lord and pray for the refreshing
and restoration that we need.