The Day of the Lord | Joel
By Rev. Jeremiah Cheung
From Joel 1:13-20
1:13 Put on sackcloth, you priests, and mourn; wail, you who minister before the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you who minister before my God; for the grain offerings and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God. 14 Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord.
15 Alas for that day! For the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.
16 Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes—joy and gladness from the house of our God? 17 The seeds are shriveled beneath the clods. The storehouses are in ruins, the granaries have been broken down, for the grain has dried up. 18 How the cattle moan! The herds mill about because they have no pasture; even the flocks of sheep are suffering.
19 To you, Lord, I call, for fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness, and flames have burned up all the trees of the field. 20 Even the wild animals pant for you; the streams of water have dried up and fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness.
The prophet Joel declared to his generation that the day of the Lord is near. Joel 1:15 “Alas for that day! For the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.” Why did the prophet make such a declaration? He realized from observing natural phenomena that the day of the Lord’s judgment was fast approaching.
Our God is a God who communicates and one of the ways He communicates to man is through the natural world. He speaks His word through the prophets. He also spoke to mankind through the incarnation of His only Son. Nature is yet another way God speaks to man.
- Psalm 19:1-2 “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.”
- Romans 1:20 “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”
The whole universe speaks of God’s work. The prophet saw that the earth has been ruined by multiple swarms of locusts that came one after another. The earth was made desolate. The trees, the land, and the beasts were in mourning. The prophet saw that, at this scale, these natural disasters were a sign that the hand of God’s judgment was drawing near. Thus the prophet called out to the priests, the elders, and the people: “we must all repent, we must declare fasting and cry out to the Lord.”
Church, we don’t live in an agricultural society, so we don’t personally see locust plagues. But we do see the damage done by the wind, earthquakes, and natural disasters. Now, with the whole world facing the COVID-19 pandemic, shall we remain unrepentant?
The day of the Lord is fast approaching. It is not just a certain nation or a certain region that must repent; the whole world must repent. The sins of the world are welling up; the Lord is watching from heaven, will the Lord relent? Sometimes we hear or see news of wicked deeds and we wonder how men could do such wicked things and ask if these are really the deeds of men? Yet our Heavenly Father sees these things daily, He hears these every day, and He must be saying in his heart, “Are these really the deeds of men I have created? How could they do such things?”
The Lord Jesus said, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” In Noah’s days, people were corrupt in all their ways, promiscuous in their marriage and sexual lives; eating and drinking, they lived in materialism and self-indulgence. The whole earth was full of violence. And even as the people believed they were safe, the flood came.
We are living in a similar situation today. In fact, as to marriage, sexual promiscuity, self-indulgence, pleasure-seeking, and violence, the situation today is worse than the days of Noah. The day of the Son of Man, the day of the Lord is fast approaching. Have you repented? Are you ready to meet God?
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耶和華的日子 | 約珥書
張國強牧師
約珥書 1:13-20
1:13 祭司阿, 你們當腰束麻布痛哭, 伺候祭壇的阿, 你們要哀號, 事奉我神的阿, 你們要來披上麻布過夜, 因為素祭和奠祭, 從你們神的殿中斷絕了。14 你們要分定禁食的日子, 宣告嚴肅會, 招聚長老, 和國中的一切居民, 到耶和華你們神的殿, 向耶和華哀求。
15 哀哉, 耶和華的日子臨近了, 這日來到, 好像毀滅從全能者來到。
16 糧食不是在我們眼前斷絕了麼? 歡喜快樂不是從我們神的殿中止息了麼? 17 穀種在土塊下朽爛, 倉也荒涼, 廩也破壞, 因為五穀枯乾了。18 牲畜哀鳴, 牛群混亂, 因為無草, 羊群也受了困苦。
19 耶和華阿, 我向你求告, 因為火燒滅曠野的草場, 火焰燒盡田野的樹木．20 田野的走獸向你發喘, 因為溪水乾涸, 火也燒滅曠野的草場。
先知約珥向他事奉的世代發出一個宣告, 耶和華的日子臨近了。1:15 哀哉, 耶和華的日子臨近了, 這日來到, 好像毀滅從全能者來到。為什麼先知有這樣的宣告呢? 他從大自然的現象體會到神審判竹日子快要來臨了。
神是說話的神, 祂藉著自然界向人說話, 祂藉著祂的道由先知的口發出, 祂也藉著祂獨生子道成肉身向人說話。自然界是神向人說話的方法之一。
- 詩篇 19:1-2「諸天述說神的榮耀,穹蒼傳揚他的手段。這日到那日發出言語, 這夜到那夜傳出知識。」
- 羅馬書1:20「自從造天地以來, 神的永能和神性是明明可知的, 雖是眼不能見, 但藉著所造之物, 就可以曉得, 叫人無可推諉。」
這個宇宙在述說神的作為, 先知看見全地受蝗蟲之災, 而且更是一個接一個而來, 全地荒涼, 所有的樹本, 土地, 野獸都發出悲哀之聲, 這不是自然界的災難那麼的簡單, 這是神的手, 神審判的手要臨到了。所以先知大聲呼喚, 祭長們, 長老們, 百姓們, 我們都要悔改, 我們要宣告禁食, 向耶和華哀求。
教會, 我們現在不是活在農業的社會裡, 我們看不見蝗蟲之災, 但我們看見風災, 地震, 自然生態的破壞, 現在全球面對新冠肺炎 COVID-19的疫情, 我們還不悔改嗎?
耶和華的日子快臨近了, 不是某一個國家, 某一個地區要悔改, 全球都要悔改, 世人所犯的罪真是滿溢了, 神在天上觀看, 神能不行動嗎? 有時候我們聽見, 看見一些罪惡的消息, 我們心裡都會說, 這是人作出來的嗎？怎可能這樣作, 但天上的父, 日日都看見, 日日都聽見, 祂心裡也要說, 這是我所造的人所作的嗎？怎可能呢？
主耶穌說: 挪亞的日子如何？人子的日子也如何？挪亞的日子人在婚姻的事上敗壞, 在性的方面隨便; 人又吃又喝, 人活在物質享樂主義中; 地上又滿了強暴, 人以為平安的時候, 洪水來了。
現今我們所面對的環境真是一模一樣, 在婚姻在性在享樂在強暴的事情上, 我們比挪亞的日子更可怕, 人子的日子, 耶和華的日子臨近了, 你悔改了嗎? 你預備好迎見你的神嗎？