The Minor Prophets: Messengers for Today: Joel

The Minor Prophets:  Messengers for Today:  Joel

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

Joel 2:1 (NKJV^{): "}Blow the trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; For the day of the LORD is coming, For it is at hand."

Joel 2:15-16 (NKJV):  "Blow the trumpet in Zion, Consecrate a fast, Call a sacred assembly; Gather the people, Sanctify the congregation, Assemble the elders, Gather the children and nursing babes; Let the bridegroom go out from his chamber, And the bride from her dressing room."

The context of the book of Joel is a famine resulting from a plague of locust that had devoured the vegetation of Israel.  In the midst of the disaster, the Lord spoke words of warning through His prophet Joel.  The message is that unless God’s people repent, further disasters would come as enemy armies would devour the land. The day of the Lord’s judgment was coming. 

 

We are experiencing situations in our nation today that we know are calling forth the judgment of God.  Our locusts are spiritual, political and natural afflictions.  However, we want the judgment to come on the unrighteous, but forget the word of the Lord in 1 Peter 4:17 (NKJV): ^“For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?”

It is time for judgment to begin at the house of God.   2 Chronicles 7:13-15 (NKJV):  “When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”  The operative words are “My people, who are called by My name.”  Healing of our land will begin with repentance in the prayer closet and move into the ballot box.

We can take our cue for that repentance from Joel 2:12-13 (NKJV): "Now, therefore," says the LORD, "Turn to Me with all your heart, With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.  So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm."

Notice that the Lord does not say to gossip, to complain, to curse and to spread anger.  We are to come before Him in mourning both for our own sin and the sin of our nation.  Our fasting should be accordance with Isaiah 58:7-10 (MSG): “What I'm interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families. Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once. Your righteousness will pave your way. The GOD of glory will secure your passage. Then when you pray, GOD will answer. You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am.' "If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people's sins, If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.”

When we believers walk more fully in the fruit of the Spirit, the words of Isaiah will be manifest in our lives. Isaiah 60:1-3 (NKJV):  “Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the LORD will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles (unbelievers) shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.” 

And the Lord says in Joel 2:25 (NKJV):  "So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, The crawling locust, The consuming locust, And the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you.”  

It is time to restore the years the locusts have eaten. That restoration begins with the repentant hearts of God’s people.  We are transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2).  True repentance involves changing our mindsets about the nature of our God and about who we are in Jesus Christ.

Lord God, You have blown Your trumpet through your prophets.  You have called me to fast and to repent. I come humbly before your throne and declare, “Lord, send restoration and let that restoration begin with me. Please, Lord, transform my thoughts to come into alignment with Yours.

Feast of Unleavened Bread: The Completeness of the Cross

Feast of Unleavened Bread:  The Completeness of the Cross

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

Exodus 13:3-8 (NKJV) “And Moses said to the people: "Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out of this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten. On this day you are going out, in the month Abib. And it shall be, when the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, which He swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall keep this service in this month. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the LORD. Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days. And no leavened bread shall be seen among you, nor shall leaven be seen among you in all your quarters. And you shall tell your son in that day, saying, 'This is done because of what the LORD did for me when I came up from Egypt.'

Leviticus 23:4-6 (NKJV):  “These are the feasts of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the LORD'S Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; seven days you must eat unleavened bread.”

Why unleavened bread?

In scripture, leavening (yeast) symbolizes sin.  Just as a tiny bit of leavening affects the entire batch of dough, so a bit of sin in our hearts affects our entire lives.  The unleavened bread of Passover represents the sinless body of Jesus Christ.  2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV) “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 

Why seven days?

Numbers in scripture have significance.  Seven pictures the completeness or perfection of God.  We find many examples of seven in scripture.  Creation was accomplished in seven days.  The temple lampstand had seven branches. Jesus spoke seven times from the cross.  The book of Revelation contains letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor.  Scripture is replete with additional examples.

The seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread signify the completeness of Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross.  He paid the total price for the sin of the world.  We do not work our way to salvation.  Ephesians 2:8-9 (NKJV) reminds us, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”  

When our Lord cried out from the cross, “It is finished,” it was finished.  The wages of sin had been fully paid. 

In John 6:50-51 (NKJV), Jesus declared about Himself, “This is the bread which comes down from heaven,that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world." 

The Feast of Unleavened Bread is a glorious time to meditate of the complete redemption bought by the Lamb of God on the cross. 

Jesus Paid It All

By Elvina M. Hall

I hear the Savior say,
“Thy strength indeed is small;
Child of weakness, watch and pray,
Find in Me thine all in all.”

Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.

And when before the throne
I stand in Him complete,
I’ll lay my trophies down,
All down at Jesus’ feet.

Jesus Christ our Passover

Jesus Christ our Passover

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

The Passover was instituted in the land of Egypt.  Passover initiated the Israelites’ release from the captivity and bondage of Egypt.  In scripture, Egypt is a symbol of the bondage of the worldly system.  Passover is all about our release from the bondage of sin and discouragement we find when we walk in the way of the world instead of the way of the Lord.

Exodus 12:21-24 (NKJV) : “Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb.  And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning.
^“For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever.”

Notice verse 24.  We are to observe Passover forever.  Most Christians do not realize that the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is a celebration of Jesus Christ as our Passover. His ministry as our Redeemer, our Savior, is foreshadowed in Passover. 

John 1:29 (NKJV): ^“The next day John (the Baptizer) saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” 

Matthew 26:1-2 (NKJV):  ^“Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, that He said to His disciples,^‘You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.’"

Matthew 26:17-19 (NKJV) :Now on the first day of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, "Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?"
^“And He said, "Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, 'The Teacher says, "My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples."
So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover.”

Matthew 26:26-28 (NKJV):  “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said,’Take, eat; this is My body.’
“Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying,’Drink from it, all of you.
For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.’”

In “The Last Supper”, we see a picture not only of Jesus’ humbling Himself to the cross, but also a picture of our own ministry in the lives of those still in captivity to their “Egpyt”.

John 13:1-5 (NKJV):  “Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.
^“And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him,
^“Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself.  After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.

John 13:21-27 (NKJV):  “When Jesus had said these things, He was troubled in spirit, and testified and said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me."
^“Then the disciples looked at one another, perplexed about whom He spoke. Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask who it was of whom He spoke. Then, leaning back on Jesus' breast, he said to Him, ‘Lord, who is it?’
^“Jesus answered, "It is he to whom I shall give a piece of bread when I have dipped it." And having dipped the bread, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. Now after the piece of bread, Satan entered him. Then Jesus said to him, ‘What you do, do quickly.’"

We are cognizant of the Lord’s washing the feet of the disciples.  Are we aware that He knelt before Judas Iscariot and washed the feet of the one who would betray Him?

In the Kingdom of God, which is made up of those who choose to walk in obedience to Him, we must not judge anyone, even an unbeliever, as “untouchable.”  Sin is rampant in our “Egypt” today.  In truth, sin has been rampant in the world since the Fall.  God is love, and it is that love that draws us into repentance. 

Jesus washed the feet of Judas.  We cannot do less and be His disciples.

An Appeal to Heaven

An Appeal to Heaven

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

Dutch Sheets, prophet and teacher, has called on Christians in America to return to our roots and “appeal to heaven” to enforce our liberty to believe as God would have us believe.  Our roots began before the Declaration of Independence, before the Revolutionary War and before the Constitution.

In the early American colonies, before the Revolutionary War, the pine tree, a symbol of peace for the Iroquois Indians and a symbol of liberty for the Americans, became a symbol of the right to stand up for liberty and justice.  One of the first American flags, it displayed a green pine tree on a white background with the words, “An Appeal to Heaven” at the top.  Dutch Sheets and other Christian leaders are calling the church to take a stand, to appeal to heaven and to display that flag.

As Jefferson, quoting John Locke, expressed in the Declaration of Independence, we have been endowed with liberty through the grace of our creator.  “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  

That truth is confirmed by scripture.  Paul wrote to the Galatians, “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. (Galatians 5:13 NKJV).

Jefferson went on to say, “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”  We, as a nation, seem to have forgotten that governmental powers are to be enacted from the consent of the governed and not to be forced upon the governed.

After the Boston Tea Party, the British army was occupying Boston.  George Washington wanted to intercept British ships bringing supplies into Boston harbor.  Those who were fearful of upsetting the British, refused to go along with Washington’s plan. Washington, then, privately commissioned six ships and started his own navy.  Some historians believe that he paid for the ships himself. All six ships were to fly “An Appeal to Heaven” flag.

The ships commandeered British guns and supplies even before war was declared.   Washington's Secret Navy became part of the Revolutionary Navy and captured British ships and supplies throughout the Revolutionary War.

What is the significance today?

The phrase "An Appeal to Heaven" suggests when we have done all that is humanly possible that we need the intervention of God to protect us and direct us.  The best defense for our Christian liberty is to be Christian in our speech and behavior.  With the guidance of the Holy Spirit, that is possible. Our Christian demeanor then becomes a conduit for divine intervention.

Titus 2 is a remarkable treatise on Christian behavior that enables us to be more than overcomers in this life.  ^“But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine” (Titus 2:1 NKJV).  In order to overcome, Christians must unite around sound doctrine and agree to disagree on other issues. 

Although we cannot find evidence that he actually said the following, it is often attributed to John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church:  “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; and, in all things, charity.” Whether or not Wesley said it, is not important.  What is important is the truth of it.

What are the essentials?

1. God loves us.
2.  Jesus died and rose again so that we may have fellowship with God.
3.  He is our hope, our provision, our joy and our strength.

Referring again to Titus 2, “in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you.” (Titus 2:7-8 NKJV).  We cannot expect the world to exhibit behaviors that we Christians are unwilling to exhibit. 

In like manner, Paul cautioned Timothy, “Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.  But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife.  And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth” (2 Timothy 2:22-25 NKJV).

We must stand firm in defending our liberty to worship God.  However, we must do it decently and in order (1 Corthinians 14:40).  We must leave ourselves open to an appeal from heaven.