Kings and Prophets 07

[0:00] Well, last week we talked about Elijah, during his ministry over to Elisha and how that translation transpired.

[0:15] And the fact that Elisha went to be with the Lord without seeing death. And so we talked about some of Elisha's ministry and the miracles that he performed to show Israel the error of their ways.

[0:28] And because we discussed Elijah being taken to heaven without death, I just want to detour a little bit this morning and talk about that.

[0:40] Because, according to the Bible, Enoch and Elijah are the only two people God took to heaven without them dying. Genesis 5.24 says, Enoch walked with God, then he was no more because God took him away.

[0:58] He was just walking and he was no more. 2 Kings 2.11 relates to the translation of Elijah.

[1:09] Suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of the fire appeared and separated the two of them. And Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. We discussed that last week, how that transpired.

[1:20] So, Enoch is described as a man who walked with God for 300 years. We see that back in Genesis. 300 years. Just imagine how long those people lived back at that time.

[1:33] And Elijah was perhaps the most powerful of God's prophets of the Old Testament. There are also prophecies of Elijah's return. If you see in Malachi chapter 4, it says there, Behold, I'm going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord.

[1:54] He will return the hearts of the fathers back to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers. So, I will come and strike the land with complete destruction.

[2:04] So, Elijah is going to come back. We see that. It's very plainly written there. So, why did God take Enoch and Elijah the way that he did?

[2:20] Any ideas? Any comments this morning? I mean, here's two guys that's just completely different than anybody else in the whole Bible. God takes them without death.

[2:34] I'm sorry? He liked them a lot. Because he didn't want to suffer. Okay. Well, there's all kinds of reasons. And, you know, the Bible really doesn't say, does it?

[2:49] You can go through there and you can search the scriptures to see why these two were treated the way they were differently than anybody else. And I did some research and I think it may have to do with something with Revelation.

[3:05] And if you will turn to Revelation chapter 11. So, the Bible doesn't specifically answer this question, but some speculate that they were taken to prepare for a role in the end times.

[3:23] Possibly as the two witnesses in Revelation. Revelation. So, let's just read that and see what we see about that. Revelation 11.3. And I will give unto my two witnesses and they shall prophesize a thousand two hundred and thirty three score days clothed in sackcloth.

[3:48] These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before the Lord of the earth. And we see something about the candlesticks and the olive trees in Zechariah chapter 4.

[4:00] So, then said he, these are the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth. Verse 5. And if a man desire to hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devire their enemies.

[4:14] If any man shall desire to hurt them in this manner, must he be killed. These have the power to shut the heavens that it rain not during the days of the prophecy.

[4:25] And they power over the waters to turn them into blood and to smite the earth and every plague as often as they shall desire. And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that cometh out of the abyss shall make war with them and overcome them and kill them.

[4:42] And their dead bodies lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also the Lord was crucified. And from among the peoples of the tribes and tongues and nations do men look upon their dead bodies three days and a half and suffer not their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb.

[5:05] And they that dwell on the earth rejoice over them and make merry. And they shall sing gifts one to another because these two prophets tormented them, tormented them that dwell on the earth.

[5:16] And after three days and a half, the breath of life from God entered into them and they stood upon their feet and great fear fell upon them that beheld them.

[5:27] And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, come up hither. And they went up into heaven in the cloud and their enemies beheld them. So these verses describes two individuals who will help accomplish God's work in the tribulation.

[5:44] I will appoint my two witnesses. They will prophesy for 12,000 days clothed in sackcloth. And the two witnesses in Revelation have miraculous powers to accompany their messages.

[6:01] And we see what those were. One will be able to stop them in their work at the end of their ministry. They will have said all that they need to say. The beast will kill them and the wicked world will rejoice.

[6:12] And then God will take them to heaven. There are three primary theories on the identity of two witnesses in Revelation. One of them could be Moses and Elijah.

[6:24] What did Moses do? And we're talking about the things we just read there. Well, he had the power to turn the water into blood, didn't he?

[6:38] So that's one thing that we might say about Moses, that he could be there. And the witnesses will have power to destroy the enemies with fire. As we just studied Elijah, we know that he did that with all the 400 prophets.

[6:53] And that might correspond with Revelation 11.5.

[7:08] And also given the strength to this view is the fact that Moses and Elijah both appeared with Jesus at the Transfiguration. In Matthew chapter 17.

[7:19] So we see that. Also, a second thing might be Enoch and Elijah are seen as possibilities for the two witnesses. Because the unique circumstances surround their exit from the world.

[7:33] Enoch and Elijah, as far as we know, are the only two individuals whom God had taken directly to heaven without dying. Proponents of this view point to Hebrews 9.27, which says that all men are appointed to die once.

[7:49] The fact that neither Enoch or Elijah has yet experienced death seems to qualify them for the job of the two witnesses. Who will be killed when their job is done.

[7:59] In addition, both Enoch and Elijah were prophets who pronounced God's judgments upon the world. So, are these possibilities?

[8:10] Any other comments? Anything you might think about these things? Yes, Roger? They were the only two so far, but they won't be the only two ever. What the...

[8:22] Those of us who remain in the Lord returns are going out. Yeah. Yeah, we also will be doing that. That's part of the hope of the Christian. Yeah, that's part of the hope of the Christian.

[8:33] Yeah. But I think through this... Through the study, it seems like this might be possibilities, but... So, are they the two witnesses? Well, we don't know.

[8:45] Because the Bible doesn't say one way or the other. But their other possibility is, hey, he may just pick two individuals. I mean, God has the power to do what he wants.

[8:58] And he may not go back into history and fulfill the things that it seems like the scriptures say about these two. But at the end, he may just pick two individuals at the time and use them to be the two witnesses.

[9:14] And that's going to be a time of judgment and a time that the whole nations will see this. They're going to see it on TV. Big screens will be everywhere.

[9:28] And they're going to see what these two can do. And it's going to be a terrible time. And it's part of God's prophecy and history and showing us what we may expect in the future.

[9:42] So, any comments about that before we continue on? Okay. Let's turn to 2 Kings, chapter 8.

[9:54] And we're going to be talking about Jehoram, who reigns the fifth king of Judah, as we get back into our study.

[10:06] He was 32 years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. Although king of Judah, he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done.

[10:17] For the daughter of Ahab became his wife and did evil in the sight of the Lord. If you remember, if we go back to Hezekiah, his son married into Ahab's family.

[10:33] And things, that mixture between the south and the north, that became a part of that. And we see some of the kings of Judah following the ways of Ahab and of Baal and all that type thing.

[10:47] And that's what we see here with Jehoram. However, the Lord was not willing to destroy Judah for the sake of David, his servants, as he had promised him to give a lamp unto him and to the world.

[10:59] And we see that continuously as we talk about Judah. Judah, we know most of the kings in the north were bad. We've already seen that, and we're going to continue to see that until they're taken away into captivity.

[11:14] But the kings of Judah, there is some good kings dispersed in between. But we also have a lot of bad kings that just through natural resources, just as humans, we become sinful.

[11:27] We fall into things like Baal worship and other things. And we'll see that as we go through, and we have been seeing that. We have some good, and then we have some bad.

[11:40] To find out more about this king, turn to 2 Chronicles 21. And here again, you've got to go back and forth between the kings and the chronicles to get a good picture of what's going on with some of these kings.

[11:53] So 2 Chronicles 21, verse 1. And remember, he was the son of Jehoshaphat.

[12:03] And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. He had seven sons. And the father gave them great gifts of silver and gold and precious things, which fortified cities in Judah that the kingdom gave heed to Jeroham, because he was the firstborn.

[12:22] Now, when Jeroham had taken over the kingdom of his father and had strengthened himself, he strew all his brethren with the sword and some of the leaders of Israel as well.

[12:33] And we see that, wow, we see that all the time with some of these kings. They don't think they can have the power unless they do away with everybody that's in the family or in the bloodline or whatever.

[12:45] So, verse 11. And furthermore, he made high places in the mountains of Judah and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to be unfaithful and led Judah astray.

[12:57] Then later came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says, Because you have not walked in the ways of your father, Jehoshaphat, and in the ways of Asia, king of Judah, but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel and have caused Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to be unfaithful as the house of Ahab was unfaithful, and you have also killed your brothers, your own family, who were better than you.

[13:26] But the Lord is going to strike your people, your sons, your wives, and all your possessions with great play. And 15, And you will suffer severe sickness, a disease of your bowels, until your bowels come out because of sickness day by day.

[13:43] Then the Lord stirred up against Jerusalem the spirit of the Philistines and Arabs who bordered the Ethiopians. And they came against Judah and invaded it and carried away all the possessions found in the king's house together with his sons and his wives, so that no son was left to him except Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.

[14:04] So after all of this, the Lord struck him in his intestines with an incurable sickness. And now it came about in the course of time at the end of two years that his vows came out and became his sickness.

[14:17] Wow, he gets very graphic here. I mean, that's a terrible way to die. But, you know, these people did things that God did not like, and they paid for it.

[14:28] And that's part of the prophecies here. Verse 20, No one lost sleep over his death, and they buried him in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings. Then the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, Ahaziah, the youngest son, king in his place.

[14:45] For the band of men who came with the Arabs to the camp had killed all the older sons. So Ahaziah, the son of Joraham, king of Judah, began to reign.

[14:56] And we see that, and we can go back to 2 Kings now, verse 8, or chapter 8. We see a little bit about Ahaziah became the sixth king of Judah.

[15:13] And I got a little confused in these chapters between, they kind of kept going forth between Ahaziah and also Jehu. And so it gets a little confusing.

[15:24] But verse 26 says, Ahaziah was 22 years old when he became king. He reigned one year in Jerusalem. Though we see that he must have not been a very good king also, because he didn't last long.

[15:40] But it mixed with Jehu, and we go to chapter 9, the reign of Jehu in Israel. King Jehu of Israel, a general of King Joraham, while Joraham was recuperating from battle wounds, Elisha sent a young prophet to anoint the general Jehu as the king of Israel.

[16:03] Jehu revolted against and killed Joraham and proclaimed himself king. He reigned from 705 to 678. Joraham was a reformer of sorts who was used by God to clean up the mess that Ahab had made.

[16:20] Of King Ahab, it is accord that he did more evil in the eyes of God than any other king. Marrying Jezebel, daughter of the king of the Siodians, Ahab was seduced into idolatrous worship along with his wife and all the prophets that his wife set up.

[16:39] So now it says in verse 827, After Jehu was anointed king, Jehu immediately took steps to secure the throne, knowing that Joraham, son of Ahab, had recently gone to Jezreel to cover from wounds in battle.

[16:55] It appears here that there's two kings at the same time. But I don't think that's exactly what happened, because I don't think that the, back in the other verses of your head, that Jehu was actually anointed king, or appointed as king.

[17:10] He just took over that role. And as we get into verse 8, or chapter 8 then, we see that he was set up as king.

[17:22] And he goes and kills Ahaziah. And after Ahaziah's death, now we've got to go back to 2 Chronicles. You don't have to turn there if you don't want to.

[17:33] I know it gets a little troublesome to go back and forth. But in 2 Chronicles 22, he also sought Ahaziah, and they caught him while he was hiding in Samaria.

[17:44] They brought him to Jehu, and put him to death, and buried him. For they said, He is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all his heart. So there was no one of his house, of Ahaziah, to retain the power of the kingdom.

[17:58] Jehu then proceeded to Jezebel's place in Jezreel, where the queen stood watching for him at the window. At Jehu's command, eunuchs surrounded Jezebel, threw her down from the window.

[18:12] Jezebel splattered over the pavement. When they went to bury her, they found her no more, for the dogs had ate her. Where did we see that? That was prophesied way back.

[18:24] And the prophecy was, you're a terrible lady, you're a terrible king, you brought the veil worship, and all this, and eventually, you will pay.

[18:37] And this is the time that, that prophecy came true. And that's one thing we, we see about prophets. And what is the fact that, we know about prophets.

[18:49] When prophets talked, it's not necessarily about future events. A lot of it is about future events. But I think somewhere in scripture, I can't remember now exactly where the scripture says it, but the things that the prophets will speak, will come true.

[19:05] And as we go through, the prophets that we've already gone through, we see that when they prophesied, most of those things actually come true.

[19:17] And this is the time that, it actually came true for Jezebel. Just as Elijah had said, he prophesied, dogs ate Jezreel.

[19:28] This too was prophesied, by Elijah back in second, or first Kings chapter 21. Jehu left no man standing, he was in allegiance with King Ahab, as God had commanded long before through Elijah.

[19:43] Entering the temple of Baal, Jehu slaughtered all the priests of Baal, and destroyed the temple and its sacred stones, thus eradicating Baal worship in the nation of Israel.

[19:55] He strikes down the prophets. Then Jehu, verse 18, chapter 10, then Jehu gathered all the people and said to them, Ahab served Baal a little, Jehu will serve them much.

[20:08] Now summon all the prophets of Baal, all his worshippers of his prophets, let no one be missing, for I have great sacrifice for Baal. Whoever is missing shall not live.

[20:21] But Jehu did it in cunning, so that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal. So he was setting up a, I guess you might call it a sting operation, because he wanted to get rid of all the things of Baal, and he wanted all the people that did worship Baal to come, and at that point, and then he could get them all in one place.

[20:45] And then verse 21, Then Jehu sent throughout all Israel, and all the worshippers of Baal came, so that there was no man left who did not come. And when they went into the house of Baal, the house of Baal was filled from one to the other.

[21:00] He said to one who was in charge of the wardrobe, Bring out garments for all the worshippers of Baal. So he brought out garments for them. Then he went and took them out, and they killed every one of them.

[21:17] And it came about, as soon as he had finished offering the burnt offerings, that Jehu said to the guard, that were all offers, Go kill them with the sword. And the guard and the royal offers threw them out and went to the inner room in the house of Baal, and there they killed them.

[21:33] The Lord blessed Jehu for his obedience, however, because Jehu continued to hold on to the idolatry worship of King Jeroboam, God began to reduce the size of Israel, gradually giving them over to the power of even King Hazel of Syria.

[21:51] And we know that Syria is the one that came and eventually took the northern tribes. And here, as we're going through these kings, we keep seeing a little bit being taken away and taken away, and God eventually will take them into captivity.

[22:05] But we have a few more kings to go before that happens. Though Jehu, we can learn that although it is true that God blesses and grants success, which he did, he took care of the Baal, and he took care of all the sacrifices that are going on to that, but God also can and will pull away his blessings from one who willfully chooses to live in sin.

[22:34] And we know that he actually did live in sin. As Jesus says in Matthew 6, 24, no one can serve two masters. Either you'll hate the one, or the one and love the other, or you just voted to the one and despise the other.

[22:51] Now we're going to turn to chapter 11 in 2 Kings. And we'll be talking about another who is called Athaliah, the queen of Judah, the seventh ruler of Judah.

[23:10] And what do we know about her? Well, she was the daughter of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel of Israel, and she married Jehoram, the eldest son of Judah's king, Jehoshaphat.

[23:24] When Athaliah, the mother of Azazel, saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal offspring.

[23:37] She seized the opportunity to usurp the throne by murdering Ahaz's sons, her own grandsons, thus eradicating the Atar royal family so she could take the throne.

[23:51] So now we see here comes a lady, the first one that's ever mentioned any kind of a kingdom ship type of thing at all. But did she actually take the royal throne?

[24:06] I don't think she did. Ami notes to Athaliah, a single grandchild escaped the massacre. Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat, the mother's aunt, the baby's aunt, and the wife of the high priest Jehoshaphat, took the infant Joash and hid him and his nurse in the bedroom.

[24:28] Joash was later smuggled out of the castle and taken to the temple where he remained hidden for six years while Queen Athaliah reigned over the land. But Jehoshaphat, the daughter of King Haram, sister of Ahab, took Isaiah the son and see that in verse 11-2.

[24:47] And three, she was hidden from her the house of the Lord for six years. Although Queen Athaliah used her influence to further establish Baal, worshiping Judah, she installed priests and built altars for her idol in every temple of the Lord.

[25:02] She had followed after her mother's instincts and was not a good queen. Now in verse 4, Now the seventh year, Joadiah brought the captains of a hundred of the guard and brought them into the house of the Lord.

[25:19] Then he made a covenant with them and put them under oath of the house of the Lord and showed them the king's son. Jedodah, who was a godly man, was concerned with restoring the throne of David into the line of David and taking it away from his daughter of Ahab and Jezebel.

[25:37] He gathered the guards to start a rebellion to the king or to the queen. Then he showed them the king's son and this must have been a dramatic moment. For six years, everyone believed that there was no surviving heir of David's royal line and there was no legitimate rule to replace the wicked Athaliah.

[25:57] The secret had to be secure because the king's son would be immediately killed if he was revealed. And that must have been a bad time for the whole nation.

[26:08] The captains and the bodyguards and escorts must have been shocked when they saw this six-year-old heir to the throne. One reason Athaliah was able to reign for six-year-olds was that no one knew any alternative.

[26:22] Many people lived under the reign of Satan because they don't really know there is a legitimate king ready to take and be in their lives. And that's what was going on here. But then they brought the king's son out and put the crown on him and gave him the testimony and they made him king and anointed him and they clapped their hands and said, Long live the king.

[26:45] In verse 13, when Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and the people, she came to the people in the house of the Lord. She looked and behold, the king was standing by the pillar according to the custom with the captains and trumpeters beside the king and all the people of the land rejoiced and blew trumpets.

[27:03] Then Athaliah tore their clothes and cried, Treason! Treason! And Jehodiah, the priest that commanded the captains of the hundreds who were appointed over the army and said to them, Bring her out between the ranks and whoever follows her put to death with the sword.

[27:23] For the priest said, Let her not be put to death in the house of the Lord and they seized her and killed her. And all the people of the Lord went to the house of Baal and tore it down, his altars and his images, they broke in pieces, threw out and killed Matt and the priest of Baal before the altars and there the priests and mortified officers over the house of the Lord.

[27:47] And as we go through here, how many times have we seen the house of Baal built all the worship that went on and then another king came in that was a good king and tore it all down and started over again by putting officers in the house of the Lord.

[28:06] And that was a continuing story and the people just, they just don't learn. And I guess today we don't learn too much either, do we, as we go through history. So the next king is going to be Joash, the one we've been talking about here.

[28:21] He was the youngest king in the Bible when he was crowned at the age of seven. He was the eighth king of Judah and he reigned for 40 years. Turn to 2 Kings 12.

[28:40] Verse 2, Joash did right in the sight of the Lord in all his days in which Jehodiah, the priest, instructed him. Only the high priests were not taken away.

[28:51] The people still sacrificed and burnt incenses on the high places. He reigned for 40 years in Jerusalem. This was long and most, this was a long and mostly blessed reign.

[29:03] Joash fell short of full commitment and complete godliness but he did advance the cause of God in the kingdom of Judah. When Jehodiah no longer died, Joash no longer did what was right in the sight of the Lord and tells us that he turned to idolatry when Jehodiah died and judgment followed.

[29:25] After the death of the godly high priest, Joash fell into the hands of godless advisors who turned his heart to Canaanite practices. Second, King 12 goes on to describe various financial dealings with Joash.

[29:40] King Joash's main achievement was making repairs to the temple. He also used a monetary gift to disguise, dissuade the king of Hazel of Iran or Syria from attacking Jerusalem as we go through chapter 12.

[29:59] The tragedy of King Joash of Judah is that after his mentor, Joadah died and he began listening to wicked advisors. Joash received Baal and Asher worship to Judah.

[30:11] Second Chronicles, we see that. God sent prophets to warn Joash but he did not listen to them. But after the death, the officials of Judah came and bowed down to the king and the king listened to them and we see this in Second Chronicles.

[30:28] They abandoned the house of the Lord and the God of their fathers and served the Asher and the idols. So wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this, their guilt. Yet he sent prophets to them to bring them back to the Lord.

[30:41] Though they testified against him, they would not listen. Then the Spirit of the Lord came to Zechariah, the son of Jehadiah, the priest, and he stood above the people and said to them, Thus God says, Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord and do not prosper?

[30:58] Because you have forsaken the Lord and he also has forsaken you. So they conspired against him and in the command of the king they stoned him to death in the court of the house of the Lord.

[31:08] Sometimes you just didn't want to be a prophet. You go and confront somebody and they took care of you right away. Finally, Zechariah, now this is not the prophet Zechariah that we're talking about here, the son of the priest of Jedediah, brought God's word to Joash about the king casually ordered the son of his old friend to be stoned to death.

[31:31] Joash's raid did not end peacefully. His officials conspired against him and assassinated him. Isaiah, his son, became king in his place.

[31:44] When he had departed from him, his own servants conspired against him because of the blood of his son, Jedediah, the priest, and murdered him on his bed, so he died and they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings.

[32:01] And we're going to switch a little bit because the timeline that we see the kings and the prophets, we're going to bring a prophet now, and this would be Joel.

[32:14] And if you want to turn to Joel, you can. He's one of the minor prophets. The Bible timelines indicate that Joel, the prophet, prophesied during the days of King Joash.

[32:40] Not much is known about Joel. His name is mentioned several times in some of the major prophets' writings, and also in Acts 2. Dating the writing of the book of Joel is a difficult task for Old Testament scholars because unlike most prophetic writers, Joel gave no explanation or indication of his time period.

[33:01] In particular, Joel refrained from mentioning the current ruling kings. Most of the prophets, when they were prophesied and the book started, they would say what king they were there with.

[33:14] Joel never did that. A compelling argument for dating the writing of the book of Joel may have occurred around 835 B.C.

[33:24] in the aftermath of Judah's only ruling queen, Athelia. Her young grandson, Joash, succeeded Athelia upon her death. But because Joash was too young to rule, the priest Jedediah ruled in his place until he came of age.

[33:41] So if Joel prophesied during this caretaking period, it would make sense that he mentioned no official king. And that may have been the case here.

[33:52] We do not know that because he doesn't say that or nowhere in kings does it say that. But Joel was a prophet in the Old Testament who delivered a message of warning and repentance to the southern kingdom of Judah.

[34:07] Joel predicted the day of the Lord, which is the time of judgment and salvation. He also prophesied about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in all the people which later fulfilled in the day of Pentecost.

[34:22] Joel's prophecy also contained a foreshadowing of the great future day of the Lord, God's final judgment on the sin of the great tribulation. Fragments of Joel's writings were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls.

[34:37] Joel focuses on the day of the Lord. This is the key phrase in the prophets that describes the events in the past when God appeared in powerful ways to save the people or to confront evil like the plagues in Exodus.

[34:51] But these past events serve as pointers to the prophets to the future time when God will once again confront evil and bring salvation to the world.

[35:03] In chapter one of Joel, it's about a past day of the Lord. It begins to be recalling a recent disaster in which locusts swarmed and devastated Israel.

[35:14] you don't see that in the book of Kings. Joel writes about it. So if he was there at that time, he's writing about something else that was going on at that time.

[35:27] But he's kind of reflecting back to the point. The description calls back the day of the Lord against Egypt, specifically the eight plagues of Exodus, except now the locusts are sent against Israel.

[35:40] Joel calls upon the elders and the priests to lead the people in repentance and repair. Joel 1.3, grid yourselves with sackcloth and lament, you priests. Priests wail, ye minister of the altar, come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God, for the meal offering and the drink offering are withhold from the house of your God.

[36:05] Sanctify a feast, call a Solomon assembly, gather the old men and all the inhabitants of the land unto the house of Jehovah your God and cry out to Jehovah.

[36:17] Alas, for the day of the Lord of Jehovah is at hand and destruction from the Almighty shall come. Chapter 2 begins by announcing another day of the Lord, except this time is a future event, an imminent disaster coming for Jerusalem.

[36:33] Joel begins describing what at first seems like another wave of locusts, but the attacks change into different kinds of threat as Joel starts using metaphors about military ranks and cosmic castrof.

[36:48] The locusts become an army which is a cavalry and soldiers marching and destroying everything in their paths. The sun is darkened and the earth quakes.

[37:00] And below verse 2-1, blow you the trumpet of Zion and sound alarm in the holy mountains that all the inhabitants of the land tremble for the day of Jehovah cometh and for it is a night at hand.

[37:15] A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness as the dawn spreads upon the mountains a great people and a strong there hath not been ever the light neither shall any more after them even to the years of my generations.

[37:32] A fire devoureth before them and behind them a flame burneth. The land is of the garden of Eden before them and behind them a desolate wilderness yea and none hath escaped them.

[37:46] The appearance of them is as of the appearance of horses and as horsemen so they do run like the noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains do they leap like the noise of the flame of the fire that devoureth the stumble as strong people set a battle of array.

[38:02] At their presence the people are anguished all faces are waxed pale. They run like mighty men they climb up the wall like men of war and they march every one on his ways and they break not their ranks.

[38:15] Neither doth one thrust another they march every one in his path and they burst through the weapons and break not off their course. And I think we can get that back into revelation and all the things that's going beyond going on at that time.

[38:31] And we see the mighty forces coming it doesn't say exactly what this is going to be but if you take this kind of talk that they're talking about here and take it to our day's actions as far as military is concerned we kind of can take these things and turn them into the type of equipment the military equipment that we have today and it's going to be an awesome thing the thing that's going to be going on and with all the talk about the nuclear stuff that's going on all the stuff that's going on in Asia or the Middle East all the countries that's taken up the fact that they're creating nuclear weapons it's not too hard not to see that this ball of fire and all the stuff that's going to be going on could be related to nuclear weapons and of course all the different type military craft that we have today that to them they couldn't even fantasize that such a thing would be as we see it today but the way the prophets bring it forth to them they hear these things that he's talking about and they know that something is going to be coming but all he can talk about is what they know of that day so this is what he was doing at this point

[39:57] Jeremiah 2.9 they leap upon the city they run upon the wall they climb up into the houses they enter in at the windows like a thief the earthquake before them heavens tremble the sun the moon are darkened and the stars withdraw their shining and Jehovah utters his voice before his army for his camp is very great for he is during that excuse excuse the word Joel sums it up appropriately the day of the Lord is dreadful who can endure it we see that in Joel 2.11 Joel continues picking up on God's promise to confront the threatening invaders he sees that these ravaging locusts similarly to the arrogant violent nations of the day that ravage and oppress his people he calls upon the promises about the future day of the Lord when God will confront every evil among the nations and turn their violence back on them themselves and bring forth his justice to right all wrong if he turned to

[41:03] Joel 228 the Lord will pull out his spirit and it shall come to pass after that that I will pull out my spirit on all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesize the spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesize your old men shall dream dreams your young men shall see visions and also upon the servants and upon the handmaidens in those days will I pour out my spirit this was fulfilled at Pentecost and Acts 2 but the next verse is our future and I will show wonders in the heavens and the earth blood and fire and pillars of smoke then sin shall be turned into darkness and the moon before blood before the great and terrible day of Jehovah cometh and it will come to pass that whoever shall call upon the name of Jehovah shall be delivered for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those that escape as Jehovah has said and among the remnant those who

[42:05] Jehovah doth call God's final judgment of justice would be filled by a restitution of the entire world it will become a new Eden where God's presence in Jerusalem will flow out like a river and bring about cosmic renewal Joel's poem ends with great God's forgiveness and mercy upon the whole creation and we can see here that that and Joel as he prophesies we see that he is we see the Messiah coming and the fact that the spirit through Jesus Christ comes upon the people of that day and also on us this day the spirit is within us but the other part of that prophecy is the fact that the day of the Lord will come and the great war will be there and so

[43:05] God's prophecy will come true and we're going to see that as we talk about the other prophets as we go through here so any comments about what we've gone through today it's a lot of information the kings you're going back and forth between the northern tribe and the southern tribe I'm trying to keep it in chronological order but it's kind of difficult but we see that as we go through and how the prophets are going to intermingle with these kings we're going to start seeing that as we go through now because a lot of the Amos and Hosea and all the prophets will come and we'll talk about them and also one of the greatest prophets which would be Isaiah and I don't know if we'll get to the place where we're going to see the captivity I don't know it seems like it's going to take longer than what I thought it was going to take and of course then we have all the other prophets

[44:06] Jeremiah and all the other prophets that's going to be talking about the second coming and the things that are going on there and also about the captivity and what's going on there and the fact that another prophet is going to say that they'll be coming back to Israel and that we'll see also comes true so anything else before we finish up today okay we'll see you next week and happy new year me interesting more about the wind and that nature