Greetings to you all greatly beloved of God and welcome to another episode of our daily study of the Scriptures. We bless the name of the Lord God for the gift of life and for His benefits on us each new day. Praise be to God!
In our today’s episode 598, we shall be examining Joel Chapter 1 titled:
Plague Of Locust As A Warning To The People; This Will Make You Shiver
A brief overview of the book of Joel
Joel 1:1 provides us with the name of the author of the book as Joel. According to the Hebrew transliteration of the name (yo-el), it means “Jehovah is God,” that is, worshipper of Jehovah God. The same way we New Covenant believers say: “Jesus Is Lord.” About twelve people were called this name in the Bible including prophet Joel himself.
The way Joel speaks about the city of Jerusalem, the temple, the priests, and their ceremonies makes us believe that he was completely into their system, being one of them, which also shows that his ministry was predominantly among the people of Judah, because no reference was made to Israel. Also, verse 14 helps us to confirm that his ministry was to the people of Judah.
However, the Bible was quite silent about when Prophet Joel functioned as a Prophet unlike his minor prophet counterpart, Hosea whose details were explicitly provided in the first chapter.
Nevertheless, many Bible scholars maintained a general position that since he spoke so well of the events that happened during the era of King Joash, who was the King of Judah between 835 – 796 BC, we cannot but infer that his book was written around that period also, thereby making Joel one of the earliest writing prophets.
This essentially makes Joel a pre-exilic prophet, meaning a prophet that functioned before the exile. He served before the fall of the kingdom of Israel in the north to the hand of the Assyrians (721 B.C.) and also before the fall of the kingdom of Judah into the hand of the Babylonians (around 586 B.C).
There were other pre-exilic prophets in his category namely, Obadiah, Jonah, Hosea, Amos, Isaiah, and Micah, who served under Israel and Judah. Joel was number two in the Biblical ranking of Minor Prophets after Hosea.
Now, let’s delve into Chapter 1
Prophet Joel opened his book with the account of a terrible and devastating invasion of locusts, which attacked the crops of the people of Judah and eventually led to a great devastation and serious famine, which had never happened before in the land of Judah. Joel 1:2-13
This devastation was so negatively impacting that it became something parents must tell their children about from generation to generation.
This can be likened to the pandemic season that the whole world is going through right now which has affected a lot of people and businesses. Famine, hunger, and crime rates are increasing rapidly.
As a result of this devastation, the prophet called for a fasting and prayer moment to seek God’s mercy upon the land since it was obvious that it was a big problem which they could not fix themselves. Verse 14.
In verse 15, the prophet then likened that invasion symbolically to the coming of the day of the Lord.
This means that a day is coming when it will be fulfilled that Jesus would come again to judge the world for their sins. Only those who call upon God and believe the Gospel (believing and receiving) shall be saved. Romans 10:13
The same way the locust disaster was a wake up call for the people of Judah to amend their ways and return to God, so also the season of pandemic is a wake up call to everyone all over the world to wake up from their slumber and return to God.
In what state are you in right now – still living in sin or in a redeemed state? Answer the question yourself.
To be continued…stay tuned and stay blessed.
Let’s pray:
- Is there any battle someone reading this message is facing right now and you probably think it’s too big and beyond you; is it about your marriage, your children, your career or about your business? I declare the Lord God will come through for you, rescue you and grant you lasting peace of mind, in Jesus name.
Every demonic influence over any area of your life to frustrate your efforts, such evil influences are crushed completely and taken out of your way, in Jesus name.
I want you to rejoice always and sing praises to God, because the battle is won already for you, in Jesus name.
Bible Readings For Today: Reflection time on all the chapters you have read so far from the past six days and covering of missed chapters
I call you blessed now and always.
Saturday November 21, 2020 (DDMI)
