Joel 1:14-20 - Homiletics

Calamity removed.

I. THE DISCHARGE OF THE DUTIES ENJOINED IN A RIGHT WAY . After the prophet had summoned the ministers of religion to realize their responsibility and humble themselves under a due sense of sin—its sinfulness in God's sight—he further intimates its calamitous consequences to a country, to a community both in a temporal and spiritual sense; he then proceeds to point out the proper method of going about repentance and reform, urging the work with suitable motives.

1 . There was to be a fast in all the homesteads of Judah, and by all the people of the land, with due preparation for its observance. "Sanctify ye a fast."

2 . Then a proclamation of a solemn assembly was to follow.

3 . The persons to be convened are specified. They were the public office-bearers and persons of influence, and along with them the whole people—high and low, rich and poor, young and old, alike. Thus a very promiscuous multitude, consisting of the whole body of the people with their rulers, was summoned to this great convocation.

4 . The place of meeting was the house of God; for if we would worship God acceptably, we must follow the method he has prescribed.

5 . And when all this preparation had been duly made—the proclamation made, the persons assembled, the place of convocation thronged—there was prayer , solemn, public, earnest, energizing prayer, to be engaged in—a simultaneous uplifting of heart and voice to the Lord, a crying unto the Lord their God.

II. CERTAIN WEIGHTY MOTIVES ARE ADDED .

APPLICATION .

1 . We see in all this the sad effects and ruinous consequences of sin. Under its blighting influence the fairest spot on earth becomes a wilderness, the most fruitful land becomes a desert, and the richest region is turned into a barren waste by the iniquity of them that dwell therein.

2 . The only way of relief is by returning to God. "Whither should we go with our cries but to him from whom the judgment we dread comes? There is no flying from him but by flying to him; no escaping from the Almighty but by making our submission and supplication to the Almighty; this is taking hold on his strength that we may make peace."

3 . The prophet stimulates those that are backward to engage in this duty by his own example. "O Lord," he says, "to thee will I cry;' as though he said, "As for others, let them do what they please; as for myself, I will do that which conscience and God's own Word tell me to be the right thing to do , and the right as well as only safe course to take."

4 . Our dependence on God both for daily bread and spiritual nourishment.