IN THE 8 TH CENTURY B.C. , God gave Joel visions of events to come at various times in an as-yet-unrealized future, including one great event. He was one of the twelve minor prophets of the O.T., and wrote prophetically and apocalyptically that “day of the Lord is near . ” (Joel 1:15b) As his book opens, in the first chapter, he voices a call to holiness within those who minister in the house of the Lord; in the second chapter, he gives a portent of an ominous and fateful time, not only in Israel, but in all mankind’s history.
Regarding the priests, he says that a great expression of sorrow must overcome God’s priests; “wail, you who minister before the altar.” (Joel 1:13b) The Levitical priesthood was sustained by offerings from the other twelve tribes (c.f. Deut. 18:1-8). Their cries here are based on famine, “for the grain offerings and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God.” (Joel 1:13d) But something far more is implied. “For the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.” (Joel 1:15b) The sorrow and the fear of the Lord is great. “Alas for that day!” (Joel 1:15a) The priests are to “Put on sackcloth and mourn.” (Joel 1:13a) They are to “Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly.” (Joel 1:14a) This affects everyone who lives in the land. “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 1:14b) The entire nation, the priests, the king and his court, the leaders of the tribes and all within them, they all face an impending calamity.
The catastrophe to come is noted earlier in the book of Joel as a plague of locusts: “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) Immediately following, the wrath of God is described, as well as the reason for his wrath. “Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!” (Joel 1:5) “A nation has invaded my land.” (Joel 1:6) This prophecy will be progressively fulfilled three times, first when the Assyrians come from the east, next the Babylonians come from the north, and finally when the Romans come from the west. All, in their respective time, invade like a flood and conquer Israel. Each time the wrath of God is poured out on his people, and each time more severely. Each time, they lose their land; and with the final invasion by Rome, the Jews lose their land for two thousand years.
In the second chapter, Joel opens with “Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill.” (Joel 2:1a) The warning is critical. As the nation is called to gather from all across Israel, the sound of the shofar is to be heard continuously from the pinnacles of the temples. A strong sense of anxiety permeates the message, affecting the reason and the very heart and soul of all. The message is dire and clear: “Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was of old nor ever will be in ages to come.” (Joel 2:2)
This is no longer merely prophetic in some future sense; this is apocalyptic and signifies a unique future end-time event. Nevertheless, those here quaver, for Joel says, “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.” (Joel 2:1b) The sense of gloom is present, palpable, and powerful.
Joel’s apocalyptic prophecy about the great ‘day of the Lord’ can only be understood through the lens of the revelation of scripture in the N.T., through Jesus’ warnings in the Olivet Discourses (c.f. Matt. 24:1-35; Mark 13:1-31; Luke 21:5-38), and many of Apostles’ writings. These complete Joel’s warnings, even as we await this same ‘day of the Lord.’ Certainly, there are presently “wars and rumors of war ” (Matt. 24:6), “false prophets” (Mark 13:5-6), and “great earthquakes, famines and pestilences” (Luke 21:9). There are also currently great plagues of locusts across northern Africa and extending into the Middle East in Iraq and Iran, and famine is following, especially in Africa. The Covid pandemic has brought the world of commerce and culture to its knees.
There is a greater famine to fear. “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord, when I will send a famine through the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.” (Amos 8:11-12) This also is both prophetic and apocalyptic. It happened repeatedly in the fate of Israel; it is happening now in our world. In Western Europe, the cradle of Protestant Christianity, the church has become apostate, with once-mighty great cathedrals largely empty, some sold to become mercantile shops. In America, a nation rooted, blossomed and fruited through the seeds of seventeenth century Anabaptist evangelical Christianity, church adherence, by some fresh statistics, is now down to twenty-three percent, with the largest growing number of Christians claiming their church as “none.”
The lesson of history as revealed in scripture is clear. When the priesthood fails, the nation fails. It doesn’t happen in a single event, but it ends in a single event. When the priesthood strays into the ways of the world, the message of God to the culture becomes adulterated by culture. The more the priests become like the world, the more the people called of God remain or become worldly. The more this happens, the more the seed of the Gospel is less salt and light (c.f. Matt. 5:13-16) to the culture, and the more this culture putrefies in the dark. These are slow-moving forces, taking hundreds of years in ancient times, but moving far more quickly in the present age of information. (c.f. Dan. 12:4)
This is nothing less than the great gravitational force of hell, as old and new testaments give warning. The Psalmist says, “The wicked return to the grave, all the nations that forget God.” (Psa. 9:17) The Book of Revelation literally gives the last word about this: “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” (Rev. 21:8)
As practicing Christians, including pastors and priests and all people of God, you and I included, are called not only to be different from the world, but to speak that difference into the world. This is the time and this is the day to do this. Father, give us the power and boldness of your Holy Spirit to contend against the dark powers of the world around us. “Enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.” (Acts 4:29) Help us to “be prepared in season and out of season” (2 Tim. 4:2), and all the more so as we “see the Day approaching.” (Heb. 10:25) Father we know that we “were bought with a price.” (1 Cor. 6:20) Therefore, Father, as we submit our lives daily to the control of Jesus, strengthen us by your Holy Spirit. “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Gal. 6:9)
Q. As a priest in the priesthood of believers, is my heart broken enough over the condition of the church to fast and pray?
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