THE DAY OF YAHWEH IS AT HAND
Joel 1, “The word of Yahweh that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
2 Hear this, you elders,
And give ear, all you inhabitants of the land!
Has anything like this happened in your days,
Or even in the days of your fathers?
3 Tell your children about it,
Let your children tell their children,
And their children another generation.
4 What the chewing locust left, the swarming locust has eaten;
What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten;
And what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten.
5 Awake, you drunkards, and weep;
And wail, all you drinkers of wine,
Because of the new wine,
For it has been cut off from your mouth.
6 For a nation [Iran] has come up against My land,
Strong, and without number;
His teeth are the teeth of a lion,
And he has the fangs of a fierce lion.
7 He has laid waste My vine,
And ruined My fig tree;
He has stripped it bare and thrown it away;
Its branches are made white.
8 Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth
For the husband of her youth.
9 The grain offering and the drink offering
Have been cut off from the house of Yahweh;
The priests mourn, who minister to Yahweh.
10 The field is wasted,
The land mourns;
For the grain is ruined,
The new wine is dried up,
The [olive] oil fails.
11 Be ashamed, you farmers,
Wail, you vinedressers,
For the wheat and the barley;
Because the harvest of the field has perished.
12 The vine has dried up,
And the fig tree has withered;
The pomegranate tree,
The palm tree also,
And the apple tree—
All the trees of the field are withered [no fruit of the Spirit];
Surely [because] joy has withered away from the sons of men.
13 Gird yourselves and lament, you priests;
Wail, you who minister before the altar;
Come, lie all night in sackcloth,
You who minister to my Mighty One;
For the grain offering and the drink offering
Are withheld from the house of your Mighty One.
14 Consecrate a fast,
Call a sacred assembly;
Gather the elders
And all the inhabitants of the land
Into the house of Yahweh your Mighty One,
And cry out to Yahweh.
15 Alas for the day!
For the day of Yahweh is at hand;
It shall come as destruction from the Almighty.
16 Is not the food cut off before our eyes,
Joy and gladness from the house of our Mighty One?
17 The seed shrivels under the clods,
Storehouses are in shambles;
Barns are broken down,
For the grain has withered.
18 How the animals groan!
The herds of cattle are restless,
Because they have no pasture;
Even the flocks of sheep suffer punishment.
19 O Yahweh, to You I cry out;
For fire has devoured the open pastures,
And a flame has burned all the trees of the field.
20 The beasts of the field also cry out to You,
For the water brooks [Mississippi River?] are dried up,
And fire has devoured the open pastures.”
NKJV
According to Joel 1, why is the land facing this destruction and punishment from Yahweh? Because JOY is withered away from the sons of men and is cut off from Yahweh’s church! Why would Yahweh’s people not have the joy of the Holy Spirit? Is it possible that Yahweh’s people are in rebellion against Yahweh, His ways and His laws? The world is running away from Yahweh as fast as it can. The result of course is broken lives, broken communities, states, and nations. Even the animals are facing the “punishment” of Yahweh. Of course, the flocks of sheep are also Yahweh’s church folk. Yahweh loves us, He loves us as our Father should, which requires Him to correct us through punishment, or discipline.
Ellen G. White, in her book, MARANATHA The Lord is Coming, stated on page 68, “the world is on the verge of a stupendous crisis”. I hear ya Ellen. The lead in verse for her article on page 68 is Joel 1:15, “Alas for the day! For the day of Yahweh is at hand; It shall come as destruction from the Almighty.” The day of Yahweh is coming and notice how it comes, as destruction. Yahweh will devastate this earth prior to establishing Yeshua’s Kingdom in Jerusalem. We’re not there yet, but we’re steam rolling headlong toward that Day. Most prophecy teachers proclaim that the Day of Yahweh will occur during the last year, or last 45 days, of the Great Tribulation. You want to be raptured or resurrected by then. Repent and turn to Yeshua today, so you will be protected or gone when that Day comes.
Yeshua spoke a parable about this Day in Luke 21:29-36, “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. 30When they are already budding, you see and know for yourselves that summer is now near. 31So you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of Yahweh is near. 32Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place. 33Heaven and earth will pass [by each other] away, but My words will by no means pass away.
34“But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. 35For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
Forget going to Heaven to live with Yahweh forever. Heaven is on its way to earth. Yahweh’s eternal Kingdom will be headquartered in Jerusalem, forever. Yeshua has to eradicate all evil from earth before Yahweh comes to dwell with us on earth. Until that day, the earth will be a mess. All the precursors that Yeshua spoke about in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 are happening. Verses 4-5, the world is stumbling in the darkness of deception. Verses 6-7, we hear of wars and rumors of war every day. Come on, let’s blow Iran away already!! Because of the droughts all over the planet, we will face famines and pestilences like never before seen. Today, we daily hear of earthquakes in various places, and soon we’ll hear of earthquakes in EVERY place, like it states in the Hebrew version of Matthew 24. Verse 8 says all these troubles are just the beginning of sorrows. Great.
With verse 9, the Tribulation really begins with real persecution, like our brothers and sisters in Muslim countries face every day. Wholesale slaughter of Christians is now the accepted norm. In verse 10 we see offense, betrayal, and hatred running rampant, kind of like we see in today’s headlines. Verse 11 introduces us to the many false prophets rising up and deceiving many, kind of like what you watch on Christian TV today. Verse 12 shows us lawlessness abounding, like today, and therefore love in men’s hearts will grow cold, kind of like today. Verse 13 shows we have to endure to the end to be saved, but if we’re killed in tribulation, how do we endure to the end of the tribulation? That can’t be talking about enduring to the end of the tribulation. You can ONLY ENDURE TO YOUR OWN END. Many of us will face martyrdom for Yeshua. Get used to the idea. Verse 14 shows the Gospel of the Kingdom of Yahweh being preached to all the world, kind of like today, through radio, internet, and television. The end is very near.
Verse 15 declares the reality of another Temple being constructed on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. Gotta have a holy place for the Antichrist to stand in. Verses 16-19 show us to RUN when you see this abomination of desolation in the holy place of the next Temple of Yahweh. And notice verse 20, Yeshua is still, after 6,000 years of human history, EXPECTING YOU, DEAR CHRISTIAN, to be observing the Sabbath!! More on this later.
Verse 21 introduces us to the GREAT TRIBULATION. A time like no other time in all human history, before or after this 3 ½ year time slot. You don’t want to be on the planet during the Great Tribulation. Verse 22 shows us that the judgments of the Great Tribulation have the potential to destroy all human life on earth. Yahweh will have to shorten the days of the Great Tribulation, or men will destroy each other completely off the face of the earth. Yahweh shortens the Great Tribulation for the sake of the elect. Why would Yahweh have to shorten the Great Tribulation for the sake of the elect, if the elect are NOT on the earth during that time? Hmmm!?! Just wondering. The Scriptures, like Revelation 12, show that the Church will be protected during this devastating time, so don’t fret over anything coming upon this planet. Yahweh has it all under control.
Verses 23-25 show us more about the deception during these end times. Now would be a good time to go back and reread Deuteronomy 13. It describes how to determine who is a true or false prophet. Anyone can perform signs and wonders, saints, sinners, and devils. What determines a false prophet, according to Deuteronomy 13, is one who turns Yahweh’s people away from Yahweh to worship falsely, ie, on the wrong day, in the wrong way, with the wrong attitude, etc. Supernatural demonstrations are not the determining factor, causing people to turn from the truth of Yahweh’s way, to the way of falsehood, out of Yahweh’s path, to idolatry of all sorts, determines who is a false prophet. Leading people away from Yahweh by enticing them into idolatry of any type, by serving any mighty one other than Yahweh, is a capital crime, punishable by death. I am glad I am not anyone’s judge. Now you know, so now you won’t be deceived.
Verses 26-28 show us not to chase after these false prophets. Yeshua’s return will be very visible and noticeable. You don’t have to go anywhere to listen to any false teaching. You’ll know when He is returning in the Heavens. In Verses 29-31, at the very end of the Great Tribulation, after 3 ½ years of hell on earth, everyone left alive on earth will see Yeshua’s return to earth!! Verse 31 definitely looks like the result of the Rapture to me, the elect are gathered from all the corners of the heavenlies, not from all the corners of the earth.
Verses 32-35 let us know that this time of the end is near, now, and that it is as sure to come to pass as the Word of Yahweh. We are the last generation on this planet as it is today. These things are more sure than the heavens and the earth.
Verses 36-44 detail the timing of Yeshua’s return. The point being that we don’t know the exact day, hour, or minute, but we know the season, which is sooner, rather than later. Yeshua said to be ready, watch and pray.
Verses 45-51 are a warning to the saints to remain faithful. Continue to make disciples, teach, preach, heal, until Yeshua returns. Feed His sheep. Don’t let anyone, like a false prophet, lead you away into dissipation or licentious living, like what happened in Noah’s day. Only 8 individuals escaped that disaster. No time to slacken your disciplined life with Yeshua. Repent, believe the Gospel, turn to Yeshua, master repentance like King David. You’ll be glad you did.
Gene Benjamin II
August 26, 2012 CE
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