We’re into the final two sections of the book of Joel and we’re now in part of the book where it finally starts to take a turn for the positive, where God’s people have been challenged to repent, and we now get to see God’s response for when they do so. The last two weeks described judgement on God’s people in the southern kingdom of Judah, and called them to repentance for their disobedience, and it was fairly simple to make the connection to see how those texts could still be relevant and applicable for us today. A passage that calls for turning from sin and turning to God, all for the sake of his glory can obviously draw our mind to our own struggles, temptations, and disobedience and what we should do about them.
Today’s passage is a little less obvious, at least in my opinion, because the majority of the verses are focused on God turning from his punishment, showing mercy, and even blessing the very people he had just been disciplining. While God has shown us all mercy, particularly through the person and work of Jesus Christ, he is not necessarily going to bless us or relent of discipline in the exact same ways he did for his people in Joel. This is a specific story of God’s mercy and blessing, not a template, not a “if you do this, God will do that” scenario, necessarily.
Specifically, in today’s passage we’re going to see God offering deliverance to his people, relenting of his discipline and blessing them through meeting their physical needs after the army and the locust invasions. He then promises a future deliverance available to all people, where he will offer to meet their spiritual needs through the outpouring of his Spirit.
SERMON MANUSCRIPT
We’re into the final two sections of the book of Joel. If you have a Bible with you, you can turn there now. We’re now in part of the book where it finally starts to take a turn for the positive, where God’s people have been challenged to repent, and we now get to see God’s response for when they do so.
Before we start into today’s text, I think it’s important to start with a bit of an acknowledgement: The last two weeks described judgement on God’s people in the southern kingdom of Judah, and called them to repentance for their disobedience, and it was fairly simple to make the connection to see how those texts could still be relevant and applicable for us today. That is to say, even though we aren’t Judah, we obviously still struggle with sin in all sorts of ways, choosing to put our own desires above God and his commands. So, a passage that calls for turning from sin and turning to God, all for the sake of his glory can obviously draw our mind to our own struggles, temptations, and disobedience and what we should do about them.
Today’s passage is a little less obvious, at least in my opinion, because the majority of the verses are focused on God turning from his punishment, showing mercy, and even blessing the very people he had just been disciplining. A sentiment that seems great, but we want to be cautious about directly applying it to our own scenarios with a 1-to-1 correlation. In other words, while God has shown us all mercy, particularly through the person and work of Jesus Christ, he is not necessarily going to bless us or relent of discipline in the exact same ways he did for his people in Joel. This is a specific story of God’s mercy and blessing, not a template, not a “if you do this, God will do that” scenario, necessarily.
That being said, as I’ve mentioned multiple times throughout this series already, God chose to inspire Joel to write these words in his Holy Scripture for a purpose, and so clearly there is still something for us to learn and apply from this text. Specifically, in today’s passage we’re going to see God offering deliverance to his people, relenting of his discipline and blessing them through meeting their physical needs after the army and the locust invasions. He then promises a future deliverance available to all people, where he will offer to meet their spiritual needs through the outpouring of his Spirit.
But let’s start with his people in verse 18.
PHYSICAL NEEDS (18–27):
Read Joel 2:18. I was chatting about this verse with someone while I was working on this sermon, and they asked “Why is God relenting? It’s such a contrast to what we just read. It’s so quick!” It’s a great question. It’s so interesting to me what Joel has chosen to say, and perhaps more interesting is what he has chosen not to say. More than once he has called God’s people to repentance without naming specific sin or disobedience, just leaving it assumed. And here we see sort of the same thing, only now it’s the repentance that’s assumed. He’s called for it, and now here is God’s follow-up intention, assuming they do so.
This verse really seems like a reminder that even in his discipline, God cares for his people. He has brought discipline out of love, and ultimately will have compassion for their suffering. And I feel like I’m understanding this more every new day as a parent. The giant mixed-bag of emotions that comes with not wanting to see your children suffering, but knowing there are times that they need to face discipline and punishment for their own good, to help shape them into the people they need to be.
Specifically, in this case, God is going to demonstrate his compassion by not only relenting, but also blessing his people by almost “making up” for all of the suffering they have gone through at the hands of the invading army of chapter 2 and the locusts of chapter 1. And to really understand this section we have to go back to that classic “sandwich” structure you’ve probably heard us talk about here before, where topics and themes are repeated at the beginning and end of a section in a way that points you to focus on the “meat” in the center.
We start with the bread of the sandwich, verse 19, and then verses 26 and 27. Notice the repetition. Read Joel 2:19. Read Joel 2:26–27. When we look closely, we can see that there are actually three themes repeated in these verses:
First is the Lord and his people, which acknowledges how he deals with his people by answering their call, the people praising his name, his presence in their midst, his identity as Lord and no one else. Next is the provision of food. We see grain, new wine, and oil, which we talked about back in chapter 1 as being a stand-in statement for all agriculture. We see talk of being satisfied, filled with the provided food, plenty to eat (leading to that aforementioned praise). And finally, repeated an extra time, we see the theme of shame and disgrace among the nations, showing that God heard their specific cry at the end of last week’s section, chapter 2 verse 17, “Spare Your people, Lord, And do not make Your inheritance a disgrace, With the nations jeering at them. Why should those among the peoples say, ‘Where is their God?’”
Notice both 26 and 27 end with that same sentence: “And my people will never be put to shame”, and verse 19 ends with very similar: “I will never again make you a disgrace among the nations”. By blessing his people with agricultural provision, God is actually delivering them from any potential shame or disgrace from other nations; those who may have questioned his goodness or his power to save and provide. And in doing do, he is also promising a future provision where this sort of shame and disgrace will never again be present.
So already we can see that deliverance physically is inherently connected to both emotional and spiritual deliverance. And we know this is true. There’s a reason Paul had to “learn” to be content in all circumstances, to learn “the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need” in Philippians 4.
When I was a young kid, my family didn’t have a lot of money. I don’t think it was often that we didn’t have enough, but we definitely didn’t have much extra. Our family vacations (which I loved at the time), involved camping 20 minutes down the road so my dad could still go to work every day, because we didn’t know how much work he would have in the winter. Meanwhile, other families were spending their winters taking trips to Disney or the Caribbean.
I remember trying to fit in and keep up with the fads and trends, and more than once coming to school with the cheap knock-off version of whatever the new thing was. I thought mine was just as cool, but everyone else quickly put me in my place. I remember asking my parents why we couldn’t afford the things everyone else had, the new vehicles, the new video game consoles, the toys, the dirt bikes, the snowmobiles.
I don’t remember a specific moment when I started feeling ashamed and embarrassed about our situation, but it was definitely there at some point. And I know that at least at one point someone at school made fun of me for being poor and questioned both my parents’ love for me, and their competence and ability to provide. I knew in my heart it wasn’t true, but that didn’t stop the sting. And I can’t imagine how much worse it would’ve felt for my parents if they knew the things that were being said.
Part of God’s compassion for his people is that he doesn’t want them to see them going through situations like this, where the other nations question his love for them or his ability to provide for them. He knows that they are suffering in discipline, and his people know that, but the nations around who are slandering God and his people don’t. And so part of his blessed deliverance in this section is him providing an abundance for his people so that no one else could question his care or his competence.
And we see even more of this power on display in the next verses. Let’s continue in a layer to the toppings on our sandwich, verses 20 and 25. Read Joel 2:20. Read Joel 2:25. If you were here for the past two weeks, I’m sure you notice the ways these verses make reference back to the first two sections of the book. Verse 20 clearly alludes to the invading army in the beginning of chapter 2 and shows the control God has over it. It was his army, after all.
The comments about the stench of decay could simply be an acknowledgement that the invaders will die. It could also be more implying they will die and remain unburied, which would be considered a very shameful situation, especially coming out of what was just discussed. Either way, it is a statement of these invaders getting what they deserve for the “great things” they have done—in this case great meaning vast or impressive, not positive, despite how we commonly use the English word now.
Verse 25 goes back to the locusts, quoting chapter 1 with reference to the waves of locusts, the swarming, creeping, stripping, and gnawing. Notice that they, too, are referred to as a great army, sent by God, confirming again that this was no natural phenomenon, but divine judgement. And yet notice the demonstration of God’s compassion at the beginning of 25, “Then I will compensate you for the years that…” It’s like, “You lost a lot in that judgement, so I’m going to repay you for it (even though you deserved it)”. Think about that for a moment! That’s wild!
Imagine a parent, disciplining their child. “You lied to me about doing your homework, and so as punishment, you aren’t allowed to go to that slumber party on the weekend.” But then after the weekend is over, going to the child and saying “I know it sucked that you couldn’t go to that party, so how about you invite your friends over for your own party this weekend? I’ll even make all the snacks!”
After a while I’d start wondering “what’s the point of the punishment if you’re just going to reward them after it?” And I’ll be honest, I don’t fully understand God’s reasoning here, beyond the things we just talked about a moment ago, and the knowledge that he has a plan and purpose for his people. And because, while the parent/child analogy works for a lot of things when we talk about God’s loving discipline, at the end of the day, the relationship God has with his people is so much more than that. And an understanding of the depths of his motivation is not something I need as someone who is not God. What is clear is he loves his people and will not only relent of his discipline, but will bless them with abundance.
Before we move on, there’s one more thing I want us to notice, and that is the shift in voice that happens throughout actually this whole section. Back in verse 19, Joel introduces a statement from the Lord directly by saying “The Lord will answer and say to His people”. But as the passage progresses, we see him switching back and forth between his voice and the Lord’s, confirming that with his prophetic authority, he is speaking on behalf of God. Specifically, it seems as though verses 19 and 20 are God’s voice, 21–24 are Joel’s, and then 25–27 are back to God’s. Which is interesting when it seems as though those middle verses, 21–24, seem to be the meat that this scripture sandwich is pointing our attention to.
Let’s read these verses. Read Joel 2:21–24. It’s clear that this is the core topic of this section of scripture for a number of reasons. Not only is it at the central funnel point of all this repetition, and not only does the voice change from God’s to Joel’s, But you’ll notice this is the only section of verses that has commands in it. It reads sort of like a “what and why” section. Verse 21 stands in contrast to the moaning and quaking land of chapter 1 and earlier in chapter 2, and probably is referring more to “the land and all its inhabitants” And it has it’s own “why”: “For the Lord has done great things”, even greater than the now-decaying army in verse 20.
Verse 22 points back to a few places in chapter 1, where the animals groan, wander, suffer, and pant for the Lord, their pastures dried and burned. It points back to the vine and the fig tree, which we talked about being symbols of God’s blessing and the strength of Israel. Verse 23 adds some emphasis through repetition of what is clearly a central theme here: shouting for joy and rejoicing in the Lord, which points to gratitude and worship for the things he has done. Bringing the fall and the spring rain, in contrast to the fiery imagery in chapter 1 and 2, showing his control over the very weather, that which they need for the growth of successful crops. Back in chapter 1 there was no grain or wine for the offerings, but now in verse 24 the threshing floors are full, the vats are overflowing.
This isn’t just enough, this is an abundance of provision And that ought to be enough reason to inspire all in the land to courage, not fear, and shouts of joy and rejoicing, praising their God for all he is and all he’s done.
All these verses, 18 through 27, paint a picture of a compassionate God who has special plans to bless and restore his people, through relenting of his discipline and meeting their physical needs for sustenance and deliverance, all of which ought to point them to worship him rightly and with gratitude.
Now, when we think of the relevance of this section, we want to go back to that idea that although we serve the same God now, and he does have the same character he had then, he won’t necessarily respond to us and our needs (real or perceived) in the same way that he did with his people at this time. But the reality is, we do still ask for God’s provision regularly, or at least I hope we do! We asked for his blessing, his healing, perhaps even that same sustenance and meeting of physical needs. And a question this text leads me to ask is how do we respond in those times when God actually gives us what we ask for or beyond?
Show of hands, how many people here have ever prayed for, or asked for prayer for safe travel before a trip? You don’t have to put up your hands for this one, but I wonder how many of us make a point of thanking God for that safe travel when we actually get there? And does it ever resemble what’s called for here: a shout for joy, rejoicing in the Lord our God?
In 1996 a video game console was released called the Nintendo 64 (yes, it was one of those ones I asked my parents why we couldn’t afford). Two years later, at Christmas 1998, brother and sister Brandon and Rachel tore open the wrapping paper and discovered one of these prized devices under their tree, while being filmed on the family camcorder. Eight years later, the video was uploaded and became one of the earliest examples of a viral video on Youtube, amassing over 25 million views.
The reason? The kids had the absolute best reaction you could ever hope for when opening a present. There were yelps and shouts of glee, there was laughter, tears of happiness, “Yes yes yes yes!” and my personal favourite: “now we can play the games from Blockbuster!”
I was confronted this week by the question: when was the last time my reaction to God’s constant blessings and provisions resembled even a quarter of the excitement those kids had on Christmas morning? Could it even be described as rejoicing? You watch the video of these kids and you can’t help but smile. Does my response to God have that sort of contagiousness?
Well the blessings don’t stop there. I’ll be honest, I struggled a bit this week with whether or not this was the place to stop this sermon, because the next section of verses seem, at first glance, to be more than a little disjointed. But ultimately, we’ll see that they too, in their own way, point to a promise of a blessed provision and a divine deliverance, and so it’s my understanding that they fit into this larger section.
SPIRITUAL NEEDS (28–32):
Let’s start with 28 and 29. Read Joel 2:28–29. It’s now that we finally start getting into the section that I alluded to back in week 1 that points ahead to the future, at least in part. And when read right after the verses we just looked at, we can almost hear the tone “You think that’s good. You ain’t seen nothing yet!” In a way that almost mirrors the “this is bad, it’s going to get worse” in chapter 1.
There’s clearly a passing of time in the phrase “It will come about after this”, and then God just drops this massive statement. Although, I’m curious how big of an impact this promise would have had on the original audience. We know it’s huge and important because we’ve actually experienced the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit. In fact, Peter actually quotes these verses and the next few specifically in his famous sermon in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost, pointing to at least their partial fulfilment.
Either way, Joel’s readers and hearers would understand that God’s Spirit is something special, and it most-likely would have blown their minds to think about his Spirit being poured out on anyone other than certain special prophets and priests. Sons and daughters? Old and young? Slave and free? It’s available to all of them. And while the original audience probably would have heard or read this and thought it meant “all of Israel”, we know now that the offer didn’t stop there, but involved Jew and Gentile alike, through belief in Jesus Christ.
But it doesn’t stop there. Read Joel 2:30–32. Another Day of the Lord, this one marked with celestial wonders in the sky, blood, fire, and smoke pointing to destruction and loss. This is the great and awesome Day of the Lord that is still to come. A day when anyone who calls on the name of Lord will be saved, or another translation is “will flee to safety”. This is the means by which God’s people will have the opportunity to avoid that future, eternally damning judgement: by calling on the name of the Lord.
We know that he’s clearly saying something special to Israel here, with his references again to Jerusalem and Mount Zion, and yet we also know that this reality is true for us as well. In fact, Paul quotes this verse in Romans 10, when he talks about the expanding of God’s people to include the gentiles. Read Romans 10:9–13.
It’s a promised gift, perhaps beyond the comprehension of the ones it is being promised to, and yet one that years later Peter and Paul recognized as being of supreme importance. In the same way, I was thinking about how it’s easy for us to recognize and think about our physical needs, and even our physical wants. But how often do we even think about our spiritual ones? Do we even know what we need? Perhaps the question would be better as “Do we need to know our spiritual needs, or is it more important to know the one who can provide for them?” I don’t need to know what medicine can cure my illness, but I definitely want a doctor who does.
The same is true of this passage. I don’t know how big of an impact this promise would have made to Joel’s original audience. But I know it was an invitation to trust that what he has in store is great and wonderful. And that is something they can trust and rejoice in because of what he has just demonstrated and provided, delivering them from their dire circumstances. It’s a call to enjoy what he has given and to use that as motivation to excitedly await what is still to come.
CONCLUSION:
Now, we might be a little further down the line, having access to the indwelt Spirit of God by belief in Jesus, but the call is the same. Rejoice in the Lord’s deliverance and provision, and eagerly anticipate the deliverance and provision that is still to come. Practically speaking, this week I want to challenge us to look to rejoice and be grateful for the “little things”. Praise God when you get safely to work! Rejoice in the Lord when you get positive results from the doctor! Shout for joy when you have enough money to pay your bills or get a good grade on a test or when you get a job interview!
And as we grow more and more accustomed to praising him and thanking him in the day to day, recognizing just how much blessing he provides, it will continue to grow in us that excitement as we wait for what he still has for us in the future. And it will help us to continue to grow in appreciation for the greatest gift of all, the gift of Jesus Christ, so that by believing in him and calling on his name, we will be saved.