10-25-2024

Good Morning All,

Joel 2:21; “Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things!”

    “Fear not!!”  Does that sound familiar?  That phrase gets used a lot in the Bible.  God tells his people repeatedly that they do not need to fear; that He is with them and will protect them.  He comes to them in peace; to offer them his grace.

     “Be afraid, be very, very afraid!!”  We hear that a lot today.  Men use fear to drive people in a direction that the fear mongers want you to go.  This especially revs up in an election year.  If you listen to the Republicans, if the Democrats win; it will be the end of civilization as we know it. The Democrats claim if the Republicans win, it will be the end of civilization as we know it.  Isn’t it funny how God offers us hope and man only offers us fear?

     The book of Joel is a short book, only three chapters.  We don’t know much about Joel, but he plays a big role later on.  When the first Pentecost occurs, the disciples quote Joel about the coming of the Spirit.  The other is that Joel uses the phrase “the day of the Lord” to refer to God’s final judgment of man or the end of times.  Peter, Paul, and the other epistle writers use this phrase to describe Jesus’ return as in 2 Peter 3:10 “The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”

     Joel speaks of three instances of “the day of the Lord.”  The first is the immediate plague of locusts and a drought.  The second is the imminent threat of invasion and the third is the ultimate final day of the Lord.  You may or may not face locusts and drought; at times, this summer it felt like it.  We usually don’t fear too many invaders in this country; the last one on the mainland of the United States was the British Army during the War of 1812.  The first two references to “the day of the Lord,” we probably don’t worry about it too much.  However, eventually, we will face the final judgment day; we will face the day when Jesus returns as judge and king.

     The good news is that we don’t have to worry about that one either.  In fact, we should look forward to that day!  We should look forward to the day when Christ returns and death, the final enemy, is totally destroyed.  We should look forward to the day when we live in Jesus’ holy presence and see him face to face.  We don’t have to fear that day; we should be glad and rejoice!”  The Lord truly has done great things.  We are covered by Christ’s righteousness; we have nothing to fear when Christ returns.  We will join Him as He returns to claim us. 

    The really amazing thing is that we can look at our life and see three “day of the Lord” that are truly wonderful for us.  We have our birth, our re-birth (Baptism) and the day when we go to live with Christ for eternity.  All three days God blesses us and sustains us, giving us life and a hope to cling to until the final day of the Lord.  Oh, the great things He has done!!

Gracious Father, your mercies are new every day for great things you do for us.  Give us the courage to “fear not,” to live our life with the certainty of our salvation and to go forth with the bold confidence in the hope which you have given to us.  Guard us and protect us until that day shall come when we are united with you.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray.  Amen. 

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret