Shall we turn in our Bibles to the
book of Joel?
Joel is a prophet of which we have
no light of his background, except what he
gives to us.
He is the son of Pethuel, but who
Pethuel is, we don't know.
So it really doesn't help us that much.
Joel was a prophet to Judah, that is
the southern kingdom.
He probably was familiar with Elijah, and no
doubt was well acquainted with Elisha, because the
time of his prophecy pretty much corresponds to
the time that Elisha was prophesying to Israel,
the northern kingdom.
Joel was prophesying in Judah, the southern kingdom.
And in those days they did have schools
for the prophets, where the prophets would gather
together in these schools.
Elisha conducted a school for the prophets, and
so Joel was no doubt acquainted with Elisha.
But of his background, nothing is really known.
Now in chapter 1, he speaks of a
plague of locusts.
And in the text, we read the palmer
worm, the locusts, the canker worm, and the
caterpillar.
Actually, these words have been translated from the
Hebrew words, and rather than being different insects,
in the Hebrew, all of them relate to
the different aspects of the locusts in its
developing stages.
When it is first born, eating the small
little things, and then as it grows and
develops, finally consuming everything that is in the
land.
So, they had probably had one of the
terrible plagues of locusts that in history often
times afflicted that land.
And after this terrible affliction of the locusts,
Joel speaks, and he takes and likens it
unto the coming judgment of God that will
be coming upon the land.
So, in chapter 1, there is an immediate
reference to an experience of desolation that the
land has just experienced as the result of
this plague of locusts.
There are spiritual analogies that are made to
it, and then he uses that as the
springboard to go in to tell of the
desolation that is going to come to the
land in the last days, as there will
be armies that will be coming, covering the
earth like locusts cover the earth, and just
desolating the land.
So, this is the word of the Lord
that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel,
Hear this, ye old men, and give ear
all ye inhabitants of the land.
Hath this been in your days, or even
in the days of your fathers?
Do you ever remember anything quite like this?
Do you ever remember such a desolation?
Tell to your children of it, and let
your children tell their children, and their children
another generation.
Now, in those days, of course, most of
the history was passed by word of mouth,
as the fathers would relate to their children,
and then the grandfathers would relate to their
grandchildren, and then the grandchildren would say, well,
my grandfather told me, you know, and thus
the oral traditions and the oral history that
was passed down.
And much of the history was preserved through
this oral tradition, as they would pass from
one generation to another, the knowledge of the
things that had transpired.
Now, it was the purpose of God that
there be the transmission of knowledge within the
families.
Oftentimes, there were things that were established as
memorials, the feast that God had ordered.
All of them were for the purpose of
remembering their history, to remember the work of
God.
And so, the feast of tabernacles, they were
reminded of how their forefathers were preserved through
the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness.
So, they would build these little booths, and
move out of their houses into these little
makeshift lean-tos next to their house.
And as they were building them, of course,
the children would participate.
They would go out and gather the palm
branches, and come dragging the palm branch with
their dad.
Daddy, what are we doing with this, you
know, palm branch?
Why are we making this little house here?
And of course, the kids would always be
excited about making a house to move into.
You know how children are on things like
that.
But the father would say, well, there was
a time when our forefathers, first, were coming
to the land.
As they came out of Egypt, they spent
40 years out in the wilderness.
But the whole time they were in the
wilderness, God fed them, God cared for them,
God watched over them.
And it gave the fathers a chance to
talk to their children about how God had
so moved in the history of those people.
The Passover, the same thing.
And even at the Passover, they developed the
traditional question.
The child would say, Daddy, what makes this
night different from all other nights?
And then the father rehearses the history of
their deliverance out of Egypt.
And the purpose was to transmit the faith
and the trust in God from one generation
to another generation.
And God looked at the home as the
place for the transmitting of this information down
the line.
And surely the home should be the place
for the children to learn and to understand
of the things of God.
And you should be rehearsing and relating to
your children that work of God that went
in your own life, that work of God
that you have seen.
One beautiful thing about my mother was she
was a good storyteller.
And she was always telling us the stories
of how God answered prayer, how God had
worked in her life and in the family
history, the work of God.
And she would rehearse it for us and
it was embedded in our hearts, that learning
to trust in God.
If we were sick, then she'd tell us
of how God had healed us in the
time past.
When I had a terrible fever and my
brother had asthma and things of this nature.
And she'd rehearse to us the work of
God in the past and thus it is
implanted in the heart and in the mind
of the child and then of course they
carry on.
So I rehearsed to my children many of
the stories that my mother rehearsed to me
of the work of God in our own
family in times past.
When the children of Israel came through the
Jordan River, God stopped the Jordan River at
flood season and they were able to pass
over the Jordan River without getting wet, without
going into the water for God stopped the
flow of the Jordan River in the flood
season.
Now, as they came through, they had men
from each of the tribes take stones from
the bottom of the Jordan River and put
a pile of stones on the bank of
the river when they came up out of
the river.
They laid up this pile of stones and
the purpose was in the future as you're
coming with your children, you're walking along this
way and they see this strange pile of
stones and your children say, Daddy, what is
that pile of stones there?
Then the daddies had the opportunity to tell
their children how God had worked a miracle
in bringing them into the land for the
Jordan River that they saw them flowing by
was stopped and the people came through on
dry land because God stopped the flow to
bring them into the land and they were
able to rehearse for their children the things
of God and it is God's purpose that
this transmitting of knowledge, the knowledge of Him,
should be within the family from generation to
generation.
So it is our obligation to transmit it
to the next generation and it then becomes
their obligation to transmit it to the next
generation and on down the line, this oral
tradition and the transmitting of knowledge within the
families.
Unfortunately, with the advent of radio, much of
this transmission was lost and in my days,
the kids were listening to Lux Radio Theater
and Gangbusters and all of these radio serials,
Little Orphan Annie and Jack Armstrong, the All
-American Boy and the tradition of conversation began
to suffer with the advent of radio and
of course TV almost has devastated the tradition
of oral transmission of knowledge and now the
children are entertained by the TV and there's
very little just conversation within the family where
you spend a whole evening just sitting and
talking, sitting and telling stories, sitting and that
and something vital I feel has been lost
from the family unit by the invasion in
our homes of radio and of television and
of these other things that have taken away
from the real honest relating heart to heart
to people and that oral communication and all
and I think that a part of the
breakdown of our society is surely traceable to
the advent of entertainment in the home by
way of radio and television but Joel
encourages this oral transmission of knowledge now he
begins to tell about this terrible plague that
which the palmer worm hath left the locust
has eaten and that which the locust has
left the canker worm has eaten and that
which the canker worm has left the caterpillar
has eaten as I said these Hebrew words
are devour and chewer and all and they
are referring to the stages of the development
of the locust so awake ye drunkards weep
and howl all of you drinkers of wine
because of the new wine for it is
cut off from your mouth so the first
people to be affected evidently the plague began
in the fall now the last harvest gathered
is the grape harvest in the land it's
the last crop to be harvested so the
plague began at the time of the grape
harvest and devoured all of the grapes so
that there was no new wine drinking had
become a very great problem in Israel it
is referred to by many of the prophets
the drunkenness of the people had become a
severe problem they were the first that were
going to suffer as the result of this
plague the other crops had already been harvested
but the grapes but in the spring the
new infestation you see all of the eggs
were left and in the spring even a
new and greater infestation that absolutely destroyed everything
come springtime we don't yet know what
is going to happen in California come springtime
when the larvae of these medflies began to
hatch there are many who are predicting an
infestation far worse than we experienced this last
summer because of the larvae that is in
the ground already of the medflies and it
there are dire prophecies being made by many
of the scientists of even a worse infestation
this next spring and summer and it makes
things look even worse for our governor I
saw a bumper sticker a while back that
I was found very amusing it said the
fruits got him in and the flies will
get him out now
the Lord immediately likens this plague to a
nation that is coming upon the land strong
and without number whose teeth are like the
teeth of a lion and the jaw teeth
like a great lion and God cried out
He hath laid my vine waste God often
times likened Israel unto a vine Isaiah the
sixth chapter a whole chapter devoted to God's
vineyard the vine that he planted hedged it
about put a wine press in and all
and how it failed to bring forth fruit
Jesus said I am the vine, ye are
the branches every branch in me that bringeth
forth fruit and so this likeness of God's
people to the vine but there is also
a likeness of Israel to the fig tree
and in the prophecy of Hosea he likens
them to the first ripe of the fig
tree in the ninth chapter the tenth verse
in the book of Jeremiah God likens Israel
to a basket of figs so rotten that
they are good for nothing they have to
be thrown out here again God cries they
have barked my fig tree I believe that
when Jesus in talking to his disciples about
the end times and the signs of his
return when he said to them you can
now learn a parable of the fig tree
that he is making reference to the nation
of Israel which God has likened unto a
fig tree and thus I believe that that
parable that Jesus made of the fig tree
has tremendous significance in this day in which
we live as he said that the sign
of the budding of the fig tree would
be one of the final signs of the
nearness of his return happening within the generation
that sees it bud so that the birth
of the nation Israel is surely a remarkable
sign that we need to be watching that
signals the nearness of the Lord's return they've
barked my fig tree that is they've eaten
the bark they've made it clean bare the
branches thereof are made white all of the
bark has been chewed off and of course
just that white under branch is visible lament
like a virgin that is girded with sack
cloth for the husband of her youth that
is the old maid who never got married
she is lamenting over her plight the meal
offerings and the drink offerings are cut out
from the house of the Lord and the
priest and the Lord's ministers do mourn now
the meal offering was where you brought the
fine flour which of course came from the
wheat but the locusts have devoured the wheat
field so there's no flour to bring an
offering unto the Lord there's no there's no
wine to bring an offering to the Lord
from the vine so the priest are to
mourn the field is wasted the land mourns
for the corn is wasted the new wine
is dried up the oil languishes be ye
ashamed oh ye husband men you farmers actually
how old you vine dressers for the wheat
and for the barley because the harvest of
the field has perished the vine is dried
up the fig tree languishes the pomegranate tree
the palm tree also the apple tree even
all of the trees of the field are
withered because joy is withered away from the
sons of man gird yourselves and lament ye
priest how old ye ministers of the altar
come and lie all night in sackcloth ye
ministers of my God for the meal offering
and the drink offering is withheld from the
house of your God sanctify ye a fast
call a solemn assembly gather the elders and
all the inhabitants of the land into the
house of the Lord your God and cry
unto the Lord and so they are calling
for a fast among the people crying out
unto God for help from this great calamity
that has befallen them alas for the day
the day of the Lord is at hand
and as a destruction from the Almighty shall
it come so he takes that plague and
now he moves prophetically to another day in
which the land is to be devastated through
the judgment of God the great day of
the Lord and the day of God's judgment
alas for the day the day of the
Lord is at hand and as the destruction
from the Almighty it shall come there is
coming God's judgment upon the earth known in
the scripture as the time of the indignation
of God in the Old Testament or in
the New Testament is called the time of
great tribulation tribulation when God is going to
judge the earth when God is going to
send plagues upon the earth when again God
is going to devastate the crops the food
supplies and the famine will persist throughout the
entire earth Book of Revelation describes the black
horse of the famine the scales and a
measure of wheat or that is about a
quart of wheat for a day's wage a
man will work all day and his pay
will be half a pound of flour for
a whole day's wage and so the terrible
devastation that is coming from the Lord now
that is something that you need to know
this great tribulation as destruction from the almighty
there are people who have confused the whole
prophetic issue as they have made the church
Israel and thus they place the church on
the earth during the great tribulation and they
use such scriptures as Jesus warning his disciples
that they would have tribulation but there is
a vast difference between the tribulation that we
experience as God's people and the great tribulation
that is coming upon the earth the basic
difference is the origin the tribulation that you
experience as a child of God has its
origin in your enemy Satan he is the
one that brings tribulation upon you in your
endeavor to serve the Lord the great tribulation
that is coming comes direct from God now
that I am attacked by the enemy I
can well understand I can accept but I
thank God that even in those attacks from
the enemy I have the power and the
strength of the Holy Spirit within me so
that I can overcome through the power of
the Spirit within me however I cannot accept
that God would attack me in as much
as he is my father he loves me
I love him and there is therefore now
no condemnation to those that are in Christ
Jesus so the fact that the great tribulation
emanates from God precludes the church being a
part of the great tribulation period it comes
as destruction from the almighty is not the
meat cut off before our eyes yes joy
and gladness from the house of our God
the seed has rotted under the clods the
garners are laid desolate the barns are broken
down for the corn is withered how do
the beasts groan the herds of cattle are
perplexed because they have no pasture yea the
flocks of sheep are made desolate oh Lord
to thee will I cry for the fire
hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness and
the flame hath burned all of the trees
of the field the beasts of the field
cry also unto thee for the rivers of
waters are dried up and the fire hath
devoured the pastures of the wilderness and so
we see a land in a very desolate
condition no pasture for the cattle no crops
they've been destroyed now he uses this as
the springboard and he begins to speak now
of a yet future day of devastation that
is coming from armies that are to invade
the land and in this second chapter as
he describes this invading army it is interesting
to notice the description that he gives because
it is not much of a stretch of
the imagination for us to see that he
is describing modern warfare the things that he
described were things that were totally unknown and
unheard of in his day but yet there
are things that are common in modern warfare
now if you were Joel the prophet and
God gave you a vision of a battle
that would be taking place with modern warfare
but all you knew was a battle with
the armies with swords and spears and all
how do you think you could describe a
modern battle with helicopters, gunships and with the
transporting of troops through planes with paratroopers and
so forth if you had a vision of
this kind of a battlefield and tanks the
cannons and so forth, the fire and all
how would you describe it?
probably much like Joel did here in chapter
I think he did a tremendously commendable job
in describing something he had never dreamed of
and yet the Lord gave him an insight
into the battle of the future day now
the nation of Israel needed to be established
again in order that the prophecies of the
last days be fulfilled because in the prophecies
of the last days there is that presupposition
in all of the prophecies that Israel does
exist as a nation again in fact not
only existing as a nation but their worship
is to be reinstituted now
as the nation Israel is to be reborn
according to the prophecy one of the first
of the real obstacles that they are going
to face will be their immediate surrounding nations
according to the prophecies of Zachariah when Israel
becomes a nation once more and they did
and have faced the opposition from their surrounding
neighbors but then a greater test is going
to come and this will be when Russia
invades the Middle East and in this invasion
God will show his hands strong on behalf
of the people and their eyes will be
opened unto God like never before and then
there is to be one final conflict as
the Antichrist comes into the land with his
armies of the federated nations of Western Europe
and at this time the Jews will once
more be driven from the land and find
refuge in the wilderness, the rock city of
Petra for three and a half years until
God's wrath that He is going to pour
out is completed it would seem that chapter
2 is describing the Russian invasion in as
much as the Lord refers to His removal
far off from you to the northern army
and in Ezekiel 38 it is mentioned that
this army will be coming from the north
interesting in the descriptions of Ezekiel as a
cloud to cover the land and Joel also
uses the pictures of the clouds and the
darkness and so forth that will be created
by this invading army blow the trumpet in
Zion sound the alarm in my holy mountain
let all the inhabitants of the land tremble
for the day of the Lord comes it
is near at hand now the day of
the Lord does encompass a period of time
the great judgment that God is going to
bring upon the earth is known as the
day of the Lord the day of His
fierce anger the day that God establishes the
new kingdom of righteousness through the reign of
Jesus Christ is also known as the day
of the Lord the day that the Lord
gathers the nations for judgment is known as
the day of the Lord so it encompasses
the period of these last days so the
day of the Lord is near a day
of darkness and of gloominess so this is
not the day of the triumphant reign of
Christ that will be following the day of
darkness and gloom a day of clouds and
of thick darkness as the morning spread upon
the mountains a great people and a strong
there has not ever been the like neither
shall there be any more after it even
to the years of many generations a great
army like has never been assembled in the
history of man Russia today has
some 80,000 tanks ready for battle never
in the history of man has so much
armament been created over 80,000 tanks and
as he goes on to describe the invasion
surely tanks are involved a fire devours before
them behind them a flame burns the land
is like the garden of Eden before them
and behind them a desolate wilderness nothing shall
escape them now when the Jews came back
to the land one of the marvelous things
that they did was take this land that
had been like a barren wilderness and they
began to develop the land of Israel from
an agricultural standpoint beautiful farmlands beautiful
orchards beautiful avocado grows mile
after mile stretching out of beautiful land like
the garden of Eden and the hillsides which
were too rocky to cultivate they planted with
trees and millions upon millions of trees have
been planted in the land so the barren
hillsides are now beautiful forest and with the
planting of all of these trees they've been
able to affect a change of the weather
patterns and they've been able to increase the
rainfall the annual rainfall in the land has
been increased dramatically because of the extra humidity
that has been put in the air through
all of the trees that have been planted
the forest that have been planted and their
whole project of taking this land that was
barren wilderness and planting it and developing it
is really a marvel to everyone who visits
they have developed marvelous new innovations in agriculture
as far as irrigation and all the drip
system of irrigation and the sprinkling systems and
all they really just have proved to be
fantastic farmers they've transformed the land and you'll
hear the statement quite often they have made
the land like the Garden of Eden and
it is true and here the prophecy said
the land before them is as a Garden
of Eden you could not have said that
50 years ago for 50 years ago the
land was still the valley of Megiddo was
still a swamp the Hula Valley was all
swamp their Shiva Shiva was all barren desert
and wilderness the Sharon Plains were just beginning
actually at the turn of the centuries when
they started developing in the Sharon Plains they
bought the swamp land and then they began
to create new ditches and all to drain
the swamp land and then planted eucalyptus trees
because they drink so much water out of
the ground and then they began to plant
the orange orchards and all and now it's
a veritable Garden of Eden through their careful
planning and wise development of the land but
the fact that he refers to the land
before them like the Garden of Eden hey
that took the present day that didn't happen
until Israel became a nation and really began
then to bring the Jordan water down to
the wilderness areas for their irrigation and turning
the land into a Garden of Eden but
behind this invading army it's like a desolate
wilderness war is such a horrible thing the
devastation that it brings the Jews have taken
a desolate wilderness and made it a Garden
of Eden but these invaders are coming to
take the Garden of Eden and again turn
it into a desolate wilderness nothing shall escape
them now he describes the appearance of this
invading army and listen this is to me
quite interesting the appearance of them is as
the appearance of horses and as horsemen so
they run like the noise of chariots on
the tops of the mountains shall they leap
like the noise of a flame of fire
that devours the stubble as a strong people
that are set in battle array before their
face the people shall be much pained and
all faces will gather blackness they will run
like mighty men they will climb the wall
like men of war they shall march everyone
in his way and they shall not break
rank neither shall one thrust another they shall
walk everyone in his path and when they
fall upon the sword they'll not be wounded
they shall run to and fro in the
city and shall run upon the wall they
shall climb upon the houses they shall enter
into the windows like a thief the earth
shall quake before them the heavens shall tremble
the sun and the moon shall be dark
and the stars shall withdraw their shining so
he describes this awesome invading army that is
coming to desolate the land but in verse
11 there is another army and the Lord
shall utter his voice before his army for
his camp is very great for he is
strong that executes his word for the day
of the Lord is great and very awesome
who can abide it and so he speaks
of the Lord's army in contrast now the
Lord is going to stop the Russians in
Ezekiel chapter 38 God declares that when Russia
and her allied nations invade Israel that God's
fury is going to arise in his face
and he is going to turn them back
the battle of Armageddon which people are much
more familiar with than this battle of Russia
when it invades the Middle East the battle
of Armageddon will pit the forces of the
Western world against the forces of the Eastern
world primarily China and Russia pitted against the
forces of the Western world in the battle
of Armageddon but here as this invading army
has come the Lord speaks of repelling it
with his army his mighty host and of
course the description of the destruction of the
Russian army by the host of the Lord
is given to you in Ezekiel chapter 38
and 39 now because of this great desolation
this great war that the people are going
to face therefore because of this saith the
Lord turn ye even to me with all
your heart now one sad commentary that must
be made against the modern nation of Israel
is that the people really haven't turned to
the Lord with all their hearts the people
are not really very religious it is estimated
that less than 10 percent of the Jews
that are in the land are really religious
at all and we have observed this while
we were there now they do observe religious
observances that is the Sabbath day but so
many of the Jews that we have conversed
with in Israel claim to be atheist but
though they claim to be atheist they keep
Sabbath and they keep kosher as far as
they will not eat dairy products with meat
products and they're almost insulted when people do
a lot of times when we are over
there people unknowingly ask for a glass of
milk when we've had a dinner with meat
and they are polite but they let you
know you can't have any milk when you've
had meat and they keep this kosher kind
of law yet they really don't know why
many of them that we've talked to said
they were atheist we said well why don't
you eat bacon you know why don't you
eat a ham sandwich well they you know
ham and cheese oh man so
they are as those that were described in
the New Testament they have a form of
godliness and yet they deny the power of
God they deny God in their lives but
God is calling for them to turn unto
Him with their whole heart with all of
your heart the problem with many people is
that they turn to God in a half
-hearted way and this you might say is
true in Israel people have turned to God
in a half-hearted way turn to me
God said with all your heart with fasting
weeping and mourning that speaks of a real
desperation before God it is sad that many
times God has to bring us into desperate
straits before we really seek Him there have
been only a few times in my life
when I was really desperate before God but
I will testify to you each time I
was really desperate before God God met me
in a very dramatic way when my mother
was in our home and was dying this
one who had made such a positive input
for good in my life this person who
had more influence on my life than perhaps
anyone else one who I love so deeply
appreciated so much and yet I knew I
was losing her and as she was suffering
in pain almost constantly one morning as I
went into the room I just became so
desperate before God as I saw her in
this condition that I kneeled there at the
foot of her bed and just cried out
to God with my whole being and God
met me in such a dramatic way as
the Lord came and stood right beside me
and began to talk to me about myself
and about my mother and even in that
same time he laid his hand upon her
and touched her it was a marvelous experience
but I had been brought to the place
of desperation our youngest daughter who has been
such a joy to our lives such a
blessing to us I don't know there's something
about that you know you've had your family
and then you have another one years later
there's something that's sort of special you're older
you're more mature you're able to enjoy them
more you're not so nervous and all and
they just are such a sunshine and a
light and she was to us such a
pretty little child so vibrant so full of
life and as I held her in my
arms all night long her body racked with
fever and she was so sick so listless
my heart was so desperate before God I
cried out unto God with my whole heart
she went into a convulsion I really thought
this was it but I had said Lord
you know that this little daughter is just
the joy of life she means so much
to us we love her so deeply Lord
if you want her and if it's your
purpose to take her that's your business Lord
we give her to you her life is
yours and she went into that convulsion and
I thought well this is it we called
the doctor we bundled her up and we
started to rush up to the doctor and
on the way the Lord healed her by
the time we got to the doctor she
was perfectly well her little bubbly bright cheerful
self again the doctor looked at her and
said there's nothing wrong with her she's a
good person said has she had a tetanus
shock lately and he gave her a tetanus
shock he said you know you should get
them renewed every once in a while but
it was that desperation of seeking God and
God has never failed to come through when
I really sought Him with all my heart
but it isn't often that I get in
such a desperate strait God
says rend your heart not your garments we
read many times in the scriptures where problems
came and the people would tear their clothes
to show how upset they were or how
deeply emotional they were touched and so they
ripped their clothes and it was an outward
demonstration of a deep emotional feeling but like
all outward demonstrations people begin to abuse them
you can go through the outward motions but
not really feel it within it becomes sort
of a thing of a hypocrisy where I
look like I am going through it but
it's just a it's just a display just
a show and so it became a common
place thing oh you can't go with me
tonight oh you know and you rip your
clothes and you know it was it didn't
really show that deep deep deep grief sorrow
that the act originally intended to manifest so
God says hey look I want to see
your hearts ripped not your clothes I want
to see your heart really torn before God
rend your heart tear your hearts not your
garments God doesn't want any sham when you
come to Him God wants you to come
to Him with your whole heart doesn't want
to play games with you He wants you
to be honest and sincere He wants you
to rend your heart not your garments turn
to the Lord your God the second call
to turn to God and of course things
are desperate that's the time to turn to
God of course any time is a good
time to turn to God but especially when
things are desperate turn to God for God
is gracious and God is merciful that's why
we turn to Him that we might receive
His mercy that we might receive His grace
He is of great kindness He is slow
to anger and God doesn't like to use
judgment to get people's attention it repents Him
of the evil that is of the judgment
that was necessary to get you to wake
up to get you to turn around to
get your attention God doesn't like to use
harsh means He only does so because He
loves you so much that He can't let
you just destroy yourself so when you are
head strong going your own path of destruction
God will sometimes use very severe means to
stop you and to get your attention maybe
the death or the illness of someone that
is very dear and close to you God
is seeking, God doesn't like to use those
means but unfortunately many times we are so
dull in our spiritual sensitiveness that God has
to use stringent measures before we ever respond
it repents Him though, He doesn't like using
these kind of measures, turn to God for
who knows just what God will do in
helping you, blessing you who knows the blessings
that God has in store for your life
who knows what glorious things God has in
mind for you surely I never dreamed in
my wildest dreams all of the glorious blessed
things God had for my life oh how
thankful I am I turned my life over
to God, oh what a blessing has been
mine because I turned my life over to
God, far more than I ever dreamed or
thought, who knows what God has in mind
for you as Dwight Moody was challenged by
the statement, the world has yet to see
what God will do through a man who
will totally surrender his life to God who
knows what God wants to do in and
through your life you'll never know until you
totally surrender yourself to Him turn to God
with your whole heart for who knows just
what blessing God may have in mind for
you blow the trumpet in Zion sanctify a
fast call a solemn assembly of the people
gather the people and sanctify the congregation assemble
together the elders and gather the children and
those that are nursing let the bridegroom go
forth of his chamber and the bride out
of her closet and let the priest, the
ministers of the Lord weep between the porch
and the altar and let them say spare
thy people oh 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 and so it
is a time of national revival, call the
people together before God and this day will
come in Israel as they are threatened by
this insurmountable foe from a natural standpoint they'll
be forced to cry out unto God and
of course God calls upon the ministers to
pray between the porch and the altar that
God would spare His people from the devastation
and the destruction of this enemy and as
a result the Lord will be jealous for
His land and pity His people yes the
Lord will answer and say unto His people
behold I will send you corn and wine
and oil and you will be satisfied therewith
and I will no more make you a
reproach among the heathen but I will remove
far off from you the northern army and
I will drive Him into a land that
is barren and desolate and with His face
toward the east sea and the hinder part
towards the utmost sea and His smell shall
come up and His ill seaver shall come
up because He hath done great things fear
not O land be glad and rejoice for
the Lord will do great things.
When we were over in Israel in 1973
and the Yom Kippur war broke out we
did not at that point know just how
deeply Russia may become involved any one of
those skirmishes have the potential of escalating into
a full scale invasion by Russia of the
Middle East.
1973 almost did.
The Russians were poised to send troops into
the Middle East to bring a peace what
they called a peace but what was really
entailed was an invasion of Israel.
They were planning that in 1973 when President
Nixon called for a worldwide alert of all
of our armed forces and Russia turned back.
When we were there in Israel I felt
just as safe as a child in its
crib because I knew that God was going
to protect the land.
I didn't know about the United States.
I sort of felt sorry for you here
at home.
There may be some stray nuclear weapons sent
this direction but God is going to protect
the people, the land, when Russia invades.
People say, oh aren't you afraid to go
over there with all the turmoil?
I feel safer there than I do walking
the streets here.
God's watching over that land.
God's going to take care of them.
Be not afraid.
Fear not O land.
Be glad and rejoice for the Lord will
do great things.
Be not afraid ye beasts of the field
for the pastures of the wilderness do spring
for the tree bears their fruit and the
fig tree and the vine do yield their
strength.
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.
Now the interesting thing is that one thing
that has happened in Israel is the return
of what they call the former and the
latter rains.
They begin to get their first rain sometime
in October, late October, November and now they
are beginning to get good heavy rains in
the springtime and it is causing the land
to just produce so abundantly all of the
rain that they are now giving and God
promised that he would restore again the former
rain and the latter rain.
Something that the land did not have for
over two thousand years but now again is
experiencing each year.
Tell me that God's word isn't true.
Tell me that God doesn't know what he's
talking about.
The evidence is the nation of Israel.
All of the evidence anybody would ever need.
The floor shall be full of wheat.
The vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
And I will restore to you the years
that the locusts has eaten, the canker worm,
the caterpillar, the palmer worm, my great army
which I sent among you.
God's promise of the restoration of the years
that were destroyed when they were away from
God.
You know this is what the prophet was
saying.
God is gracious.
God is merciful.
It's tragic what we do with our lives.
I think one of the saddest things in
the world is wasted potential.
I see young people with such tremendous potential.
Good minds.
Good personalities.
Talented.
And I see them just wasting their lives.
Doing such foolish things.
Doing things that for years they will suffer
the consequences.
And I think of the wasted potential and
I think that that's one of the greatest
tragedies of our day are the lives, the
wasted potential of lives.
Today when we got home from church, we
looked out the window and in the school
yard behind us we saw these young boys
on their bicycles.
Little boys.
Ten, eleven years old.
And they looked up and they saw my
wife looking at them out the window and
so they sort of ducked aside because they
just struck a match and Kay said, those
little kids are getting ready to smoke marijuana.
And sure enough in a moment the old
smell you know came in the window and
so I went down and I said to
the kids, you know, hey don't appreciate that
around here.
But I looked at these little kids and
I thought, oh how sad, how tragic that
on a Sunday afternoon these little tiny boys
have nothing better to do than to get
a joint and get loaded.
What a waste of life.
I've seen just too many people with altered
personalities and diminished capacities as a result of
smoking marijuana.
To think that here they are starting so
young in a pattern that can just diminish
their entire future, the capacity for the future.
Don't tell me it isn't habit forming.
I've met too many who can't quit.
Don't tell me it doesn't alter the personality.
I've met too many altered personalities.
I've observed too many people who they are
not aware that their personality is altered.
But it's obvious to anyone standing apart and
looking at them, they still think they're cool.
They still think that they're handling things.
They still think that everything is alright.
But they have an altered personality.
Very observable to someone on the outside.
And I think of wasted potential, wasted life,
how tragic it is.
But then, the glorious gospel that we have.
God restores to a person those wasted years.
That's so beautiful.
Therein is the grace of God.
I look at so many of the young
men who are in the ministry today, who
began that path of wasted lives.
I think of Mike McIntosh down there in
San Diego.
When Mike first came, he was so spaced
out.
He had so destroyed his brain with acid
and speed that I wondered if Mike would
ever be normal.
He went around for over six months in
a paranoid state.
He thought that someone was holding a .45
and pulling the trigger, and he heard the
sound of the explosion of the gun for
six months.
So spacey.
I wondered, will Mike ever recover?
And I saw a handsome young man.
And I thought, oh, what a wasted life.
Clever young man.
Personable young man, but destroyed himself.
But then we saw the work of God,
and we saw God begin to restore those
wasted years.
His wife had left him, figured that he
was just down the path and no value,
no good, and it was all over for
Mike as far as she was concerned.
And she was right.
She took the little child and left him
rather than trying to hang on any longer
and couldn't stand to see him destroy himself.
But God restored his wife.
Gave him, now he's got five children, I
think.
And God restored his sanity.
God restored Mike in such a beautiful way,
and now pastors that highly evangelical assembly of
people there in San Diego, reaching out to
the world for Jesus Christ.
That glorious work of God restoring to man
the things that he destroyed by his own
stupidity.
And so God says, I will restore to
you those years that have been devoured.
Therein is the grace of God.
And you shall eat plenty and be satisfied
and praise the name of the Lord your
God that hath dealt wondrously with you.
And my people shall never be ashamed.
And ye shall know that I am in
the midst of Israel.
Now the Lord tells us in Ezekiel 38
when he destroys the invading Russian army that
his name will be sanctified before the nations
of the earth, and they will know that
he is God.
And they will know that God will fight
and does fight for his people Israel.
And that I am the Lord your God
and there is none else.
And my people shall never be ashamed.
And it shall come to pass afterward or
in the last days that I will pour
out my spirit upon all flesh.
And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.
And your old men shall dream dreams.
And your young men shall see visions.
And also upon the servants and upon the
handmaids in those days will I pour out
of my spirit.
And I will show wonders in the heavens
and in the earth, blood and fire and
pillars of smoke.
And the sun shall be turned into darkness
and the moon into blood before the great
and the awesome day of the Lord comes.
And it shall come to pass that whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord
shall be delivered for in Mount Zion and
in Jerusalem shall be deliverance as the Lord
hath said.
And in the remnant whom the Lord shall
call.
Now this prophecy of Joel really pertains to
these last days.
It has often been misunderstood because Peter went
on the day of Pentecost and the spirit
was poured out upon the gathered church and
there was the accompanying signs of the pillars
of fire, the speaking in other languages and
a noise like a mighty rushing wind that
when the people assembled and they heard these
people speaking the various dialects from the nations
from which they came, they marveled and wondered
greatly at what was going on as they
heard them glorifying God in their various dialects.
And they asked the question, what does this
mean?
And others who were standing around sort of
Marxist and man, they've gotten hold of some
new wine someplace.
They're really drunk.
And so Peter stood up addressing himself to
the gathered multitude.
He said, men and brethren, hearken unto me.
Listen to me for these men are not
drunken as you suppose.
It's only nine o'clock in the morning
too early to be drunk.
But you remember what their question was.
What does this mean?
Peter said, this is that which was spoken
of by the prophet Joel and he quotes
this prophecy now because Peter quoted it and
declared that what they were seeing was what
Joel had spoken about.
People have assumed that it was the complete
fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel.
Not so.
In fact, Peter didn't even say it was
the fulfillment of the prophecy.
You see, the fulfillment indicates a complete filling.
It wasn't.
It was just the beginning of the outpouring
of God's spirit.
But the real prophecy of Joel does not
pertain to the day of Pentecost, but the
real prophecy of Joel pertains to the last
days.
It pertains to the nation of Israel when
God restores to Israel his position of divine
favor and blessing and Israel will once be
again the instrument of God to bring light
into the world.
And it shall come to pass afterward after
Israel is restored.
None of them are ashamed that God will
pour out his spirit upon all flesh.
Your sons and daughters shall prophesy.
Your old men shall dream dreams.
Your young men shall see visions.
And upon my servants and handmaidens will I
pour out of my spirit.
And I will show wonders.
And of course, the Bible speaks of these
wonders that will happen in the Great Tribulation.
The wonders in the heaven.
The sun darkened.
The moon turned to blood.
These are referred to by Jesus as a
part of the period of the Great Tribulation.
And these things will all happen before the
great and awesome day of the Lord comes.
That is the day of the glorious return
of Jesus Christ in power and glory.
And it shall come to pass that even
in that day during the Great Tribulation, whosoever
will call upon the name of the Lord
will be saved.
Will be delivered.
For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall
be deliverance as the Lord has said.
And in the remnant God's faithful remnant whom
the Lord will call.
So this is yet to be fulfilled.
It is a prophecy that is yet future.
And it's real fulfillment is yet to take
place.