Hi, everyone, and thank you for reading my blog at 144Judah! Today's discussion is about Joel. As you already know from our numerous discussions that I read from the KJV.
Here is Wikipedia's info on Joel: Joel (; Hebrew: יוֹאֵל – Yōʾēl; Greek: Ἰωήλ – Iōḗl; Syriac: ܝܘܐܝܠ – Yu'il) was an Israelite prophet, the second of the twelve minor prophets and according to the book itself the author of the Book of Joel. He is mentioned by name only once in the Hebrew Bible, in the introduction to that book, as the son of Pethuel (Joel 1:1). The name Joel combines the covenant name of God, YHWH (or Yahweh), and El (god), and has been translated as "YHWH is God" or "one to whom YHWH is God," that is, a worshiper of YHWH.
So, we start out the book with Joel saying to pass down some information because it will be needed in the future concerning the "end of days" scenario...which brings us to the "time" of the end. The Book of Revelation/ AKA 2020 onward....what a mess?!
Joel 1:3 "Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation."
Then he goes on to speak about Revelation 9:1-11... This is the part where the locusts come!
Joel 1:4-7 "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 caterpiller eaten. 5 Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.6 For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion. 7 He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white."
Joel is describing a natural disaster here with the plagues of locusts... What do locusts do? They destroy everything... the crops are taken away, the vine is laid waste-- no grapes, no wine, and even the trees down to the bark are destroyed.
Joel 1:10 "The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth."
Joel then goes on to talk about the meat offering and the drink offering is cut off. If there are no plants, there is no drink (wine) if there are no plants, there is no meat, because the animals will begin to starve. So, this is a serious thing.
Joel 1:12 "The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men."
So, what is Joel saying here? Well, we are going into a famine. We have smoke (which he gets into in a few minutes) which brings us the locusts, then the rivers of waters are dried up. Things are about to get really bad. Joel wants us to pray. He wants us to fast, to plead as a people for deliverance.
Joel 1:14-15 "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, 15 Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come."
Let's skip to Revelation now... Revelation 9, as I stated above is about this time now...
"And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. 2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
(Think about all of the fires that are happening right now. The wildfires all around the world. When have you ever heard of so many going on at once? When have you had fire affect your air from across the world like it is now?)
3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. 5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. 6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. 7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. 8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running into battle. 10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. 11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon."
Whoa... what?
Here's a little fun fact in case you hadn't figured it out yet...
From Wikipedia:
The Hebrew term Abaddon (Hebrew: אֲבַדּוֹן ’Ăḇaddōn, meaning "destruction", "doom"), and its Greek equivalent Apollyon (Koinē Greek: Ἀπολλύων, Apollúōn meaning "Destroyer") appear in the Bible as both a place of destruction and an angel of the abyss. In the Hebrew Bible, abaddon is used with reference to a bottomless pit, often appearing alongside the place Sheol (שְׁאוֹל Šəʾōl), meaning the resting place of dead peoples. So, the smoke will be first, then locusts will come from "The bottomless pit" (that doesn't sound good, and here I thought 2020 was bad) and then, they are going to go everywhere, and I mean everywhere and destroy everything except for the grass and the trees...oh, and the people that have the seal of God in their foreheads. Everything else is game.
Yikes...
Once again, refer to what Joel was telling us in his book... Pray. Ask for deliverance...and fast.
Joel 2:1 "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;"
Joel 2:2 "A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations."
So, the swarm of locusts will be bad, and it will be dark, and this verse also refers back to Exodus, which makes sense since the plagues there were sent by God to get Pharaoh to release His people.
Joel also prophesies about the great and terrible day of the LORD as the Sun will be turned to darkness, and the moon into blood... If you remember our studies from the "Book of Enoch - 1" you will remember that the Sun and the Moon can not hold the same light as the MOST HIGH, they dim their light. I find this wording useful for this time. Since now it is God's time, so they darken, and things start to get serious.
But... in Joel 2:32 we have some hope...
"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."
Phew...
Then it goes on to say that after all of this is done, and all knees shall bow, we will know that the great "I AM" is LORD, and we will all be good. No longer will we be strangers, and things will be great again. The land will be beautiful, we will have food, the rivers will once again flow, and there will no longer be violence, and Judah will dwell for ever as: Joel 3:21 "For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion."
That said, THE LORD IS WITHIN ALL OF US.
So, let's do a recap... Ask God for forgiveness, repent of your sin and turn away from them, fast, and look to The Most High God for your answers. Pray for your neighbors, the fields, the animals.
May God Bless EVERYONE that reads and doesn't read this blog, (in all space, time and dimension, and in all past, present and future timelines) AMEN!
No comments:
Post a Comment