Skip to main content

Joel 3:17-18 What did Joel see? - Day 315

Joel ends his short prophecy with a description of the glorious future of Judah.  Exile is just around the corner, but Joel sees far into the future.  Makes me wonder, what is going to change in Judah to bring about this glorious future?  After all, Judah has been unsuccessful over their 344 year history at remaining faithful to God.  They are going to go into exile.  How is that going to make them any more faithful?  If they weren't faithful with Jerusalem and the temple, how is being in a foreign land and no temple going to help them?

Isn't it interesting that Peter quotes an earlier section of Joel in Acts 2 as the explanation for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost?  The fulfilment is not in the return from exile and a restored Judah but beginning of the church. signaled by the disciples changed from cowering in the upper room to bold witnesses for Christ.  

Another example of how challenging it is to understand prophecy.  If Peter can say "this is that", i.e. what you are seeing today is what Joel was talking about over 600 years ago, maybe he was speaking in terms that would make Judah long for the day he described without really understanding what it was they were going to experience.  So the answers to me earlier questions is God is going to change things, not the people of Judah.

What a great God we serve, who knows the end from the beginning and showed the prophets glimpses of this blessed future.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Revelation 22:3-5 Final and eternal restoration - Day 365

Dear saints in the Lord, Congratulations!  You made it.  We have been through much turmoil in the last year ('20-'21).  But God is faithful to His promises.  I trust that you have been blessed in your reading and have drawn closer to God.   Since we didn't get the blog up and running at the beginning of the challenge, I am going to go back and post entries to cover that first month or so.   Blessings, Jeff Nothing accursed in the city of God, the new Jerusalem.  The presence of sin will be gone.  I am working on memorizing Westminster Shorter Catechism and currently on question 82.  Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God? No mere man since the fall is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of God but does daily break them in thought, word and deed. I think our passage today points to the truth of this question.  Do you notice how this answer is not exactly the same as the question. "Any man" bec...
Post a Comment
Read more

Malachi 2:10-12 Here we go again!! Day 363

Good afternoon friends, As we draw to the end of the Old Testament, we see that Judah has rebuilt the temple and the walls of Jerusalem, but they are following in the footsteps of faithless fathers and not in the footsteps of Abraham and ultimately God.  The exile was a low point, but now a new low is about to happen.  The prophetic voice has once again become warning and not encouraging. Faithful reading and preaching of the word is all that keeps us from losing our way.  May we be faithful in our generation. Blessings, Jeff I am sure I have mentioned this before, but it bears repeating.  The section summary, chapter and verse are not in the original language.  They are all rather modern inventions to help us.  For example, the section title here is "Judah profaned the Covenant".  That is OK as far as it goes, but which Covenant?  So let's take a look. Observations Starts with 3 questions but who is asking the questions and to whom are they addre...
Post a Comment
Read more

Romans 14:1-6 Not hindering the way of a brother Day 42

Good morning brothers and sisters, During sermon yesterday (originally written 10/12/20) I mentioned Martin Luther's approach to prayer in the letter to Master Peter.  I still have much to learn, but hope that we can learn and grow together. In the Beloved Jeff  Using Luther's "wreath of four strands" from  A Simple way to Pray  Instruction, thanksgiving, confession, petition.  Goal is a heart warmed and inclined to prayer. Instruction - textbook - what do these 4 verses teach me about what God expects of me? Not to pass judgment on one another any longer by deciding not to hinder the way of a brother.  Paul gives an example of food.  I think of "pass judgment" as a mental or verbal activity, but "not hindering" is a physical activity.  What I think or say about a brother or sister will show up in the way I treat them.  God is extremely interested in how we live with each other. Note of reminder - Faith and practice.  Paul develops theol...
Post a Comment
Read more