Today's passage: Joel 3:1-21

Helpful thoughts:

• Jehoshaphat is a name that means, “Yahweh judges.”
  • The judgement depicted here in Joel 3 is also taught in Revelation 16:16 and 19:11-21 among a few other places in scripture.  This is the battle of Armageddon.
  • We are reminded again today, in the end, God wins.
• Verse 13 reminds us that this final battle is not simply a war for gain of wealth or land.  This is God's just wrath being poured out for the sin of the world.
• In the day when all our sin is gone and we wouldn't be tempted or lured away from God by the wealth of this world, “the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk.” (Verse 18)  
  • And when that day of prosperity comes, we will truly understand how much more valuable Jesus is than any health or wealth we may clamor for in this life.

Questions to consider:

1. Why will the battle be won by God in the end?  Will His people be too strong for the world to overcome?  Will God be thankful for our strength and protection?  OR…what does verse 16 teach us?
2. If I was a Jewish person in the first century A.D., and if I was more into the prospect of prosperity and vengeance over my earthly enemies, why might I have questioned Jesus' claim to be the Messiah when He died on the cross?  Why is it so important to know and remember that my greatest problem is my sin, and God's greatest gift is Christ's sacrifice?
3. What do you look forward to the most in eternity?  How does one's answer to that question give evidence to growth and spiritual maturity?

Today's passage: Joel 2:18-32

Helpful thoughts:

• With verse 18, the theme of this book transitions to God's merciful and gracious restoration of His people and their land.
• Peter quotes Joel 2:28-32 in Acts 2:16-21.  Joel's prophecy appears to refer to the end times, but the day of Pentecost served as a major transition toward God's plan of final redemption.
• Paul also refers to this passage in Romans 10:13.  This promise is not for the Jews only.
  • But, there will be a remnant among the people of national Israel who call on the name of the Lord for salvation.  And whoever calls, will be saved.

Questions to consider:

1. What kinds of markers do you see in today's passage that convey a different time from the prophecies of the previous section in the book of Joel?  What changes are evident?
2. What is God's motivation for these actions?  What do verses like 18, 21, 23, 27, and 32 teach us about God?
3. From what do we need to be saved?  How does our sin eliminate the possibility that we could save ourselves?  What can we learn from the first and second half of verse 32?  Who is doing the calling in each instance?

Today's passage: Joel 2:1-17

Helpful thoughts:

• The Day of the Lord is coming…soon…in the future.  But the day to “tremble,” or the day to be prepared, is today (Verse 1).
• Verses 2-11 again depict this plague of locusts from chapter 1.
  • They are like a darkness that spreads to the opposite effect of a sunrise.
  • They are like fire that devours.
  • They are like war horses that overpower whatever stands in their way.
• Verses 12-17 are a call to response concerning the truth of what's to come.  Whatever you're doing, stop and turn to the Lord!

Questions to consider:

1. When people want to go on a diet, they often determine the best day to start, is tomorrow.  What fickle pleasures of “today” are prone to distract us from the truth of “tomorrow?”  Why must we remember that today is the day of salvation? (2 Corinthians 6:2)
2. When we meet natural disasters and calamities in our day, where do we turn for answers?  Where does the western culture go to fix what it decides is broken?  What was Israel's greatest problem?  Was it ever locusts?  What is our greatest problem and who alone can “fix” it?
3. How does the gospel of Jesus Christ give us contentment and peace even in the midst of this world's calamities?  Is our well-being defined by or under the control of our circumstances?   (Philippians 4:11-13)  How does this truth give us freedom from so many of this world's concerns?

Today's passage: Joel 1:1-20

Helpful thoughts:

• Little more is known about the prophet Joel than what is written in this short book.
  • His name means, “Yahweh is God.”
  • It's quite possible that he lived and served in Judah during the period of the divided kingdoms.  But, this is not certain.
• Joel's main message in this book is that the “Day of the Lord” is coming.  The “Day of the Lord” is a phrase referring to God's judgment against sin which, in the end, will be followed by gracious blessing and life for God's people.
• Today's passage refers to a time of judgment during Joel's lifetime.
  • The right response of the people was to cry out to the Lord in repentance.
  • God is the one to whom we must go for forgiveness, and only God could restore a nation's physical well-being after the devastation described in this chapter.

Questions to consider:

1. What is significant about verses 2-3?  What must we do with the word that God has given us?  What would indifference to God's Word result in?  How do we show a right reverence and healthy fear of God and also respond appropriately to His love for us? (James 1:22-25)
2. What was the means of distraction for the drunkards in verse 5?  What was going to happen once their distraction was taken away?  Did their problems actually just start for them once they were sober, or were the problems already there and being ignored in their drunkenness?  What are some ways you might be tempted to “distract” yourself from dealing with problems or the need of repentance?
3. What does the necessity of crying out to God remind us of?  Knowing that we are all sinners, what is our hope of rescue?  Living in a world that will one day see the Day of the Lord, to whom must we look, and point others toward, as we persevere in the faith (Hebrews 12:1-2)?