Month: August 2020

368. Delivered

Joel 2:32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.

God promises deliverance: deliverance from sin, death and the devil. These are our three major enemies that seek to keep us hostage by kidnapping and enslavement. Jesus has come to set us free, rescue, save and deliver. We pray “deliver us from evil,” or “the evil one,” as it may be translated. Jesus sees the Enemies and recognizes their presence and activity in our lives, because He sees what is going on in the invisible world, the realm that is invisible to us. We don’t see the evil nor do we see the proper connections between what these enemies are doing and the actual outworking in life. 

Therefore, God gives a promise and Jesus tells us to pray: Jesus has delivered us from the evil of bad things that happen to us. We believe in deliverance; and we believe that we are in trouble and danger every moment. Jesus has delivered, He is delivering, and He will deliver when He takes us from this vale of tears to Himself in heaven. 

Yes, the bad things will happen, even to “good” people, although we cannot legitimately call any man good. But we pray, and we believe God hears, that we shall be delivered from the evil of the thing. The evil of the bad thing is that we might lose faith, fall out of grace, or not trust in Jesus alone. That would be eternal death in hell. From this we are delivered. But, if we are honest to God and honest with ourselves, we are not so much scared of eternal hell as we are worried about our present problems. These occupy our thoughts. We want deliverance from the present pain and discomfort. We want health and wealth now. We might say, “Yeah, fine, I will go to heaven, but what about this problem I am dealing with today?” Does God promise He will take away the snakes in the wilderness? No, but He does put up a bronze snake (the sin of the world) on a pole that if we look at it we will be delivered (the venom of the sin will not kill us). We are surrounded by sin (snakes) but we are delivered from the evil of them.

There is a condition connected to this deliverance promise, however: “call on the name of the Lord.” If you call, then I will deliver. We call when we believe; we believe when we hear; we hear when someone preaches; someone preaches when he is sent. Reverse it: God sends a preacher of the gospel; we hear the gospel; we believe; we call on the name; we are delivered. {Romans 10:13-17) We call on Jesus after we believe; we believe after we hear; we hear after the preaching; the preacher comes after God sends him. The Spirit of God is operating through this whole chain of events to deliver. God sends and preaches the gospel, He opens the ears to hear, the heart to believe, and the mouth to call, And He delivers.

367. Pour Out My Spirit

Joel 2:28, 29 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh,; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.

God prophesies that He will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh. This prophecy came true on the Day of Pentecost. After Jesus’ Ascension He poured out the Holy Spirit; they spoke in tongues and preached the gospel. Peter explains, “This is that,” and then he quotes Joel. What you see and hear is that prophecy fulfilled. From that day forward the Church is born and will continue into eternity. The Spirit will now (since Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension) be available for all people on earth: sons, daughters, old men, young men, servants, and handmaids, in other words, all people. The Church still stands and the Spirit is still being poured out even to this day. People all over the world are receiving the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Gospel by faith in Christ.

This prophecy also involves a promise for us: Jesus will pour His Spirit upon us; the Spirit will fill believers; the Spirit will dwell in us; the Spirit will keep us in the one true faith.The Spirit in us will do all these things for us, in us, and around us. The Spirit is activated and energized every time the gospel is preached and heard. The Spirit continues to sanctify us, that is, make us better people, generate love and good works, lead us, teach us, and guide us in the way everlasting.

By the power of the Spirit using the Word of God more and more people in this and the following generations will be coming to faith and salvation. The Spirit will not fail to create and grow faith in all people (all flesh) wherever the Gospel is preached.

We need the Spirit to be alive, active and working in our hearts and lives. He makes us believe; He makes us see; He makes us live, work, do and decide according the God’s Word and will. When that happens our lives are rich and full. Without the Spirit we would have none of the good things the Lord wants to give us; we would not know life, forgiveness, and eternal salvation: we would not know the love of God; we would not have inner peace and joy. Thank God for the Holy Spirit. Ask the Lord for Him.

366. Satisfied and Never Ashamed

Joel 2:26 And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.

God promises that the Christian will never be hungry and that he will always be satisfied. Naturally, this promise does not apply to physical hunger and satisfaction. All believers throughout the world have not always eaten plenty; many people still go hungry. All believers are not always full and satisfied either. Hunger and emptiness remain for some.

We can, we may, and we should apply this promise to spirituaL hunger and satisfaction. Christians do become spiritually hungry, even dry and empty, and they often want more of God. And the Lord supplies the Spirit and provides the Bread of Life. Filling is always available, for the Word and Spirit are always around. We may go to God in prayer and ask for the Holy Spirit. Luke 11:13: “How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Jesus gives Bread for the soul freely and abundantly, even extravagantly enough to have twelve baskets left over. We just open the Bible; repeat memorized Bible verses, or listen to the Gospel when preached. If God sends a severe judgment, as in Hosea 8:11 (“I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, but of hearing the words of the Lord”), it would be the most terrible thing we can imagine. May it never be!

We eat spiritual food in plenty, and we may be satisfied. We are not always satisfied, however, because, like unbelievers, even believers try to satisfy the soul with earthly pleasures, creature comforts, rich food, more money, fleeting fame, and false power. These do not satisfy, of course, so we still want more. When we look to and trust in the only right source for filling we will be permanently satisfied with life, for in Jesus we have all the life we can handle.

God promises that we will never be ashamed, disappointed, let down, discouraged, or regretful for believing in Jesus. Jesus never fails. As the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame.” You get what you signed up for when you believe in Christ. Do not cast away your confidence, for Jesus made a promise.

365. Restore the Years

Joel 2:25 And I will restore the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.

The locust, the cankerworm, the caterpillar, and the palmerworm has eaten many years and taken away life, health and wealth from the people. What a wonderful promise this is for all of us who have wasted years of life, lost valuable time, messed up so many things, made costly mistakes, and generally eaten up the years. The Lord promises to restore what was lost, wasted, eaten up, and destroyed. No one can say they lived a perfect life and messed up nothing.

The Lord will fix up what was broken, find what was lost, write straight on our crooked lines, and put back together what was scattered. And then the Lord’s salvation does much more than simply restore things to the state they were before: He will make it all better than it was. The New Jerusalem surpasses the Garden of Eden.

The Lord calls these life destroyers a great army that He sent among us. God sent them to us and caused them to destroy when He cursed the earth. These are the “thorns and thistles, sweat and dust” of the Curse of our Fall into Sin. In other words, the “locusts” are our own fault. My Sin is the cause. God may have sent them, but I brought the curse about; It may be His army that messes up my life, but I am the one who invited them in. But, for Adam and Eve and all their descendants the Lord gave promises of restoration, forgiveness, and new life.

We all have some regrets and things we wish we could have a chance at a do-over; however, we recognize that we would probably make the mistakes again and surely just make some new ones. But God fixes. Yes, the “locust” will always be around, but so also will the God who restores. And that’s a promise.

364. Wheat, Wine, Oil

Joel 2:24 And floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.

–Wheat, wine, and oil are the agricultural symbols of material blessing, abundance of crops, and earthly wealth. The phrase is similar to the meaning of “a land flowing with milk and honey.” Material abundance and earthly blessing are common promises for the Old Testament people of God. Wealth and health are included in the promise of “corn, wine,, and oil.” The picture of earthly comforts, safety, peace and security is a dream for most people. The return to Paradise is a hope that lingers In the human heart, The hope that springs eternal is that some day life will be much better than it is now. Most humans innately know that there is another life after this one. There must be a better world in the future. The afterlife, the next life, will be abundantly blessed with many earthly comforts. 

The hope that could not be crushed was that the Messiah would bring in a millennial, utopian age when He comes. Jesus appeared to offer hope that He would be that Messiah, but time of “corn, wine, and oil” did not come about. Even the disciples who believed in Jesus were still waiting for Jesus to usher in a physical, material, earthly kingdom on earth in which they would rule with Him. The disappointment of Jesus’ humiliation, suffering, and death crushed their hopes and dreams. But after Jesus’ bodily resurrection their eyes were opened as to what the God of the Bible meant for them when Messiah came: It was spiritual. It was eternal. It was real. It was present in the heart. It was eternal life. The believers in Jesus could apply material and physical blessings and promises to the spiritual and eternal realities, and life changed. 

When this insight of spiritual riches and blessing dawns on us, we believe and are saved. A wonderful world is opened up to us and it lasts forever without end. This spiritual insight is a conversion experience generated and nurtured by the Spirit using the Gospel of the New Testament. We are convicted that the inner hope of a better life is real and true and present and powerful. Once sin is forgiven, the riches of the spiritual world is ours: Wheat is the Word of God, Wine is the blood of Christ, and Oil is the Holy Spirit. Believe and see.

363. The Former and Latter Rain

Joel 2:23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.

God promises rain, the former rain to germinate the seed and start growing and the latter rain To complete the ripening. Rain is a symbol for the “outpouring” of the Holy Spirit. Because Jesus has ascended into heaven as Lord He has begun to pour out the Spirit upon all flesh, beginning on the Day of Pentecost. The outpouring of the Spirit is like rain in this way: the Spirit refreshes and nourishes and causes growth for the seed of faith in the believer’s heart; He strengthens and ripens the growing plant to produce fruit and more seed; He rains refreshment and nourishment all over so that He is available to everyone. 

The Holy Spirit always operates through Word and Sacrament to produce and grow faith in Jesus Christ unto salvation and life. He effectively applies the Gospel to the hearts of those who read and hear it. The gospel is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes. And the Spirit is always working through the gospel whether we feel it or not. Faith is not dependent on feelings, but on the Word, which is always efficacious and salutary. We may go through spiritual dry spells and droughts, but spiritual life (the rain) has not stopped. It is not measured by “feeling God” and the ups and down of emotions. No feeling lasts, but God’s Word endures forever.

Just as rain is vital to life, so the Spirit’s coming gives life regularly. In dry and semi-dry climates timely rain is necessary to live and grow. It is so vital that unbelievers pray for rain by worshipping idol rain gods. The Lord damned this practice. We do not need to look to other gods for what we need. The Lord promises He will never fail to send the rain in season. We have many promises of provision and supply from a good and gracious God. Our Lord will send the rain and He will send the Spirit. The Lord sends the preacher; we hear the preaching of the Gospel; we believe it; we call upon the Lord; and we are saved. Thank God for the rain! He promises to cause it to come down for you.

362. Be Not Afraid

Joel 2:22 Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring; for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength.

Fear not! Be not afraid! Don’t be anxious! Don’t worry! These admonitions are used many times by God and Jesus and His messengers. The reason given here for fearlessness is because the Lord will provide a peaceful, fertile, rich and abundant environment for enjoying a good life. 

A utopian paradise is promised for the animals; there will be a time and place when and where the surroundings for living well are experienced once again. The “lion will lie down with the lamb,” and other such promises for nature will be actualized. The Creation will be restored to an Edenic garden for animals and humans to enjoy. Even the trees and stones will rejoice in God’s goodness. For now, we are all waiting for the restoration of all things, as predicted in Revelation. Times of refreshing will come from presence of the Lord. This kind of time was promised by God through the Prophets, from the time of Samuel and those who came after him.

Peter and the Apostles proclaim that this Time has come when the Christ appeared. We are living in those times spiritually by faith, and we eagerly await the full restoration of those times physically by sight. Spiritual wealth and abundance has been given freely to all who receive Christ as Lord. This is the kind of world that we live in and that lives in us. We need these kinds of promises so that by faith we can see what a glorious kingdom we live in. 

The pastures, the trees, the fig tree and the vine are just a few of the many symbols of the great riches the Lord has given to us. True life was meant to be lived in a verdant, peaceful, beautiful, refreshing, and ever-new Paradise. Jesus has come to fulfill this promise in our hearts by faith; and He will come again to fulfill this promise in a New Creation for eternity. For now, we walk by faith and enjoy the kingdom.

361. Great Things

Joel 2:21 Fear not, O land, be glad and rejoice: for the Lord will do great things.

The Lord promises to do great things. For this reason the Land (the Kingdom of God) may not have anything to fear, and the Land may be glad and rejoice, The Kingdom of God and all the believers in the Kingdom are able to replace fear with joy, because the Lord promises to do great things. Whatever bad things are happening in life that cause fear, worry, doubt, anxiety and stress will be replaced with joy and gladness. We are set free to be happy. All the bad things in life are caused by Sin, sometimes our own sin and sometimes the sin of others. Either way, fear enters in to rob us of joy and steal our contented happiness. But fear not! Your God and your Lord will do great things. We are more than conquerors.

Romans 8:32: “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” If we have Jesus what could we be afraid of? He has given us everything needful for gladness and rejoicing. The Lord has kept His promise: in Christ, He has done great things. Some of the great things: forgiveness of sins, eternal life, salvation from our enemies, the indwelling Spirit,, hope, faith, love, joy, peace and we could go on and on. The Lord has indeed done great things, almost too numerous to count up and remember. He has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature. [2 Peter 1:4]. 

Jesus tells the father of the healed son, “Tell everyone what great things the Lord has done for you.” Everyone’s joy is expanded when we tell and hear of God’s great things. And we will feel much better when we tell ourselves what great things God has done for us. Believe the promise; “The Lord will do great things.” Pray for His name to rule, His kingdom to come, and His will to be done in your life. He will answer your prayer and do great things.

360. Satisfied

Joel 2:19 Yea, the Lord will answer and say unto his people, behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen.

Corn, wine, and oil are common terms that are symbolic of fertility and abundance. Spiritual life is promised to come with great fertility, growth, greenery and abundance when the Messiah comes. The kingdom has come with Jesus’ appearance on the earth. Jesus pictures spiritual abundance in several miracles and parables during His earthly ministry. When Jesus begins His ministry, the Kingdom of God has come. When disciples follow and believe Jesus, the kingdom comes to them. When we repent and believe the gospel, the kingdom comes to us. When we are born again, we enter the kingdom. The Lord wants us to know that great grace and riches come to us when we come into the kingdom of God. We are so blinded by sin that we cannot really comprehend the spiritual riches we have been given.

We pray for insight (faith to see) the awesome riches of His glory in Christ Jesus. Paul prays for us to comprehend the depths of Jesus’ love. Jesus commands us to pray, “Thy kingdom come.” We petition the Father to bring His kingdom to us, place it in us, and make it evident among us. Life is much different and so much better when the kingdom comes among us. Winning the lottery or becoming very rich cannot come close to matching the spiritual riches we have access to in Christ. Kingdom riches are extravagant and continually overflowing. They say we only use a small percentage of our brain; it is also true that we use and enjoy a small percentage of the spiritual riches of the Kingdom. But even though we don’t appropriate all that God gives, the promise is still true: “ye shall be satisfied therewith.” In Christ we are always satisfied; at least we can be. We become dissatisfied with our lives when we look for satisfaction in the wrong places. Do not seek the bread that perishes, but the bread of everlasting life that Jesus gives freely. When we look for the right thing in the right place from the right person we will be satisfied. All the money in the world cannot buy that. But we have it. Satisfaction guaranteed.

359. Gracious and Merciful

Joel 2:13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

Rending the heart and turning to the Lord is a condition for the Lord to act for us with grace and mercy. God will always act out of his inherent character, which is Love. Love is the essence of who God is.in his nature. His love shows itself in our lives as grace, mercy and kindness. The Lord is like this and He will always do these things this way. That’s a guaranteed promise. The love of God for His created human beings compelled Him to send His only Son into the world to die for us and rise again. In this way God loved the world. And now, because of Christ the Father can and effectively does show grace and mercy and great kindness. He shows mercy not only in the constant forgiveness of all sins, but also He is gracious and kind to hear our prayers and answer them for our blessing.

The Lord God by nature is slow to anger, but He does eventually and inevitably become angry at sin and evil. God’s character of holiness and justice demands righteous anger. If sin should go unchecked and cruelty and injustice be allowed to have its way the human race would destroy itself. So God gets angry at what sin does to His beloved creatures. God does not want to get angry, but after a time He must take righteous action against evil. The Lord was willing to let Sodom and Gomorrah escape judgment. He waited over 100 years to send the Great Flood. And so on to other examples. The Lord is loath to bring judgment, and He dearly wishes He could change His mind. Therefore, in mercy, the Father put Jesus on the cross and judged all our sin there. Now because of Christ receiving the anger of God toward our sin we are free and forgiven, God cannot do evil to us.

“Rend your hearts” means simply sincere repentance with a revulsion of sin and a strong desire to change. Our sin breaks our hearts. Then we turn to the Lord for forgiveness and new life. God’s promise of grace, mercy and kindness moves us to repent and turn and believes, and thereby allow ourselves to be changed.