Kopp Disclosure
(John 3:19-21)
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Scratching
the Surface of Joel
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Have you ever
seen that bumper sticker, "God's Coming Back Soon...and He's
Really..."?
While Jesus said
nobody knows for sure when that day's coming except the Source, Starter,
Sovereign, and Savior, that
day's coming; and when we read Matthew 24, Mark 13, and other
related texts and recognize the birthpangs of that day increase in frequency
and intensity as the day draws closer...
Well, you get the
point; and if you don't, as bikers like to say, I can't explain it to you.
Moretheless, as the Boy
Scouts used to say as Jesus still does, "Be prepared!"
That was His way
of saying we can avoid a lotta trouble by not getting caught with our pants
down in any fashion when that day comes without any more warning than we've
already received.
No excuses when
that day comes.
We have been
warned.
Joel is about
that day.
God's people are
devastated by locusts: "We have been invaded! What the cutting
locusts left, the swarming locusts consumed; what the swarming locusts left,
the creeping locusts consumed; what the creeping locusts left, the stripping
locusts finished off."
Yuck!
Sounds awful.
It was.
But Joel is about
that locust plague being nothing compared to "the great and terrible day
of the Lord" that is coming.
Stepping back,
the locust plague came because God used it to punish His people for insulting
His holiness in so many ways.
"The great
and terrible day of the Lord" - a repeated theme/warning in the Bible -
refers to the really, really, really big and much, much, much unimaginably
awful judgment that is coming to people who persist in insulting His holiness
in so many ways.
Sounds awful.
It will be:
"Judgment will come on a black and fearful day; a thick cloud of darkness
will loom over everything. A great and mighty army advances like dawn
spreading across the mountains. Never has the world seen anything like it
before, nor will future generations ever see anything like it again...The army
is like a fire, consuming everything...a scorching flame burning
everything...Nothing is spared..."
Whoa.
Fortunately, we
know God wants to save everybody.
That's what Jesus
was/is/remains all about.
Jesus proves that
point - the biggest point in the big book.
So Joel points to
the only path to avoid the totally devastating punishment of that day:
"Who can survive?...Turn back your heart and rededicate yourselves to
Me...Show Me your repentance by fasting, weeping, and mourning....Rip the
wickedness out of your hearts; don't just tear your clothing...Everyone who
calls on the name of the Lord will be saved..."
My buddy Cliff
said he no longer nods like a good humor man agreeing with the last person that
he's talked to like an incomplete sentence ending in a preposition when someone
says, "Pastor, please pray for me..." Now he asks, "Before
I pray for you, are you serious about repenting?"
Cliff got that
from Joel: "Rip the wickedness out of your hearts; don't just tear your
clothing..."
In other words,
walk the talk!
Saying without
doing, as James makes so clear, is a lie.
Doing after
saying confirms the veracity of confession.
That's what the
call to fasting in Joel is all about: "Blow the trumpet!...Set apart a
time for fasting...Assemble the people..."
Do something!
Show the
seriousness of what you say about loving God!
I'll never forget
that big church meeting in the mid-seventies in Baltimore, Maryland when I sat
with several other last year seminarians in a room on the fifth floor of the
Hilton Hotel with Dr. James I. McCord who was President of the World Alliance
of Reformed Churches as well as our seminary; and how he challenged us: "I
don't care what you do, boys! But do something for God's sake!"
That's Joel's
message.
That's the
Bible's message.
Do something for God's sake!
Don't be like
that drunk on the old Jackie Gleason show: "I ain't doin' nothin'...I'm
just hangin' aroun'...doin' nothin'..."
Do something for God's sake!
That's how we
show our appreciation for Him as our Source, Starter, Sovereign, and Savior;
and avoid the awful consequences of not doing anything for God's sake when that
inevitable day comes.
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...to be continued...
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Blessings and Love!
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