cut off – Praying Pint

53.h. Wilderness – 17.n. “Oh, that my people would listen to me”

Deu 32:29  If they were wise, they would understand this; they would discern their latter end!

Deuteronomy 5:29     Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever!

Psalms 81:13    Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways!

Psalms 107:15     Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!

Psalms 107:43   Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things; let them consider the steadfast love of the LORD.

Isaiah 48:18-19   Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;  your offspring would have been like the sand, and your descendants like its grains; their name would never be cut off or destroyed from before me.”

Hosea 14:9    Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the LORD are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.

Luke 19:41-42     And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it,  saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.

Amos 8:11. “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign LORD, “when I will send a famine through the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.“

Matthew 9:36    When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Romans 11:7-10    What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened,  as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.”  And David says, “Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them;  let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever.”

The idolatry and rebellions of Israel deserved, and the justice of God seemed to demand, that they should be rooted out. But He spared Israel, and continues them still to be living witnesses of the truth of the Bible, and to silence unbelievers. They are preserved for wise and holy purposes and the prophecies give us some idea what those purposes are. The Lord will never disgrace the throne of his glory. It is great wisdom, and will help much to the return of sinners to God, seriously to consider their latter end, or the future state. It is here meant particularly of what God foretold by Moses, about this people in the latter days; but it may be applied generally. Oh that men would consider the happiness they will lose, and the misery they will certainly plunge into, if they go on in their trespasses! What will be in the end thereof? Jer 5:31. For the Lord will in due time bring down the enemies of the church, in displeasure against their wickedness. When sinners deem themselves most secure, they suddenly fall into destruction. And God’s time to appear for the deliverance of his people, is when things are at the worst with them. But those who trust to any rock but God, will find it fail them when they most need it. The rejection of the Messiah by the Jewish nation, is the continuance of their ancient idolatry, apostacy, and rebellion. They shall be brought to humble themselves before the Lord, to repent of their sins, and to trust in their long-rejected Mediator for salvation. Then he will deliver them, and make their prosperity great. (Henry)

I sometimes wonder if we continue in sin because we are ignorant of God’s Word, lack the desire to study and know it, have less desire to apply it, and have deluded our hearts with worldly wisdom to the point where we are void of the wisdom, truth, promises, warnings, hope, blessings, refuge, strength, and encouragement it proclaims. We know more about worldly stuff than we know about the Word of God. How is Jesus Christ honored and glorified in this? How are we to know if our feet are on the path to righteousness? How are we to know right from wrong, good from bad, and truth from false if the Word of God is not in our hearts and minds? How can we be ever-growing and maturing in our understanding and knowledge of God’s grace, mercy, and love apart from His Word? How are we to live so that Jesus Christ is honored and glorified in all of our thoughts, words, and actions if the desire of our hearts and minds is on worldly pursuits and blind to the things of God?

How is the Holy Spirit to speak into our lives if our ears are deaf? How are we to see things of God if our eyes are blind? How do we understand the signs of the times? How are we to recognize sin? How are we to know that we need to repent? How are we to be light to the lost? How are we to be the salt of the earth? Will people be curious about Jesus by the way you live and treat others?

We make time in our day for many things, things we deem important and need to do. We make time for things that are not so important but these things occupy much of our time in mindless consumption. (TV, Social Media, News outlets, Sports) We pursue things that are important to us. We also allow our minds to be consumed by the unimportant. It seems as if we gravitate toward the worldly and away from things of God. “Oh, that my people would listen to me”

47.g. “Wilderness” – 11.m. “Sin unintentionally”

Num 15:22-24  “But if you sin unintentionally, and do not observe all these commandments that the LORD has spoken to Moses, all that the LORD has commanded you by Moses, from the day that the LORD gave commandment, and onward throughout your generations, then if it was done unintentionally without the knowledge of the congregation, all the congregation shall offer one bull from the herd for a burnt offering, a pleasing aroma to the LORD, with its grain offering and its drink offering, according to the rule, and one male goat for a sin offering.

Num 15:27  “If one person sins unintentionally, he shall offer a female goat a year old for a sin offering.

Num 15:30-31  But the person who does anything with a high hand, whether he is native or a sojourner, reviles the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the word of the LORD and has broken his commandment, that person shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be on him.”

God cared for Israel. These were commands that could only be fulfilled in the Promised Land. These laws had the built-in promise that God would lead them there and would not leave them in the wilderness forever. God’s mercy to Israel is seen in these instructions for offerings to cover sin and to express gratitude. Israel, at their point of failure, needed to be reminded of sacrificial atonement, and their need to give thanks. The stranger who lived among Israel was invited to worship the God of Israel according to God’s command. The worship of strange and pagan gods was forbidden.

Once again, immediately after the failure to enter Canaan by faith, God gave Israel laws that were to be obeyed when you come into the land. God did not question if they would live in Canaan, and only spoke of when. This set their minds forward to the promise.

Significantly, the Bible talks about sins unintentionally committed. It is often thought that if an action is unintentional, it cannot be a sin. But many of the worst sins are committed with the best of intentions. Good intentions don’t excuse a sinful result. Throughout history, many atrocities and much terror has come from those dedicated to honorable causes. One of the stated goals of communism is to establish a just, fair economic system where everyone works according to his ability and receives according to his need. Despite these good intentions, the goals of communism were used to justify the murder of tens of millions of people.

Among God’s people, there are many gossips, many talebearers, and many divisive people who will claim the best of intentions. Even if they mean well, they still may be in serious sin. The same applies to many other sins we may be ready to ignore or think lightly of because we think that good intentions excuse sin. A sacrifice for those who sin unintentionally shows that good intentions do not excuse sin. “The sinner with a high hand feels no guilt; therefore the offense is not sacrificially expiable. The one who sins defiantly may not feel the guilt of his violation, but he is nonetheless guilty before God and man.” Such sin was not to be tolerated in Israel. This command was a judicial and cultural tool for addressing such sins and confirming that such arrogant defiance of public morality would not be rewarded. (Guzik)

When our heart’s desire is to honor and glorify Jesus Christ in all we think, say, and do, and daily we cherish the Word of God, it is then that the Word of God will open our hearts and minds to things of God and expose us to those unintentional sins that we previously gave no thought to.

Oh, that our thoughts were like what David said, “Search me and know me. see if there is any offense within my heart, and lead me in the way of everlasting.”

46.j. “Wilderness” – 10.p. “LORD’s offering at its appointed time”

Num 9:1-13 And the LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, “Let the people of Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time. On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you shall keep it at its appointed time; according to all its statutes and all its rules you shall keep it.” So Moses told the people of Israel that they should keep the Passover. And they kept the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, in the wilderness of Sinai; according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so the people of Israel did. And there were certain men who were unclean through touching a dead body, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day, and they came before Moses and Aaron on that day. And those men said to him, “We are unclean through touching a dead body. Why are we kept from bringing the LORD’s offering at its appointed time among the people of Israel?” And Moses said to them, “Wait, that I may hear what the LORD will command concerning you.” The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If any one of you or of your descendants is unclean through touching a dead body, or is on a long journey, he shall still keep the Passover to the LORD. In the second month on the fourteenth day at twilight they shall keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break any of its bones; according to all the statute for the Passover they shall keep it. But if anyone who is clean and is not on a journey fails to keep the Passover, that person shall be cut off from his people because he did not bring the LORD’s offering at its appointed time; that man shall bear his sin.

It was not a surprise for Israel to hear that Passover must be kept every year. When Passover was first instituted, God told Israel they were to keep it throughout their generations. “The long stay at the base of Mount Sinai was not a time of inactivity or indolence. It was a time of great activity in celebration of the goodness and mercy of the Lord and in preparation for what was expected to have been the soon triumphal march into the land of Canaan.” The blood of the lamb, applied to the door posts of the home, was seen by the angel of God’s judgment – and seeing the blood, the angel “passed over” and spared the home covered by the blood of a lamb. Passover was kept as a continual reminder of this occasion of judgment passed over, and of the deliverance from slavery that followed. Jesus fulfilled the Passover sacrifice by His death on the cross (1 Corinthians 5:7). The covering of His blood causes the judgment of God to “pass over” His people. We are commanded to continually remember our occasion of being spared judgment and the deliverance that followed, by remembering Jesus’ work on the cross through the Lord’s Supper. Israel was properly obedient to God. We don’t find any significant disobedience against God of distrust of Him on Israel’s part in the first 10 chapters of Numbers, while they camped at Mount Sinai. This makes their distrust of God and rebellion against Him even more shocking and without excuse from Numbers 11 on. (Guzik)

But lest any one should pervert this permission, to celebrate the Passover a month later in case of insuperable difficulties, which had only been given for the purpose of enforcing the obligation to keep the covenant meal upon every member of the nation, into an excuse for postponing it without any necessity and merely from indifference, on the ground that he could make it up afterwards, the threat is held out in Numbers 9:13, that whoever should omit to keep the feast at the legal time, if he was neither unclean nor upon a journey, should be cut off. (Keil)

Remembering how God, in the time of judgment, passed over the Israelites is no small thing. God’s judgment was announced and carried out. There was no waiting, no stopping, or turning away from it so that it did not affect those it was intended for. Remembering God in His deliverance, mercy, and grace being saved from the slavery of sin and judgment is upon all who believe. It is no small thing that God has done. It should always be in the front of our minds. He deserves all honor and glory and praise, for He has done great and wonderful things.

44.l. “Wilderness” – 8.r. “You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you.”

Exodus 31:12-18 And the LORD said to Moses, “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the LORD, sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’” And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.

Orders were now given that a tabernacle should be set up for the service of God. But they must not think that the nature of the work, and the haste that was required, would justify them in working at it on sabbath days. The Hebrew word /shabath/ signifies rest, or ceasing from labour. The thing signified by the sabbath is that rest in glory which remains for the people of God; therefore the moral obligation of the sabbath must continue, till time is swallowed up in eternity. (Henry)

Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep—The reason for the fresh inculcation of the fourth commandment at this particular period was, that the great ardor and eagerness, with which all classes betook themselves to the construction of the tabernacle, exposed them to the temptation of encroaching on the sanctity of the appointed day of rest. They might suppose that the erection of the tabernacle was a sacred work, and that it would be a high merit, an acceptable tribute, to prosecute the undertaking without the interruption of a day’s repose; and therefore the caution here given, at the commencement of the undertaking, was a seasonable admonition. (Jamieson)

This command was strategically placed – at the very end of all the commands to build the tabernacle. Though God gave Israel a work to do in building the tabernacle He did not want them to do that work on the Sabbath. The rest of God still had to be respected. Our rest in the finished work of Jesus is never to be eclipsed by our work for God. When workers for God are burnt-out, they have almost always allowed their work for God to be bigger in their minds than His work for them. The difference between what Jesus has done for us and what we do for Him is like the difference between the sun and the moon, and the sun is almost unbelievably larger than the moon. Yet if the moon is in the exactly right (or wrong) place, it is possible for the moon to eclipse the sun. Some Christians live in a constant state of total eclipse, allowing what they do for Jesus to seem more important than what Jesus did for them. (Guzik)

18.f. “hough the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever;”

Psalms 92:7    that though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever;

Psalms 37:38    But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed; the future of the wicked shall be cut off.

Psalms 103:15-16    As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field;  for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.

Psalms 92:12 The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

Isaiah 61:3    to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.

“Sometimes we go through seasons of darkness, when our circumstances are not sunny and our spirits aren’t as bright as usual. But God works in our hearts during such times, and He can use these periods to increase our sturdiness and fruitfulness.

He also makes the sun arise right on time, replacing fear with joy and sadness with gladness. With Him near, we never need to fear the dark. It’s sometimes where negatives develop into pictures of grace.” (David Jeremiah)

With eyes of scripture opened to our heart by and through the leading of the Holy Spirit we can see evil. We are able to see the lies that are proclaimed by those who are influenced by and through Satan’s persuasion. We can see acts of this evil being proclaimed as good or justified by the many who agree. There are so many things that come to mind when I think about Satan’s influence and persuasion.

Fear of the unknown when God’s Word says to cast out all fear. He is in control, always has been and always will be.

Anger and hate against people who don’t agree with what is being done or said or allowed. God’s Word tells us “if possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with all men.” “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him.” Let our eyes be on Jesus Christ and let the hatred of the evil we see be allowed to be carried in His hands. “There are six things the Lord hates— no, seven things he detests: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family.” Hate and anger against evil are common but when it is allowed to take root in our heart rather than given over to Jesus Christ bad things happen. Jesus is not glorified or honored this way.

Lies that are accepted as right and just. Abortion, pornography, LGBTQ, etc… are culturally accepted but absolutely wrong in the eyes of God. For certain we will see more and more of this type of life-style should the Lord Jesus tarry in His return.

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

“And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds. 25 Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have made a habit, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

13.u. “Behold, a day is coming for the Lord”

Zechariah 13:7 “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who stands next to me,” declares the Lord of hosts. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; I will turn my hand against the little ones. In the whole land, declares the Lord, two thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one third shall be left alive. And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people’;and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’”

Zechariah 14:1 Behold, a day is coming for the Lord, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women raped. Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward.

Zechariah 14:9 And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.

In this prophecy from Zechariah we see a clear picture of Jesus Christ, the Shepherd was struck (crucified) and the scattering of the sheep took place when persecution fell on those in Jerusalem. Act 8:1 And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. We also see those who will be alive at His return to earth for the millennial reign, and the death of those who were striving to destroy Israel and His followers who came to an understanding of and trusted in salvation and redemption through Him during the tribulation period and were alive at His coming. “His feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives.” Those that come against Him will surely perish. Those that trust in Him will surely live and they will reign with Him on earth for 1000 years.

There is more definition to the timing and what will occur in Revelation about the tribulation period when the wrath of God is poured out on all mankind for their rejection of Jesus Christ and His grace, mercy, and love. We know that man has both physical and spiritual makeup. The physical dies but the spirit is eternal. Those who have rejected Jesus Christ will die physically but spiritually they will live in torment, Hell, totally separated from Jesus Christ. This is not something to be taken lightly. I recently had a conversation with a relative who said when he dies he knows he is going to hell and he said that he will only take up a small portion there. I told him he is still alive and while he still has breath there is time to change that outcome. How is it that people can take Hell so lightly? It is because they make the sacrifice, redemption, and salvation of Jesus Christ his offer of grace, mercy, and love lightly. I don’t know how it works, but Jesus Christ can soften hearts and harden hearts with the same offer of redemption, and salvation. Look at Paul the leader of and the one who carried out great persecution on the early church yet his heart was softened. Look at Pharaoh who in the light of all of the wonders displayed hardened his heart like stone. Look at your own life and how self-centered, self-absorbed, and self-satisfied you were and somehow the Word of God softened your heart to the Good News of Jesus Christ. Obviously it was not a work of your own thinking but the work of the Holy Spirit of God opening up your mind to understand the need and offer of redemption. Only God knows how this works. He is all-knowing, Holy, and just. Somewhere in all of this is a free will choice that is made deep within the heart and soul of every person. All I can say is that if the Holy Spirit of God is revealing the need and offer of redemption and salvation, do not reject it. Your eternal destiny is based on this choice.

11.m.”The Lord is good”

Nahum 1:7 The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him. But with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of the adversaries, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.

1 Chronicles 16:34     Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!

Psalms 25:8    Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in the way.

Psalms 100:5     For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

Lamentations 3:25    The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.

Romans 11:22   Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.

Do you think about the “Good of our Lord and Savior”? I am sure thoughts about His saving grace, mercy, forgiveness, and promise of forever with Him in eternity are present most days. But the “Good or our Savior” is more than that. He has given us each talent to use. These talents allow us to fix, repair, build, grow, lead, and apply knowledge. These are not burdens but often we fall into the trap of calling them a burden. We say things like “I have to” do something rather than thanking God for the talents that allow us to say “I get to” do something. These talents are not a burden, they are God’s gift to us. He has given us abilities that help us and certainly can be used to help others. These abilities are not “I have to’s” but “I get to’s”. When we have thoughts of our abilities as having to use them we won’t have a mindset to be thanking God for them. We will have thoughts of them being a burden and our heart for whatever the task is will not be giving God praise and thanks. Granted some of our gifts will get us dirty, tired, and mentally exhausted as we use them. It sure makes the task or job much more meaningful to do when we “get to” use our gifts rather than “have to”. Each of us has been given both physical and spiritual gifts. In these gifts of abilities and talents, we have a great opportunity to thank and honor God by how we use them and how we think about “Getting to” use them. When have you taken a mental inventory of all the gifts, talents, and abilities God has given you? When we are mindful of them it is a good foundation for putting honor and glory and thankfulness in to “Getting to us them”.

10.i. “For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations.”

Obadiah 1:10 Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever. On the day that you stood aloof, on the day that strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. But do not gloat over the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune; do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin; do not boast in the day of distress. Do not enter the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; do not gloat over his disaster in the day of his calamity; do not loot his wealth in the day of his calamity. Do not stand at the crossroads to cut off his fugitives; do not hand over his survivors in the day of distress.

For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head. For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so all the nations shall drink continually; they shall drink and swallow, and shall be s though they had never been. But in Mount Zion there shall be those who escape, and it shall be holy, and the house of Jacob shall possess their own possessions. The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble; they shall burn them and consume them, and there shall be no survivor for the house of Esau, for the Lord has spoken.

The Edomites were the descendants of the biblical Esau, who was the son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham. Deuteronomy 23:7 You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were a sojourner in his land. The Israelites and Edomites were descendant brothers. They were expected to treat each other as brothers. The Israelites were rejected passage through Edom while in the wilderness. Numbers 20:14 Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: “Thus says your brother Israel: You know all the hardship that we have met: how our fathers went down to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time. ^fAnd the Egyptians dealt harshly with us and our fathers. And when we cried to the Lord, he heard our voice and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. And here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory. Please let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or vineyard, or drink water from a well. We will go along the King’s Highway. We will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory.” But Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through, lest I come out with the sword against you.” The Edomites eventually disappeared from history. “and there shall be no survivor for the house of Esau, for the Lord has spoken” And so it is. They lived in rebellion to God. They lived in pride and arrogance. They despised God and His chosen. They fought against God’s chosen. They even captured and turned over those who had escaped during the Babylonian attack and destruction of Jerusalem. “As you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head.“

Like the Edomites, there is no hope for those who reject the offer of salvation and redemption through Jesus Christ. Their end is the same, destruction, torment, and eternity in hell, which has been reserved for those who not only reject salvation but despise it and God.

9.d. “The great day of the LORD is near, near and hastening fast”

Joel 1:15 Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar. Go in, pass the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God! Because grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God. Consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord. Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes. Is not the food cut off before our eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God? The seed shrivels under the clods; the storehouses are desolate; the granaries are torn down because the grain has dried up. How the beasts groan! The herds of cattle are perplexed because there is no pasture for them; even the flocks of sheep suffer.

Psalms 37:13     but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming.

Isaiah 13:6-9     Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come!  Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every human heart will melt.  They will be dismayed: pangs and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at one another; their faces will be aflame.  Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it.

Ezekiel 7:2-12   “And you, O son of man, thus says the Lord GOD to the land of Israel: An end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land.  Now the end is upon you, and I will send my anger upon you; I will judge you according to your ways, and I will punish you for all your abominations.  And my eye will not spare you, nor will I have pity, but I will punish you for your ways, while your abominations are in your midst. Then you will know that I am the LORD.  “Thus says the Lord GOD: Disaster after disaster! Behold, it comes.  An end has come; the end has come; it has awakened against you. Behold, it comes.

Zephaniah 1:14-18    The great day of the LORD is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the LORD is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there.

Revelation 6:17    for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

The “Day of the Lord” is in contrast to man’s day or Satan’s day. His “Day” is coming. We see glimpses of what He is able to do and what it will be like throughout scripture. We see some of His judgments executed here in Joel. The locust, drought, and fire, but the “Day of the Lord” coming will not be like anything ever seen before. This day will begin right after the rapture of the believers. This day will come like a thief in the night, unexpected. It will come upon the whole earth and is given a great deal of detail in Revelation. We see prophets throughout scripture warning of this “Day”. And yet, people go about living as though it is not coming. How long has it been since you have heard someone say “that man / woman is a “God Fearing” person? Doesn’t is seem like that “God Fearing” is gone? Living in a soft prosperous culture has a way of getting people to take their eyes off God and more on self and what the world has to offer. The time of salvation is now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Not when convenient. Nos is the day of salvation but a time is fast approaching when the “the Day of the Lord” will come. Believers expectantly look for this day for they will be ushered into His presence forever and ever more. When God is not given thought, sin is not given thought, redemption and salvation is not given thought, repentance is not given thought, honoring Jesus Christ is not thought, reliance is not thought, obedience is not thought…… Each day we must deny self and intentionally choose to humbly serve, honor, glorify, follow, obey, and trust Jesus Christ with all our heart, mind, and soul, and strength. The “Day of the Lord” is coming soon and with it the rapture of believers and wrath, anger, and judgment on those who have rejected His call to repentance and belief in and through Jesus Christ.

9.c. “And gladness dries up from the children of man.”

Joel 1:4 What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten, and what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten. Awake, you drunkards, and weep, and wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it is cut off from your mouth. For a nation has come up against my land, powerful and beyond number; its teeth are lions’ teeth, and it has the fangs of a lioness. It has laid waste my vine and splintered my fig tree; it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down; their branches are made white. Lament like a virgin wearing sackcloth for the bridegroom of her youth. The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off from the house of the Lord. The priests mourn, the ministers of the Lord. The fields are destroyed, the ground mourns, because the grain is destroyed, the wine dries up, the oil languishes. Be ashamed, O tillers of the soil; wail, O vinedressers, for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished. The vine dries up; the fig tree languishes. Pomegranate, palm, and apple, all the trees of the field are dried up, and gladness dries up from the children of man.

This total devastation of the land is the result of the plague of locusts. The nation has become a disaster area. The Lord calls upon different segments of the population to mourn and repent. What we might call a natural disaster is actually a judgment of God upon the people of Judah. Joel tells them why the locusts have come and to mourn and repent. Mourn over their loss and repent (turn away from) of the things they were doing, not being obedient to God nor living in such a way to bring Him honor and glory. I do wonder about all of the “natural disasters” we are seeing with seemingly much more frequency. Is not God in control of all things? Yes, He is. Are these judgments, reminders, or times of testing for us? What are we to learn from them? We know that the increase in frequency brings us much closer to the return of Jesus Christ. How much more frequent and widespread do they have to be before we look to heaven with expectant hearts for the return of Jesus? Not much I would think. He could return today. When we look at this wide overarching spread of Corona virus you have to wonder how much longer will the return of Jesus Christ for His church be. The message is clear in Joel, “Repent”. Could the Corona virus be God’s last call to repentance before the return of Jesus? The point is to look for and expect the return of Jesus at any moment. “For if they had known what time the thief would come they would have been prepared” but they were not prepared. The parable that this comes from was a warning to those who don’t give thought to Christ and to those who think they are already right before God but are not. Some may wonder what they have to repent from. This is a fair question. What they don’t know and what they don’t care about from God’s word leaves them unknowing. Avoidance, neglect, and being complacent with God’s Word will never lead a person to repentance. Only when God’s Word is desired and sought with a heart and soul-deep want is when the Holy Spirit will lead us to places within our hearts that we need to repent of. Don’t neglect His word. Don’t wait for a disaster to land on your front doorstep before you seek God. Don’t wait for things around you to crumble into ruin to desire God. Look deep into His word with a heart and mind that wants to be changed in ways that will honor and glorify Him alone.