Prophecies in Joel Revealed! 2
Just a reminder… the previous and upcoming sections on Joel contain commentary written over a twelve-hour period in which the Holy Spirit guided this author to pertinent knowledge and understanding fundamental to the message within Joel’s text. The following morning, after reading through the verses and commentary written the night before, the author found it obvious the commentary could neither be corroborated nor proven by any natural means.
At that time, I considered erasing the entire previous night’s work and starting over. However, while I was rereading the sections with an eye toward deleting nearly everything (namely all unsupportable comments), the Lord emphatically pressed upon my spirit to leave the text as is with the exception of properly editing and punctuating the text.
During the last blog it was noted that Joel 1:1-8 specifically alludes to a time when both the Body of Christ and the nation of Israel will be under severe attack from secular forces and agendas. The “Vine” or Body of Christ is laid waste and the fig tree “Israel” has been ruined for a season.
We will continue from where last week’s blog, “Prophecies in Joel Revealed! 1” left off. One significant element found in Joel chapter one is the allusion to “The Day of the Lord” and a time when there will exist zero more salvations during a three and a half years period known as the Great Consummation. Let’s resume from Joel 1:9.
“Grain offerings and drink offerings are cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests are in mourning, those who minister before the LORD” (Joel 1:9).
- The grain offering, also known as either the meat or meal offering, symbolizes salvation through a relationship with Jesus Christ—saved by grace.
- The drink offering symbolizes the joy of the Lord through a relationship with Jesus Christ and also represents the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
- Jesus instructed His disciples to drink His blood and eat His flesh in remembrance of Him. The required observance involves both the drink and meal offerings.
- The symbolism within verse 9 presents the loss of access to salvation during the time of the Great Consummation. Salvation will no longer be available for the lost souls. Christians will still have their salvation and relationship with Christ and the Holy Spirit.
- In John 9:4, Jesus says, “The night is coming when no one man can work.” Jesus spoke of a time when salvation would no longer be available.
“The fields are ruined, the ground is dried up; the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, the olive oil fails” (Joel 1:10).
- The ruined fields signify a lack of potential access and converts to Christianity—no access to spiritual planting or growth.
- The grain that is destroyed refers to new or potential Christians, those who could have received salvation but caved to the Mark of the Beast or bow before the Beast or his image.
- The salvation message of Jesus Christ is the new wine that has become dried up and no longer available.
- The failing olive oil speaks to inaccessibility to the comfort and anointing of the Holy Spirit. This especially relates to the Israelites at that time.
“Despair, you farmers, Wail, you vine growers, grieve for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished” (Joel 1:11).
- The ministers of the gospel are the farmers and vine growers who will mourn and weep for the lost.
- The wheat denotes the children of God, those who have received the gospel message but for whatever reason gave up before or during the Great Consummation.
- At the time of this harvest, all crops failed and none were saved.
“The vine has dried up, and the fig tree also, and the apple tree—all the trees of the field are withered; surely joy has withered away from the sons of men” (Joel 1:12).
- The Beast has shattered the power of God’s holy people and caused the vine, which is the Body of Christ, to wither.
- Israel, as the fig tree, is also under siege and withering at this time.
- All over the world, the love of God appears to have dried up, disappeared, or completely died out altogether as the world moves deeper into the Great Consummation.
- Israel’s borders will soon be closed and under military siege.
“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” (Joel 1:13).
- The children of God everywhere will be in mourning.
- The Body of Christ will be scattered and for a time in mourning during the Tribulation Period of the Great Consummation.
- As mentioned in verse 9, the grain and drink offerings represent both salvation and the Holy Spirit infilling. Each is no longer available.
“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” (Joel 1:14).
- Gather and prepare the saints for the Day of the Lord. Pray fervently to be saved before it is too late.
“Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as destruction from the Almighty” (Joel 1:15).
- The Day of the Lord begins immediately after the Rapture.[1] The Rapture will take place after the Tribulation Period of the Great Consummation is complete.
- The Day of the Lord begins the Wrath of God.
“Is not the food cut off before our eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God?” (Joel 1:16).
- The bread of life is Jesus Christ. The gospel message is also spiritual food.
- “Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst” (John 6:35 NKJV).
- The infrastructure of God’s church is now gone with all its spiritual resources.
“The seeds are shriveled beneath the clods. The storehouses are in ruins, the granaries have been broken down, for the grain has dried up” (Joel 1:17).
The seeds are shriveled beneath the clods: symbolizing newly sown seeds of salvation.
- The seeds could not fully take root or develop into salvation before the Great Consummation began.
- Some people will not accept Christ before it is too late, before the tragic deadline.
- The storehouses (churches) and granaries (Christian institutions) are in ruins, abandoned during open hostilities between Christians and the now secular governments. The Body of Christ will be forced to flee into the wilderness to fulfill prophecy and survive.
- The Word of God (seeds in the granaries) is no longer available, for it is dried up.
- As the Jews were required to flee during World War II, so the Body of Christ will be required to go into hiding for safety and to remain faithful.
- As of April 7, 2009, the US Department of Homeland Security classified committed Christians, especially those who believe in the End Times, as terrorists.[2]
“How the animals groan! The herds of cattle are restless, because they have no pasture; even the flocks of sheep suffer punishment” (Joel 1:18).
- The animals in this passage represent nonbelievers who rejected the free gift of salvation.[3]
- Because of religious persecutions during the Great Consummation, Christians will not find many if any safe havens within cities, communities, or towns (Revelation 13:14–18).
“O LORD, to You I cry out; For fire has devoured the open pastures, And a flame has burned all the trees of the field” (Joel 1:19).
- All previously genuine Christian establishments or places of worship or faith are now
hazardous for the Body of Christ.
- Christendom is under siege and at war with nearly every government.
“Even the wild animals pant for you; the streams of water have dried up, and fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness” (Joel 1:20).
Once the Great Consummation has begun, no one will be able to find salvation or any divine solace. Those who do not already possess salvation and a walk with God before the Great Consummation never will.
- All places of genuine faith and worship will be destroyed. No place in the open will be safe for Christians.
- The Whore of Babylon (false religion) now leads unopposed for a very short season.
Hope this was a blessing to you.
May God bless you. We’ll continue in chapter two next time: don’t move that dial, we are in control of the horizontal and the vertical.
Steven R. Harrel signing off and saying…
I don’t know what to say.
How about you?
Oh well, silence is golden they say.
Hey, who’s they.
I don’t know…
[1] Isaiah 13:6–22.
[2] http://www.wnd.com/2009/04/94803/.
[3] 2 Peter 2:12, Jude 1:10.
asserted Biblical events described in the Book of Revelation about the Great Consummation (what many mistakenly call the Great Tribulation) will in fact be literally carried out in the real world and in real time.
I had not met her, this “Evangelist” prior. That infamous (to me) Sunday morning, I struggled almost hopelessly towards the instructed goal. I was practically refusing to hand over the song, its recordings or any of its rights to Ms. Hibbert. I don’t know exactly why, I just couldn’t let go!
Of the many questions presented this one question caught my attention today.
