First of all a quick quiz: we'll start with an easy question: What is the last book of the NT? Revelation
What is the last book of the OT? Malachi
And thirdly: what do both books look forward to?
Answer: The great and awesome/dreadful day of the Lord. In Revelation 'the Day of the Lord'
So what exactly is this great and awesome Day of the Lord? Usually when we have questions about the end of the world and the return of Jesus as King, we turn to Revelation. But it is not the only book to read. In fact, much of Revelation actually echoes, repeats what was said before – especially by the OT. Prophets like Daniel, Ezekiel, Zechariah and Joel for example had a lot to say about the end of the world. God has been getting or trying to get the church ready for a long time, telling us what to expect when He comes again!
The book of the prophet Joel has been said to include almost every aspect of the Christian doctrine of eschatology, or 'the last things'. The New Testament might give us more detail but otherwise it's all in that small book. It all seems very general, almost as if God intended it to be a timeless message – a prophecy that stands until that final day of judgement.
As in Revelation, God says that although He's coming soon, there's still a little time for repentance. Still a little time to get ready. And that is what I believe is the important thing about this prophecy. Not to spend hours in trying to identify when exactly it will happen. As Jesus tells us, he himself did not know the hour and neither do we.
As the Apostle Peter asks in his second letter: 'With Christ coming again, what manner of people ought we to be?'3:11 In fact the whole of this letter is well worth reading! The tone of our life should be living in expectation. Praying for the end. Working for the kingdom. Making sure that we're at peace with God, and at peace with each other. Because God has promised that those who live by faith will be saved from destruction and glorified for eternity.
We could spend many hours on this subject but this morning I'll just highlight a couple of things.
We talk about 'the day' but actually what is meant is a period of history, an era. Culminating in the return of Jesus as King. The prophets warned Israel that a time of judgement was coming. We are told to call on God's name in the last days. What does this mean? Well, more than just going through the motions of prayer. Calling on God's name means real devoted worship, a heartfelt seeking after God. Calling on him means confessing, 'You are my God! I trust in you, even if this world falls apart. I serve you, even if I have nothing'. One can be 'acquainted' with God – knowing his power and his promises – but there is also a love for him, and an obedience to him.
Joel 2 vv. 12-13 'Turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. 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.' That is true repentance. That's a real calling on God. It means doing something with our sin, besides repeating it. It means grieving for our sin, confessing it, and seeking a new holiness in Jesus Christ. Peter repeated this message in his sermon at Pentecost.
The further we go through the last days, the louder that invitation gets – because we are in the final phase of God's plan for the world. There might not be much time left. Christ is coming. It's time to renew our call, and to strengthen our call. Christ is coming and so is his day of salvation.
What does it really mean to be 'saved'? when Joel or others talk about salvation, do they mean only escaping disaster? What do we mean when we talk about salvation? Just being able to avoid God's wrath?
It is much, much more. Saved from disaster, yes; saved from judgement, yes. But there is still more. The prophets and Revelation give us a location – Jerusalem. In Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance. (Joel 2:32) Rev. 21
Mount Zion was where the temple was – the centre of true worship – where the Lord's name was called on. And Zion was the place that God dwelled among his people.
That is what the final chapters of Revelation tell us: there will be a new harmony between God and his people. In Jerusalem after the complete renewal of this Earth and the subsequent marriage of heaven and earth - God will dwell with us, and we with him. Something made possible only through the shed blood of Christ at Easter. Revelation talks a lot about the New Jerusalem – filled with the glory of God, living among his people.
The times we are living in can be very threatening – we experience weakness, we see unbelief, we hear about persecutions, we worry about climate change, the threat of nuclear war. Social media is full of Fake news, false doctrines, false teaching, an increase in the appeal to popular belief as evidence that a claim is true, or the way society is changing words to accomplish political ends. For example when some government decides that black is white. Everyone may vote for that new understanding and be in favour of the idea but the decision doesn't make it a reality. All these things and many more show how the powers of Satan are getting the upper hand. But the Bible tells us time and time again that all this will be 'as the Lord has said' (Joel 2:32)
That is the key to Joel's and our confidence: 'As the Lord has said'. That's still the lesson of faith, when we learn to listen to God's voice, instead of our own voice. In Zion there will be deliverance, just 'as the Lord has said.'
But there is one other issue that I would quickly like to talk about. Sometimes it is claimed that Christians will be mysteriously be 'beamed' away to safety, while everyone else suffers the final blows.
You will recall that Jesus, when confronted with the Gentile woman of Canaan and his disciples urged him to send her away, declared in Matt. 15:24 'I was sent only to help God's lost sheep – the people of Israel.' This event was a crucial turning point in Matthew's Gospel.(and remember, Matthew was writing particularly for his Jewish brothers and sisters) At first it seems that Jesus is refusing to help someone in need just because they are from the wrong race.
Jesus had a very specific calling – God's people Israel needed to know that their God was now at last fulfilling His promises. The kingdom they had been longing for was beginning to appear. Even the disciples were beginning to realise that Jesus was God's anointed one. But the message was always aimed at Israel itself. To go against this would be to imply that God had made a mistake in choosing and calling Israel to be His special people, the promise-bearers through whom His word and His new life would be brought to the rest of the world.
Many Christians have tried to forget the uniqueness of Israel of the Jewish people. Jesus said he had come, not to abolish the law but to fulfil it. If God's new life was to come to the world, it would come through Israel. That is why they had to hear the message first.
That is why this event is so pivotal. We remember in the account of this meeting, how the gentile woman insists that if Israel is truly the promise-bearing people, then Israel's Messiah will bring blessing to the whole world – even the dogs will share the scraps that fall under the table!
We know, too, that due to the Jews unbelief, Jesus turned and preached his message to the Gentile people. But what we must not and cannot forget is that God did not completely abandon His chosen people. The promises He made still stand today.
Often Ruth is seen as a prophetic picture of the end-time church. You will recall how Ruth clung to her Jewish mother-in-law, Naomi, after the death of her husband. Ruth did what all true Christians have done, whether we realise it or not, by making the God of the Jews, their God. But Ruth had gone even further. She said to Naomi, 'Your people shall be my people, and your God shall be my God. Where you go I shall go, and where you die I shall die. (Ruth 1:16) This is a picture of total commitment and a picture of the end-time 'Ruth' Church standing with the Jewish people in the last days. 'Ruth' means friend and Israel will need as many friends as possible in the time of the 'Great Tribulation' before the Great and Awesome Day of the Lord.
At the end, the whole world will come against Jerusalem and Israel in the final days. The non-Bible believing world will certainly never be Israel's friend – in fact the opposite will be seen to be true. Only the true Body of Jesus Christ will stand with Israel in the dark days ahead as both Jews and Christians pass through the days of tribulation, standing united against the wrath of a satanically inspired one world government and the false church – both of which are already being formed.
God has only ONE house – ONE people. The Church does not stand separately as many Christians would believe.
Were it not for the fact that God has grafted the church into the natural olive tree – the Church simply would not exist. In Romans 11.18-21 we read – 'if some of the branches of the tree have been broken off, while you, like shoots of wild-olive, have been grafted in, and don't share like a natural branch the rich nourishment of the root, don't let yourself feel superior to those former branches. If you feel inclined that way, remind yourself that you do not support the root, the root supports you. You may make the natural retort, 'But the branches were broken off to make room for my grafting!. It wasn't quite like that. They lost their position because they failed to believe; you only maintain yours because you do believe. The situation does not call for conceit but for a certain wholesome fear. If God removed the natural branches for a good reason, take care that you don't give him the same reason for removing you.' (J.B.Phillips translation)
Although we have the luxury of knowing that the Olive Tree survives – we are still called to pray towards the end. Only the natural jewish branches who believe in Jesus and the grafted in Gentile branches are in a covenantal position with God to be able to do that.
As the prophet Joel tells us, we must be praying and interceding – 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!
Who are the priests who 'minister' to the Lord, today? The answer of course is 'we are' – Messianic Christians and Messianic Jews.
And who are 'our people?' if we are truly grafted into Israel and are now 'fellow citizens', then the Jewish people are 'our people', but so, too, are our family, our friends, our countrymen and the people of all nations – our people.
Time is short and there are millions of Jews still on the 'wrong track', millions of people in churches who are still on the wrong track – not to mention billions of others who are not even on the track at all. No wonder God wants us to be his co-workers. There is a lot of work to be done.
Truly we are warned in the parable of the 10 virgins to be prepared and ready for Jesus' coming but instead of worrying when and how the End Times will be and what will happen to us – would it not be more profitable to faithfully play our part in God's end time plans and purposes for Israel, the Church and the world? Bringing glory to our God as I talked about last week....
Prayer: Holy Spirit, I pray that you will touch our hearts and minds – help us to be Ruths, friends of Israel, willing to pay the price if necessary, voices crying in the wilderness 'Repent and prepare for the coming of the Messiah.'
Elizabeth Bussmann