January 12, 2012
-
Joel 2 & Hosea 6 by Pastor Don Moore
Pastor Don taught this Bible study on Friday, August 12, 2011
We continued our study of Joel. See previous post.
Joel 2:28-29 And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
Men and women have the Spirit poured on them – evangelicals and pentecostals preach that this has been fulfilled, but the following verses call this into question.
Joel 2:30-31 And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.
This has not happened yet.
In studying prophesy, you can’t pull out a prophesy out of its setting and say that it applies now. When you are dealing with the prophetic you need to ask if it is a prophesy for now or later?
Some use these verses to justify women in the pulpit, but that takes the verse out of context. We need to go to the beginning of the passage to see what is happening.
Pastor Don had us turn to Hosea Chapter Six.
Hosea 6:1-2 Come, and let us return to the LORD; for He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight.
This is history marking all time. When will He bind us up? After two days, on the third day. Pastor Don pointed out that the third day always refers to end times.
In the Bible it says that a day is as 1000 years.
Psalm 90:4 For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night.
2 Peter 3:8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
So the two days are two thousand years, and on the third 1000 years we are raised up. Every 2000 years we have a revival in the third 1000 years.
Adam died before he made one day – in the day he ate of the fruit he would die. No one lived 1000 years in all of the Old Testament.
Abraham brought about a revival – faith to get to Heaven,
The third day – Moses and the Law.
Then there was David
Then Jesus was the fourth day.
Now we have 2000 years since Jesus (the church age), and soon are coming into the next third day. This day (sixth day) will also have the tribulation and the promise of God with us, which leads to the seventh day will be the Millennial Reign of Christ.
Hosea 6:11 Also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed for you, when I return the captives of My people.
There is a harvest for Judah. Jesus is the Lion of Judah. We are grafted in to the root of Israel. Judah (Yehudah)
Pastor Don added, the joy of the Lord is my strength, and the fourth generation will be Messiah and believers.
The Millennial reign of Christ will be 1000 years with Christ’s leadership. God says He will write the law in the hearts of men. For the 2000 years, Christ was preached to the Gentiles, but in the last days, God will draw in the lost sheep of Israel.
1948 corresponds with the prophesies that the captives would return to Israel. And since that time more and more people are making the return to Israel. From everything that Jesus predicted in Matthew 24 and 25, and what is happening in world events, it shows us that the fields are white with harvest. We need to pray that the Lord send a Revival. We are not trying to revive a dead church, but rather gather in what is still alive.
A harvest is appointed, not a revival.
We are part of the organism of the Body of Christ, and we all have different responsibilities. We have erroneously divided into denominations, Protestant, Catholic, Lutheran, Charismatic, etc. But that was not Christ’s vision. We were to be part of ONE body IN CHRIST.
If the organized church is saying go left and Jesus says, “Go right,” who do you obey? We must obey the Word of the Lord, Jesus.
Many of the organized denominations will be sucked in to the one world church of the new world order. Already churches are compromising the Word of God to be politically relevant.
Joel 2:1 Blow 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 is coming, for it is at hand:
This refers, according to Pastor Don, to the pre-days of the Lord’s Wrath. The Day of the Lord is coming. This coming will not impact true believers who, like the five virgins with the oil, be raptured.
Joel 2:2 A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A people come, great and strong, the like of whom has never been; nor will there ever be any such after them, even for many successive generations.
Pastor Don pointed out that a people come – never seen before, at the Day of the Lord.
Joel 2:3 A fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns; the land is like the Garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; surely nothing shall escape them.
This reminds us of Moses and the Law, where God sent a fire before Moses to guide the people in the wilderness. There was also a fire at one point behind them to protect the Israelites from Pharaoh’s army. Wherever the people go, they will be drawn into battle. It will be a purposeful destruction.
Joel 2:4-5 Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; and like swift steeds, so they run. With a noise like chariots over mountaintops they leap, like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble, like a strong people set in battle array.
This is not describing ordinary people, but people with supernatural ability. Even the stubble will be devoured. Nothing will be left. This will be a time of great destruction and pain for the people.
Joel 2:6-7 Before them the people writhe in pain; all faces are drained of color. They run like mighty men, they climb the wall like men of war; every one marches in formation, and they do not break ranks.
These people are not demonic forces for they are purposeful and do not break ranks. As more information is added we will see who these people are.
Joel 2:8-11 They do not push one another; every one marches in his own column. Though they lunge between the weapons, they are not cut down. They run to and fro in the city, they run on the wall; they climb into the houses, they enter at the windows like a thief. The earth quakes before them, the heavens tremble; the sun and moon grow dark, and the stars diminish their brightness. The LORD gives voice before His army, for His camp is very great; for strong is the One who executes His word. For the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; who can endure it?
This is God’s army, purposeful and orderly. We know this has not happened yet because the sun and moon haven’t grown dark nor have the stars diminished in their brightness.
Joel 2:12 “Now, therefore,” says the LORD, “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.”
This is not referring to God’s army, but the people who have turned away from God. They need to turn to God and repent.
Joel 2:13-16 So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm. Who knows if He will turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him— a grain offering and a drink offering– for the LORD your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly; gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and nursing babes; let the bridegroom go out from his chamber, and the bride from her dressing room.
God is calling the people to repent, it is not His heart to have people hurt. The bridegroom and bride show that normal behaviors need to be dropped for repentance. But also, the bride refers to the Bride of Christ who will accomplish Jesus when He returns as the conquering king. Notice that these are people who worship God with the offerings, judgment begins first at the house of the Lord. The judgment will be on those who hate the Lord.
Joel 2:17 Let the priests, who minister to the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar; let them say, “Spare Your people, O LORD, and do not give Your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”
The priests will plead for God’s mercy.
Joel 2:18-19 Then the LORD will be zealous for His land, and pity His people. The LORD will answer and say to His people, “Behold, I will send you grain and new wine and oil, and you will be satisfied by them; I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations.
Those that turn to the Lord will gain prosperity. The grain is prosperity. The New Wine and oil is the Holy Spirit. Israel will have a remnant saved and will no longer be a reproach among the nations. This will occur when the Day of the Lord occurs.
Joel 2:20 “But I will remove far from you the northern army, and will drive him away into a barren and desolate land, with his face toward the eastern sea and his back toward the western sea; his stench will come up, and his foul odor will rise, because he has done monstrous things.”
Pastor Don used these directions to point out some of the players, northern army would be Russia, Turkey, Islam, the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. , the Western sea would be the Mediterranean Sea.
God will bring destruction to the enemies of God, in the Day of the Lord.
Pastor Don pointed out that there is a progressive fulfillment of prophesy. There was a near fulfillment of this prophesy at Joel’s time, and there will be a future fulfillment of this at the end days.
There will be a defiling of Jerusalem which will begin the setup for the Millennial reign.
Next Bible study will begin to cover parts of Matthew 25
Have a blessed day.
Heather
