Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20100103.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Joel: Call To Revere Almighty God
Part III: God's Promised Blessing For Repentance Out Of Reverence For Him, Joel 2:18-3:21
A. God's Promised Deliverance For Repentance In The Great Tribulation
(Joel 2:18-27)
  1. Introduction
    1. Almighty God is to be revered, to be heeded by man that he might escape God's judgment for sin. Yet, that same God is also infinitely good, and offers GREAT DELIVERANCE IF man TRULY REPENTS!
    2. This truth is clarified in Joel 2:18-27 in its literary, historical context, and we view it for our application:
  2. God's Promised Deliverance For Repentance In The Great Tribulation, Joel 2:18-27:
    1. We before learned that Joel 2:1-17 reveals the overwhelming judgment God will bring upon His people Israel in the Great Tribulation to warn them to repent that He might forgive them and end the judgment.
    2. We know from Biblical prophecy elsewhere that Israel will indeed repent, heeding the Joel 2:12-17 call, so there will be a blessed end to Israel's Great Tribulation woes, and Joel 2:18-27 begins to itemize God's intent in the judgment event in a powerful way through use of a literary device known as a chiasmus:
      1. Following God's call for Israel to repent in view of the overwhelming, terrifying Gentile invasion in the future Great Tribulation (Joel 2:11, 12-17), Israel will indeed repent according to Zechariah 12:10.
      2. That repentance will be met by God's remarkable deliverance described prophetically and with literary force through means of a chiasmus in Joel 2:18-27 (as follows):
        1. Based on Israel's true repentance of her sin, God will be motivated jealously to take back possession of His land of Israel from greedy, cruel Gentile invaders, and to pity His people, Israel, Joel 2:18.
        2. Thus, He will deliver Israel from them as depicted in Joel 2:19-27, a section of Scripture that is organized in the Ancient Near Eastern literary format of a chiasmus as follows: Joel 2:19 (section a) and Joel 2:26-27 (section a') promise God's restoration of crops and a cessation of shame; Joel 2:20a (section b) and Joel 2:25 (section b') promise an elimination of Israel's Gentile foes or their effects; and Joel 2:20b-24 (section c), the center and core part of the chiasmus and thus its main focus, bears three vital themes: ((1)) God will have done great things for Israel; ((2)) His people were thus not to fear, ((3)) but to be glad and to rejoice! (Bible Knowledge Commentary, O. T. , p. 1418-1519)
        3. This core of the chiasmus with its three vital themes is itself composed of two cycles, the first being Joel 2:20b-21b and the second Joel 2:21c-24, and the second cycle repeats and/or expands on the three critical themes introduced in the first cycle, Ibid., p. 1418.
        4. According to E. W. Bullinger's classic work, Figures of Speech Used in the Bible (1968), p. 374, a chiasmus in Ancient Near Eastern literature "is by far the most stately and dignified presentation of a subject; and is always used in the most solemn and important portions of Scripture."
        5. Since the center of the chiasmus, its most important part, highlights God's deliverance of Israel so that, even in the Great Tribulation, she will no longer need to fear, but be glad and rejoice in God's deliverance, GOD was seeking in the Joel 2:18-27 chiasmus to EMPHASIZE the fact that He did NOT ENJOY disciplining His people, but that He was WILLING to USE such judgment to ELICIT their REPENTANCE that He might WONDERFULLY BLESS them!
    3. In keeping with this divine motive, the concluding verse of the chiasmus, Joel 2:27, declares that after God's great deliverance of Israel in the Great Tribulation era, she will finally be truly comforted to know that He has not abandoned her, but that His presence is with her in her midst, and that He is her only God Who intends to preserve her from ever again being shamed by Gentile nations!
Lesson: God revealed in Joel 2:18-27 by use of a powerful literary device in its context that He did not relish severely punishing His people, but that the end result of such judgment -- their repentance, followed by His great blessing -- was so valuable, He would use such judgment for its blessed effects!

Application: (1) May we also see our need to repent of what sin we have done and avoid sinning in God's power to escape His discipline and enjoy His richest blessings! (2) If we realize we have sinned, may we immediately, truly repent to escape God's discipline and receive His richest blessing!